Art Word of the Week: Space
For arts explorer number two, I was required to make an instant sculpture from various objects found around the house. Not knowing what to make, I decided to head to my basement where my family tends to keep many random, old and unused objects. While exploring the various objects that were kept in my basement, I came across a bin full of Christmas tree ornaments that really caught my attention.
I then began to sort out the ornaments based upon color and shape, and then began to create my sculpture. I initially planned to create a Christmas tree out of the ornaments, however this did not work, thus I then began to play around to see what I would get. Keeping the base of the Christmas tree, I began to place ornaments around the circle, and ultimately ended up creating a wreath out of the ornaments. While doing so, I did not only make use of my creative ability as I found an alternative to my initial plan of making a sculpture, but also made use “space” which is one of the elements of art as discussed in chapter 6 of Robert Schirrmacher and Jill Englebright Fox titled Art and Creative Development for Young Children.
Space is an artistic concept that deals with the “problem of arranging elements” by determining “how many shapes or symbols will be used, how they will be placed, how much blank space will remain, and the amount of room that will be left” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 143). In addition, space also encompasses the concept of positive and negative space, while “positive space refers to the shape, and then negative shape is what is left empty” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 143). While making this sculpture, I had to think about all of these questions to ensure that the sculpture looked appealing to the eye. I got the opportunity to see the effect of space first hand when completing my sculpture. As seen in picture one, I used a great amount of negative space to highlight the overall shape of the wreath.  |
| Picture One: positive space |
However, as I was experimenting with my sculpture, I decided to add some more ornaments as seen in picture # 2, thus, leaving very little negative shape. However, as seen in the picture, the wreath did not stand out as much having little negative space when compared to the previous picture. The wreath stood out the most when I used space in a balanced manner and had more “unoccupied, empty, sparse space” (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009, p. 143).
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| Picture Two: negative space |
From completing this blog, I learned various things through experimentation. Just as I learned how positive and negative space can influence the look of an object or drawing by actually experimenting with the material, and being able to add and remove the ornaments, I believe that children can also learn this concept by actually being able to experiment and do it. Since children learn best when they are able to actively engage with the learning material, I believe that this activity has shown me how much we can learn by actively engaging with the material and seeing the difference rather than passively being taught it. If I were simply to read about the element of space, I do not believe that I would be able to have the understanding that I have now by actually doing it and seeing the effect with my own eyes. This directly relates to teaching children as children should also be given the opportunity to actually do what is being taught to them. Thus, by doing this activity, I not only learned about the element of space, but also learned about how children learn and how art concepts such as this can be taught to children in a meaningful way.
Schirrmacher, R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6th Ed.).
Belmont, CA: Delmar.
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