Thursday, October 27, 2011

What I did: During the last week I gathered materials to make some new books from Hollanders. I'm hopping to create tons of different sizes as well as texture to give feeling to the books. I created covers for two different books. each book toon about 4 hours. I also continued creating drawings in one of the books I made earlier this semester for about 2 hours. On monday night I went to Hollanders for 3 hours to continue working on my books as well as gather new ideas during their workshop hours.

I also started re-writing my senior thesis since I now might work with just one student. I think I might keep working on it though until I have an actual student to work with.

What I discovered:
I discovered that PVA glue doesn't work with every type of paper and can make some paper fall apart (whoops). I also learned a few new ways of binding books that I am excited to try. When we were at the library during class I found a few books on book bindings from scribes to today. I am also excited to try to create books from different times.

I also have been doing a little research on photovoice. I'm having trouble finding books on it but I have found alot about it online. Hopefully these books/ websites will help inspire my work.

What I should do next week:
Over the next week I plan to keep creating books. While researching books and photography. I want to go to the special collections as well to check out the book art books again. Also hopefully I can meet with a child soon and start creating photography for my books.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Apps for Autism

Over the weekend I saw this article on 60 minutes and found it to be very interesting and informative.
I have a friend working on applications to help children with autism currently and it was helpful to see what he is creating while students interact with the technology

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385686n&tag=mncol;lst;2

Wednesday, October 19, 2011


What I did: Over fall break I worked on writing an email explain what I want to do for my senior project to email to a few contacts I am trying to make. After perfecting my email I sent it to a few places, one of the woman I met at an event the past week has already responded to my email! I also worked with a few homeschool children some more seeing what happens when I give them more direction. (4.5 hours)
I also got in contact with DMC autism center. I am trying to get a tour of the facilities sometime in the upcoming weeks. (30 minutes)
I gave my information to a parent, who has an autistic child who is very interested in art. I am waiting to get a call back from him later today. (1 hour)

What I discovered: I have discovered that it is a lot harder to get contacts for my work then I thought it would be. But now that I have finally made some, they seem to be a ton of help.

What I should do next week: This coming weekend I am going to try to see if I can visit DMC.
I am also going to try to meet up with the one student I have had contact with so far. If possible I am going to try to make a few more contacts in the Walled Lake School system and see if they have any students who would like to get involved.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wednesday October 12th

What I did this week: recently I sent a number of email out to different groups asking if I volunteer to work with autistic kids for my project. So far only two places have gotten back to me about working with them. The University of Michigan Autism and Communications Center, which informed me that as of recently the center is no longer in Michigan but has just recently moved to New York and has shut down their U of M branch. The second place that got back to me was Celebrities Against Autism, I helped out at an event that they held in Walled Lake this past Thursday night. Val, the head of the service group gave me her card so she could help me get in touch with other groups.

Also during this weekend I got a group of home schooled students to take photographs of what they love to learn about. They are getting developed right now, and I am excited to pick them up in an hour.

What I discovered:
 At the event they had a stand of art work made by a child with Autism named Ben, Ben worked mostly with Clay and paint, but the work was beautiful. It made me think, maybe I could try to help one student create work instead of a large group, and then maybe create a book of their work?

Once I get the pictures developed from this weekend I think I will have more of an idea of where my project is heading.

What I should do next:
This weekend I plan on getting in touch with Val, and see if their is any way I can help/ inspire my work.

Also I plan on passing out a few more digital cameras to another group of children to see what they come up with.

I've also got a new Argus camera and 620 film that I am hoping to try out. I want to experiment with the camera as well as go take pictures of the old location of the Argus factory in AA. Maybe this project could turn into something interesting?

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

So far this week I have done a TON more research. I'm try to find children that I can work with for this project. Hopefully some one will respond to me in the next week.

What I did this week:
I spent four hours reading the rest of The Art of Teaching Art to children. I also spent about three hours getting through the first half of Art as an Early Intervention Tool for Children with Autism. I also spent an hour or so reading Doing Art Together.

What I discovered: I discovered a ton of different ways I can work with children using art, not just photography. I also did some thinking about something I learned from some Lowenfeld readings last week. Since their are different stages in learning how to draw, maybe those continue while creating other artwork, such as photography? I'm not really sure exactly what way I want to go with my IP using all the information I have gathered so far, either work in multiple medias, let the children choose, or see if photography has as many changes as drawing does with Lowenfelds Theory.

What I should do next?
I plan on emailing different resources to see if their is anyway I can work with children volunteering in their field to meet and work with children. I'm going to start with U of M Autism and Communication Disorders center and then move on from their. I'm also going to work on my IP paper for Wednesday as well as do more research on Artists who inspire my work.