Art Journaling
Engage educators in creative and healthy habits of artistic reflection and art strategies as well as rethinking and recreating educational curriculum.
About this course
These sessions were designed to engage educators in creative and healthy habits of artistic reflection and art strategies as well as rethinking and recreating educational curriculum. Stacy Prellberg will be hosting this session and will be engaging participants in developing their own art journaling practice. These sessions will also be supported by providing art kits for interested teachers who need a bit of art in their classrooms and their lives.
He will share his art, art influences, journaling, note-taking strategies, education framework, and education philosophy throughout these sessions. Things like lessons learned on how health and wellness connects to the practice of developing a “practice”, or the dedication to developing skills and creative thinking through intrinsic exploration will all be discussed.
The following examples are 2 excerpts of an exploration of color as well as reflection of factors that are in your internal and external life.
Short Activity Instructions
Procedure: Take 2 minutes to create create these colors using your watercolor kit. Try to make a balance of rainbow of colors.
Challenge: Only use 3 colors.
Questions for exploration:
How can I create more colors through combining pigments?
How can I reinterpret/reimagine the meaning behind what Iʻve created?
What else could I add/subtract to the interpretation? Why would I want to add/subtract anything?
Taking it a step further…
Inside the Circle
Procedure: Take 2 minutes to write on the inside of the circle about actions you take to make sure things go well for you and those around you.
Questions for exploration:
What decisions do you make every day?
What has become a habit that makes your day more efficient for you and others?
What decisions do you make that increase the overall happiness of you and those around you?
“I am looking for ways for my students to express themselves. I've seen a lot of my students already doodling and I want to provide an opportunity for them to share more with myself and others.
Learning isn't just writing and reading...it has to be all parts and allowing our students to speak freely in any means possible.”
Hilliary Pilialoha, 2021
“All very good ideas, the concept of bridging with manaʻo, waihoʻoluʻu or kinona is good to have a visual and then hopefully the words and ideas will come.
Keiki may have difficulty writing, but throw some art out there and then have them create words from their art.”
Kēhau Llanos, 2021
“I definitely feel a freedom in this community to express 'ōlelo Hawai'i and cultural values are appreciated.
I really appreciate this. I will be able to bring more into my classroom with the strength of this freedom behind me. Mahalo!”
Sheri Abigania, 2021"
This series was one I was highly anticipating, and quite nervous about, because art is something I have always been interested in, and did on the side. When I was finally able to plan this series, send art supplies, and meet with fellow educators, I realized that it was the first time I had let anyone see my “hobby”. Nervous may be an understatement, but now that the first cycle of the series has finished, a huge lesson learned was that there are many educators out there who have the same “hobby”. They have the same connection to a visual language that they use to interpret their world and help students who are just developing that same relationship to art. The educators who participated in this course showed that they are seeking out every chance they can get to ensure that students are afforded a chance to find themselves through their own mediums. Whether itʻs song, dance, and/or some kind of performance art, students need a chance to process their experience in complex creative ways that go beyond all rubrics and assessments. I am grateful to all the participants in this first cycle. I hope to reflect more on this series and build a new one soon where we can just add more educators to the first cycle and have more friends who share the same “hobby”. Hopefully, more people will realize that the “hobby” they have really isnʻt a hobby at all, but a deeper connection to an intricate inner world that deserves to be at the center of everyoneʻs practice.
Mahalo to those that participated!
Stacy Prellberg, 2021
