Art

Letting Emotion Get in the Way of Judgement

Well, it happened this weekend. In this period of heightened stress and anxiousness, I almost fell into the same vitriolic emotions that I’ve been guarding against. Upon hearing that outdoor areas were being opened as long as social distancing was observed, pictures started flooding in from concerned citizens about those that were not taking social distancing seriously. The CBC published stories worried about people ignoring the rules and threatening to close outdoor areas again or start levying fines.

And I felt it… a visceral, emotional response toward those that would willfully ignore the rules set out by Dr. Bonnie Henry and public health guidelines. Anger toward those that would put others in harm’s way so that they could get their outdoor time in at our beaches and parks. The idea that in an instant of gorgeous weekend weather, our efforts to flatten the curve would be erased. I began thinking about how I could express this feeling, communicate the frustration that I had with those people. Tell them how selfish they were being and, for the greater good, must continue to observe the rules to that we can beat this virus without risking anyone else’s health.

Upon witnessing this rant percolating in me and before I could embarrass myself, my kindhearted wife, ever the educator, asked a question that teacher-librarians really shouldn’t be reminding of, “how many pictures have you seen and are they different in any way?”

Humbled, I took pause to go back and look at the pictures that had moments ago raised my ire, like these images of Kits Beach:

The perspective of photos that showed a crowd were always at ground level. It did not take long for responses of others on social media to get heated and out of hand. I am certainly glad I listened to my wife, as this came through Twitter not long after our conversation:

The series of photos from the Twitter thread by Space2Place gave further examples of how perspective of crowding changes when seen from above.

Which prompted me to do a bit of further research into forced perspective and the issues of lens compression. As interesting as that was, this CTV article was more directly to the point. That same photo of Kits Beach, the one that made it appear so crowded, had an entirely different view from the air.

From CTV News: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/just-how-crowded-are-the-beaches-pictures-highlight-how-perspectives-can-mislead-1.4935162

 

Needless to say, my initial anger subsided and was replaced by embarrassment. I fell victim by the same hooks that are used to get people to react, either to click, comment or otherwise engage with information seeking to prey on an emotional response, without taking pause and examining the situation from a wider perspective (yes, punny, I know).

That is not to say that there were no infractions of social distancing this past weekend, I’m sure there were, just as I’m now sure that it may not have been to the extent that I initially assumed. This exercise served as a good reminder to take effort and evaluate situations and information before reacting. As many times as I’ve given this advice to people in the past, I certainly benefited from it yesterday.

rmcmahon 2 Comments

Artists Gotta Art

Art is as limitless as the artist’s imagination. The trouble that we are having right now is that even the most imaginative do not necessarily have access to an art studio at home. While simple supplies and household items can all be used in some capacity to create fantastic artistic works, there are a multitude of digital options as well.

By having a common group of resources to utilize for at-home learning opportunities, teachers can be better able to facilitate opportunities as they can ensure that all of their students have access to the same supplies. Now, I’m no artist by any stretch, so I am very open to further suggestions and comments about what I list here.

Pixilart examples

Pixilart is a free, on-line tool that provides a digital canvas to draw on. It is amazing to me to see what people are capable of doing with digital lines and colouring. The capacity of this venue seem enormous and you can use the tools without signing up or registering, though your capacity to explore and save will be limited. Characters, landscapes and abstract scenes all seem to be achievable.

For those needing something a bit more robust in the way of an online resource, Sketchpad is another free to use online app. With the ability to add layers and fine detail, this would be more for those serious and willing to invest some time in creating and learning how to access all of the apps capabilities. But, if an artist has got to art, then this is a tool that will give you all of the options you will need to see your vision come to life.

My creation on Silk

Silk is some sort of crazy timelapse art concept. A blend of real time randomization, you can create a beautiful image in no time. Even the most unartistic, such as yours truly, can feel that they are creating a lasting abstract picture that will be enjoyed by all viewers.

If you are looking for more options and to have a bit more control of your creations, downloading a tool may be the solution. Paint.net and GIMP are two such downloads that have been forever, attesting to their popularity and usefulness. With either of these installed, artists can create an image from scratch, import a picture or graphic to manipulate or any number of other things that their creativity will allow. Unlike the online options, users will have more control over their files, be able to access and use whatever is on their computer, and be able to save multiple copies at multiple stages of creation. There is also the expanded capabilities that can only be offered through an installed application. Both offer extensive guides and how-tos, as well as active communities to ask questions of and seek advice from.

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Museum Links

As doors close to public institutions around the world due to the global pandemic, there are many places of note that have gone to extra lengths to ensure that people still have access to what they house. Many museums and galleries have ensured that at least a portion of their items are available through things like virtual tours, allowing people to explore the culture of the world through the internet. I have listed a few more prominent places that store a diverse collection of artifacts and art to provide a sampler of what is being made available.

An item’s detail.

The British Museum offers a beautiful interactive timeline for visitors to explore their collection based on era, geographical area or theme. You can move back and forth on the timeline, from 2 million years BCE until 2000 AD. Each node that you click on presents an item that you can further explore by clicking the details. This will call up a larger picture, explanation of the item and related objects. Options for an audio description and where it is from, located on a Google map, are also options.

The British Museum also provides 11 other ways to explore from home, including a virtual tour, searchable online collection, gallery highlights, podcasts and a YouTube channel.

France’s Musée du Louvre is offering a variety of online connections as well. You can choose from one of the many galleries or exhibitions from which to begin a virtual tour, where you can walk around the museum, street-map style and chose to stop in at any of the displays to find out more. They also have a series of videos and online media, not to mention an app that explores Leonardo da Vinci’s work.

I liked the river scene.

On this side of the pond, New York’s Met Museum has numerous online features as well. MetKids has a neat, graphical way of exploring the museum and finding out about its exhibits. For those that would like to delve a bit deeper, Their Art at Home feature allows searching art on a timeline, pairing them with essays and chronologies.

The Great Wall tour from The China Guide

The iconic Great Wall of China has a virtual tour that is absolutely breathtaking, especially if you blow the viewer up to full screen. While put together by a tour guide company, it still is really something to see. Circle One has put together a 360-degree virtual tour as well, created through Tour Creator. You can also find links to virtual tours in other parts of the world as well.

It use to be there is too much to see and not enough time. It usually referred to the time it would take to travel there and enjoy the sight. Due to social distancing and isolation that the pandemic brings, we may as well use this time to travel a bit and marvel at the sites the internet can transport to us.

As always, if you have a fitting resource that you would like to share, please leave it in the comments section below. I will be adding material as time and findings allow.

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