GIMP/Photoshop Tutorial Part 2 (Directed Study)

WEEK 10 (July 9)

Layering images - controlling transparency to create an effect. 

Working with light, atmosphere, architecture/man-made and contrast with nature. Repetition .

Combining multiple images, 

blending and transparency tools, 

layers, all original photographs

Final Image: The Peace of Wild Things

This week I did a ‘directed study’ session to keep learning GIMP and working on my transformation project. I really wanted to learn how to layer images better and control the transparency to create different effects. I was working with light, atmosphere, repetition, architecture and patterns in nature. I took advantage of time to work with the technician one-on-one and it was very helpful. I was really motivated because I knew what I wanted to achieve and could ask specific questions.

I was really empowered to learn something that I had been wanting to learn for a long time. Overall the biggest impact this session had on me was the appreciation I had for the ability to have the one-on-one time with an instructor in a quiet room. I realized that most of our education is in large group settings, and despite the fact that I am a natural extrovert, quiet moments of connection and one-on-one with a teacher really complement my education. And in fact I think I seek out those moments. As an adult learner I love school because I have a lot of power (compared to high school) and I know how to communicate with my instructors and benefit majorly from meeting with them after class or outside regular class time in their office. 

Jan offered us many opportunities to have control over our learning and gave us a lot of choice. She was a great role model that way. She practiced what she preached. She was constantly giving us choice and also did not tightly reign us in with her classroom management style, but more so lured us in. She often would start talking before we were all silent and didn’t seem too bothered by it, she would just keep going and eventually the people would be quit and join the group. She was comfortable in a looser style of class, and it was really and excellent strategy and approach overall because basically everyone seemed very engaged and on board. I see how as teachers we need to pick our battles and it is a fine art to learn how to hold space, and especially a free, creative and inspiring space. I mainly take the same approach and realize that I need to honor my instincts and people skills in the future when figuring out how to teach in the public school system.

Regarding assessment I think that perhaps during work session classes in the art room there should sometimes be no assessment at all, other than observation. It feels radical to say that, but really, I think that variation on the structure of the class is really needed, and some of the joy of the art room is the freedom to breath and just be. Sometimes less is more. Hopefully the set-up of the lesson, the environment of the classroom, my positive attitude, and the energy in the classroom will support the students that might drift. But also, maybe they just need to drift, or work on other homework, or nap (I had one student that was working nights to support his family, and another international student who seemed stressed or neglected that I always carefully woke up in the mornings when his head was on his desk, and he wrote in a card that I was the nicest teacher ever to him). Extensions can be varied: working in a sketchbook, on a class graffiti wall, on a blog, on a new project, and research project, or with a partner collaboratively. Adaptations might be that students can work anyway they want, with headphones, on the computer, on the floor, in the library, outside, etc.