The mixed age group middle school students will be taking a deep dive into Spirals. This process will give them great comprehension of how artists brainstorm, research, sketch, edit ideas, and design in order to participate in the art process. Students will see first hand that art making is not just placing lines, colors, shapes, and art materials together; it is a deep reflection process and response process to something else. Students will see that their spiral is connecting to something deeper than what is present on the page. This spiral art unit is an introductory art unit revealing the design art process so students will see through their own trial and errors that rarely is art created for no intended purpose.
I want to close this unit with two personal shares. One regards my son’s 10-year-old friend who drowned in a culvert drain due to the fiery spiral waters sucking through the drain. I want students to be mindful that in the summer we all need to be very wise because secret whirlpools can pop up out of the blue after fast summer storms and undertow exists too. I want students to feel the beauty in spirals everywhere while also knowing how spirals can be deadly, especially tornadoes.
I also want to share my art series that I made called the Manhole Series which is currently on display at Branford Arts and Cultural Alliance, BACA in Branford. This Manhole series is a visual invitation into the inspection chamber, which is a small covered opening in the floor, pavement, or other surface that allows a person to enter. This is a special opening into a city street leading to the sewer line. While this is not a spiral it is a single pipe that transports all from inside your home to the main that's underneath the street. If you follow the vertical hole in the ground to the underground sewer pipeline you could see if there is any leakage or blockage in the underground sewer pipeline—much gratitude exists for the “the sanitary worker” who goes down for cleaning or tending to any repairs. I want the students to gain that art often allows another perspective and while it is not a spiral on the surface the water spirals within the pipe slush underground.
