Mind Mapping (Week 4)

          Hi everyone, this time I was drawing mind maps with my friends, Winny and Beth on mahjong papers. We were using the color markers to make the mind maps more attractive and colorful. There are 2 mind maps that we’ve done, one is about “Pursuit of Happiness” and the other one is about “Creativity and Innovation”. At first, we made the outline about the mind map. We divided the "Pursuit of Happiness" into "what", "how", “love”, and “obstacles”. After we made the outline, each of them branched and become more detailed and specified. We gave many examples in each division and also decorated the paper with colorful pictures. We found it was exciting, because we could draw and give colors in the paper.

          In the second paper, we also did the same. The topic was about “Creativity and Innovation”. After we made the outline consisting of 4 branches, “what” and “how” for Creativity, “what” and “how” for Innovation, we also did the drawing and coloring on the mind map. Many interesting drawings and colors are made to represent the ideas.

          After we made the mind maps, we found that it was easy to memorize the topics. I also found it was exciting to read the mind maps, knowing that there are a lot of pictures and colors. I think that I should make the outline first when I’m doing a project, just like creating the mind maps, because we will be more interested to read something clear and consisting of colorful pictures. These mind maps also develop our creativity, by drawing and giving colors to make the mind maps.

Artists Who Broke the Rules (Week 3)

Hello everyone, now it's about artists who broke the rules. There are 3 of them who draw my attention and here they are.

Salvador Dali

Surrealism is the style of this man’s artwork. He is a Spanish artist who likes to draw things that just come out from his head. He did the paintings without thinking what the paintings will become that make him different with other artists. Other artists think first about what they are going to paint. His paintings are unique because he paints things not in the proper way, such as drawing elastic clock, distorted creatures, or even make an illusion paintings which give you different perspective when you see the painting from far distance or close distance.

 Salvador Dali, Old Couple or Musician, 1930

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Time, 1931

Salvador Dali, The Temptation of St. Anthony, 1946

What inspires me from this artist is that we don’t always have to stick in the rules and that will make greater artworks that come out from our imagination.

Damien Hirst

           I think this man really broke the rules in art. He is a contemporary artist from English whose artworks are mostly preserved animal’s dead body placed in a box. This man chooses ‘death’ as his art concept which artworks are very different with other artists’. He also make skull as his artwork. He built a museum of his artworks that we can feel ‘death’ when we enter the museum and see the artworks.

Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991

Damien Hirst, For the Love of God, 2007

This man gives me inspiration that art doesn't always come from proper imagination, knowing that he can put death into an art. I think imagination comes from countless sources.

Andy Warhol

             He is an American artist who is known for the pop art, which is a form of art that depicts objects or scenes from everyday life and employs techniques of commercial art and popular illustration that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. He used contrasting colors to draw paintings of celebrities, such as green and red, yellow and black but it can form a great painting of famous people.  

Andy Warhol, Mao Zedong by Andy Warhol, 1972

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol, 1967

Andy Warhol, Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol, 1984

The contrasting colors that he used inspires me that color dissonance doesn't always make things look bad. Different things can be mixed to create a great artwork.

Brainstorming Reflection (Week 2)

         This reflection is about what I did in the second week of creative thinking class. This time I brought 3 mahjong papers and markers to write on the papers. The students were separated into groups which each grup consisted of 3 people. Each group had 3 roles that were leader, scribe, and photographer. I'm with Winny and Beth (Kai Ting). I became the leader and they became scribe and photographer. The mahjong papers and markers were brought for a game in the class. The game was to write down 100 ways to do something. Each group had to choose 3 from the topics that were given by the teacher. My team chose ‘how to squeeze a lemon’, ‘how to kill a cockroach’, and ‘how to cause a paperman to die’. I, as a leader encouraged my teammates while they were working and help them to think about the idea. They worked on writing and documentation. 

The first one is to think about 100 ways to squeeze a lemon. In the early times, we gave many ideas that came out from our head. We thought of kitchen stuffs, such as squeezer, knife, or bottle that are able to squeeze a lemon. However, things got harder when we reach about 30 ideas. We began to think critically to find the next idea. Then I looked around things in the class and I realized that stuffs from class are also able to squeeze a lemon, such as chair, table, door, or even eraser. Not only stuffs in class, but also from our house or anywhere. Animals are also able to squeeze a lemon and finally we finished the first paper.

The second is to think about the ways to kill a cockroach. At this time, we did it faster than before as it only took around 25 minutes. We just thought about things around us or everywhere and most of them are able to kill cockroach, if we used it in the proper way and a little sadistic. 

The last one is to think about the ways to cause a paperman to die. Mostly the ideas are almost the same, knowing that there is only a little difference between the ways to kill a cockroach and a paperman. We also finished this one earlier than before.

         After I did this game, I realized that there are a lot of ways to do everything. I also think that we need to think more critically to be creative. Every tool can be used for any purposes if we find out the way to use it properly. We also need to be keen with environment around us and more imaginative.