![]() ![]() ‘Nothing’ can signify fatigue, frustration or lack of confidence but can also tell me that they need something that is currently not present in the art studio, whether that be material, instruction or social intervention. The ‘nothing’ answer is powerful and presents an opportunity to dig a bit deeper with the artist. When it is answered with, “Nothing! I don’t know what to do.” I direct the student to the various resources in the room that could help with idea generation. When the question is answered with, “Oh, sorry….I will get started!” I know it was a gentle reminder to get moving. Sometimes the question is used to redirect an artist who has completely lost themselves in the social nature of a working art studio. When I ask a 5th grader what they are working on, the answers get even more coded and loaded. When they answer the ‘what are you working on?’ question, they pull together imagination, literacy and clay skills and techniques in a simply magical way that I never could have put together! When I ask the question of another third grader, the answer is “I don’t know but I like how the painting is turning out right now.” This 3rd grader is deep within a painting exploration that has little to do with painting a picture and everything to do with how the paint is mixing, moving and feeling on the brush, the paper and the artists hands. For example, a partnership of 3rd grade artists created about 15 different clay pieces as 3-d illustrations for a story they had written in class. When I ask a third grader the answer is usually multi-faceted and sometimes hard to follow. ![]() The answers to, “What are you working on?” change as the students get older and their process changes. I have learned how to simply get out of their way and watch them create without fear. When I ask a Kindergartener, “Hey, tell me what you are working on?” I get an answer something like this: “Well, I was watching the construction guy using that big hot glue gun so I used cardboard and marker caps to make one!” Or, “We are having a musical at recess and I am making the tickets!” Kindergarten artists are all-in all the time. The answers are usually as different as each person I ask. ![]() When you teach in a TAB art program in a constructivist based school, this is an incredibly important and sometimes loaded question. Each time it is asked, there are subtle nuances to the question. What are you working on? I find myself asking this question hundreds of times a week to a wide variety of students and educators. ![]()
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