ARTS MIND
headpiece: Naomi & Heidi, photo: Heidi with Naomi headpiece, photograph and graphics: Krystal & Yino
graphic design: Heidi
ARTS MIND is A WEEK LONG EVENT, full of mindful creative offerings.
during NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK
ARTS MIND is an interactive mindful creative magazine,
featuring the work of MMHS students
ARTS MIND is a series of ONGOING CREATIVE OFFERINGS
in SUPPORT of MENTAL HEALTH
ARTS MIND is ONLINE, here, now with a range of resources and activities
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SEE BELOW, for resources and CREATIVE MINDFUL ACTIVITIES & PROMPTS
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ARTS MIND originating from an integrated project series in 2018 within our Grade 11 Visual Design AWD3M1 (Middleton). It started with the idea of creating theatrical pieces to represent varied states of mind and use them to creat portraits for a mental health awareness campaign. The projects blossomed, as did the students' potential, to act as interdisciplinary designers, making a difference.
photography M.Coleman
Arts Mind -the Week - emphasizing the role of the Arts and Creativity in Personal & Community Wellness. It coincides with National Mental Health Awareness Week and features:
*a thematic art show, (supported by coursework & awareness through Arts focus)
*performances across The Arts: Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts
*workshops and daily mindful arts experiences across and between disciplines
*signature events like ART ALIVE!! - The Paint Challenge and ARTS KNIGHT
*a corresponding ARTS MIND MAGAZINE - an interactive experience built by students for students
*information campaign in support of whole health and mindfulness through the
creative process, somatic experience, engagement and meaning making
*an extended welcome to all MMHS students and staff and our extend community
ARTS MIND on the Road, extending the message into the community.
At Markham Civic Centre Image: City of Markham Downtown at Gallery 44 Our very mobile MMHS Dance Troupe
Mayor, Frank Scarpitti, with Photographs by Safia with Taylor AVI, AWD & AWQ classes
& Usman with Daniel (AWD3M1, AWD 4M1 -Middleton)
* NEW in 2019
ARTS MIND, the 'ZINE - an interactive Mindful Magazine, built by students for
students, featuring mindful poetry, imagery and creative exercises, with a hand rendered
sensibility - supported by key projects from our
This years magazine is a conversation between the images of current MMHS students and the
words of past students, now adults, in a continuity of share experience.
LEAVING - is an original theatre-in-the-round performance, sharing one young
woman's experience of leaving home and community for a new land, language and lifestyle,
based on a mindful writing experience from Ms. Coleman's ESL class. This experience ushered
in Annie's writing debut and solidified the performance experience for Garret and Fanny.
ARTS MIND ELEMENTARY - this year Arts Mind joined forces with the Equity Club to extend
the Arts Mind experience to our community elementary schools. A condensed, dedicated Arts Mind
experience was designed with feature performances, workshops and continued thematic art show, all
geared to Mental Health Awareness through the Arts.
A Speak Up Grant, supporting student Voice enabled additional culture-based Arts workshops
with Deron Ahsén:nase Douglas and Quamie James and provided each participating
elementary school student with an ARTS MIND MAGAZINE, to support their independent
explorations.
NEW IN 2020 ARTS MIND, ONLINE
ART AS MINDFULNESS, POSITIVE FOCUS, CREATIVE RESPONSE & PERSONAL EXPRESSION
Art is good for you and we are here for you.
Arts is good for everyone. Creative exploration helps. All MMHS students, staff and friends may visit this space for links to great creative initiatives offered by artists and designers, continuing to contribute to community and well being. We will, also, post some of our MMHS creative works here to amuse, inspire and keep in touch. Join us in creativity.
From Spain to Port Hope and beyond artists everywhere are displaying art and rainbow colours in their windows to focus on creativity and encourage others. Take up the challenge in this 'window' and your own. We will post some MMHS wonder here, as it continues to grow.
You can engage and share through our feature flickr.com galleries:
(note the permission requirements on each gallery)
MAGAZINE
Our Student Creative Team has been working to Bring You ARTS MIND MAGAZINE 2020. Anticipate a gradual release of interactive printable pages as we go virtual. Arts Mind, each magazine is unique, because you create it.
Image: Angel L. Design: Angel L .and Midd.
RENEW through CREATIVE ACTION
bring positive focus, meaning & energy to your day
Consider our creative prompts as a mindful creative focus in unusual times.
INSPIRATION ONE - RECHARGE YOUR SUPER POWERS with imagery
Give yourself a surprise and a laugh to
Humour and amusement can lift us each day.
1) image search your name + glamour shot - the second one is for you
2) give it an MMHS twist: image search name plus superhero and see what comes up first
3) take it to nature: image search your name plus flower - pick the one that suits you
4) try all those as .gif searches if you need an extra boost
5) take it a step further and use one as inspiration for an artwork.
The first one is via artist Wild Kristin and her amazing group of creative friends.
INSPIRATION TWO - KEEPING IT CLEAN, KEEPING IT CALM
Promote household hygiene for flattening the curve. Create a cleaning selfie. For photo students, this is a good opportunity to practice selective focus and creative, communicative portraiture (faces optional).
Skip the glamour and tell it like it is ... or glam it up... either way. Keep it as is or use it as a Basis for a poem, drawing, dance, or dramatic work.
INSPIRATION THREE - NEW FORMS
Finding Signs and Making Messages - creative efforts to positively and responsibly communicate
are emerging around us. Record one or create one.
INSPIRATION FOUR - TOGETHER, APART
We are all in partnership at this present time.
Create an expression about social distance or distance socializing.. in image, words, dance, drama, music.
Create an expression related to connection ... across space ~
INSPIRATION FIVE - GRATITUDE
Identify something that makes you feel grateful. Create a photo, drawing, song or dance around that concept.
INSPIRATION SIX - SANCTUARY
Visit the Aga Khan Museum Without Walls Initiative
Tour the New Sanctuary Show, featuring artists and patterns from around the world https://youtu.be/ZuPCjKmfbFU
INSPIRATION SEVEN - THE DIVIDE
TOPICAL: How do experience the physical divide? Is it actual? How can you frame it? embrace it? transform it?
respond in word, drawing, photo, paper sculpture, food styling, office supply stacking, dance, drama or ...other viable means
INSPIRATION EIGHT - TINY 3D Wonderlands
tiny quarantine gallery for gerbils
fancy yourself a curator? into spatial design?
see what happens when and London museum curator is quarantined
keep yourself and your pets happy during challenging times
hint: it fits an upcoming design project
2021
2021, will be something different. What's your idea for a yearbook theme and cover?.. virtual or print edition
continue to look here and connect with updated initiatives, activities and inspirations - take care~
ARTS COMMUNITY
https://www.socialdistancingfestival.com/ Toronto Playwright, Nick Green has created a space
to shares artistic content from cancelled art events
https://ago.ca/agoinsider/experience-ago-from-home - new virtual content from the Art Gallery of Ontario
TOPICAL: How do experience the physical divide? Is it actual? How can you frame it? embrace it? transform it?
https://nobodyhere.com/ creative company and inspiration since 1998 - suggested by Ms Comerford
DRAWING & DESIGN
https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/ lunch doodles with Mo Willems, artist in residence at the Kennedy Centre
https://www.proko.com/ illustrator Stan Propenko - great content and skills building - freebies - 30 Day Great Trials
comic book instruction with Will Sliney ongoing create challenges
https://99designs.ca/logo-design/contests huh, logo pro design competitions with potential payout prize
https://99designs.ca/contests - more pro design contests of all sorts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn04yV5ig2w&feature=youtu.be Steam Punk portrait with art teacher Christine Rasmussen provided by Ms Perez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nclSb-MlAxo drawing a day can change your life .. and is certainly a great focus for now... give it a try
free courses
Lose Yourself, Find Yourself: Write & Draw for Creative Self-Discovery March 23-April free mini sessions 1 month trial https://www.skillshare.com/workshops/878?via=logged-in-home-workshops-row
proko.com amazing - free month trial and much other - support your figure drawing and portrait development https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/mo-willems/ lunch doodles with Mo Willems, artist in residence at the Kennedy Centre
https://www.proko.com/ illustrator Stan Propenko - month course trials - build your portrait & figure drawing skills
PHOTO
PHOTO of the DAY (and week) https://www.photo.net/photo-of-the-day/#//Sort-Newest/All-Categories/This-Year/Page-1 https://www.photo.net/photo-of-the-week/#//Sort-Newest/All-Categories/This-Year/Page-1
Quarantine photo challenge https://www.instagram.com/ascobereta/ by Artist Isis Ascobereta
https://glenbow.blog/glenbow-from-home/ - go to Calgary to tour Vivian Maier: In Her Own Hands
https://www.gallery.ca/canadian-photography-institute-blog/soap-bubbles-early-outdoor-portraiture early portraiture CNG
https://www.instagram.com/trishazemp/ - stop motion animation with Trisha Zemp
https://filmfreeway.com/QuarantineInternationalFilmFestival movie making in the 'stuck'
https://northrup.photo/podcast/ the picture this podcast
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
2 months free creative skills guidance! https://www.skillshare.com/
+ do your own search, follow your own interest for a range of tutorials -... offerings are out there
ACTIVITIES and CHALLENGES for ALL
#antisocialartshow by Airigami https://www.instagram.com/p/B9pT5DIA3tO/ using any available supplies
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ngakids-art-zone/id904766241?ls=1 gallery app with fun edu.art interaction - National Gallery, USA
http://elisegravel.com/en/livres/free-printables/ free colouring and activity pages
http://library.nyam.org/colorourcollections/ Annual Colouring Festival - Unusual Sources
https://www.instagram.com/p/B99HV7EgUep/ https://www.instagram.com/p/B92_-_PgX6i/ colouring pages and sport illustration competition by illustrator Steph Cheng
https://www.porthopenow.com/?p=8791 window art challenge - start you own
some of these creative finds sourced from CBC, other media/social media posts + searches
thank you to our local broadcasters and creatives who continue to generate and offer creativity to others
it can be a challenge to start, to 'unfreeze' on your own... give creativity a try.. click .. start.. be
PODCASTS
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved arts and culture with Rosanna Deerchild
ART, ONGOING - there is a lot to explore (see the resource page for more)
MORE: SEE OUR RESOURCE PAGES FOR OUR COLLECTION OF GALLERIES and other ART SITES
MORE WELLNESS>>>
LISTEN
BREATHE
MOVE IT - at your own pace and comfort and in your own way - examples below:
...find your own inspiration, honour your traditions, beliefs, personal ways & paths ... and keep flowing ...
Illustration and original title rendering: Dylan
Arts Knight, our long-running multi-disciplinary annual performance event,
now aligns with Arts Mind, emphasizing the value of shared creative expression
in Dance, Drama, Music, Technology and Visual Arts. Arts Knight now is scheduled as a key feature within Arts Mind, the week.
I Images: Yino, Dylan, Angel
ARTS MIND IS COLLABORATION and COMMUNITY
it started with...
one nutty idea... to reflect states of mind through paper costume design
and a class signed on ... and extended it into a campaign
which we took downtown
and brought back home
other Visual Arts classes joined to form a show
other Arts subjects stepped in weave in performance and interconnections
and opportunities for the whole school and community to join in
showup and share experience and expression
and that is what can happens when we go with creativity
in community
building connection and meaning
ARTS MIND 2019 - MAY 6-10
INTERIOR LANDSCAPES IN FULL COLOUR _______
A WEEK OF ART for Mental Health Awareness for all of MMHS
Photo and Text: Tracy with Kitty Headpiece: Kian, Kitty, Tracy AWD3M1 (Midd) Illustration and Graphics Collaboration: Angel AVI101 (Midd)
See the atrium showcase in May for our daily schedule. Join us for performances, activities,
experiences & art displays. ARTS MIND - for the ENTIRE SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Art is Mindfulness. Mental Health. Modern Learning. Reconciliation. Community Partnership. Interdisciplinary Collaboration.
NEW THIS YEAR! ARTS MIND - The 'ZINE
EDITION ONE: THE INNER LANDSCAPE
Join us as we explore Mindful Creativity through writing, reading and art.
Each book is designed to be unique, with space and inspiration for
personal and collaborative creations. Works completed through explorations in
Junior Visual Arts Courses and independent inquiry, with Joyce Z. in the role of
editor. -see Ms Coleman (ESL), Ms Middleton or Joyce Z. for details
LOOKING for EXPERIENCE and MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION?
Consider a role as on the 2020 editorial or promotions team.
literacies - mindfulness - inquiry - process - social intelligence - modernity learning & tradition
UPCOMING RECONCILATION AS LANDSCAPE
In 2019/20 we embark on a journey to create a Land Use Acknowledgment
as artwork, in the building of a collective landscape, honouring the rhythms and elements of nature, the land around us and the Indigenous communities that came before us.
The work is meant to be 'slow' and aware with mindful intention and direct personal engagement, supported through Arts Discovery, our regular series of mindful studio activity. We anticipate that the work will be offered as a whole school experience within Arts Mind 2020, with unveiling within Indigenous Culture Month... when we will share and extend the layers of this work and vision.
The work also supports MMHS Drama's involvement with the Scarborough Project's Landscapes theme in association with Tarragon Theatre and U of T Scarborough.
At MMHS, we recognize Colonialism and Colonization as a systemic pattern and experience echoed through the many cultures that are a part of our community and recognize our role towards expanded awareness and transformation locally and globally.
To find out more or participate in the project, contact the department.
Past ARTS MIND HIGHLIGHTS - THE BOX
The Box is an extension of an in-class inquiry exercise that transformed into a 3D Living Installation, hosted by The MMHS Learning Commons and supported by Maker Space.
Students and staff were invited to engage in a self-directed mindful visualization exercise, considering their experience of 'enclosure' and translate their response into a visual expression ...to take-away or add to the installations growth and change.
The varied responses reflected our shared and individual experience, and static and shifting nature of perception.
ART as HEALING - feature Artist Kiki
The Visual Arts Department support personal arts
exploration through our four directions:
Visual Arts Discovery - our regular mindful arts activity offering
Open Studio - an opportunity to use our studios for self-guided work
Visual Arts Ventures Network - matching students to creative opportunities
developing student centered creative initiatives
Visual Arts Courses - with meaningful, differentiated art projects
ARTS MIND brings the directions together into one offering
Together with our other partners in The Arts: Dance, Drama & Music
the four YRDSB foci,
as well as Green Inc,
(nature being foundational to personal and collective wellness)
... and all those who create with us
see the Visual Arts Message Board for schedules or arrange your own, with us
ARTS MIND 2018 - MAY 7-14
see the Visual Arts Newsletter for details
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left: headpiece, photograph and graphic design -Heidi with Naomi
right: headpiece, photograph and graphic design -Krystal with Yino
AWD3M1(Middleton)
~ Art is not just ornamental, an enhancement of life.
it is a path in itself, a way out of the predictable and conventional, a map to self discovery. - Gabrielle Roth
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K. Middleton, Subject Head, Visual Arts, MMHS, YRDSB