This week’s art word is originality. According to Shirrmacher and Fox (2009), originality refers to “thinking that is unique and unusual”(p. 367). I think that this term is quite reflective of the art activity related to this blog entry, because I needed to put on my creative thinking cap and come up with an original idea.
Guerilla Art. Before this phenomenon was explained to me, I had literally no idea what it meant. Once the concept was a bit clearer, the wheels in my mind began turning. When I was younger, I absolutely loved creating characters out of different materials. One of my FAVOURITE characters to make was fish. Red, blue sparkly or striped fish, you name it, I made it. Perhaps I loved making these artistic fish creations was because I’ve been fishing with my dad so many times. The excitement of catching a fish and marveling at how much effort you took to reel it in is completely exhilarating. That is why I decided to create a fish character that I could place around various areas in downtown Toronto.
Watching people’s reactions was priceless! So many people were looking at this peculiar fish and wondering why/who/when it was put there. What made the fish even more intriguing was the fact that there was a message attached to it. What I found most striking about people checking the fish out was the fact that no one stopped for a long period of time, which is why it was so hard to take a picture! I think that if I had put the fish around my hometown of Mississauga, I would have gotten better reactions because people would have taken more time to look at the fish.
Embarking on this Guerilla Art activity was a great way to bring out my originality. I'm not sure what I had more fun doing, making the fish or putting it in places for people to see! The message was meant to make people think about taking a risk and going outside their comfort zone. Take the plunge-swim with the fish!
Educators:
An idea like Guerilla Art would truly bring out amazing originality among children. They would be so excited to go around places and leave pieces of artwork for other people to find. This would be a great field trip activity to do as a class!
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