Amber Westmoreland

Reflections 3
Details and context of studio investigation

Tourist Souvenir is an art lesson that involves creating a small three dimensional object of a
place that symbolizes the relationship the artist has with a location from mixed media. The
Tourist Souvenir often includes cliche subject matter related to the city; however, because the
object of the assignment is to represent the individuals personal relationship with a place that
has impacted their life the subject matter used to represent the city or town is can be
personalized to a point that the viewer would not recognize what place is being represented by
sheer observation of the work. For my project I choose to represent LA and used the cliche
images that most people would associate with hollywood, such as a movie, star, and red carpet.
I also plan to incorporate the waitressing and bartending life by using waitress tabs and adult
beverages. I am choosing to incorporated this aspect because in the years I lived in LA I found
myself continuously involved in gearing up to make movies for film festivals, helping out on the
set during filming, and attending opening premier nights, because everyone in my social circle
was in the film industry. I found it odd that when asking what someone did for work was always
Im an actor, director, producer, or sound guy, even though most of them had day jobs
bartending or waitressing. I also incorporated a mason jar to symbolize that of a tip jar that is
often placed on a counter beverages the front of a restaurant for to go orders. I choose to use a
mason jar because it was of the right scale and I liked how it referenced the food industry.

Tourist Souvenirs in my classroom

I would consider implementing this lesson plan in the classroom because I feel it is a good
assignment to teach about scale, space, and volume within a short time frame due to the small
size of the piece. I also thing it is a good assignment to encourage students to talk about varying
cultures, in addition to potentially learning more unique and accurate information about a
location because of the personalization that goes into creating the miniatures. I believe it is also
a way to get students to slow down and pay attention to detail. If an individual can learn to
appreciate details can encourage them to slow down and notice it in other aspects of life, such
as the details in a story, lecture, presentation, or change in behavior and could improve their
performance in any area of study.

An adaption I might make in this assignment would be to encourage student not to use cliches
and expected subject matter to represent the palace they choose. I could do this by having all
students pick their place, and then have students form a list using a quick brainstorm about what
one would expect to see for the chosen city. I could limit them to using only one or two teams
from the list, or make a requirement using five or more images that are not found on the list. I
would consider putting these stipulations on the assignment as a means to have student create
more unique tourist souvenirs, in addition to discouraging stereotypes related to specific places
and cultures.
 Amber Westmoreland

Grade 9-12 Visual Arts

Creating: Proficient
3.1 Apply relevant criteria from traditional and contemporary cultural contexts to examine, reflect
on, and plan revisions for works of art and design in progress

Presenting: Proficient
6.1 Analyze and describe the impact that an exhibition or collection has on personal awareness
of social, cultural, or political beliefs and understandings.

Responding: Proficient
7.2 Analyze how ones understanding of the world is affected by experiencing visual imagery.
Connecting: Proficient
11.1 Describe how knowledge of culture, traditions, and history may influence personal
responses to art.

TPE 1: Engaging and Supporting All Students in Learning

1. Apply knowledge of students, including their prior experiences, interests, and social-emotional
learning needs, as well as their funds of knowledge and cultural, language, and socioeconomic
backgrounds, to engage them in learning.

TPE 2: Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning

2. Create learning environments (i.e., traditional, blended, and online) that promote productive
student learning, encourage positive interactions among students, reflect diversity and multiple
perspectives, and are culturally responsive.

TPE 3: Understanding and Organizing Subject Matter for Student Learning

2. Use knowledge about students and learning goals to organize the curriculum to facilitate
student understanding of subject matter, and make accommodations and/or modifications as
needed to promote student access to the curriculum.

TPE 4: Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for All Students

1. Locate and apply information about students' current academic status, content- and
standards-related learning needs and goals, assessment data, language proficiency status, and
cultural background for both short-term and long-term instructional planning purposes.
 Amber Westmoreland

TPE 5: Assessing Student Learning

1. Apply knowledge of the purposes, characteristics, and appropriate uses of different types of
assessments (e.g., diagnostic, informal, formal, progress-monitoring, formative, summative, and
performance) to design and administer classroom assessments, including use of scoring
rubrics.
TPE 6: Developing as a Professional Educator

1. Reflect on their own teaching practice and level of subject matter and pedagogical knowledge
to plan and implement instruction that can improve student learning.