Originally posted By michael cebuliak on June 10, 2018
I wish that my choice of app be considered in amongst a myriad of other mobile apps for artists, or those that wish to foster the development of creativity. SketchBook is a rather robust app that lets one play around with brushes, canvases, perspective, layers, filters… It’s pretty cool, especially if you have a pressure sensitive pen.
Oh, and one other thing, SketchBook is now free! Free and mobile! Yeah!
It’s interesting to think of a day when visual artists traveled the globe with their paints, set up their easel when inspired, and captured a representation of what they saw and felt before them. Now, all one needs to do is carry their mobile device to any physical or virtual place and whenever inspired, find the digital means, on their phone or tablet to recreate their vision. This could be as simple as a camera app or as complex as some video or illustration app. Of course, we should consider more than those apps which appeal to the visual modality as there certainly are apps wherein one could spontaneously create music, write text or approach their work from a multimodal perspective. It’s a great time to be an artist as the means of digital expression are so many, so inexpensive and so freakin’ mobile. Now, nearly anyone, anywhere can be Cecil b Demille (whoever he is).
As this week’s focus is on mobile learning and designing mobile, educational experiences, I wish to point to the importance of an education in fine arts, as a means to fostering creativity. STEM is a well know approach towards building science, technology, engineering and mathematical skills in students so that they are “prepared for the jobs of tomorrow”. Yeah! However, many critics have pointed to the omission of the arts within STEM programs (Boo!) and proposed a curriculum that acknowledges their importance within critically thinking, well rounded, creative individuals and cultures by proposing STEAM, thus also acknowledging the inclusion of artistic elements within all disciplines (I previously created a video exploring the application of elements of design to other disciplines that can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guTSqp8gS-8&t=96s. If you are all interested in such matters, as the importance of arts within science, I encourage you to check out the following link: http://theconversation.com/steam-not-stem-why-scientists-need-arts-training-89788
Being creative is not something that only one with a goatee and beret brings to their canvas, but it is something that anyone can bring to their daily life. As a photographer, when I go for walks I appreciate both artificial and natural compositions, I see instances of harmony, balance and repetition everywhere I look. My knowledge of photography helps me to be visually literate. I like to think that I am better than most at finding meaning, and purpose, in photographs as I myself know how to create meaningful images. Such skills are very important within our visual media rich world. However, not only does my understanding of artistic elements in photography help me in my appreciation of visual images, but it helps me in my comprehension of printed textual works. I can better appreciate things like composition, structure, tone and mood and find myself constantly thinking of ways in which to represent similar sentiments through other forms of art. Undoubtedly art improves the quality of my life and, I’m sure because it is related so closely to creativity, makes me a better teacher…just as I assume your knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math makes you a better teacher.