This concept lesson design is based on my discipline of jewelry design. As a practicing jewelry designer, I am often questioning the realms of what is considered to be jewelry, the significance and why we create them. Jewelry is often underestimated and overlooked in the ways that it can be beneficial to society. Underwood1 outlines that jewelry is crucial to the community as it is so much more than just the aesthetic function but instead brings together individuality, societies and ethnic groups. In this way jewelry for me addresses personal identity, cultural identity, and the connection between the two: the connection of culture to self.

This lesson concept design is targeted for students in the grade 7 to 8 level. During this age the child is undergoing a process of self-identity, where they fit into society and deciding what they can offer to the community. Approaching middle school years, interests are developing, curiosity is evident and discoveries are made in finding out about oneself. At this time the child is also facing challenges like wanting to fit in, to be accepted within the community and could also be facing relationship issues with family and friends. In the years of my own study, I realized that having an idea of personal identity really shapes how you want to be represented as an artist and designer. I also self-actualized that our culture and personal experiences influence us and make up our uniqueness as artists, designers and as individuals. Therefore I was inspired by Vygotsky’s2 theory of culture and social influence being the nucleus of human development and created a main focus on this as the inspiration for this project. As the development of individuality is linked with the development of creative potential, the headdress is then an opportunity for a studio based 1 Talya underwood’s article on Essential Adornment: Why is Jewelry important in Society2 Lefrancois, Guy R. Excerpts from: Psychology for Teaching

school activity that focuses around these topics in this stage of child development.

The rationale behind this project is to teach through an object, about culture and most importantly about ourselves. John Hennigar Shuh 3 really inspired me with his theory on teaching with objects, and the way that it “enhances our capacity for careful critical observation of our world.” Culture is important for development, as it is ultimately the result of development. Culture helps us grow, become informed, and gives us a state of consciousness. Students engaged with culture are developing a sense of relationship between the environments they are surrounded with. Timothy Allen Jackson 4says “Studio artists should be provided with multiple cultural lenses through which to see their world, including their own ethnic, gender, racial, social and economic identities.” This makes me reflect on being an artist and designer, I find that we are very observant and one of the ways we create artwork is through a documentation and narrative approach. For example, artists for decades have painted about what was happening around them such as a lot of Cornelius Krieghoff paintings at the AGO.

The Playtime, Village School (1857) by Cornelius Krieghoff at the AGO

3 John’ article on how to teach with objects from required readings4 Timothy Allen Jackson and his article on Ontological Shifts in Studio Art Education: emergent Pedagogical models

displays a strong maybe even stereotypically questionable about the culture of Canada. Currently there is a student exhibition for jewelry students to create work, which contributes their representation of Canada and are encouraged to declare numerous perspectives about Canadian culture.

Three modules form the Pedagogy Praxis of this assignment. Module one consists of the Reconstructionist curricula. Students will be exposed to the ways that headdresses are used culturally through out time. This segment supports students understanding of historical perspectives on headdresses as well as widens their concept of how they are connected as human; a very diverse and multi cultured species. With eventually leading through a cross cultural connection, they will inevitably create a connection of culture to self because we are engineered and taught to relate everything to ourselves and this in itself is a way of self learning. Body adornment such as the headdress is an object that is so diverse as an art form and how it is situated on the body is varied as well. This encourages them to bring about their own personal meanings, which will help gravitate to later culturally informing their creation. Images of different headdresses throughout the history will be shown. Students will then explore the visual knowledge in the pieces and determine how they can incorporate these elements into their works. The elements and principles of design- shape, colour, value, texture, line, space, balance, rhythm, movement, pattern, contrast, unity, and emphasis can enhance our understanding of the world as well as meanings can be created through manipulation of the visuals.

The activity that will be the impetus of this pedagogy praxis will begin with a leading discussion. In groups of three, they will be asked to answer the question of what defines an adornment? How are meanings

created when situated on different parts of the body? The students will then be asked to present the list to the class in groups (a duration of 30 minutes). Then a focus will be on headdresses narrowing down to what adornment can mean when it’s worn on the head. The teacher at this point can prepare to show a slideshow of historical images of headdresses of different cultures and contexts (slideshow presentation duration of 1 hour.) Before beginning with the first slide of images, the teacher would lead with an introduction engaging the class to throw ideas by raising their hands, to what adornment can mean when its worn on the head. An example of what would be listed out as the teacher writes them on the board would be, crowns for power, hats for protection against the elements, tiaras for symbol and status. When looking at the visual examples of historical headdresses, they will be asked to interpret when, and how they are used, for example, for ceremonial, ritual, or for aesthetic purposes. Some examples include:

The Turkoman headdress This headdress was for ceremonial purposes and worn by a bride on

her wedding day. The Daisy Chain headdress, is a handmade head adornment using daisy flowers, a nostalgic

popular activity of children of western cultures. The Oriental Circlet

tiara, which was worn by Queen Elizabeth and it, is a status symbol. Scaffolding is then now used to motivate students, asks questions that lead to certain important realizations and broadens their misconceptions of what a headdress can look like. Their own interpretation will create an association within other cultures, possibly relating to their own and is a way of constructing a consciousness of ones own culture. There will be discussion on materials on which the teacher will talk about in the slideshow presentation, about how materials might add meanings in these objects. This will help the students later on in decision-making on what material choices they will include in their headdress creation. The teacher will then finish off the presentation with some contemporary examples of headdresses such as the “ Tiara of Useful Knowledge,” by Jan Yagar

Module 2 consists of launching the assignment and having initial class time to utilize what they have freshly learned (duration time of 1and a half hour in other words the rest of the class period). As the purpose of the module one is to stimulate and guide, module two presents the opportunity to the development of cognitive processes through teaching the child how to learn and build on the intellectual capacities that they already possess. Personal relevance is achieved from how this assignment is based on ones own personal interests, culture, representation and perception of their identity.

Manasie Akpaliapik, Respecting the Circle, 1989. The teacher can use this example from the AGO as a guideline for the project. This artwork is appropriate because it is a clear example how the artist uses his own culture and personal connection to culture represents his identity and his identity as an artist. Assignment guidelines:

Title “The circle of Life” The way it is situated and meant to be seen (so in relation to

the activity, How is it worn/ displayed) Two faced, to be viewed all around, not just front

The symbols, objects and meanings depicted animals depicted in the art work, depicts spirituality in Inuit culture

The material chosen to create this artwork is very relevant to the identity of the artist. The whalebone, ivory, stone, antler, baleen, and horn represents the Inuit culture because they are all found in the Arctic. Also – the idea that everything is salvaged and put to use.

The teacher will lay out a bunch of materials for the students to start playing around with. Materials will range from coloured paper to fabrics. This will be the first stage of creativity process of making and then they will continue to finish making it at home. Around 2 weeks will be the time given for this assignment to be completed at home. They will be encouraged to use any type of material that they chose themselves.

Module 3 consists of presentations of their headdress creations. This segment revolves around Vygotsky’s 5 theory on development through the result of child interaction with others. Students will present their creations to the class and teacher. Learning is received on all ends, as there will be something unique that each student has to teach to the class. Having the headdresses displayed on a stand while they present to the class the title of their work, processes in the making, why they made it, the meanings associated with it and how it is situated on the head. There will be time for class feedback and questions. The student outcome will be their original piece of body adornment that they are proud to wear and has cultural value to them and with what they want to communicate about themselves to the world.

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