The Teaching of Art Related to the Home Part 12

A cus.h.i.+on for the rocker and a flower by the window will also add color and finis.h.i.+ng touches to the room.

_Outline of project activities._--

----------------------------------+-------------------------------------- Jobs | References ----------------------------------+-------------------------------------- Selected wall paper and helped | Looked through several wall paper paper the room, using paper | catalogues and samples at the with light background and | furniture store.

pastel figures in it. | | Painted the woodwork an ivory | I got sample folders of paint and color. | also used the samples in the | catalogue.

| | The House and Its Care, by Matthews.

| Painted the floor an inside tan | Used sample folders of paint.

(deep tan color). | | Goldstein, Art in Everyday Life, | for suggestion on color.

| Painted the furniture with beige | I referred to paint folders.

enamel. | | Made an unbleached krinkled | I looked through several magazines spread, repeating the color of | and catalogues for styles and the draperies on the spread. | my mother and sister gave | suggestions.

| Made deep cream voile curtains. | Studied different styles of curtains These were straight curtains, | in magazines.

not ruffled. | | Made draperies. | Referred to magazines and catalogues.

| Made cretonne cus.h.i.+on for rocker. | Mother gave me suggestions.

| Made a dresser scarf, repeating | Consulted mother and my teacher.

colors that are in the wall | paper. | ----------------------------------+--------------------------------------

_Time for project._--A total of 62-1/2 hours was spent on my project between November 15 and January 11.

_Story of my project._--My bedroom is a northeast room, long and narrow, with sloping walls, and had but one window on the north side. This made it dark and cheerless during most of the year.

Last summer my father built a dormer window in the east side of the sloping walls. Immediately the room seemed transformed. It did not look so long and narrow and the suns.h.i.+ne drove out the darkness and cheerlessness. This improvement gave me the idea of remodeling the bedroom, and I saw many possibilities of making it into a cheerful and cozy one, where I could spend much of my spare time.

I began almost immediately to remodel. The first thing I started with was the walls. They were not suited for painting, so I chose paper, which I got at the furniture store. After looking through several wall paper catalogues I chose paper with a light background and an inconspicuous, conventionalized design in pastel tones of blue-green, red-orange, violet, and yellow.

(Sample attached.)

Before I put the paper on the wall I cleaned and sandpapered the woodwork, floors, and dusted the walls. Father and I then began papering. We had some trouble in matching the paper, but after the first two strips were matched the rest was put on without difficulty. The next job was painting the woodwork. I applied two coats of ivory paint after having dusted the wood so that there would be no dust to interfere with the painting. This was done successfully and without difficulty. (Sample of color used.)

The next step was painting the floor. I chose inside tan. (Sample of color used.)

The furniture was easier to paint than the floor but it took quite a while to give it two coats. I used enamel that dried in two hours, so had to be careful not to rebrush the parts I had painted, as rebrus.h.i.+ng causes light streaks after the paint has set. (Sample of color used.)

With father's a.s.sistance, I completed the difficult work of papering and painting. Then I began the pleasant work of making a spread, curtains, draperies, and cus.h.i.+on.

I looked through several magazines, catalogues, and books for the different ways of making curtains, spreads, and draperies.

My mother and sister also gave suggestions as to what would go best with the room and how to make them. I chose deep cream voile curtains with red-orange (peach) pongee draperies. The curtains are made with a wide hem at the bottom and sides.

The spread is of unbleached krinkled muslin. (Sample attached.) I have a deep ruffle of the same material at both sides and I repeated the red-orange color in two bands near the ruffle.

The rocker needed a cus.h.i.+on. This I made of figured cretonne, which blends nicely with the room. (Sample attached.)

On the floor I have two rag rugs which also have colors of blue, red-orange, and tan.

My teacher came to visit my room one evening and gave me some splendid ideas.

I shall add a homemade wardrobe for my clothes and put a low shelf in it for my shoes. In front of the dormer window a table will fit nicely. I am going to fix this table up with some books supported by book ends, a simple box, and a blooming plant.

I will keep some simple and useful articles on my dresser.

All through this report there are many evidences that the pupil can apply the principles of art successfully and also that she knows how to obtain further information as needed. Another interesting feature of this project is that the pupil did not consider this a finished piece of work when her original plan had been completed. She saw other possibilities for her room and was beginning to make plans for further changes and additions in keeping with those that had been completed.

There is no better evidence of the success of art training than in the effective use the girl makes of it in her home life. It may be antic.i.p.ated that a girl who has gone this far in improving a part of the home will endeavor to make other desirable changes. To the extent that the members of the entire family welcome the changes brought about by the project and enjoy the results, the project may be considered successful.

The success of art instruction may then be evaluated by--

1. Evidences in the cla.s.sroom.

2. Evidences in the home.

3. Tests which call for judgment and creative thinking.

4. Home projects.

HOME PROJECTS

Home projects involving the use of art are to be encouraged, not only as a device for measuring the results of teaching, but as a means of stimulating applications of art in the home. Art training will function in the immediate lives of the girls to the extent that successful applications of it are made through the home projects. However, such applications are not made without the ideal and therein lies the importance of developing in girls ideals of having and creating beauty that will be sufficiently deep seated not only to motivate but to carry through pieces of work in their homes that will bring more beauty and satisfaction to the families. Projects carried on in the home demand more than a repet.i.tion of certain processes that have been learned in school. They involve the bringing together of many principles and processes, the exercising of judgment in determining which are needed, and then the applications of these in the new situation. Thus the home project is a creative piece of work.

Much more use of art should be encouraged in many of the projects which girls are choosing in all phases of home activities since it can contribute so much to the comfort and attractiveness of homes, and these are essential factors of happy family life. Lewis Mumford,[27]

a distinguished critic of modern architecture and decoration, has fittingly said:

The chief forms of decoration in the modern house will be living things--flowers, pictures, people. Here is a style of interior decoration that perpetually renews itself. For the modern house is built not for show but for living; and the beauty it seeks to create is inseparable from the personalities that it harbors.

It is safe to predict, on the basis of the home projects in which desirable art applications have been made, that through conscious effort the following outcomes may be expected:

1. The ideal of creating beauty in the home will be strengthened.

2. Pupils will recognize greater possibilities for making art applications.

3. Pupils will become more observing and discriminating.

4. Family life will be bettered by those projects in which home improvement has been achieved.

5. Pupils will appreciate that beauty is not dependent upon cost.

6. More successful projects will be carried out.

The last point is reflected in the summary of results that one girl made of her home project, "Improving the Looks of My Room." She said:

The only cost for my project was for the two little pictures that I hung by the mirror. I learned that it is not always the cost or quality that determines the attractiveness of a room. Things must be arranged correctly or much of the beauty is lost.

My mother thought that everything I did to my room was an improvement and encouraged me to do much more. I am planning to do more for our entire house in the future.

The home project which resulted in an improved kitchen in one home had a favorable influence upon the home life of the family. The girl, with the financial a.s.sistance of her brothers, had made an attractive and more efficient kitchen in the bare 4-room house, which was the home of the family. The living quarters were naturally limited in such a small s.p.a.ce. In reporting on this project the teacher said:

I feel that this project has been very worthwhile to Ethel and her whole family. Her mother was so grateful and told me how much better it made her feel to walk into a bright, cheerful kitchen every morning. She said that her boys were so pleased they had made a living room out of the kitchen on cold winter nights.

=Suggestive Home Projects in Which Art is an Important Factor=

Clothing projects which include planning as well as construction offer many possibilities. This planning would necessitate such applications of art as the adapting of style, design, and color to the individual, selecting and combining textures and colors in the fabrics, and using appropriate tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs and accessories. Such projects would also afford opportunity for exercising judgment through the evaluation of results.

The same opportunities exist in the "make-over" projects as in the others in which all new materials are used. A few clothing projects involving art are suggested, as follows:

1. Planning and buying or making (_a_) school wardrobe for self; (_b_) season's wardrobe for small sister or brother.

2. Making the most of clothing on hand. This will involve cleaning, pressing, and mending, as well as some remodeling.