Posts
5.30.2007
Above is "The Q Drum", an example of a simple, yet effective design for transporting water. This New York Times article highlights brilliant design ideas such as this one, that makes a quantifiable impact on people's lives. It also reminds me again of one of one of my favorite art education quotes by Maxine Green, which I've mentioned here (perhaps a few times) before-...and it should remind us of the relationship between freedom and the consciousness of possibility, between freedom and the imagination - the ability to make present what is absent, to summon up a condition that is not yet.
These projects remind me of the relationship between teaching out-of-the-box thinking to help students imagine- and create- a better world. While that shoe diorama lesson that you just started might not change the world, that student who is able to see new possibilities in mundane objects, just might.
Here's an example of how art and design can be used to solve economic problems. Michelle Close blogged about this same article in a post called "Art, Design and Economic Development" at http://welkerswikinomics.com/blog/2007/05/30/art-design-and-economic-development/
Good stuff! -Jason Welker
Hehheh!