My definition of Play within creative thinking: Play, whether being done intentionally or unintentionally, is typically a no-rule, risk-free and experimental way of creating. Play is an essential part of creative thinking because it allows one to feel less fear for failure. When a person is less afraid of failing, they are more likely to think a different way, take risks and try something they've never done before. Sure, it could go "wrong". But if it goes right, in my opinion, that's usually where originality and innovation come from. The significance of my introductory activity is twofold: first, the presentation gives a brief synopsis of the pop art movement along with some of the most well-known artists within the movement and examples of masterpieces from these artists. Secondly, it is a risk-free guided pop art drawing lesson. Let me explain the second part further.
While creating this activity, I knew that I wanted the students that participate in it to feel successful in creating their own pop art masterpiece. However, a blank canvas - or a blank drawing sheet in our case - can be intimidating. Furthermore, I needed to add a playful element into the activity. This is where the pre-decided backgrounds, subjects, and dice came in. These pre-decided elements take away any worry or intimidation an artist who has just been introduced to the topic might feel. Additionally, the dice add a playful component that leaves the whole masterpiece up to chance. I added in one guideline: If you'd like to use your own pop art inspired background or subjects, you may. The whole point of the game is to play and experiment! So if one of my students wants to put a Fortnite character as their subject, they should!! As long as the subjects and backgrounds are pop art inspired, they are more than welcome to add them. The topic of "Pop Art" was quite broad for this activity. It has history and depth that, at first, seemed to reach beyond an introductory activity. I knew I wanted my students or participants to get two things out of it: basic knowledge about my topic and a creative, risk-free experience in creating an art piece for themselves. Because of this, I had to create an activity that gave a concise summary of what was most important to know about pop art (defined, time period, well-known artist and masterpieces) and then have participants playfully experience creating their own.
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