|
|
|
|
|
|
2011
|
Ongoing workshops
Syncretic Art
|
Syncretic Art is the fusion diverse elements: visual art, music, theatre, dance.
These workshops are designed to empower students to explore creative expression through many different outlets: drawing, painting, sculpting, singing, speaking, playing, performing and dancing. Participants learn to "dance" a sculpture, or "sing" a painting, responding to colour, shape and texture through sound and movement. |
Mask
|
Masks may conceal and protect, reveal and enlighten, delight and enchant, amuse or frighten. Explore your relationship to the world around you, tap into the ancient and powerful through fun and contemporary mask and performance
In this workshop students create unique, comfortable, durable masks designed for active use in performance. Together we unleash the imagination, explore creative movement, dance, music, sound and theatre and bring the mask to life.
|
for more information contact Amanta Scott
|
looking back . . .
|
2006
TASIS School in Dorado, Puerto Rico
 |
In June 2006, The TASIS School in Dorado, Puerto Rico, invited Amanta Scott to conduct a two-and-a-half week Syncretic Art Workshop for two groups of forty students age seven to ten and eleven to fourteen years. The theme of the workshop was the dance of the elements: water, earth, wind, fire and spirit.
Each group of students worked with Amanta for approximately two hours per day. The workshop culminated in a public performance and exhibition of masks and paintings for family, friends and staff.
|
|
|
|
Syncretic Art is an avant-garde contemporary art form integrating visual art, music, dance, theatre and humanities. It is a process-oriented art form in which participants discover and create their own responses and approaches to expressing themselves through the fusion of artistic disciplines.
See what the kids did and said about the workshop:
visit comments for pictures & excerpts from students' journals.
|
Aims of the workshop:
|
- to introduce students to fundamentals of Syncretic Art
- to introduce students to graphic scoring as a means to communicate artistic intent in many disciplines
- to introduce students to mask making & costume design
- to foster creative expression any medium: art – drawing, painting, sculpture, mask; sound, music, movement and performance.
- to foster a positive learning environment
- to expand the artistic vocabulary
- to encourage the development of new skills
- to foster leadership skills and cultivate the ability to work individually and collaborate in groups
- to foster a personal identification with and respect for the environment and the world around us
|
What the students learned:
|
- how a composer, artist and/or choreographer creates a work
- how graphic scoring can be used to indicate mood and dynamics in music and performance
- how graphic scoring can be used to communicate choreographic and dramatic ideas
- how to integrate sound, movement and visual art
- how a conductor/director, composer or choreographer interprets a score and teaches it to performers
- how to perform a piece of art, music, dance or theatre
- how, as a performer, to differentiate between the feeling of being truly “in the part” versus pretending or “going through the motions.”
- cognitive links between environmental issues and creating work for art, music, dance or theatre
- how a performer or artist utilizes props or found objects
- how to work with other performers
|
|
|
|
What the students did:
|
- they created their own sounds (discovering instruments)
- they invented notation for sounds using abstract marks (creating a language - graphic scores)
- they drew the notation in a satisfying design (composing)
- they led groups in vocalizing the sounds (conducting)
- they presented the sound score in several ways (performing)
- they created movement in response to sounds
(discovering movement)
- they created sounds in response to movement
(discovering instruments and exploring creative impulses)
- they invented notation for movement using abstract marks (creating a language - graphic scores)
- they drew movement notation in a satisfying design (choreographing)
- they led groups in singing & performing the sounds (conducting/directing, integrating voice & dance)
- they presented the sound and movement scores in several ways (performing)
- they created & painted masks (costume design)
- they created & decorated costumes (production)
- they collected found objects (discovering art materials)
- they integrated found objects into graphic scores/art panels, masks & costumes (manipulation of art materials)
- they created & designed artworks: panels, graphic scores, masks, costumes (creation & design)
- they collaborated & participated in the choreographic process using a graphic score (application of learned skills)
- they collaborated in a theatrical group performance integrating sound and movement (application of learned skills)
|
|
|
2005
Art Gallery of Algoma: Sault Ste. Marie
Found Sounds
Moving workshop
|
During the 6-week exhibition of LockDown at the Art Gallery of Algoma, in Sault Ste Marie, Amanta directed daily Syncretic Art workshops for school groups.
Participants learned to "dance" a sculpture, or "sing" a painting, responding to colour, shape and texture through sound and movement. Students also explored graphic scoring - expressing sound and choreographic ideas through drawing, using line, shape and colour; and expressed issues relevant to themselves through voice and performance. These workshops were made possible thanks to the generous support of Canada Council for the Arts and Ontario Arts Council. |
Art Gallery of Algoma
|
|
2003
St. Ignatius High School, Thunder Bay
|
|
Amanta's syncretic art installation Glove Forest toured to Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Algoma. While in the region, setting up the installations, Amanta conduced Syncretic Art Workshops at St. Ignatius High School. Participants learned to "dance" a sculpture, "sing" a painting, responding to colour, shape and texture through sound and movement. Students also explored graphic scoring - expressing sound and choreographic ideas through drawing, using line, shape and colour; and expressed issues relevant to themselves through voice and performance. |
|
|
2003 - 1998
Central Technical High School, Toronto
|
|
Since 1998 Amanta has conducted workshops on Business in the Arts for students in the art department at Central Technical High School, a school whose art department for years rivalled that of Ontario College of Art and Design. Amanta led students through the basics of grant and proposal writing, web design, portfolio development and marketing. |
|
|
2002
Central Ontario Tour
|
|
Amanta's syncretic art installation Arising Phoenix toured to art galleries and schools in Central Ontario, including Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie areas. Performances were followed by Syncretic Art Workshops in which participants were invited to create their own percussion music upon the soundsculpture and discuss the significance of the phoenix as a symbol appearing in world culture.
Participants learned to "dance" a sculpture, or "sing" a painting, responding to colour, shape and texture through sound and movement. Students also explored graphic scoring - expressing sound and choreographic ideas through drawing, using line, shape and colour; and expressed issues relevant to themselves through voice and performance. These workshops were made possible thanks to the generous support of Ontario Trillium Foundation. |
|
Art Gallery of Algoma
|
|
2001
Guang Fu Elementary School, Illan County, Taiwan
|
|
Amanta's syncretic art installation Arising Phoenix featured at the Yilan County Cultual Centre Theatre in Yilan, Taiwan. While in Taiwan Amanta conducted a workshop on graphic scoring and syncretic art for 200 students at the Guang Fu Elementary School.
During the workshop invited students leapt onto the stage, each of them eager to draw graphic scores - lines, shapes, contours and colours to which which their colleagues enthusiastically gave voice. Students learned to conduct the entire assembly leading them in dance choreography inspired by the scores. A great time was had by all. |
Yilan County Cultural Center
|
|
|
1998
Edmonton Art Gallery
Dragon Tango
|
During the 6-week exhibition of Dragon Tango at The Edmonton Art Gallery, Amanta directed Syncretic Art workshops for school groups twice daily.
Participants were invited to create their own percussion music upon the soundsculpture and discuss the significance of the dragon as a symbol common to all world cultures but varying in significance and interpretation.
Integrating visual art, music, theatre and dance; students expressed issues relevant to themselves through sculpture, voice and performance |
|
|
|
Dragon Tango was the featured ehxibition at the The Royal Ontario Museum for six weeks, during which Amanta directed Syncretic Art workshops for school groups.
Amanta also designed and distributed an accompanying workbook including full colour images of the dragon soundsculptures, a history of the project, activities, songs and stories.
During one performance for children with special needs, most of whom were lying on stretchers or in wheelchairs, the children spontaneously burst into song, singing, ever so gently, one of the songs in the workbook. It was a deeply moving experience. |
|
 |
ROM visitors were invited to add a drawing of a dragon showing what the dragon means to them, to the ongoing dragon wall as an adjunct to the exhibition.
ROM visitors were also encouraged to bring an old, mismatched glove to contribute to Healing Hands - Spirit Gloves as an offering to the dragons.
The glove is thought to retain the wearer's handprint and life history and so ROM visitors were asked to write a message as a personal promise to protect the Earth. Messages were inserted into the glove that then joins the others. The Spirit Gloves traveled with the dragons as a symbol of environmental awareness. This installation grew into the work Glove Forest which was subsequently exhibited at Thunder Bay Art Gallery, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery and Art Gallery of Algoma. |
|
Cadarackque Public School, Ajax, Ontario
Dunsford Districk Elementary School, Ontario
Syncretic Art
|
In 1998 Amanta conducted Syncretic Art workshops at Cadaracque Public School and Dunsford District Elementary School.
These workshops empowered students to explore creative expression through many different outlets: drawing, painting, sculpting, singing, speaking, playing, performing and dancing. Using graphic scoring as a starting point, students collaborated to create innovative performances expressing issues relevant to themselves through the integration of sound and movement, visual art, music, theatre and dance. |
|
1997
Peterborough Board of Education
|
|
At the request of Bill Crane, Arts Consultant for the Peterborough Board of Education, Dragon Tango was brought back from Japan to Canada. The PTBO hosted two weeks of performances and engaged artists Amanta Scott and David Tomlinson to conduct Syncretic Art workshops for 5000 students of the Peterborough Board of Education. Thanks to funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation an on-line Curriculum Links Document was commissioned: outlining a series of activities connecting Dragon Tango and Amanta's work to all aspects of the school curriculum. This document is still in use today.
The workshops empowered students to explore creative expression through many different outlets: drawing, painting, sculpting, singing, speaking, playing, performing and dancing. Using graphic scoring as a starting point, students collaborated to create innovative performances expressing issues relevant to themselves through the integration of sound and movement, visual art, music, theatre and dance.
|
|
1996
Hino Hara Mura Shogakko & Musashi Itsukaichi, Japan
 |
While in Japan, creating the installation Dragon Tango, Amanta conducted Syncretic Art workshops for students at schools and community centres in Hino Hara Mura, and Musashi Itsukaichi, towns in the mountains, 80 km west of Tokyo.
Participants were invited to create their own percussion music upon the soundsculpture and discuss the significance of the dragon in Japanese mythology and contemporary culture.
|
Bayview Hill Elementary School, Markham, Ontario
|
This Syncretic Art workshop was designed for forty-four grade six students at Bayview Hill Elementary School, and made possible through the Canadian Opera Company's "Create-an-Opera-in-the-Schools" program, funded by the Ontario Arts Council.
The children were adorable. Many of the them were new immigrants to Canada and spoke very little English. They were invited to walk around the room saying the word "Canada" to oneanother, infusing the tone of the spoken word with all their unspoken questions about what is Canada?
The students had chosen, with their teacher, to explore the history of Canada, past, present and future. As they walked around the room they sounded like a flock of geese settling down for the night on the lake where Amanta was living. When Amanta remarked upon this they decided they would tell the story from the perspective of a gaggle of geese flying over Canada.
The students composed melodic phrases and thematic motifs which Amanta then arranged into an operatic composition. They made costumes - wings made of paper, and threw themselves into the project wholeheartedly. The "opera" was presented to the public in conjunction with operas creatd by other school groups. "Gaggle Goes to Canada" captured the attention of the media and were featured on the evening news.
|
|
What the students did:
• they created their own sounds (discovering instruments);
• they invented notation for sounds using abstract marks (creating a language);
• they drew the notation in a satisfying design (composing);
• they led groups in vocalizing the sounds (conducting);
• they presented the sound score in several ways (performing)
• they created movement in response to sounds (discovering movement);
• they created sounds in response to movement (discovering instruments and exploring creative impulses);
• they invented notation for movement using abstract marks (creating a language);
• they drew movement notation in a satisfying design (choreographing)
• they led groups in singing and performing the sounds (conducting/directing, integrating voice and dance);
• they presented the sound and movement scores in several ways (performing)
• they explored sonic potential of found objects (discovering instruments, improvising and composing)
• they explored the physical properties of the found objects (physics: weight, momentum)
• they developed presentations using found objects while vocalizing and moving (performing)
What they learned:
• how a composer and/or choreographer creates a work
• how a conductor/director or choreographer interprets a score and teaches it to performers
• how to perform a piece of music or dance
• cognitive links between creating works for music and dance
• how a performer utilizes props
Conclusion:
Students discovered the underlying process of the development of music and choreography over the past 1000 years and presented a unique and engaging public performance to their peers, friends, parents and teachers.
|
|
1995
Kaiping Highschool, Taipei, Taiwan
 |
While in Taiwan, creating the installation Oh Canada, Amanta conducted Syncretic Art workshops for students at Kaiping Highschool, in Taipei, Taiwan.
Students participated in creating soundsculptures, and explore the integration of music, visual art, theatre and dance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
copyright @ 2011 • All Rights Reserved • Amanta Scott • www.amantascott.com • Revised: Thursday, May 5, 2011
|
