Michael DeGenanro post 1
1- Log on to https://art1010shawfall18.commons.gc.cuny.edu/wp-admin/post-new.php
2-On the upper middle tab on the homepage, hit “new”
3- Following that, a tab underneath should pop up with 3 options, (post, media, document), hit post
4- Give your writing a tag and a title, and upload a picture
5- Hit publish
Michael DeGennaro- Post#3 / Art 1010
Pedagogy and Power: What is the banking model to Friere? Who does it empower or disempower, and at whose expense? Do you have any experience with this model? If so, describe an encounter that you have had with the banking model and reflect on it, both positives and negatives.
The banking model is Friers’s concept of education. It is a concept in which the teacher is the active being and the students are passive “objects” in the classroom. The students are essentially sitting down and listening to a teacher making “deposits” of education, which they memorize information, and repeat this process daily. Frier explains that this type of education allows for no intellectual growth in students, as they are simply intaking information that means nothing to them.
I have actually had an experience with this model of education. In sophomore year of high school, my geometry teacher perfectly emblemized this model. I remember the daily routine of the class. I’d enter, as he was sitting by his desk, and he would request silence, and move to the center of the class room, and take “control”. He began to lecture about factoring polynomials and finding what the circumference of “x” was. No speaking, no questions, nothing. We as the students sat down for an entire hour, listened to him talk, pack up, leave, and repeat this for an entire school year. As I reflect on this now, Friers’s conclusion that education of this manner allows for no intellectual growth can be applied to my situation. When someone is simply talking for an entire hour and doesn’t have dedicated times set aside for questions and comments, there is no brain stimulation. The process is in a way robotic, and we the students are not interested, because there isn’t time to think. We are overwhelmingly being fed geometric concepts. We don’t make connections with the material being “collected.” The only positives I can think of from this model include being fed lots of information, and covering many concepts in school.
Michael DeGennaro -Art1010
Post#1
Write up your art story: What we we mean when we say art? What is art to you? How does it fit in to your life? What do you want to learn about in this class?
Art is a vehicle for expression. It allows you to drive and explore your thoughts in creative ways. It allows you you to express your feelings in ways beyond just speaking. It comes in limitless forms such as music, dance, doodling, drawing, painting and much more.
Art is especially important to me in the form of decorating. A very young me became infatuated with the holidays, not only for the love of being able to connect with my family on a traditional basis, but for the love of being able to express myself in my home creatively. My favorite holiday to decorate for is Christmas. This past year, I loved taking the non traditional Christmas color of cobalt blue, interweave it with traditional elements of Christmas, and transforming my home into a white and blue winter-wonderland. I look forward to my yearly trips to Pier One and Michaels, searching for ornaments and trying to find the perfect garlands to turn my home into a piece of art for the holidays.
Beyond decorating however, art connects me with the social issues of the world. One of my favorite artists has become Hannah Hoch. Her pieces are extremely rooted in the issues that women face in society. The piece below demonstrates that women in society are thought to be “doll- like”. Their bodies are mangled and cut out and pasted on a piece of paper, which adopts a very chaotic, yet angry tone, drawing a parallel to the feelings of women in society. Several eyes are pasted on the paper, entailing that women are constantly judged in society, based on beauty standards (nails, shoes, hair, makeup) , but also gives the idea of the reversal of the “status quo.” Here the women are looking at the audience, and quite possibly judge the audience for a change. I love that her artwork is open for analysis.
In this class, I hope to learn about specific pieces of art, that are rooted in social issues in the world, because I find those especially interesting. 
