 |
| Professional portraits of the
students, paired with activities or objects they selected as motivators for
their emotions, will be on view at The Warhol in an exhibition titled About
Face, opening Feb. 4, 2012.
|
The Art of Reading a Face - As part of an innovative new partnership with a local school, The Warhol is using Andy Warhol’s full bag of art-making tricks to help kids with autism develop face-reading skills.
...This exercise is just one lesson in an arts-focused curriculum developed by
educators at The Andy Warhol Museum in partnership with nationally acclaimed
educator Abraham-Braff to teach facial cues to this moderate- to
high-functioning group of students at Wesley Spectrum Highland School, a private
school in the South Hills of Pittsburgh that serves students with learning and
behavior issues.
Now in its second year, the focus of the program is helping students interpret, as well as mirror, five simple emotions: happy, sad, angry, scared, and surprised.
Now in its second year, the focus of the program is helping students interpret, as well as mirror, five simple emotions: happy, sad, angry, scared, and surprised.
This difference, he notes, seems to have its roots in an area of the brain called the furiform gyrus. In typically developed brains, this region is activated more by faces than other objects. But not so for people with autism; when looking at a face, the area of the brain that lights up for them is one typically associated with what’s called non-expert objects, suggesting that they view a face as just another object, not as anything special. [Jim Tanaka, a face researcher in the psychology department at the University of Victoria in British Columbia]
Now in its second year, the focus of the program is helping students interpret, as well as mirror, five simple emotions: happy, sad, angry, scared, and surprised.
Now in its second year, the focus of the program is helping students interpret, as well as mirror, five simple emotions: happy, sad, angry, scared, and surprised.
This difference, he notes, seems to have its roots in an area of the brain called the furiform gyrus. In typically developed brains, this region is activated more by faces than other objects. But not so for people with autism; when looking at a face, the area of the brain that lights up for them is one typically associated with what’s called non-expert objects, suggesting that they view a face as just another object, not as anything special. [Jim Tanaka, a face researcher in the psychology department at the University of Victoria in British Columbia]
“I literally got swept into their fever pitch of creativity,” says Svenson,
who has a background in special education.
“It wasn’t an easy task to get them to match their expression to the emotion; they struggle with identifying and mirroring emotion,” says Varner. “But it was a good learning exercise. And working with a New York artist, who was there specifically for them, gave them a huge boost in self confidence.”
Produced as glossy keepsake booklets for the kids, the portraits—each paired with the object or activity selected by the students as motivators for their emotions—will be on view at The Warhol in an exhibition titled About Face, opening Feb. 4, 2012.
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Students tried their hands at ink-blot drawing, silkscreening, and even fashioned their own sock monkeys, matching the puppet’s facial expression to its imagined personality.
To improve “face expertise” in children with ASD—now on average
one in every 110 children—Tanaka developed the Let’s Face It! computer program,
a collaborative project with the Yale Child Study Center funded by the National
Institutes of Health. This series of computer games tasks kids with
distinguishing faces from everyday objects, attaching labels to facial
expressions, and interpreting the meaning of facial cues in a social context.
published in the Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, with museum educators. His research showed that when 42 children
with autism played just 20 hours of Let’s Face It!, it created measurable
improvement in their recognition abilities. (The program can be downloaded for
free at http://web.uvic.ca/~letsface/letsfaceit.)
|
“We want to teach the kids better self-awareness
and understanding of nonverbal facial recognition skills, key tools in everyday
problem solving.”
- Art teacher Lynda Abraham-Braff
By Julie Hannon
[read the complete article]
[read the complete article]
Carnegie Magazine | Winter 2011 | The Art of Reading a Face - By Julie Hannon
www.carnegiemuseums.org/
Note: 'About Face', 'Let's Face It' and 'The Art of Face Recognition'(article) continues the the acknowledgement of AUTISTImotions. Individuals on the Autism Spectrum are emotional, feel emotions, express emotions and can learn the concepts of emotions. AUTISTImotions is the intellectual property, a copyright, trademark, and service mark of EnjoyHi5Autism.
More info. on 'About Face'
Photo exhibit focuses on emotions of students with autism ...
... exhibition of the work of photographer Arne
Svenson has opened at The Andy Warhol Museum in
Pittsburgh. Svenson's ... photo. The "About Face"
exhibit is part of the museum's ...
www.smartbrief.com/news/aaaa/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=E...
CEC SmartBrief
... exhibition of the work of photographer
Arne Svenson has opened at The Andy Warhol Museum
in Pittsburgh. Svenson's ... photo. The "About Face"
exhibit is part of the museum's ...
www.smartbrief.com/servlet/ArchiveServlet?issueid=E07198...
Carnegie Magazine | Winter 2011 | The Art of Reading a Face - By Julie Hannon
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