Comic books and graphic novels can be used in schools to stir excitement for reading, and to explore and teach a variety of subjects.
Today a panel of educators shared their thoughts about Words and Pictures Together. The hour-long panel was part of a Will Eisner Week event at the San Diego Comic-Con Museum.
Will Eisner was a pioneering cartoonist and writer whose work both inspired and influenced almost every comic artist that followed him. He practically invented the graphic novel. His amazing artwork is legendary. His stories are often complex, surprising, challenging and philosophical. Not unlike great literature.
The panelists at the Comic-Con Museum yesterday discussed how they have used Eisner’s work and other comics in the classroom.
As I sat in the audience listening, I learned there are many benefits to using certain comic books or graphic novels as educational tools.
Perhaps most importantly, they are accessible to young people. Particularly kids who struggle with reading. Those who resist reading or have limited language skills will often turn the pages of a comic, greedily devouring both words and pictures. After all, most comic books and graphic novels are written to engage and excite.
Another benefit can be the development of critical thinking. There are plots to analyze and characters to understand. Allusions and themes can provide subject matter for discussion. Stories that involve historical events or contemporary issues can open a young mind to interesting ideas and questions.
And there is the graphic art itself. Why did the artist make certain choices? The page layout, typography, style, visual point of view . . .
What I found most inspiring was that students can be encouraged to make their own comic art. To tell their own stories. Express their own thoughts and feelings. When you’re a young person, secretly unsure of many things and trying to figure out life, personal expression can help you grow.
By producing their own comic or graphic novel, students also learn how to plan a creative project and execute it. And they write!
What’s more, the opportunity to show their finished art provides a sense of accomplishment!
The panelists mentioned a few works and web pages that you can use or peruse:
Years ago I described how high school students in San Diego were creating their own graphic novel. Their amazing Jasper and the Spirit Skies was launched last year at Comic-Con@Home! You can revisit that past blog post here.
There’s another reason why I found this panel of educators so interesting. Classrooms around the world are reading my short story One Thousand Likes. This small work of fiction (no pictures!) concerns the use of social media and human isolation. Read the story here.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera (and write)! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The amazing Star Trek exhibit at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park has expanded!
The special exhibit, titled Gene Roddenberry: Sci-Fi Visionary, includes original costumes, props, historical documents and artifacts related to the creation of Star Trek. The life, writings and visionary efforts of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry are highlighted.
I blogged about the exhibit the weekend it opened here.
Well, check out what I saw today!
New additions include costumes worn by actress Majel Barrett, primarily from her role as Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Majel Barret was Gene’s wife. You might recall she also played nurse Christine Chapel in Star Trek: The Original Series. Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was often called the First Lady of Star Trek.
In addition, amazing works of Star Trek art now decorate one museum wall! These large, inventive LEGO brick character portraits and scene recreations, assembled by a master builder, will blow your mind!
I visited the Comic-Con Museum today to listen to an interesting Will Eisner Week panel concerning the use of comic books and graphic novels in education. I’ll blog about that shortly!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
An exhibition of art at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego’s Balboa Park features the “memories” of graphic designer Shuichi Hashimoto.
Should you walk into the garden’s Exhibit Hall, you’ll discover flowers and mountains and clouds and cities, composed quilt-like from many bright fragments. The exhibit is titled Moisture and Light–Landscape in the Memory.
The inspired creator of this unique beauty, Shuichi Hashimoto, is based in Osaka, Japan. According to the JFG website: Hashimoto believes that the persistent rain combined with the humid environment influenced the diverse culture of Japan.
One can see how streaks of light and drops of water in his artwork seem to shimmer and bubble throughout the bright memories.
As I looked upon these abstract landscapes, it seemed I was peering through windows spattered with sunlit raindrops.
You can experience these fantastic memories, too, at the Japanese Friendship Garden through May 7, 2022.
Enjoy a few examples…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
World events lately have been very depressing. Perhaps it’s good, at least for a few moments, to remember that life can also be fun, interesting, and optimistic.
Five years ago my walks around San Diego resulted in hundreds of lively photographs.
Back in March of 2117 there was a hike to the top of Cowles Mountain, several fascinating museum visits, more discoveries of cool street art, and good times at the International Mariachi Festival and the World Baseball Classic!
Cool San Diego Sights also went behind the scenes at several city landmarks during the San Diego Architectural Foundation’s annual OPEN HOUSE event.
Click the following links to see lots of photographs!
This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
During my walk down Reo Drive in Paradise Hills last weekend I came upon three large, very beautiful murals. I snapped photos, of course!
I’ve since learned of Project Reo, an organization of active neighborhood families who have worked to improve and beautify the small business district along Reo Drive. Their work has included the painting of murals!
To the eyes of a curious guy walking through the community, those positive efforts are clearly successful!
You can learn more about Project Reo and the history of Paradise Hills by reading a great article here.
Large, colorful flowers greet those passing the Los Tapatios Mexican Food restaurant.An abstract sun at La Palapa Market. The title of this mural is Radiating Vibrance. It is one of three large murals painted by students and local volunteers, under the guidance of Enrique Lugo, an art teacher in Chula Vista.Painted cacti and succulents at the corner of Reo Drive and Cumberland Street.Empanada lady, painted on west side of the same building at a later time by San Diego artist Shirish Villaseñor.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
While walking down Reo Drive in Paradise Hills yesterday, I was surprised to discover this extraordinary mural in a nearby alley. It’s painted on a wall half a block to the east, at Albemarle Street.
The street art is filled with spiritual imagery. There’s a ruby heart aflame, nature’s starlit beauty, and a Frida Kahlo among tropical green leaves. That might be her monkey in a palm tree, too!
According to the signature, the mural was created by Shirish Villaseñor and Isabel Garcia of Arte Atolondrada, whose work I’ve enjoyed over the years. I met Shirish a couple years ago. She was part of a team working with Mario Torero to restore the Civil Rights mural in Logan Heights. You can see those photographs here!
I found more of their beautiful work a couple blocks away, but I’ll be posting those pics later.
Meanwhile, look…
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Check out these photographs of cool art outside 6 Grados Coffee in Paradise Hills!
I was walking down Reo Drive today when the above mural caught my attention. Then, as I walked around 6 Grados Coffee, I discovered more great artwork! There was a painted cargo container in back and even a SpongeBob trashcan!
I learned that the above mural was painted very recently by @Dentlok, and I noticed that some of the colorful art on the container is by ShoLove, whose work around San Diego I’ve enjoyed in the past…
I found many more incredible murals during today’s walk along Reo Drive, so stay tuned!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The 47th Street station of the San Diego Trolley has newly painted public art! A mural along a low wall beside one platform is the work of San Diego artist Maxx Moses.
I stepped off the Orange Line today and took photographs of the cool new artwork!
According to this article, the long mural you are looking at is titled Seamless. Its theme is human connectivity through transit. I see that differently colored patterns combine and link to one another.
I’m not sure whether this artwork is completed. I’ll swing by during a future city adventure to see what might develop.
You can experience more art by Maxx Moses at three other San Diego Trolley stations, here and here and here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
A black sculpture rises skyward at the entrance to the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building in downtown San Diego. Composed of triangular steel forms, the sculpture and its sharp edges pierce the space around it. The monumental public artwork is titled Excalibur.
Excalibur was created in 1976 by Beverly Stoll Pepper, whose pieces have been exhibited and collected by major museums around the world. Beverly Pepper passed away two years ago, but her unique artistic vision continues to enrich our lives.
I walked around Excalibur recently and took these photographs. It was interesting how joined triangles, observed from different angles, produce very different images. It’s like how the larger world, composed of basic elemental structures, achieves its complexity.
The sharp, jutting steel seems to have emerged from underground. And doesn’t the sculpture look almost like folded origami?
…
This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!
Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts. If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!
To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.
Cool San Diego Sights! 