Coming to terms with creating "bad art" was an important lesson for my senior

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students.  

This week we completed a 2 hour session focussing on "Bad Art". In short students received a theme, a list of things they could use (and only those things) and a short time frame. Then as they worked the rules kept changing - time frames were changed, media had to be surrendered and new ones introduced. What started as an activity to introduce them to the idea of constraints, working to time and importantly to get used to problem solving turned into much much more. ​

A sample kit

Some "bad" images of the "bad art". 

How it started
This activity stemmed from seeing senior student's agonise over the choices they needed to make in order to get started on a design task. I often saw them attempt things only to throw them away because "they were not good enough" or to not value the process where an idea can grow form something quick, incomplete or "bad".  So rather than talk about this I decided to show them through their own experience of making "Bad Art". 
 
See the slideshow here which explains the process taken. 

Student Insights
"I had paint but nothing to paint with. So I used my hands. It was fun, messy but the style gave me an idea for my folio."

"It took me ages to work out I could use cardboard to draw on. I wasted so much time thinking about it I just had to smash something out in the end. But now I want more time to make it better as it looks lit" 

"My bad art is better than my good art (be)cause I had to use the stuff I had only and I would never use it"

"Having less time meant I actually had to use the time I had"

"I throw my ideas out if they are not good and sometimes my folio looks empty.  I'm sticking my bad art in to remind me to keep all my ideas this year."

"I found out I work so much better with short time frames and someone forcing me to just move on" 

As a teacher I can see the class is now more willing to give things a go, will hold onto design ideas even if they are not "good" as they may grow into something, they work far more effectively with constraints because they have experienced them before and they are highly creative in how they use media! 

Why it is important
Ultimately the students discovered that sometimes constraints on time, media, methods, materials can lead to less "bad art" and more;
creative thinking
innovative use of tools +
flexibility in how we solve problems. ​