Information on Aesthetic Projects

Information on Aesthetic Projects

Information on Aesthetic Projects

I am posting information about your final assignment, the Aesthetic Project, early so that you have time to think about what you would like to present and decide how you will create the presentation.

The purpose of this project - is to provide an opportunity for students to aesthetically share their reflections on caring, specifically, Nursing as Caring: A Model for Practice. Projects must be based on a concept(s) of caring theory as discovered in a nursing situation. Aesthetic projects should be placed in Doc Sharing area. Students must select a aesthetic method that can be shared though the shared documents course tool (poetry, narrative, picture etc). Be sure to identify the concept you are re-representing in a one-paragraph description of your project. Evaluation criteria are based on substance, originality and creativity of presentation. You know you have successfully completed the assignment if your colleagues come away with a better or new understanding of your selected concept.

There is no right or wrong way to complete this project - it is what you create it to be. Pick something we have been studying in this last theme that is meaningful to you, and respond to it artistically. Above all, enjoy this experience! Nursing truly can be an art.

The following information may give you some ideas:

• Connecting to Nurse-Self through Reflective Poetic Story by A. Lynne Wagner (2000) may help you come to understand the reflective process expressed through poetry that helps to develop personal and aesthetic knowing. Connecting to Nurse Self
• Writing Poetry: A way of knowing nursing by V. Holmes and D. Gregory (1998) describes a three phase process of expressing nursing experiences through poetry. An example poem is provided along with a description of what the poem is intended to represent. The authors underscore the relevance of Carper's aesthetic pattern of nursing nursing. The article is available online, full text through OVID.
• Being with a Patient Who is Dying by P. Smith Regojo (1995) is an example of a narrative. Narratives are a type of aesthetic expression that might serve as an aesthetic project for this course. "Being With"
• Shoulder Rider by G. Marcus is a drawing that explores the helplessness of illness. The description of the drawing is a good example of how you might describe the re-representation of the concept you select for your project. For Marcus the concept was helplessness. He identifies the concept and then describes how the drawing represents the concept. "Shoulder Rider"
  There are also a few projects located under the student resources tab. Review the student aesthetic project examples re-representing authentic presence
• Many other examples are available in The Journal of Art and Aesthetics in Nursing and Health Sciences (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. which you can view on the link as well as the home page for the FAU CON.
• This week I attended the live class and saw a student play an instrument, dance, a decorated mug, and a decorated isolation mask. Each student explained the aesthetic representation of caring as you would also do in the attached narrative. You can upload a picture or video or even a YouTube link (of your original work) if you chose a modality that is best for us to see this way but remember--the narrative is critical to explain how it represents Caring.

Submitting your aesthetic project

• Complete and post your aesthetic presentation (first draft). The project must be your original work - not the work of someone else. Include a brief description - of what your project is artistically representing or expressing. This is a chance to share and to get peer feedback but is not graded.
• Imagine yourself in a classroom discussing your project. What concept(s) of caring does your project focus on? What do you want your classmates to take away from your project?