1. The document discusses Aaron Givan's process of creating "pneumagraphs", which are art pieces meant to reflect the spirit of nature. Givan developed various techniques using watercolors, photography, and digital media to allow unexpected elements to emerge in the works. 2. Givan finds that the process of creating art, like writing poetry, aids in creativity and inspiration. He encourages using improvisation and found materials to foster new ideas. 3. Givan discusses how art can be used in education to promote thinking skills and help students develop topics or insights that are sometimes sparked through creative works.

1. ART, MEANING, BEAUTY & THE PRESENT LIFE
KEY QUESTION:
HOW CAN ART AID THE TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS?
***************
ART BY AARON.com
[As of 9/12/2008]
Established 8/30/2004
AARON LEE GIVAN, Ph.D.
Copyright. 2004. Aaron Givan.
All rights reserved.
[e-teachingandlearning.biz]
WATERCOLORS
LANDSCAPES
STILL LIFES
PNEUMAGRAPHS
PNEUMAGRAPHS: THE ***ART*** OF THE
SOUL--THE CREATION, THE SELF
"Chaos, Meaning, and the Cosmos"
The term "pneumagraph" was created by me some
years ago to formalize the process*** of letting the
hidden facets of the media and artistic process surface
more easily and add to the imaging, meaning and
inspiration a fine art piece can provide the viewer.
A pneumagraph ("spirit writing") is an artifact/fine art

2. piece that reflects the spirit of nature through whatever
creative means seems appropriate to the vision of the
artistic message reflected in the work at hand. For
example, a bricolage approach (see
'bricolagework.com')--using whatever is at hand--may
produce a work emphasizing the remnants of an artistic
mode; special effects may be created within the media
being used--perhaps watercolors, and the like...
The art works that have been created from this
process*** for me are:
1. A series of water colors using traditional (air brush,
cascading washes, etc.) and special effects along with
auxiliary media--for example, torn, hand-made paper to
help add dimension to a forest scene--that measure
22x30 inches on heavy water color paper.
2. A series of images using digital and photographic
technology--in a number of sizes (8x10 inch to 22x30
inch)--that includes a random element that allows
unexpected color and image variations, an element of
surprise and fun...
The results of these artistic processes*** have allowed a
refinement of macro-images and micro-images of the
cosmos to emerge that have personally aided me in my
thinking and research about our place and space in
times past, present and future. More specifically, this
process has allowed the development of specific
measurement/inventory (see "metavoicesystems.com')

3. tools and theoretical models of human personality that
focus on the structure of human values (see
'ethicsclasses.com'), the place of the spiritual domain,
and the dynamic behavior possibilities (see 'center4.org)
that allow us to live interesting, productive daily lives.
--Aaron Givan, Rolla, North Dakota: 11/15/2004
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PHOTOGRAPHY
SINCE 1994 NATURE PHOTOS HAVE BEEN
COLLECTED AND FILED AND FORM THE
BASIS*** FOR PNEUMAGRAPHS, AS MENTIONED
ABOVE. OF SPECIAL INTEREST HAS BEEN THE
WOODS AND SEASHORES OF MARYLAND. A
SPECIAL COLLETION OF THE WILD FLORAL
PLANTS OF THE D.C. AREA AND PHOTOS OF
THE PLANTS IN THEIR NATURAL STATE WAS
CONDUCTED--1995-1997--AS A PERSONAL
GROWTH PROJECT FOR THE Ph.D.(1997) AT THE
UNION INSTITUTE AND UNIVERSITY.
THIS COLLECTION PROCESS AND THE
RESULTING FINE ART PIECES HAVE PRODUCED
A PORTFOLIO OF OVER 5O WATER COLORS--
MOSTLY 22X30 INCHES ON ACID FREE PAPERS.
THE PHOTOGRAPHY PROCESS INCLUDES A
COLLECTION OF 35MM CAMERAS, VARIOUS

4. LENSES, AND FILTERS; THE FUN OF
PHOTOGRAPHY HAS BEEN AMPLIFIED INTO
THE FOSTERING AND AMPLIFICATION OF THE
CREATIVITY PROCESS. THIS CREATIVITY
PROCESS HAS SPILLED OVER INTO
TRANSDISCIPLINARY LEARNING EXPERIENCES.
ONE RECENT FOCUS HAS BEEN THE USE OF
ART AS A DOOR TO IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL
OUTCOMES AT THE DOCTORAL LEVEL...
1. The Place of Art In Education
By Aaron Givan, Ph.D.
Copyright. 2005. Aaron Givan.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
“Some of his poetry compares favorably with
Shakespeare’s.” --McDannald. (1942.) The Modern
Concise Encyclopedia. NY; Unicorn Press, p. 1469.
Francis Bacon (1561-1622)
Author of ESSAYS—“A treasure of English style…
[like] the works of Shakespeare.” –McDannald, 1942, p.
181.
George Santayana (1863-1952)
Author of “The Life of Reason…and several volumes of
verse.”—McDannald, 1942, p. 1995

5. “Poetry is central to all creativity.” This thesis is
something I have played with and thought about since
the mid-1980’s. Recently, I hung the likenesses of the
three writers-poets listed above in my study to help
foster a sense of creativity, research and productivity.
I have since started a volume of verse that I will
compose as opportunity affords; the creative act of
writing, I find—for me, fosters more of the same—
whether it is
prose, poetry, fiction, or research….
At one time I mentored a class on basic English. The
final project was the public reading of a poem to the
rest of the class. One person had not completed the
work and sat in the back of the room. Not wanting to
leave her out, I asked if she had a contribution to make
when the other people had finished their readings. She
paused and made an impromptu, extemporaneous,
verbal presentation of a poem that summarized very
well what the others had presented and her learnings
for the term.
At one point in my career, I thought about the place of
art in the educational process. For me, thinking about
how water colors are produced—the artistic process—
and how the fine art pieces are used provided a model
for research and writing. The production of my own
watercolors was enhanced by this process.

6. Challenge: Produce one or more poems during this
term as part of your work for this class; keep them in a
journal, along with other thoughts suggested by your
activities; and summarize the importance of this
exercise as part of the ending of your work for the term.
END
2. ART AND EDUCATION:
Poetry--An aid to creativity...
Using poetry to promote thinking skills:
Researching new topics and how they relate to specific
problems—often hard ones, like in ethics or philosophy
of leadership—often involves moments of insight or an
epiphany. The application of the insight is sometimes
spur-of-the-moment and can be easily lost if not written
down quickly.
Practice in writing things down quickly using whatever
ideas or things that are around—called bricolage—can
be practiced by writing poetry when something gives
you an inspiration—like the poem posted below, written
in about 10 minutes after looking out the window and
hearing the geese fly over. For some people, doing
poetry as a new experience eases the struggle when

7. working on deciding a dissertation topic. Sometimes
topics are “found” in an improvisation process—using
topics that have been done, but looking for the next
extension that will “make a contribution to the field.”
Water colors and music pieces can be derived in the
same way. I do nature scenes with an air brush and an
easel table that can be tilted and/or one that can be spun
rapidly.
Aaron
>>>>>>>>>>>
A. On the Coming of Spring...
Looking out the window for the coming of spring....
Makes my heart and voice want to sing.
Hearing the calls of the geese on the wing...
Makes my heart and voice want to sing.
Feeling the warm south breezes with the promises of
soft grasses and
flowers that they bring...
Makes my heart and voice want to sing.
Knowing the days are growing and the hopes and
desires of others
with expectations are glowing ...

8. Helps me,
Invites me,
Entices me....
To sing.
I SING...
of SPRING!
ALG, 3/22/2007
----------------------------------------
B. "UNDER THE SAGUARO"
A memory....
UNDER the Saguaro
There lies a warrior fallen...
The Mighty Arms of the great Arizona cactus
Lift the memory of the old soldier to a higher plane...
Though in BATTLE he was not slain,
Yet, he gave of his best to you and to me
As he lived out his LIFE within a MEMORY...
A MEMORY of the din of war
And the cries of the WARRIOR--and other
WARRIORS--
Who are HERE no more;
Those FRIENDS are also gone,

9. And only WE are left to sing
THEIR song--
We and the lone SAGUARO............
--IN MEMORIUM, 5-26-2008, for a lone soldier, with
no family, laid to rest in the 1980's in the ARIZONA
NATIONAL CEMETERY, PHOENIX, AZ.
--Aaron Givan, D.Min., Ph.D., VA Chaplain, Retired
[Aaron Givan, Ph.D.
9/1/2008]
**************************
The Center For Environmental Management for
Success
[An Intrapsychic-Ecological Approach]
[11/10/2003]
(Established 1982, Phoenix AZ)
KEY FOCUS:
Wholeness Within the Self as ART

10. ABSTRACT: Within the structures of everything are
the elements of "living beauty": the key/secret to
finding and participating in this living beauty is to look
long and hard at "X"--in this case the self--so that you
see/perceive/understand the structure and relationships
of behaviors to the patterns of structures within--in this
case, the self....AND make moment-to-moment small
adjustments about the tasks of living using the whole
self--reasoning AND feelings...Real, living beauty
depends on this connection, the small
decisions/adaptations, so that things are lived rightly,
placed just right, or seen in the light of the larger
WHOLE, the cosmos....
**************************
TERMS RELATED TO PNEUMAGRAPH
PRODUCTION PROCESS:***
“UNsight”—a non-directional epiphany: related to the
pneumagraph process; alternate gloss, “looking
around.”
“UnSIGHT”—a secondary, directional epiphany:
related to the pneumagraph process; alternate gloss,
“looking beyond.”
[Terms first coined 10:00 AM, 9/3/2008, at Rolla, ND, A.
Givan, Ph.D.]

11. ____
***See 'dreamanalysis.us"; dreaming skills can
enhance the "pneumagraph production process" and
act as useful tools for creativity development and
enhanced problem solving skills.