Basic 9 · Creative Arts and Design · Creativity
Creativity and Innovation, Casting, Assemblage and Folding, and Triads
In this topic you will distinguish creativity from innovation, explore the media and techniques of casting, assemblage and folding and learn to sing triads on the seven degrees of the scale.
By the end of these notes you should be able to:
- Distinguish between creativity and innovation
- Identify media and techniques for casting, assemblage and folding
- Sing triads as arpeggios
What you already know
- Design process
- Major scales
Copy everything that has a blue line on its left into your notebook. The other parts are for reading.
Lesson 1
- Strand
- Design
- Sub-strand
- Creativity
- Indicator
- B9.1.3.1.1 – Distinguish between creativity and innovation and their application for developing design solutions to problems in society
Introduction
Plenty of people have good ideas. An innovator is someone who turns a good idea into something that people can really use.
1. Definitions
Creativity: The ability to produce new and original ideas.
Innovation: Putting a new idea or improvement into practical use.
Creativity happens in the mind and on the sketchpad. Innovation takes place in the real world. You might be creative when you imagine a new kind of school bag, but you become an innovator when you make one that people buy and use. Creativity is often the first step, and innovation is the result of many steps afterwards, including testing and improving.
2. Differences
| Feature | Creativity | Innovation |
|---|---|---|
| focus | generating ideas | applying ideas |
| result | concept or artwork | product, service or process |
| measured by | originality | usefulness and value |
| risk | small | larger, as it needs resources |
| example | sketching a new stove | making and selling the stove |
3. Ghanaian Examples
The Veronica bucket is a simple Ghanaian innovation. Veronica Bekoe, a biologist, added a tap to a bucket with a basin below it so that people could wash their hands in running water. It became widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bamboo bikes from Ghana use a local, renewable material to make strong bicycle frames. The Kantanka company makes vehicles in Ghana. Each began with a creative thought and became useful through hard work.
4. Barriers to Creativity
Fear of failure, lack of confidence and copying others all limit creativity. To grow, ask "What if?" and "Why not?" Build on ideas, and do not reject them too early. Try many options, including strange ones. Most great ideas came after several failures.
New words
- creativity
- The ability to produce original ideas.
- innovation
- Putting new ideas into practical use.
- concept
- An idea or plan.
- prototype
- A first working model.
Summary
- Creativity produces ideas, while innovation applies them.
- Innovation must be useful and of value to people.
- Fear of failure blocks creativity.
Class activity: Idea Storm
- Choose a common problem at school.
- List ten possible solutions in five minutes.
- Choose one to develop.
You need: Pencils, Drawing paper, Printed photographs of Ghanaian stools, Baskets
Exercises
Answer in your exercise book first, then check your answers.
1. Innovation means…
- A. applying new ideas in practice
- B. only dreaming
- C. copying exactly
- D. avoiding change
Show answer
Answer: applying new ideas in practiceDefinition.2. The Veronica bucket was created to help with…
- A. handwashing
- B. farming
- C. fishing
- D. printing
Show answer
Answer: handwashingHygiene.3. Creativity comes before innovation.
- A. True
- B. False
Show answer
Answer: TrueIdeas first.4. A first working model is a ______.
Show answer
Answer: prototypeTesting.5. State one difference between creativity and innovation.
Show answer
Answer: Creativity produces ideas, while innovation applies them usefully.Comparison.6. Why are many ideas never turned into innovations?
Show answer
Answer: They need resources, testing and effort, and people fear failure.Barriers.
Lesson 2
- Strand
- Visual Arts
- Sub-strand
- Innovation and the Design Process
- Indicator
- B9.2.1.1.1 – Explore and identify media and techniques used to create visual artworks by casting assemblage and folding
Introduction
Some of the most famous artworks in Ghana were cast in metal, built from waste or folded from a single sheet.
1. Three Techniques
| Technique | Meaning | Common media |
|---|---|---|
| casting | pouring liquid into a mould to harden | plaster, cement, clay, wax, metal |
| assemblage | joining found objects into a 3D work | bottle tops, wire, wood, cans |
| folding | bending flat material into forms | paper, cloth, foil, metal sheet |
2. Casting
In casting, a liquid material takes the shape of a mould, and it sets hard. A sculptor can then make many copies of a form. Plaster of Paris is cheap and easy to use, and cement is suitable for outdoor work. Ghana's brass casters at Krofrom, near Kumasi, use the lost-wax method to make gold weights, figures and jewellery. This skill has been handed down for generations.
3. Assemblage
Assemblage is three-dimensional art put together from objects that already exist. Artists look at scrap and imagine how it could be reused. Ghanaian artist El Anatsui became world famous for huge shimmering wall hangings made from flattened bottle caps and copper wire. Assemblage reduces waste, and it also gives old objects new meanings.
4. Folding
Folding changes a flat sheet into a form with depth, with no need for glue in many cases. Japanese origami is the best-known example. Designers use folding in packaging, fans, lanterns and pop-up cards. In clothing, pleats are folds in cloth. Metal and paper are stronger when folded, which is why cardboard boxes have folded edges.
New words
- casting
- Pouring liquid into a mould.
- assemblage
- Art made by joining found objects.
- mould
- A hollow shape that gives form.
- origami
- The Japanese art of paper folding.
Summary
- Casting uses moulds to shape liquid materials.
- Assemblage joins found objects into artworks.
- Folding shapes flat material into forms.
Class activity: Media Sorting
- Collect sample materials.
- Sort them under casting, assemblage and folding.
- Explain each choice.
You need: Local clay with calabash mould, Scrap-card assemblage pieces, Brown paper sheets
Exercises
Answer in your exercise book first, then check your answers.
1. Pouring liquid into a mould is…
- A. casting
- B. folding
- C. weaving
- D. drawing
Show answer
Answer: castingMould.2. El Anatsui is known for using…
- A. bottle caps
- B. oil paint only
- C. clay pots only
- D. glass
Show answer
Answer: bottle capsAssemblage.3. Origami is paper folding.
- A. True
- B. False
Show answer
Answer: TrueJapan.4. Art made from found objects is called ______.
Show answer
Answer: assemblage3D.5. Name three media used in casting.
Show answer
Answer: Plaster, cement and wax.Any three.6. Why is assemblage good for the environment?
Show answer
Answer: It reuses waste materials that would otherwise be thrown away.Recycling.
Lesson 3
- Strand
- Performing Arts (Music)
- Sub-strand
- Media and Techniques
- Indicator
- B9.2.1.2.5 – Sing in pitch triads on all the seven degrees of the scale horizontally (arpeggios) and vertically (harmony)
Introduction
Three notes sung together can sound bright, sad or tense. These three-note units are the foundation of harmony.
1. What Is a Triad?
Triad: A chord of three notes built from a root, a third and a fifth.
Take any note of a scale and call it the root. Skip one note to find the third, and skip another to find the fifth. In the scale of C major, starting from C gives C, E and G. You can build a triad like this on each of the seven degrees of the scale.
| Degree | Notes | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| I | C E G | major |
| ii | D F A | minor |
| iii | E G B | minor |
| IV | F A C | major |
| V | G B D | major |
| vi | A C E | minor |
| vii° | B D F | diminished |
2. Arpeggios
An arpeggio means singing or playing the notes of a chord one after another, not together. This is what is meant by singing a triad horizontally. Sing doh-mi-soh-mi-doh slowly, and then try re-fa-la-fa-re. Listen to the difference in mood between a major and a minor triad. Major sounds bright, while minor sounds darker. Diminished sounds tense.
3. Solfa Practice
| Degree | Solfa |
|---|---|
| I | d m s |
| ii | r f l |
| iii | m s t |
| IV | f l d' |
| V | s t r' |
| vi | l d' m' |
| vii° | t r' f' |
4. Singing in Tune
Stand tall and breathe from low down in your body. Use a keyboard or a pitch pipe to find the starting note. Sing softly at first and listen carefully. Warm up with humming, and rest your voice if it hurts. Practise a little every day. Many Ghanaian choirs, church groups and school choirs use tonic solfa, so these skills are immediately useful.
New words
- root
- The note on which a chord is built.
- arpeggio
- Notes of a chord sung one after another.
- major
- A bright-sounding scale or chord.
- minor
- A darker-sounding scale or chord.
Summary
- A triad has a root, a third and a fifth.
- Triads can be built on all seven degrees of the scale.
- An arpeggio sounds the notes one after another.
Class activity: Arpeggio Ladder
- Sing the triads on all seven degrees.
- Identify major and minor by ear.
- Sing them again more quickly.
You need: Ghanaian atenteben, Keyboard, Printed sol-fa cards
Exercises
Answer in your exercise book first, then check your answers.
1. How many notes are in a triad?
- A. three
- B. two
- C. four
- D. seven
Show answer
Answer: threeTri.2. The notes of triad V in C major are…
- A. G B D
- B. C E G
- C. F A C
- D. A C E
Show answer
Answer: G B DFifth degree.3. Triad vi in a major key is minor.
- A. True
- B. False
Show answer
Answer: TrueA C E.4. Notes of a chord sung one after another form an ______.
Show answer
Answer: arpeggioBroken chord.5. Write the triad on degree ii of C major.
Show answer
Answer: D F ASkip notes.6. How does a major triad differ in mood from a minor triad?
Show answer
Answer: A major triad sounds bright, and a minor one sounds darker or sadder.Listening.
Homework
- Practise the seven triads in solfa for ten minutes each day.