Dr. Suess Tornado Worms

I did this as warm up project for value with my Art II (9th graders).  And my students loooved it. Furthermore, my Art I's asked if they got to do that this year:-) I stole the idea from Mr. E's art blog. This project is a great project that can be stopped and started anytime!

 He has more detailed instruction on his site- so check it out!

* I couldn't think of a name for this, and I kept calling it different things, so finally I just let my students name it- and Dr. Suess Tornado Worms is what I got.

* Note- I was being lazy and didn't bother to rotate the photos- they should be verticle in orientation.

Shattered Values...in Progress

A value project my students have started, and I am so AMAZED at how talented they are!! I can't wait to post results pictures!

Student Photographer

Even though I have only been at my new school for 2 weeks, I already love it! I have taken lots of pics of the work we've done and promise to post pics soon! But for now, I have an amazing student, who has set up an online portfolio of his photography. I wanted to share the link to his photos, and I think he has created a pretty cool name for it...dontchya think?

Oh Hai There Photo

one of my favorites...

I have been in a repetition mode lately:-)

I like to look at this every once in a while...

10 LESSONS THE ARTS TEACH

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it
is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solutionand that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving
purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects.The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material.All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said.When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young
what adults believe is important.

-Elliot Eisner 

NAEA

Forget Sailboats- I GOT A JOB!

okay, so I already painted two sailboat pieces, but didn't take pictures (will do next time I return to VA Beach).

MORE IMPORTANTLY- I GOT A J-O-B. not just any job, but an art teaching job! SURPRISE! Just when I was about to be happy with a para position, an intermediate (8th and 9th grade) position opened.

Things I am MOST excited about this new position:

1. It is OLDER students. I loved my elementary kids, but this is the level I want.
2. I get to see the students for more than 45 minutes a week. Try 1hr20 ( I think) every day for 90 days!
3. I have another art teacher right next to me!!
4. The school district is really awesome ( happens to be the school system my husband and 1/2 of my in-laws went through)
5. The art department has 2 kilns and 6 pottery wheels!
6. #5 means I get to expand my own knowledge of 3D- bring on the pottery blogs!
7. Because of #2 I get to use ideas I have always wanted, but never had time for, and maybe learn names faster than December ( I say maybe b/c I am terrible with names)
8. I get to do more advanced projects because the students are older
9. The school district is extremely personable- I really didn't think that you could get more personable than Piedmont, OK- but Carroll County- you did it!
10. I CAN'T wait for the first day of school. August 9th.

With this said, I may be doing a revamp to my blog, make it more student/parent friendly. I started blogging thinking i was a way to share artwork with the parents- so they knew what was going on in my class, but it turned more into sharing ideas with other art teacher ( which I do NOT want to get rid of). Any suggestions?? Comments?? Pottery ideas??

Painting Sailboats

I have had a few sailboat  painting requests from family and friends. I have all of my paints in storage ( MISTAKE), but I am looking at paintings to get inspired. As always, google is my friend. This painting from Laurie's blog is super fun~ and inspiring.

Another idea I had was to do a Mark Rothko type painting, and add a minimilaistic smaller sailboat on the horizon. I should probably sketch this one out before I dive into painting.

and when ever I think of boats and painting- I think of The Raft of Medusa by Gericault. My paintings will not be so depressing, but the story behind Gericault's painting is really quite incredulous, and this is one of my FAVORITES from ar history- might help that I have seen it in the louvre- and it is MUCH bigger than I thougt. WHOLE. WALL. SIZED.

Art Focus: Circle Print

I stole this idea from another blog, only it was a while ago so I don't remember who...sorry:-( Anyway, I really loved the results even though we ended up running out of school year before we finished. What we did was dipped styrofome cups in black tempera and then stamped them onto an 18x24 sheet of paper, then painted each section with whatever colors they wanted. Some students chose a color scheme, some mixed all different colors together, and some went totally paint crazy:-)

Art Focus: Japanese Cherry Blossoms

For my art focus class after school, one of our last works were these beauties made from blowing india ink and dotting tempera paint with q-tips!

Honor Art Show

The fifth graders at Piedmont Elementary worked on projects all year long to be placed in the art exhibit at the end of the year. I had an extremely talented group and we had a lot of fun making some art!

here's my lovely group of students all dressed up for the reception

a few of the displays of art

We made Houses for Haiti- and sold them to parents at the reception. We raised about $200 for the American Red Cross!

Here are the students that were in the show, originally I was going to put all of their art work together, but a last minute collapse of the displays created a different show than planned!

Here is a close up of the names, each letter was a collage of colors and then modpodged and glittered on black paper. They were really beautiful up close and live!

Google of the Day

So excited to google things with Ms. Kahlo watching me today!