Update from Art Room 201

Ah my desk at the end of the day... this is actually pretty tame! With twenty school days until my FIRST Art Show at my new school, its crunch time! (so much for posting about Sixth Grade's Visual Music paintings and prints. Here is the link for last year's assignment. This year we used tempera paint and stuck to abstract representations of sound, using pattern and rhythm. we also made prints of contour line drawings of instruments, using styrofoam.)

As further evidence of my insanity, I have started a clay project with Sixth Grade. Right? I know, I'm nuts. Above are some of my preparations and after today's first class, it seems to be paying off! I have never really taught ceramics, so I have scoured the internet, especially art teacher's Pinterest pages, for tips and tricks. We actually don't have a functioning kiln, so that takes off a lot of pressure. And we're doing this now because after the art show, I only see students once or twice more. This school year flew!

So anyway, we are making Character Bowls based on a lesson found in March's (?) Arts & Activities Magazine. The first class we started with a Power Point about clay, some classroom rules while working with clay, and some student examples. We discussed what a character is and brainstormed as a class before making some sketches and practicing with clay.

Today's clean up after working on our final bowls went so well that I had to pinch myself! I hope I didn't just jinx it. My tables are labeled by color, so I called one or two up at a time as I passed out plastic shopping bags. In those little baskets on the counter are pieces of scrap paper, sharpies and clothespins. Students followed the directions on the bulletin board then went back to their tables to fold up the plastic table covering. Students were not allowed to use the sink until everyone was seated and plastic folded. Thankfully I have two sinks, so I called tables again by color, as others finished wrapping clay. By the end of the week, the counter will be filled with almost a hundred bowls!

This week seventh grade has been introduced to Pop Art and Roy Lichtenstein. I have done this lesson in the past and it is one of the top hits on my blog! This year I will be giving students a little more freedom to decide their topics and materials. In the past we have used markers and sharpies and stuck with food. This year students will use paint and/or markers but need to pick an everyday object or aspect of daily life that connects them to the world (so that it fits with my curriculum). We'll see what happens!

As if we didn't have enough happening, we are also trying to finish up our murals before the May 30th Show. There's rumors that the Mayor wants to come by and see them when they are done too!

During this crazy time, I am striving to stay organized. Pictured above is my Art Show counter. Listed on the board are the pieces that each student should have completed and can select from for the show. Each class has a list of names on the clip board and a corresponding envelope (see 6E) that I picked up at the recycling center. I also got a bunch of old desk calendars which is why I could make the little signs. RECYCLING! After passing out work and contemplating, students are asked to write down the name of their assignment for the show, next to their name, and place the work in the folder. Done and DONE!

April Vacation Part I

I haven't stopped blogging...
my schedule is just so different from last year!
I had a larger grade span, seeing classes twice a week, therefore with more opportunities to complete art works. not to say that we haven't finished work this year, but instead of teaching seven different lessons for a week or two, I now teach three lessons for two to four, sometimes six, weeks at a time. With the up coming art show, I've only realized how long it has been taking us to get work done. However, each student does have a handful of works to choose from and I look forward to showing off their hard work. I'm pretty excited because last week I found out that we get to use wire panels with black felt slip covers. Which means that art work doesn't have to be matted and can easily be hung with straight pins!

I'll try to post this year's Visual Music paintings, with the addition of printed instruments, later in the week. For now, enjoy some photos from my vacation!

I started with a long weekend in Woodstock, VT with my best friend. Aside from walking around the town and poking in the shops and markets, I took naps in between snacking, watching the news, hockey and movies. So relaxing!

Museum of Fine Arts

I spent today roaming around Boston and navigating the subway system on my own. I usually head in town with my boyfriend or friends who grew up near the city, so this was definitely an adventure. The weather was beautiful and I wound up walking from Fenway to the Back Bay by the end of the day. I don't know how far that is, but my feet are tired!

I decided to take advantage of a free tour at the Museum of Fine Arts and was very glad I did! As the very knowledgeable staff member said numerous times, its a whirl wind of a tour, designed to give you just an overview of what the museum has to offer. In a little over an hour, we criss-crossed the museum and traveled through art history.

 

We started with ancient art which I have been pretty fascinated with this year between my new curriculum and my graduate class. I really want to continue to learn more about deities and sculpture, symbolism and stories that are passed down from generation to generation in different cultures. 

 

Its hard to tell how massive this sculpture is from this picture, but believe me, its HUGE! In fact, the head is not attached because the engineers knew that it wouldn't survive the journey to the museum in one piece. I can't get over the fact that this ancient Roman statue was in someone's backyard! Seriously, just hanging out in their garden a few towns over from the museum. Cool!

Also really cool, getting to see art conservation in progress! 

We touched upon a few Renaissance works and squeezed in a Rembrandt before ending the tour with a Copley painting, fittingly tying in Paul Revere and the new Art of the America's wing.

There was also a new contemporary exhibit:

I remember seeing a sculpture by Kiki Smith, like the figure above, when I was on a field trip to the MET in high school. Its when I fell in love with figure drawing. 

Louise Nevelson

And while I love ancient art and find it incredible how people created to record history, I've realized that I have a great appreciation and love of contemporary art. I don't really know why. Maybe because I can relate to the desire to create. Or maybe I really appreciate how, as the viewer, you are invited into the artist's thought process. Or, because of the art, are asked to think for yourself. Whatever it is, I love it!

Finally, there was a Bridget Riley hanging in a narrow hallway. Being able to see the movement of the colors up close was unbelievable especially after recently teaching about her. In my photo you can see my reflection and I find it interesting how my figure mimics the curves in the painting.

8th Grade Mural Club

I really don't remember how exactly this came about, but sometime before the holiday break my principal mentioned that he would LOVE to have the school logo painted in the conference room...

Flash forward a couple months and after just a few hours, my excellent eighth graders have not only the school logo, but the public school's logo and the city seal started!

I was so excited to get the students going that I forgot my camera the first week.
We started out with yardsticks to measure our space. After we found the center, we projected an overhead of the school logo onto the wall. After a little more measuring, we decided how far apart and how much farther up the wall the other logos should go and projected the the next image. By the end of the first meeting, we had two logos traced and ready to be painted!
Over the weekend, I went to Lowe's and stared at paint chips for a half hour or so. I'm pretty pleased with the color selections and even more pleased with the reasonably priced sample size paint. Each container covers a four by four foot area. Our logos are about forty inches round, so we should have plenty of paint for under $40!

I can't wait to see the finished product!
I have to say too that its really incredible to see a dozen 13 and 14 year olds working together. I love it! And I'm jealous because I'm not painting anything! They have it all under control. So far I've just passed our wet paper towels for the"oops" and give some pointers here and there. They get to have all the fun!

artist friends...

 

and those who consider themselves artists: 

                       if art teachers now or in the future were to base a lesson on you and your work, what would you want us to focus on?

for real, answer this!
it would be even more cool to teach a lesson and be able to skype with the artist!

 

if this were me, and I taught high school, I would teach a lesson focused on mark making with charcoal. I heavily relied on line in college drawing classes. I know there are other ways to make drawings, but this is what made sense to me.

And if I were to teach about... me... mark making and using lines to create value would be would be my focus.

I love to tell my student that I did NOT feel comfortable drawing faces until my junior year of college.  I voluntarily took 6 hour drawing classes on Friday afternoons because I loved putting on my headphones, focusing on the model and doing nothing but drawing, that much. Seriously, drawing classes were my electives as an art education major with a concentration in textile design. 

It wasn't until Daniel Ludwig came to a drawing class as a guest speaker, and husband of my professor, Anne Leone, that I realized there were BONES under that face and figured out how to make the muscles and skin appear like they were attached to the structure underneath. And that was it... attaching the muscles and skin to the structure underneath. I tell my middle school students now that its okay to start with a stick figure as long as its a stick figure with joints and that we attach some more information from there.

Between that and using my eraser as a drawing tool: starting with a medium tone and building or extracting from there... that would be my focus if I were to teach about me.
But what if I were to teach about YOU?

What elements, principles, techniques, process or ideas could I talk about?

Bridget Riley and Op-Art

Grade 8 students recently learned about Bridget Riley and Op-Art. After reading an Art & Man article, students worked in groups of four to answer a few questions about where Riley gets her ideas and how she puts them on paper, then brainstormed a few ideas of their own. Above is our Facebook wall with examples of Op-Art, some background information and Riley's friend Viktor Vasserly. We also viewed a power point of other op- art works, pointing out what lines, shapes or spaces were repeated and how they were transformed.

 

We primarily focused on repeating and transforming a line, shape or space to show the illusion of depth, movement or visual confusion. I also placed great emphasis on craftsmanship. Students could decide what materials they wanted to use to add color: black or blue sharpie, markers or color pencil. Protractors, rules, compasses, triangles and tracers were also made available. It was difficult at first for some students as the possibilities were endless, but once they thought of a specific element and doodled on graph paper, things started moving.

I had multiple students ask me if I was related to Bridget Riley. Another even commented when he saw the photo on the board that he didn't know that I had dark hair before. 

What do you think?

For the record, I do think Riley looks like my mom!

Integrating Social Studies and the Arts EDU 626

Love! my elective this semester of graduate school. It is stress free. Well structured. Materials are given to us and the professor is a supportive, former Art Education professor, from MassArt. In fact, I reached out for some guidance (as my adviser has been very little help) and within an hour I had an emailed response with suggestions! Love!

Above is an embossing we did after briefly covering Mesopotamia and various cultures within. Other people in the class stuck with the line drawings of the gate of Ishtar or warriors that were provided, while I took the opportunity to experiment with a simple line design using analogous colors. I had seen the idea on a few other blogs lately and I have to say, the folks in my class were in awe of the color! Its just sharpie folks!

 

This is an Eye of Good Fortune that I did with a group of upper elementary and middle school kids during a summer program. Same kind of idea. However, we used flimsy aluminum foil and reinforced our lines with glue. Then sponge painted on top.

The same summer we did the Eye of Good Fortune, I did some guided drawings of pharaohs with younger students, as found at Art Projects for Kids. My professor had us create a note card with an Egyptian symbols, so I took my inspiration from the lesson I had taught. Others used the graphite on the back and tracing on the front method, to use the symbols provided. We also made bookmarks and I used hieroglyphics to spell my name.  

Prior to delving into History, we were "invited" into History by creating a time line and short biography. (I posted the image a few entries ago) We then talked about multiple intelligences and were asked to write some sort of biographical poem. We were also required to include some sort of texture rubbing on the folder. The above two images (ignore that the top one should be rotated) is my assignment. I wrote the following haiku inside:

Nothing compares to

the love I have for my gray

drawstring black sweatpants

You know that as soon as you get home from work, its sweatpants time! It seems that after sharing, my class also agrees.

Finally, this past week's assignment:

Terracotta tiles from the local hardware store, decorated with Ancient Greek key motifs using sharpie and white color pencil.  Bonus: walking down the 7th grade hall this week, I overheard a video the kids were watching and it was the SAME video we watched in class about Greece and Rome!

I can't WAIT to teach all this great stuff. Between actually making art, and really getting some good information about inquiry in the classroom and student participation, its been a great class and we are hardly half way through!

Various Displays

I really don't know where this school year is going! The time has been flying.
Right after the holiday break, I pushed to get students to wrap up what we started at the beginning of December! With the term coming to a close, I am still chasing after the stragglers, but I did manage to put up some bulletin boards around the school by the end of January.

These are previously posted Willow Pattern Plates in a display case with old fabric as a backdrop, outside my classroom. It is also at the end of the 6th grade hall, so the kids were pretty excited to see the display. 

  

Outside of the lunch room I posted these fantastic 2 point perspective cityscapes. Every year, without fail, these take FOREVER! Next year I hope to do two point perspective tree houses with watercolor (found it on Pinterest!).

 

Finally, I compiled photos and information for a power point that ran on our display board in the lobby for the last three weeks, about the Sketchbook Project and the school's participants. Lots of comments about how professional the display was. I was just proud to show off my students' hard work! And, how cool is it that we have a display board in the lobby!?

My principal joked in the weekly staff newsletter that people shouldn't stand still too long, or I will turn them into a display! I may be a "first year" teacher, but people are noticing!