Where did the last two months go?

I have been extremely absent from blogging lately! I have read other blogs here and there, but have neglected Chucks and Crayons for far too long.

It has been a crazy couple of months for sure.
The last I posted, I was very distracted. I thought taking a minute to type out my thoughts would help. And it did. And then I also wrote in my journal and listened to and digested others' accounts of the marathon bombing. I wasn't even there but weeks later the image of the younger bomber has crept into my dreams. Perhaps since we both went to the same college...
No matter what, the tragedy in Boston has now defined my generation, just as 9/11 did. I pray for those who have been directly effected, our country and our future.

In the midst of the chaos that week, I was trying to focus on completing my capstone exam. The culmination of my Master's degree was not a thesis or an oral presentation, but a three essay question, written exam, complete with research, exhibits and citations. I was a mess. I needed a vacation from my school vacation. Despite the difficulty, three weeks after I turned in the final draft, I got the results back and not only did I pass my final exam, but I passed with distinction! I have three more credits to complete this summer and I will receive my degree in August. The one last class I have to take will be like a vacation and I can't wait! I posted about it here.

That was just April.
May flew by! Between standardized testing, final projects and papers for grad school and my middle school's art show, I was cramming as much as I could into each and every day. By Memorial Day I was exhausted and relished in the fact that I could sleep until 7am.
I intend to post about the art show in another entry. Stay tuned!

Now here we are in June and as my graduate school life has settled, my work life is being shaken up. As predicted, there is a great deal of shifting around as principals and other administration are retiring. The gentleman for whom I was covering for (part time) this year at the high school has also officially resigned, opening one full time position in the high school art department. I had to jump at the opportunity to be full time in ONE building and be able to concentrate on one age group/ curriculum. When the principal asked me if I would like to stay on full time, I said yes. I am sad to be leaving my awesome middle school students and staff, but I need to do what makes sense for my sanity and my career. When I started this crazy journey as a senior in high school, I said I wanted to teach high school. So now I have the chance! And to my benefit, it was announced this week that my middle school principal will also be moving up to the high school. One of the biggest lessons I learned as a kid is that the only thing that is constant is change. This time, I am looking forward to it.

Boston Strong

borrowed from

I am sad.
I am angry.
I felt scared.

I wasn't even in the city Monday.
No one I know personally has been injured, thank goodness, but it's all too close for comfort.

After the police and FBI swept campus yesterday, it was cleared to attend evening classes. It was a surreal experience to drive onto a normally hustling and bustling campus on a beautiful, spring evening. We took care of the business of graduate school in a somber state, managing to have a few laughs and avoiding deep conversations. No one was on the road on my drive home, as I passed friends, family and neighbors walking to a candle light vigil. As I drove the beach home, like I do every Tuesday, I couldn't help but look in the side view mirror, with the Boston sky line smiling at dusk, reminding me that we are strong, we are Boston. 

April is Artistry Month

And this is my 100th post!
I started Chucks and Crayons in 2011, in the middle of my third year teaching at a private school. Since then, I moved to a public middle school, have tried my hand teaching high school, have run numerous art related after school clubs including the Sketchbook Project, Mural Club and Creative Minds, made costumes and playbills for our little drama department and even volunteered to be the teacher in the dunk tank on the last day of school last year. And this year, I will have earned my Master's in Education and completed my first year, full time in the public school system!

There is a lot to be thankful for, and with the spring like weather that has finally hit New England, I feel like my spirits have been lifted!

Last Friday night was the kick off to the high school's first ever Artistry Month.
I knew it was coming, but I still struggled to pull some quality pieces from my introductory art classes. I advocated for the four art teachers to have two boards each, to evenly split what was available, and then fill in where necessary with upperclassman work. I came back to the high school Thursday afternoon to hang the show with one of my co-workers. One went home (having hung work during her free periods) and the other was very involved in the play, opening Friday night as well, so I offered to hang his work. Between the two of us there, we were done in three hours!

 

I think that was pretty good time!
I think there was some tension about designation of board space, but in the end it all worked out. That evening, the culinary students walked around the lobby and displays with appetizers before the play started. There were displays from the graphics department and the carpentry classes and a little sneak peak of what the fashion show will offer later in the month. There was also a film festival this week from the Broadcasting classes. 

Above are the two boards I put together. Its a nice amalgamation of three art teacher's student work.

 Super talented sophomore. This was not an assignment, but fit with an Art 2's "parody" assignment.

 The two paintings above are inspired by Peter Max.

 

These last few pieces were finished this week, which was the last week of the term. I couldn't help but take advantage of the space outside the classroom, that was freed up by moving pieces to the art show. Great work from my Art 1 and Art 2 classes!

 Symbolic character portrait, mixed media

Art 1 homework assignment!

Two, very different, Peter Max inspired paintings

After seeing all this work together, I have to say that I am very proud. I am definitely still learning, especially at the high school level, but through all the frustration and difficulty, I love my job! Here's to one hundred more posts about art, education and my crazy adventures!

Construct, Observe, Color

I mentioned a little while back that my saving graces this year have been my new work buddies and my Art 2 students. Yesterday was one of the best days this year and it makes me sad, no matter how tough it has been, that I may not be up at the high school again next year. I think there is going to be some major shifting around in our little art department. At the very least I will go back to the position that I had last year, teaching part time middle school art. I know my principal there said he will advocate for me. He reassured me that I shouldn't be worried, but nobody likes change. I will be happy to have the opportunity to keep doing what I love. And for that I am very thankful.

The images above are of a three part lesson/ unit about observation and color. This is one that I feel like I built from my own idea and am proud of the results. Traditionally, I have had eighth graders observe and study still lifes that I have constructed.

These two images are from the school where I first taught. The students are in tenth grade and I occasionally see a few at the school where I teach now. The student on the end (left) produced the image below of the white still life.

So, I took this idea and tried to step it up a little for my Art 2 students. Still life and value drawing are pretty big components of Art 1, but I didn't want to have them draw my boring old (literally dusty at this point) still lifes. I had the genius idea that with such a small class, only 15 students (!), I could bring in a bunch of recycled materials that I had been collecting and have them construct their own. There were egg cartons, paper towel tubes, broken down cereal boxes, cardboard scraps, bottle caps, newspapers, hot glue, scissors and tape. I demonstrated a few construction techniques and reviewed objective versus non- objective. Then I let students take off!

When the pieces felt balanced and complete, I had students spray paint them white. At first I had gesso, but many of the materials we used were very porous. It was like a sponge soaking up water, but the spray paint worked better to block the "pores" and cover the sculptures. Thankfully we have a vent, so we did not have to go outside.

I don't know why this is sideways, it is correct in Picasa! I get to share a pretty sweet classroom with fabulous prints and spotlights. The now white sculptures were placed under color lights and students completed at least three color studies with dry materials of their choice. If I were to do this again, I would try to find brighter color bulbs. I put them in clip lamps like the one pictured above in the front of the room, but they didn't shine very far. It was more like mood lighting. Plus, I didn't realize how much light came through the sky light, so there was not as much contrast as I had hoped for. 

As the last student finished up their sculpture and began the color studies, I reviewed color more in depth. I attempted to have groups of students become "experts" on different color schemes and then share with the class at large, but this group is not very vocal. I need to improve this part of the lesson, but I think the handout I provided was helpful.

Finally, students selected a color scheme and completed a long term acrylic painting of their sculpture in that theme. 

Sorry for the weird shadows. There were no lights in the display case.
When the painting was complete, students could paint their sculpture however they liked. I would maybe switch these last two steps. Initially I felt that keeping the sculpture white would help students see different values and then they could interpret that into color. I think that worked, but not for every student.

I have such a great group of students! There are a handful not pictured because they're still not entirely done. They are actually more of the objective pieces including a turtle, fish and wolf. What was great about this activity was that every student was successful in their own way, from the gifted student to the student with special needs. There was something for everyone, forcing some out of their comfort zones and causing students to look and think in a new way. I'm really proud of these kids and I can't wait to share some of their more recent work!

Excitement!

I have been super incredibly busy for what feels like the entire school year. My poor blog has been neglected and I thank all of you, especially my new followers, who continue to stop by and check out what little I have posted this year.

All of my hard work towards my Master's is coming to an end in the next few months and I couldn't be more excited. (I'll have time to blog more! ...among other things) However, I am most excited about my last three credits...

from

I am going to Nantucket to paint!
For two weeks and sixty hours of instruction.
Over the 4th of July holiday.
Wow!

I only need three more credits to earn my MEd and although this will be an undergraduate level course, I am able to use the credits. So awesome! And thank goodness too, because none of the other courses being offered this summer sounded at all interesting. This way, I get to learn something ENTIRELY NEW (can you believe I have very little paint training? and I've never used oils before) and I get to LIVE somewhere I have never been before.

I met with the professor yesterday and showed him everything from digital pictures from the Sketchbook Project, repeat patterns hand painted with gauche from my textile classes, to hours long figure drawings from my undergraduate classes. I am pretty proud to say that I am a UMASS CVPA graduate these days especially after the professor was so impressed by my drawings. (college of visual and performing arts)

I will be staying in apartment style housing with the other, at most, eleven students. Our workspace is about four miles away and the apartments are within walking distance to restaurants, shops and a little village. I plan to bring my bike, a bunch of books, my camera and plenty of sunscreen in addition to the list of supplies I happily await for from the professor.


Now to hurry up and wait for summer!

high school happenings in art 1

Here we are in March and looking ahead to the rest of the school year. I really think it is going to fly by! I'm feeling the crunch, but looking forward to celebrating my students' art achievements in April and May and all the wonderful end of the year activities soon there after. I may even have an art filled beginning of summer, depending on my own portfolio review this upcoming week. (I'll fill you in and keep you posted later)

A while back, I posted about my experience teaching high school this year. I can't say it has improved too much since the new term started, but I try to focus on the positives and the influence I am making on kids who really want to be there. And actually, I know I have some impact on the kids who are taking my class just to pass an elective. I can tell by the way they engage in conversation and even share things with me, occasionally asking my opinion on different topics.

I need to work on not getting worked up over the kids who consistently don't want to put in the effort. They are young adults who know my expectations, and as much as I push, they make their own decisions about their actions and earn their own grades, not me. If I am in the high school again next year, I need to advocate for no more than 25 students in a class. (Right now I have 30 with 24 desks...) I know if the class size was even three students smaller than I have now, I'd be able to give more feedback and attention to individual students than spending my time surveying the area, keeping students on task. But who knows! Next year could be completely different.

The artworks above are from my Art 1 students, the first half of the year. Many of our activities have focused on using line and value to add interest and render form. The first two black and white pieces are scratch boards, using texture and pattern to show value. The piece above is one of the more successful split self- portraits. One side was drawn using a mirror and shading and proportion techniques. The other side was drawn from the imagination or photo references, of symbols/ ideas/ pictographs to represent the artist.

I've found it very interesting how overwhelmed and worked up students get when asked to draw from their own imaginations and ideas. It makes me want to really look at the way I teach. Perhaps focus more next year, at the upper level, the process of being creative. I think I need to really explain why we take the steps that we do... brainstorming, sketching, evaluating, creating... and not just go through the motions. Being in grad school has really got my mind turning and thinking about how I teach and where to go from here.

My Art 1 students are finishing up some observational and compositional drawings of soda cans that has (thankfully for me to feel more successful) brought their shading and observational skills to the next level. After a quick activity about color and abstraction, we are moving on to a long term painting project inspired by Peter Max. I already know I am going to go insane painting with 30 students in a classroom that isn't mine, but oh well! My hope is that they will learn some new terms, experience a new material and paint something inspired by their own life after all these technical drawing activities. I really hope students take the opportunity to branch out. (I also hope they come out awesome since we have an art show at the beginning of April!)

Color Scheme Number Design

This sixth grade lesson was inspired by Figure 5 in Gold by Charles Demuth and Numbers in Color by Jasper Johns.

To motivate students, I asked a few to share what their favorite number is and why. We discussed how numbers have meaning to people and cultures. I suggested that artists may be inspired by numbers as well and presented a slide show of work from Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns and Charles Demuth.

Students were then instructed to select one number to be repeated numerous times around the page. We quickly talked about typography as I gave each table a sample of numbers in different type faces. I drew a sketch on the white board to demonstrate variety of size and placement. Finally, students used up to seven lines to divide the page and create new spaces and shapes. By the end of the first class, students traced their lines with white glue. This time, I demonstrated a few techniques using the document camera.

At the beginning of the next class, I gave students a vocabulary activity to complete independently or as a table, explaining that they would be using the words for their designs. Students were asked to match the correct definition to a color scheme, using a glossary (from Art: A Global Pursuit) and photo copy of terms and definitions.

Students were asked to choose from a warm, cool, monochromatic, analogous, triadic or complementary color scheme for their number design, now that they knew a color scheme is a plan for selecting colors. I noticed that pink and lime green is a thing amongst the sixth grade girls. I had to walk a few of them through how that could fit into a color scheme.

There were also many with warm colors/cool backgrounds and vice versa. Students were encouraged to experiment with blending and making new colors within their color scheme. If I were to do this again, I would cut down the size from 12x 18 to 9x12. I'm finding many students do not have the stamina to complete the larger size, especially after missing class for snow days and special events. Overall, I am pleased with the results, most students are proud of their work, and I was able to expose them to new materials, techniques and terminology. (I think my favorite however, is the one at the beginning of the post!)