My classroom looks so pretty! I put up posters and created six still-lifes: potted aloe vera plants with silk flowers, peacock feathers and American flags sitting on fabric and patterned paper placemats.
I am planning to do a Francoise Gilot inspired lesson with my Art-8 students. I’m thinking colored pencil on Canton paper.
It all starts today at 7:33 AM.
My Art-8 students viewed the paintings of Canadian artist Daniel Bergeron, specifically, his installation in Regent Park in Toronto.
Then they painted the teachers and staff at our school! The steps were as follows:
This is my sample (above). We used acrylic paint.
Here are the results. They are on display in the school library. I’ve got one more class finishing up tomorrow for a total of fifty-five paintings. So fun! <3
Last week was all about the silk and leather combo. I’ve been trying to stick to themes and this one is my favorite. The previous week it was cotton T-shirt and leather, which is the more casual version of what is becoming my school uniform.
We are currently glazing clay projects, painting and finishing up the Lions Club peace poster contest. Posters are due on October 22nd. First marking period ends on November 5th.
This is the state of my classroom. Last year, the teachers traveled from room to room instead of the students moving about the building. We are somewhat back to normal this year. It’s good to be back.
So far, I checked in some supplies and pulled a bunch of posters out of the back room. I’m in the process of creating new lessons and deciding which classes will do which lessons.
School starts for students on September 7th.
I have a lot of work to do and there is no air conditioning in the classroom. Other challenges will include the social distancing stuff and the masks. I’ll try to find a way to make it fun.
Friday was the end of the marking period. Today we began the new one with an art pre-test for 8th graders and a video for 7th graders.
Here are some of the celebrity portraits my 8th grade Studio in Art students (from Chittenango Middle School) finished back in March. I didn’t display them because I was saving them for the school fair, which never happened.
I allow students to pick almost anyone – meaning anyone “appropriate”, and this year you will see a variety from sports, performing arts, the art world and social media (and one grand-dad). Two Steve Harveys, lol. He wins as most popular this time.
They are pencil drawings on Canton paper.
Two of my classes used hand-building skills to create these adorable clay lizards. We used the Sax Colorburst glazes. I love the colors, especially the Firecracker!!! The projects remain in the glass case in the Chittenango Middle School atrium.
We looked at the work of the Aboriginals of Australia for inspiration. Different patterns were added to the body, head, limbs and tail using a variety of techniques.
Welcome to my world. Here are my 2020 #ootd school pictures thus far. My Studio in Art students have been painting with acrylics – these paintings are going to blow your mind. They are sooooo good!!!!! I think they only need a couple more weeks to complete them. I have been wearing stuff that wouldn’t freak me out if it got paint on it. I guess I am saying that fashion is taking a backseat at the moment. I’m a control freak about the brushes – I tell them to use however many they want and need, and I will wash them, so, I spend about twenty minutes washing brushes on my lunch period every day.
Today was the first day of the 2nd semester, believe it or not, which means we are already half-way through the year. I am giving pre-tests and prepping lessons – lots of cool things to come: oil pastels, collage, more paintings and clay!!! I’ll be switching up the artwork on the cabinets soon, as well as eventually organizing the excessive amount of white paint on that back counter, lol, for those of you who scoff at the mess. (It is an art room, after all – that’s what makes it fun and funny). Special thanks to Katy C., my colleague and photographer, who laughs with me every day. <3
This year there are fifteen 8th graders in my Studio in Art accelerated high school course at Chittenango Middle School. They finished the Lions Club Peace Poster project just in time for the end of the first marking period and for the judging last Wednesday. This is an international competition where the big winner gets $5,000. At the local level, the Chittenango Lions awarded monetary prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
This year’s theme is Journey of Peace.
Posters will be on display in the guidance office where we have recently created a little gallery space. They will be moved to the Sullivan Library’s Community Room for the month of December 2019.
Today our winning poster competes for the regional title. If it wins, it continues its journey at the state level then internationally.
The Lions Club is providing us with a luncheon on Wednesday, November 20, 2019 in our classroom. I am so incredibly blessed to have these wonderful people in my life. They are so supportive of my program and each year for the past thirteen years they have turned three of my students into professional artists. That’s a lot of pros! Win-win! <3
Teaching watercolor to my 8th grade accelerated Studio in Art students was probably the most significantly beautiful thing I have done at school all year. I gave them each their own palettes and set of Koi brand watercolors. They began by painting on small sheets, practicing four techniques: saving the white of the paper, glazing, wet-in-wet and dry brush.
Then I gave them Arches 300# watercolor paper. They drew landscapes with barns.
Paintings took weeks to create. Many, many days of thin coats of glazing culminating in dry brush details. These kids are extraordinarily talented. I guided them, but really, they were on auto-pilot for much of the lesson. My job was to remind them to utilize formal principles consciously – rhythm, balance, emphasis…and to insist that they trust their own hand and intuition, so that their style could emerge. My goal and hope for them, as they mature as artists in high school and beyond, is for them to stay true to who they are and what they want to evoke in their artwork.
I am beyond blessed to know these talented über-amazing young people!!!!
Paintings are currently on display on the hallway walls at Chittenango Middle School, Chittenango, New York.
