Thank you to all of the parents and students who came out to BCWMS to participate in the Fine Arts Festival. It was a great night filled with Art and Music and could not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the students in our Fine Arts programs! 

Now that our displays are coming to a close, please be on the look out for artwork making its way home. Students should be bringing home work as early as today. If something happens to the work as it makes it way home from school, remember that you can see the full array of projects on our online Artsonia gallery. 

Due to a grant awarded by the National Art Education Foundation, I was able to have artist Cindi Ford spend the day with students. She taught them a variety of printmaking methods and encouraged them to play and experiment with the media. It was an awesome and messy day in the Art classroom that I am sure no one will forget. I am so thankful for this experience, and know students are going to use her expert tips moving forward with other printmaking projects we accomplish. 

I am happy to report that our students won two first place and one second place award from the Meijer Great Choices Film Competition! This not only awarded our classroom grant funds to be used to fund awesome Arts experiences, but it also means that the first place videos will be shown at Celebration Cinemas for a special awards ceremony. It is going to be a blast to see the student work come alive on the big screen. 

This would not have been possible without the help and support of all of the family, friends, and students who voted daily. Thank you for your help and I look forward to seeing how we fare next year as we enter this competition again! 

Students finished out their Dual Enrollment class this week with a presentation of the assignments given as they relate to the Artists we studied. Students were challenged to create a presentation with a tool of their choice (iMovie, PowerPoint, Google Presentation, Prezi, etc.) and then present their work to the class. When presenting, students explained how each image was made and the process of selecting a companion Artist's image to correlate with it. It was fun to see how the student created images related to the works we studied in class and how students presented on subject, composition, and overall mood of their works. 

The Van Singel Fine Arts Center is filled with student work and we are excited for the upcoming student reception this Friday from 5:30-6:30. Every Middle School student I have this semester has a piece on display. It is a great opportunity to celebrate the work and see the continuum of our Visual Arts program grades K-12. 

7th and 8th grade students will have their work on display at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center through the month of May. This exhibit is in collaboration with the schools in our district k-12 grades. Based on an online discussion with a group of Art teachers, I decided to mix and match works together (instead of keeping them by project). The result is a fun and interesting display, where the various projects seem to communicate with one another on the wall. This is one of my favorite exhibits during the year and I am excited to see what all of the students from Byron Center Public Schools put on display! 

We had an awesome day today at the Meijer Gardens! It is one of my favorite places to walk and enjoy art as it coexists with nature. Due to a travel grant from Michigan Youth Arts, I was able to take students to enjoy the bright sunny day outside and the butterfly exhibit on the inside! Students even got to touch a piece of glass that was left as an example from the Chihuly sculpture. We have been doing this field trip with BCMWS students for over five years and I am already excited to do it again next year! Check out some of the highlights in our video below.

Please vote for Raven870 for Artsonia Artist of the Week! 

Thanks for voting today for our Meijer Great Choices Films:

http://k8.meijergreatchoices.com/entry/1523119

http://k8.meijergreatchoices.com/entry/1522957

http://k8.meijergreatchoices.com/entry/1523263

http://k8.meijergreatchoices.com/entry/1522324

http://k8.meijergreatchoices.com/entry/1609696

7th grade students uploaded their sculptures to Moodle today before putting them out for display in the library. 8th grade students will be doing the same as soon as we get them out of the kiln. It is always fun to see how these clay creatures transform from lumps of clay to shining sculptures. You can find more clay sculptures on our Artsonia gallery!