ARTVENTURING IN MIDDLESCHOOL

Fin

6/9/2017

Finishing Up

I tried something new this year to finish up learning in my classroom. In addition to review guides, games, and an active project-based part of the final exam, I also asked students to help me close out my classroom prepare for the fall.

This is something I have traditionally done myself over the years. As I was thinking about how to end the school year, I started toying with the idea of having students who were earlier finishers to help with many of the tasks that help inventory and organize tools so that the next year begins smoothly.

Some of the important things students helped with involved labeling 3D stations with student numbers, refilling paint, emptying glue bottles, cleaning out student storage, and checking/sorting markers. It was such a good opportunity to teach students care of classroom materials, creating an inventory, as well as the process of how we go about making choices for ordering supplies for next year.

I cannot remember my classroom being cleaner or more organized at the end of the year and that means instead of focusing on that when we start in the fall, I can get right into the material and means of teaching my students.

GIFs

To finish out the year, we worked on part of our exam that piggy-backed on the idea of remixing from the last challenge. Instead of remixing work from our past, we looked to the students from our three elementary schools and intermediate school for inspiration.

Students in my class went to the Artsonia galleries of Nickels, Marshall, Brown, and Countryside and selected a piece of their choice that they would like to animate. Some picked family members and others picked randomly from the galleries.

Using Photoshop's tools and functions in the Motion workspace, students used the clone stamp, layers, and other tools to create the pieces below:

Final Exams

In addition to the project above, students finished my class out with a final exam that includes multiple choice, fill in the blank, matching, and ordering questions. I have been giving a test to finish out the course for years.

At first, it was the only test I gave to students and because of that, the results were really hard to track in terms of growth. Then, I did the pre and post test model, but I still felt that it was too difficult to gauge learning with only administering two tests during the term. That is when I decided to start giving smaller quizzes after Challenges and then use questions from those to formulate the exam. The questions range from art identification, material usage, and other art terminology and application.

I am not sure I quite have it right yet, but so far this has been the best way for me to track student understanding and retention of content in addition to using student work and artist statements to document student learning. It is also quite satisfying to both the students and myself when we review the difference in pre and post test scores and see students have made some kind of gain over the school year.

Final Reflections

The VERY last thing I do in my classroom is ask my students to give me feedback on the semester with the understanding I will use that feedback to help plan for the next time I teach the class.

First thing I ask in the survey is why students signed up for Art. Here is a breakdown of responses:

Then I ask them what they learned about in class:

Then I ask about what they wish they could have learned more about:

What is interesting for me to see in these responses is what students hoped to learn, what they think they learned, and what they wish they could learn more about. It offers me a nice recap and understanding of the students I serve and what their goals were for their learning and if they were met by my goals for their learning, too. I think I am happiest with the middle chart and the consistency I see across various aspects of art making that students felt they learned. It is validating to reflect on these responses and teaching practices and see that my goals were met for students (but I am always looking for new things to make it better).

In addition to this kind of data, students are able to give me feedback on what they thought the best part of class was, what could be changed to make it better, and any other final thoughts they had for me. This is probably my favorite part of the end of the term because it allows me to see the good in what we did, the things we can make better, and anything else that is on students' minds.

Here are some of reflections on what students liked the best this year:

STEAM Collaborations

"I really loved building rooms with the Stem Class, and getting design and create the spaces using different materials that reflect off of an artists work. "

"I loved the group projects with the other class because it let us get together with other people."

"I liked the video making collaboration. It was fun to make the game and fun to learn to work with coding. I also liked that we had the freedom to use whatever material we wanted for our art."

"I really liked being able to collab with the stem students and I loved making the artprize piece. I also enjoyed having the same theme but everyone getting to do each project in their own, creative way."

Student Choice

"I really liked how we got to make stuff that we wanted to. It was nice to not make something that looks exactly like everyone else's work."

"Saying good things at the beginning of class and being able to choose materials."

"The freedom to choose what your art will be and what it will be about."

"I enjoyed the fact that we got to pick our own art work. "

"The freedom of what kind of materials you get to use for the projects."

"Getting to choose what we wanted to do for each project instead of the teacher telling us what we had to make."

Love of Learning

"Trying all the materials."

"I like this class because you learn a lot new stuff."

"Getting to learn something new every day."

"I enjoyed the trip to Fredrick Meijer Garden. That was really fun, I enjoyed that very much and learned more about my favorite artist Ai Wei Wei."

The survey is anonymous and the nice thing about it is that it gives me feedback I can reflect on to improve practice for the future. A few students questioned whether we needed to learn 18 different artists over the term and if they could have more choice on the artists they studied. This is something I think I will revamp for next year.

I also appreciate the response to "Anything else you think I should know" part of the survey. I have really nice students and many offered thanks for a great year.

My favorite thank-you's are the ones that reflect what I try and offer all of my students and I hope resonate the most once they leave my classroom:

"Thank you for teaching me so much about art this year and helping me advance in my skills and learn that everybody can be good at art."

"I wanted to thank you so much for everything you have taught me. I honestly feel like I have really improved as an artist. I really enjoyed this art class, and getting to experience and work with so many different materials, that I have not had the chance to work with before. I really hope to continue art in the future, and wanted to say thank you for pushing me to be the best artist that I can be."

"I enjoyed being in art so much. I loved how nice and kind you were and how you gave back feedback to people. I really enjoyed that we had a project challenge to do and I loved that we could come up with some exciting things. I really also enjoyed the field trip, and making art work for Artprize. Learning more about artists I didn't even know about was fun as well. I was so excited to finally figure out I was doing Art and once I did I was never so happy to go to school everyday and starting out my day with my favorite subject, Art. Thank you so much for being my art teacher I enjoyed every second of being your student at Byron Center West Middle School."

"Thank you so much for teaching me about art, and showing me that art is a lot more than people act like. I loved being able to be creative and create my own art this year!"

Although it was the best year ever (for so many reasons), I know I can use their feedback to improve and help 2017/18 to be even better!

Happy Summer!

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Two Left

5/26/2017

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There are only two weeks left of school. And to say that there are two weeks left is being kind of generous. There is actually only seven more times I meet with my students from each of their hours before we say good-bye for the summer. With two more weeks left to go, here is a recap of what we did this week (which was a big one).

Arts a la Mode 2017

We had another great year celebrating the Arts in our school with our culminating activity: Arts a la Mode. This evening that begins with our annual Empty Bowls event and ends with performances and making opportunities for guests is something special that I am proud to be a part of for over 10 years.

I want to thank Hudsonville Ice Cream for helping us with the ice cream through their Fusion program and all of the volunteers who helped set up, clean up, and help out during the night. It was a great time and we were able to raise over $450 in food and funds for Buist Community Assistance Center which will be used to help feed those in need in our community.

It was fun to showcase the student talent this year through our large ArtPrize entry (we are still waiting to secure a venue). I also really enjoyed seeing students take leadership roles in the maker space this year and lead printmaking, lego building, and cardboard creating in the STEM room.

Meijer Gardens Field Trip

I have been taking students to the Gardens almost every year since I came to BCWMS. I love the space and the sculptures offered and the current exhibit of Ai Weiwei was perfect for linking to the learning back into the classroom.

Each year we try something new for our field trip and this year it was all about a scavenger hunt! I have to thank another teacher for this idea (like most I post, it seems they were sparked somewhere else). We did this hunt as a group activity with 5 groups because of the rules of the gardens. Each group was shared what to find in a Google Doc and then they were to upload their responses to the shared document.

It was fun to see the different things students found and what areas of the park they were able to go to. We also were stumped on a few of the items and appreciate the on-site librarian who helped us track down the answers (yes, I did not know some of the answers when I formed the questions). It was great fun and everyone was a good sport about it.

The current exhibit was also great and it was really nice to have the space almost to ourselves for it.

Sometimes I think it is crazy to plan this trip the day after our Fine Arts Night, but it seems to work out great and something I will plan to do again next year.

Challenge 5: Everything is a Remix

For our final Project Challenge, students worked on rethinking past pieces to make new work and show new skills and ideas. We looked at the concept of a remix and how artists and others have used remixing various ideas to make something new. It was fun to see the variety of ways in which students selected works they were interested in revisiting and how they were going to adapt their new ideas and skills learned from the semester when creating their new work. This is my

Evan: One similarity that I used in this artwork is that it is the same shoe used in the last nike shoe artwork. One difference is the medium I used is photoshop instead of mixed media. The reason i selected this piece was because I didn't think it looked visually pleasing to look at and I thought I could make it better. One think I did to change it was I mad it more like a piece that Jenny Van Sommers did on a shoe.

Tess: One similarity between this piece and my original Pop Art Piece is that they both use many colors, and they both use a combination of both stripes and dots. One difference between this piece and my original piece is that in this piece there is two people, and in the original piece, there was only me. I chose to remix my Pop Art Portrait piece because I love that it uses a lot of color and that it overall is just a fun piece to make. To change this piece from my original Pop Art Portrait, I chose a picture of two people, me and my friend, to use for the graphite transfer rather than just one person, and I did the entire face, including the eyes, while on my original piece there was glasses over the eyes so I did not have to do them.

Ava: For this challenge I decided to recreate the project I did for the Biography/Autobiography challenge. I mad a face with water color in the background but this one was simpler. I made the background with different colors also and I actually showed the entire face of this girl compared to the other girl in which I did not. I chose that piece to remix because I thought I could best portray and show how I improved on making a face, last time I was too afraid to make the face but this time I did shadowing and made it look way better than my last piece.

Sam: In this piece I showed how I grew from my previous piece of coffee cups. I grew because I showed my understanding of new materials and how I can use then effectively in my art piece. I also grew from my last piece because I chose a more effective topic. Instead of simple coffee cups I told a story with pain buckets that make the audience think about the story. One similarity between the two pieces is that I drew objects are can hold a lot of different things such as coffee, paint or anything in your imagination. Overall that is how I have grown as an artist in this work compared to my coffee cups piece. I selected the coffee cup piece to remix because I did not tell a very good story and with my paint buckets it shows that I can use materials better and that I can show a story through my work instead of just drawing a piece. Overall that is my growth throughout the challenge "Everything's a remix".

Marie: This artwork is based off an observational drawing I did in 6th grade. Growth over the years can be shown by recognizing my increase in observational skill. I chose to remix this piece of art because I thought that the previously made artwork didn't portray my own interest and style. But in this specific piece of work I used a material that I have grown to enjoy using, that being collage. Compared to the work made in 6th grade, this work is different because it provides elements of color, different shades and shape, while the 6th grade work was just simple lines.

Cam: This is a drawing of a whitetail deer by a fence. This is a piece of art I based off the elk I did earlier in the year. I really liked how the elk turned out so I wanted to try and do a whitetail deer. I used the same material as the elk and everything, its just not an elk this time. I used many different pictures off the internet to draw this deer.

Lukas: I created this artwork off of a picture of me kicking a soccer ball into a goal. I used many different colors than they actually were, because the colors of everything didn't pop put as much so i changed the colors so they were brighter and more radiant than the original. I used Tempera paint instead of water color because sit was more easier to use and not as messy.

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Three to go

5/20/2017

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STEAM Collaborations

The STEM teacher and I decided that simply one more collaboration was not enough for our students, so we did a JAM PACKED week and a half that included three! It was a perfect way to finish our last collaborations as a group and release some creative energy during State Testing.

Here are some of the results:

#1: Mandala Madness

When we plan out our collaborations, we want to make sure students are getting equal parts Art and STEM. This Mandala collaboration really is one of the most perfect blends we have found and offers a chance for everyone to help out.

First students get into groups of four and learn about various ways cultures have used radial design as a strategy to communicate ideas. After we look at some examples of various designs, students fold and cut their own mandala, using the fold lines as their lines of symmetry to transfer the design so it is symmetrical throughout their piece.

After students completed their designs, we went outside to translate them into LARGE replicas with chalk. I happened to be sick on the day we did this, but my students made sure to turn in images of their work. Here are a few:

Students also explored radial symmetry through digital means using Sumopaint and Photoshop.

#2: Piskels to Legos

In the spirit of translating images from one platform to another, students created images using the online program PiskelApp and then recreated them on our Lego Board! This Lego Board and the Lego pieces were purchased through a DonorsChoose project earlier in the year and funding from The Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters.

It was an awesome use of materials and it was fun to see all of the different creatures and creations students came up with to add to the board. This was our first time doing this collaboration and only had about a day to complete it. I think we will do some other really cool things with the Lego board in the future based on this experience.

#3: ArtPrize Youth Collaboration

Inspired by my trip to The Lab School in Washington, D.C. for The Power of Art Conference, I knew I wanted to do a large collaborative with students that would ultimately hang in our library. The new Youth Collaboration Award offered by ArtPrize was just the incentive to get something done by the end of the year and we hope we are able to connect with a venue in order to have it as a part of this year's competition.

The above video walks you through the five day process students went through to create this colorful work. First, students looked at the combines of Robert Rauschenberg and used his application of paint to inform their approach to attaching the canvas by making marks using a variety of tools. I was able to use donated paint from X-rite that was given to us a couple of years ago for this and a variety of paint brushes, sponges, texture tools, yarn, and stamps for applying it to the three 4x8ft foam boards. Even some teachers and our Assistant Principal got in on the action. They were simply encouraged to make marks and attack the surface (I had a great painting teacher in college who would say the same to me).

Then students were shown some images by Caledonia Curry and how she uses printmaking and cut patterns on paper to create collaged and layered works. We used the idea of paper cutting to create a series of portraits of students from our school (some of the images were from photos I had taken for the yearbook and others were from students own images) and various circle patterns. Students worked in pairs for this and it was fun to see the patterns and faces emerge as they cut into the colorful pieces of paper.

Once that was complete, we worked together to arrange the cut outs on top of the painted background until it seemed to look "right." Using Modge Podge and sponge brushes, they were sealed on top of the surface.

The end result is bright and colorful and reflective of the wonderful chaos that is both the end of the year and frequently in my Middle School Art room. I think we are pretty much finished (although we may add in some Sharpie outlines in the background - we are still debating this). We have until June 22nd to connect with a venue so our work can be a part of the ArtPrize Youth Collaboration Award consideration.

If you are interested in hosting this work, please visit the link and request a connection.

This work will be on display in the BCWMS Lobby during our Arts a la Mode/Fine Arts Night on Tuesday May 23rd.

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Five to Go

5/5/2017

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Challenge 3 and 4 Complete

Students finished up two challenges that I did not get a chance to post about until now. As we finish up the school year, I am trying my best to keep up with every fast-paced movement forward. Here are some of the results from the last two Challenges:

Challenge 3: Treasures and/or Trash

For this assignment, students had to think about the objects in their lives that they cherish or not. They also were challenged to use a material they had yet to try and that offered for some fun experiments.

Alex: In my work I decided to use photography. I took a photograph and reduced the shutter speed to add the movement affect. I used a contrast of color to make the picture more in-depth. I also used contrast to give more boldness to the colors in the pictures.

Luke: For Challenge 4, I used printmaking for the 16 teams that are in the NHL playoffs, As you see there is only the Minnesota Wild because I have not finished yet so I will re-submit with 16 teams on a white sheet of paper. I used space to fill up the space in my artwork and I also used variety so I used a variety of colors and ink to make the two main colors of each team. I love to watch the NHL Playoffs and I had to use a different material so I printmade the NHL teams.

Sophia: In this artwork I made a necklace out of pop cans. Some of the elements of art and principals of design that I used in this piece are shape, color, and pattern. I cut out the circle parts of pop cans and put them in a "U" type pattern to fit around the neck and I used the red from coca-cola cans to add some bright color. I like the artwork I made because it is very unique, different than anything I have done, and I used recycled materials.

Tess: In this piece, I used the elements of texture, the material yarn made for a very unique texture for the art, and line, the piece was made out of a lot of lines put together. to make my artwork I also used rhythm in the fact that the black and white lines were repeated throughout the cleat. Personally, I think that this piece is very aesthetically pleasing. The cleat is very detailed and I think that the colors work very well together.

Challenge 4: What is your issue?

For this challenge, students were asked to create work about a cause they cared about. It was interesting to see what they made, especially since they only had a week to do it.

Marie: In big cities like Chicago, or New York, it becomes more and more popular to see people without homes begging for money on the roadside. Myself, having been to both of the cities experienced seeing this, as well as in my home town. Many people put these people aside, and expect someone else to help them. Supporting homeless people as well as shelters is important. This artwork supports this idea of people without homes, because of the jar with a small amount of money, and the collage of cardboard. Both relate to the idea of homelessness. The vibrant colors support the idea of supporting homeless organizations, as well as people.

Kylie: I made this artwork because it shows how overwhelmed she is. It shows everything that is going on and how stressed she is with the world. I know from experience how it feels to be very overwhelmed with everything that is going on. I thought that with the distortion it shows how overwhelmed she is better. Also the eyes are big so that you can see what is going on. There is a saying "The eyes are the window to the soul."

Evan: This issue is important to me because I think that everyone is equal and should have the same rights. I had put different things that should be equal or are equal to show that we should be equals.

Chloe: My artwork is dealing with the Flint water crisis. In my work I represented how this issuse can affect us in the future but in a good way. Eventually the water is going to become clean enough to drink. In the background I used a pipes showing how it all started from the pipes. This is important to me and other people because people NEED clean water to drink and they shouldn't have to go to the store to do so.

Mrs. Campbell Goes to Washington

I had the most awesome opportunity to apply and be accepted to participate in The Power of Art Conference at The Lab School in Washington D.C. This three-day conference allowed teachers from across the country to come together at The Lab School and discuss one of the most important topics in Arts Education, which is Arts Integration. I was fortunate enough to arrive early enough on the first day to make my way to several important spots around our Nation's Capitol and take in the history and the art (often times at the same moment).

The Power of Art

I had an amazing experience learning more ways to integrate the Arts at this conference. I am very passionate about this topic and actually wrote my Thesis on this for my MA in Art Education back in 2010. As a teacher who is also certified in English/Language Arts, I try and cross other content curriculum into my Arts lessons and it was really eye-opening to see an entire school use the Arts in their content curriculum throughout grades and subjects. It was also really inspiring to see the various collaborative works students did around the school, many of them hand-in-hand with Robert Rauschenberg!

Notes from the Conference

This annual conference is available to teachers and administrators from schools all over the country. I highly recommend going and applying with other teachers and school leaders from your district!

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Six Left

4/26/2017

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KCAD DE Complete

One of the biggest events of this week were my students finishing their KCAD Dual Enrollment class and presenting their final projects. After fifteen weeks of learning various manual settings, editing techniques, and how artists use both of those things to make compelling images, students worked on their final presentations on a topic of their choice.

I was impressed as students explained their ideas and presented their final series. The difference between this assignment and the ones previously done is that the work must tell a story both individually and as a group of images.

Here are the results:

Elise: Shine

Elise's final series focused on the use of glitter to gloss over images we may not notice or want to see. She used glitter to capture ideas of greed, jealousy, hope, and wonder within her final eight images. She is planning to submit her series to Scholastic in the Fall.

Kathy: Made in the U.S.A

Kathy's final series explored her heritage by using her friends and family in the Vietnamese market where they do their grocery shopping. She explores how she views herself through the items she captures and the development of her personalized definition of an American identity.

Krista: Life Cycles

Krista's work goes through the exploration of self though the use of water, paint, skulls, and how the model for her series interacts with those objects. She is planning to submit her series to Scholastic in the Fall.

Anna: Childhood Dangers

In Anna's series, she resisted her grandparent's basement where she was greeted by old toys and memories from the past. She decided to pair the well-worn objects with dangerous items and severe lighting to get an effect that shows a darker side to your once loved friends.

Emma: Double Vision

Emma finished out the term with this series using her sister as a model and various special effects through light, prisms, and overlays to create a surreal feel with the portraits. Emma used the visual language of her drawings to inform the ideas behind these works as well as the color story woven throughout.

Kennedy: Dark Shadows

In her final series of images, Kennedy was interested in capturing fear and anxiety through images of what lurks just beyond the frame or in the shadows. Her images use some objects we encounter routinely, but dramatize them through placement, light, and shadow.

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Seven Left

4/21/2017

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#WIP

Students worked on a new challenge this week that asked them to consider the items we value and those we do not. In doing so, they also were tasked with using media or materials that they have yet to use in their work. In addition to viewing artists' works that focus on objects and items as their subject, students were introduced to the idea of repurposing materials that are not usually thought of when making art or using materials they have yet to try this semester.

In the middle of the week, I demonstrated felting and used the wonderful resources of Cassie Stephens to my students. Many decided to try their hand at it (as you can see in the images below).

This project has been one of my favorites for years. It has also been pretty successful in yielding unique pieces that have done well in competition. I am excited to see where students end up with these works and which we might be able to save for next year's competition cycle.

Class Banner

After School Art students have been hard at work making the banner to represent their class that will hang with the others in the cafetorium. After months of sifting through ideas, plans, and lots of cutting and arranging, students started to finalize their work by actually putting the pieces together. The hope and goal is to have this complete and ready for display by our May 23rd event, Arts a la Mode!

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Start of 4th Quarter

4/16/2017

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Back from Break

In addition to motivational messages written on my whiteboard in the hall to meet students that included "It's the beginning of the end" and "Be like the Patriots this 4th Quarter," I welcomed students back from break with some quick creations that exercised their understanding of a variety of media.

I thought this would be a good way to ease back into the swing of school after a little over a week away from the grind and it would help students focus on successfully completing the skill-building tasks and use that to springboard into a successful 4th quarter and end to the school year.

Photoshop Challenge 2

Before we left for break, students spent time with on a Challenge and STEAM collaborative that both looked at spaces and places as their subject. I decided to welcome students back from break by continuing that subject into four possible Photoshop Challenges for students to select and complete over the course of two days. Students had the opportunity to create a landscape, perspective drawing, altered graffiti name, or space image and in the process learn more Photoshop tools and experiment with ideas and their understanding of how to create images digitally.

Here are a few of the results:

Ruby: My work is of one part of Mount Everest, in the background you see snowy mountains, and in the foreground theres a part of the mountains without any snow. The tools I used was only the brush tool. I used a lot of the different textures to create shading and make it look more realistic.

Sophia: In my artwork I used a picture of this hallway in our school and I used the pen tool to trace over all of the lines. I also used the gradient tool to create the color across it. I like the work I created because I think it challenged me and it ended up very cool with the colors and all of the lines.

Arianna: The style I did of my graffiti name is I chose the Kodiak style off of graffiti creator and my name ended up looking like this. I decided to use bright colors like lime green, hot pink, and turquoise. I also decided to put 3d bubbles and make them yellow to make the letters pop even more. In the end I put it on a brick wall and turned down the opacity so it would look more realistic in the picture. I also decided that was not enough and I could do more. So then I figured out I could add a shadow holding a spray can that made the graffiti and then I also turned down the opacity on the shadow so it wouldn't be so bold.

Riley: it is a picture of two planets that rotate around each other and will eventually merge. also they are separated by a star belt.

Observational Drawing

The middle of the week transitioned from digital work to more traditional drawing methods. We spent one class period this week simply working on our observational skills and thinking about how our eyes work when we are using them to help us draw from life. One of my favorite exercises if to just simply walk students through a looking/seeing process and verbalizing how to really examine what is in front of you before you start to draw it.

Observational skills are important and can be fostered, just like any other skill can be. During our day of observational drawing, we practiced non-dominant hand drawing, dominant hand drawing, and abstraction through enlargement. Students used their shoes and strings to do this and then worked on turning one of their smaller drawings large on a bigger sheet of paper for our Mixed Media experimentation. This is a great lead into our next challenge, where still life can play an important role.

Mixed Media Speed Dating

As I did with students last semester, I set out materials at each table group with introduction cards to using collage, watercolors, ink, pastels, and sharpies/gell pens with stencils. Students then rotated in 5-7 minute increments around the groups until their observational drawings had each of the media processes on it.

It is a really fun way to introduce students to new media (or even old media in new ways) and they ended up with a work that many enjoyed as a finished piece. I think the best part of this process is that the emphasis is really on experimentation with media and the end product is secondary; however, many students will use their experience to help formulate choices for their upcoming project Challenge that brings the focus in on objects.

Here are some results from the process:

Chloe: We used observational drawings to first draw our shoe and then we tested out different mixed media. We tested out watercolor, chalk and oil pastels, different types of ink, different sharpie ways, and then collage. My favorite was spraying the watercolor everywhere for the background.

Ella: With this piece I fell in love with all that we got to do around the room. I was new to calligraphy but fell in love with the way the pen moved and the way in which if you added more pressure you got thinker lines. This project was short but fun to use all the new types of materials in which we got to used chalk pastel and a ton of stencils. It was amazing to watch all the connections come together that I have never tried before. I would do this all year long if I could.

Oliver: In the art I used for the first time a Quill and Ink to make stitches on the shoe.

Ashtyn: In this piece of art I used multiple things I have never used before like the quill, the blow technique, oil pastel, and paint. But out of all of those the one I liked using the most was the quill, I liked the quill because it was just easy and fun to use. I also liked using the oil pastel and the paint.

Light and Shadow

My Dual Enrollment students focused on Light and Shadow as a subject matter for their 4th assignment in our Intro to Photo class. It has been really exciting to see students advance their understanding of how to adjust the settings on their camera and how to frame their images to get a variety of effects.

Here are a few of their solutions to capturing the idea of light and shadow:

Kennedy

Anna

Elise

Emma

Kathy

Krista

There are only a couple of weeks left before Dual Enrollment is over and I am very excited for what students have been working on for their final thesis. It will be fun to share what their solutions and ideas were as we close out the term and I look forward to seeing what my 7th and 8th graders do as we finish the 4th quarter strong!

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End of 3rd Marking Period

3/30/2017

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District Art Show

I am incredibly thankful that I get to work with the talented students and staff at BCPS and each year at our k-12 show, I that feeling is magnified. It was great to showcase the works of our students in this show that will run into the end of next month at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center and close out Youth Arts Month with a reception that honored those student-artists on display.

STEAM Collaboration: Artist Rooms

We finished out our 3rd collaborative project this year, just as we close out 3rd marking period and leave for Spring Break. I had my doubts about whether or not we were going to keep these kids engaged so close to break and how well they were going to pull off the work required with only 8 working class days to get it done. As usual, students did not disappoint and really turned out some of the most creative and interesting interpretations of artists works as various rooms.

To cap off the project, students presented their slide show and work to other members of the class and then placed them on display in the library. With the help of our LMC specialist, we got out the Scholastic Art Magazines students used and placed them between the maquettes. It is a great display and one that we plan to keep up for the rest of the year. Another great way to close out Youth Arts Month as well as March is Reading Month.

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The Real Week Nine

3/23/2017

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STEAM Collaboration #3: Artist Rooms

STEM and Art students joined forces once again this year for a new challenge: take an artist from Scholastic Art Magazine and create a room that demonstrates his/her style. I wish I could take full credit for this idea, but as with most things, I came across @QEHSArtDept posts on Twitter showing off bedrooms created by students that looked like artists' rooms and some lovely cultural rooms at the 2015 National Art Education Association conference in New Orleans that sparked this collaborative unit.

In order to get students in the mindset, we showed them this video from the artist duo Nix and Gerber. It was a great introduction to how artists plan, collaborate, and repurpose materials and the fact that they create replicas (which is what we were asking of students) was perfect! Once students got into groups of three, they selected rooms using a Google sign up (so there were not more than one repeat of room), students began searching through Scholastic Art Magazines, finding an artist to use to design their rooms.

After signing up for an artist (there could not be duplicates), students then broke their groups into three roles: The Project Manager, The Blueprint designer, and The Sketch Up Artist. All three students were in charge of creating a model of their design based on the blueprint and sketch up.

By the end of the week, students have a pretty good start on their models, using their plans to help guide them. They will be bringing all of this together next week and present their finished works. In addition, these works will go on display in our library and also be featured in our Arts a la mode/Fine Arts night on May 23rd.

It has been really fun see students struggle towards solutions and grow in the process. There have been interesting design choices and thoughtful narratives to support their decisions as artists and a lot of problem solving as they try to engineer the final product. We have also been putting the 3D printer to work this week as students used Tinkercad to make furniture, accessories, and other objects to go into their models.

Here are some process images from the week:

Student Show

Being able to join my colleagues in the BCPS Visual Arts team to do so brings me a lot of joy and pride. At least once each school year our students are able to display their works at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center and represent the excellence of Visual Arts in each of our six buildings and across each grade level. Selecting which works to display from WMS 7th and 8th graders were tough, but that is a good kind of problem to have.

For this year's show, I tried to select student work that reflected a variety of media, demonstrated skill or inventiveness of media, and work whose artist statements were demonstrative of the learning and thought process that took place of the artist who created it.

Because I have adapted a model of teaching that asks students to choose the ways in which they interpret themes (via the media, subject, etc.), the variety in the works on display are both exciting and interesting to view. I look forward to celebrating these works and the rest of our student artists at the opening reception on Monday, March 27th at 5:30 p.m.

DOF

Dual Enrollment students finished up another assignment last week that focused on Depth of Field. This term is used to describe what is in focus in an image. Students were encouraged to capture a wide range of subjects and use a shallow, mid, and wide DOF in their images.

Here are some examples of their work:

Anna

Ellise

Emma

Kathy

Krista

There is only one more week until Spring Break. As you can see by my repeat of week nine (since it looks like I missed a week six or seven this go around), I am in need of it. I wish all teachers and students the best as they finish out this week and marking period STRONG!

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Week Nine

3/17/2017

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National Silver Medals!

Since 2008, I have been proud to enter student work in the Scholastic Art Awards. During these past nine years, we have had numerous regional winners and now nine National Medalists with the recent addition of this year's winners! Congratulations to Lindsey Peters, Magnus Smith, and Clay Brown for earning National Silver Medals! I am very excited to add your names to the list of Cam Schuelke, Ethan Pipe, Anna Pavlak, Jordan Cooper, Mackenzie Reid, and Amanda Strayhorn as previous BCWMS winners!

What is even more exciting than winning this recognition is the conversations from each of this years' winners already planning what to make for next year. I can't wait to see it made!

Where are you going? Where have you been?

Students finished their second major challenge this week and explored various ideas about where they have been and where they would like to go. Some students took the prompt literally, while others more figuratively. It was fun to see them go through various materials of their choosing and draw on the artists we studied for this project as inspiration.

Here are some of the results:

Kenzie: I chose to do this place out of all my thumbnail sketches, because I thought it was different. In most of my sketches I had chose a place that was tropical area with a sunset or a city. I decided to incorporate both in my finished product of Cuba. I responsibly used water color, sharpies, and metallic colored pencils. I used principles and visual characteristics in my artwork effectively, and I fully understand how to use them. My final artwork shows craftsmanship and many techniques such as mainly shading. The materials I used appropriately fit my artwork. I used media to get an idea of how to correctly draw buildings in Cuba. My artwork is similar to Red Grooms, because I used buildings in a busy area which is most likely to be similar to Red Grooms.

Samantha: The theme of this challenge was to create an art piece following "Where are you going, where have you been?". For my interpretation I created a piece about places all over the world that are very popular for tourism. I used pencil shavings to create individual places such as cities, beaches, and even amusement parks. I drew a big long road and everyplace connects there. I also have a big globe with red drop pins on certain places. This art piece follows the theme because it talks about all the places in the world but it also shows that all the places are connected through the roads on the globe. I used a lot of different materials including watercolor and chalk to create different textures and colors on the art. My art reminds me of the artist Eugina Loli because she uses a lot of different places in one image and this is exactly what I did. I created a lot of different backgrounds and connected them all through the globe and a road. My art is significant to me because it talks about places all over the world and a lot of these places I would love to go someday.

Arianna: My choice in materials represents my trip to Hawaii and shows a distorted effect to it. The puzzle effect shows that there are two sides to every environment. One can be dull, and one can be bright and flourished. I have been to Hawaii and saw different and unique landscapes and photographed them. This shows my interpretation of the theme by the materials I use. I connect to this artwork because I have been to Hawaii and everywhere I go there is different in many ways. The flourished image is the ocean and rocks. The duller image is when we visited the Big Island’s main volcano. This shows two extremely different landscapes even though it’s the same environment/land. This artwork is similar to the artwork created by Eugina Loli because we both use a distorted and abstract effect.

Katelyn: My artwork shows a space landscape. From the bottom left to the top right the planets get smaller. While it necessarily doesn't getter smaller as it get closer to the background, as usually used in composition, I chose to present it at a vertical angle and put my vanishing point in the top right corner. I started by drawing the planets and taping then, then I painted the picture plane black added purple accents to create an outer space appearance. Next, I sprinkled white paint over the plane with a paintbrush, adding stars. When I removed the tape from the planets I colored them in using water color pencils and blended them using water. Finally to add a more dramatic effect to the planets I shaded the left sides with black chalk pastel and tinted the right side with white chalk pastel. On some of the planets, I drew people standing on top of them. I have traveled to a lot of places in my life and met so many different people. I personally think that when we go places it is all about the people we encounter who influence us the most. The world is full of different unique people and personalities, and each one we meet, influences us, even if it is in a small way. So, looking out from where we are from, you never know who you might find, and who might just change your life.

Ethan: I choose clay to make the piece of art out of because clay is my favorite material to work with. The reason I made yellow stone is that me and my family have spent a lot of time there and now we cant.

Tess: For this piece, I first used pencil to draw the coral onto the carving block, then I used a carving tool to carve out the design. I chose black paper for my picture plane because I wanted the printing ink to really stand out. A couple of years ago, in fifth grade, my family went to Hawaii, and my favorite thing was all of the coral that we saw. Unfortunately, I later learned that a lot of the coral in all of our oceans is becoming subject to coral bleaching, and I wanted my piece of artwork to highlight this issue. My work is similar to Andy Goldsworthy's because it involves nature, but while he directly uses his environment, creating pieces out of snow, leaves, stone, and other things, and then photographs it, I simply created a picture of nature.

Ella: My art for this section was created from an old pair of jeans, using fabric as my main media. With this piece I cut each piece of felt to create every patch on my jeans also created roads from the paint that made roads connecting my life. I thought jeans would be a good media for they will always be part of my life I have grown up making whole in my jeans from falling down in the side walk to falling off my bike. They are worn, torn and lived in no matter what the age. I could go on and on about the jeans and each path but for easy means something new. I added a sun and clouds for that is my favorite weather when I sun just peaks out from the clouds and makes the perfect temperature. I also created a diploma for when I graduate high school and hope to be high in my class. The mittens represent the state I live in, Michigan, with the great lakes. With this art work I have branched out into several pieces of my life and also used parts from Faith Ringold and made a piece using fabric as I looked at her piece it made it easier to make mine looking at the parts and small additions she added to her quilt help me make mine.

Kheim: I this art I thought of book ad some other thing I do in English which is write something and I usually write in first point of view. So I came up with the idea for this. I usually I just get to the final art but this time I realize that I have try this out before but it doesn't work so I sketch out ton of perspective and more. I took some idea of some other art like a draw of the forest, room and much more so I use the room idea. I thought of my room so I draw my room. I use shading pencil just like my other art. It's about your teen life like how teen have more freedom than a children and more. In the end, I think my work is pretty similar to Georges Seurat art because my art use perspective to show how far the object and shading to show is 3d. The different is that my don't use a ton of don't Georges.

Hannah: This a cardboard collage with magazine objects overlaid on cardboard to create a 3D effect, there is also a watercolor flower and 2 drawn objects. I call this "Dream Objects" because I have a little artist in me, my dad is in the military, and I was born in oklahoma. Throughout all the trials I face I can always come back to my dreams wherever I go.

Isaac: The composition and materials that I used for this artwork are supposed to show a quiet nighttime setting, but with vibrancy as well. I also tried to use texture to give a feel of depth to the art. I can connect to this art personally when looking at how it portrays a vibrant, even exciting feel, and I can also connect this artwork to Red Grooms by thinking of how we both used a 3D effect, along with depth, to give a sense of reality in our work.

Next week we will continue this investigation of how place can shape people and the way they use it with our STEAM collaborative.

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Finishing Up

GIFs

Final Exams

Final Reflections

STEAM Collaborations

Student Choice

Love of Learning

"Trying all the materials."

"I like this class because you learn a lot new stuff."

"Getting to learn something new every day."

"I enjoyed the trip to Fredrick Meijer Garden. That was really fun, I enjoyed that very much and learned more about my favorite artist Ai Wei Wei."

Arts a la Mode 2017

Meijer Gardens Field Trip

Challenge 5: Everything is a Remix

STEAM Collaborations

#1: Mandala Madness

#2: Piskels to Legos

#3: ArtPrize Youth Collaboration

Challenge 3 and 4 Complete

Challenge 3: Treasures and/or Trash

Challenge 4: What is your issue?

Mrs. Campbell Goes to Washington

The Power of Art

Notes from the Conference

KCAD DE Complete

Elise: Shine

Kathy: Made in the U.S.A

Krista: Life Cycles

Anna: Childhood Dangers

Emma: Double Vision

Kennedy: Dark Shadows

#WIP

Class Banner

Back from Break

Photoshop Challenge 2

Observational Drawing

Mixed Media Speed Dating

​Light and Shadow

District Art Show

STEAM Collaboration: Artist Rooms

STEAM Collaboration #3: Artist Rooms

Student Show

​DOF

National Silver Medals!

Where are you going? Where have you been?

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Light and Shadow

DOF