Blog Archives

starting knots and other stuff

1/31/2013

Students uploaded their work to Moodle today, finishing up their beginning projects dealing with abstraction/line/games as we got into the swing of what Art class is going to be all about this semester. You can see the new additions to the Modified Blind Contour and Exquisite Corpse galleries on Artsonia.

Moving along to our next project, 7th grade students were using the window to help transfer their beginning design inspired by Celtic Knots. They are creating a symmetrical design that will be transferred and filled in with a variety of colors and materials. We watched the last minute from "The Secret of Kells" to reference some of the imagery of the book (many of the students said they were going to rent the film when they got home) and we also looked at a variety of ways the Celts created never-ending lanes with overlaying pathways. Students will read more on this topic next week using Scholastic Art Magazine.

8th grade students practiced their abilities with blind contour drawing as they drew a variety of things before selecting one to enlarge onto watercolor paper with glue. We will be using watercolor with these next and then explore the concept of value once it dries.

But all of those plans might have to wait until next week... depending on how much it snows tonight. :)

adding color

1/30/2013

7th grade students worked on their modified blind contour drawings today by adding color to them with oil pastels. This is the first time I have taught this lesson this way and I think the students took great advantage of the mix-ability of the material to blend their colors and create a painterly effect.

Soon the work will be uploaded to Artsonia, but students will have to first use PhotoBooth, iPhoto, and Moodle to take, edit, and upload their work for me to publish.

8th grade students also added color to their work today by taking their section of the "Exquisite Corpse" game and adding colored pencil, crayon, or marker to it. It is always fun to see the zany drawings that result from the random add-ons that everyone takes part in by the time we are done rotating. I will be posting those to our gallery as soon as they are all turned in on Moodle, too.

portrait party

1/29/2013

7th grade students worked with portraits today after dancing to review line vocabulary and then rotating around the room for our Portrait Party. Students drew their portraits using a blind contour method - which results in very abstract looking works.

We finished the activity by modifying one of the blind contour drawings onto a larger scale with black oil pastel. Tomorrow students will add color and value to their abstract portraits before finishing up and turning them into Moodle.

To see what a Portrait Party involves, you can check out the video below:

Portrait Party from Janine Campbell on Vimeo.

High School Scholastic Winners

1/28/2013

I am excited to celebrate student winners of the 2013 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards next Saturday at Kendall. I posted my student winners in this post, but also wanted to showcase the High School winners (as I have had the privilege to teach many in the past). The video above is a showcase of the winners from the High School, although I was unable to include a couple of images because I was unable to recover them from my files. I look forward to this upcoming weekend's celebration and seeing student work on display at Kendall College of Art and Design.

Portfolios

1/25/2013

Students worked on a variety of things today in class. First, students added Artist Statements on Artsonia for their Graffiti Names they created yesterday. It was fun to read the reactions students had and how they reflected on the process and what they learned.

After that, students created their portfolio and labeled them with their class color in an Organic shape and their Name and table # in a Geometric shape. Once they secured the sides, students finished it off by decorating the outside of their folder with their name in an expressive way. Students will finish their portfolios on Monday.

Remember, you can purchase notebooks like the ones shown above from Artsonia using your student's artwork for decoration. 20% of the funds go back to our classroom for supplies and other arts experiences!

Tests and Names

1/24/2013

One thing I have learned over the course of my teaching career is that sometimes you have to adjust as you encounter different situations.

This week set us up with a snow day, two hour delay, and a day where the internet was not quite working... despite any snags in original plans, my students were able to accomplish ALL of the tasks set before them and they did so with great attitudes and winning results!

Today students took their pre-test and followed up by creating their name on Graffiti Creator - all on Moodle. This is our second day with the computers and I am already in awe of the speed and proficiency students are accomplishing tasks. I am excited to see how much more we are able to produce as a result of this infusion of technology and can't wait until students start filling their Artsonia online portfolios with the results!

1:1

1/23/2013

Today was our second day of the semester, since yesterday was snow day. I was really excited to use the computers in class, until first hour rolled around and none of them seemed to connect to the internet. Luckily we had our clay projects, but some of those dried out too much from Monday. So, we had to go with our back up of the back up plan and I was able to show students all kinds of cool things they can do with their Macs.

By 4th hour the internet issue was solved, and those students were able to take the Art Survey, complete the Social Contract, and create really cool graffiti style names. If you were in 1-3 hours, you will want to go to Moodle tonight and get caught up.

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to using the computers again - hopefully glitch-free!

Second Semester Start

1/21/2013

Today was the start of a new semester, which means new students and of course, the best part of all: CLAY!

Students created various forms using clay that all revolved around the spirit of community service and civic duty (which is a great way to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.).

8th grade students created projects for the Shells for NJ Shores project to help with disaster relief as well as making pebbles for the mosaic mural we are working on for the Early Childhood Development Center in our district. 7th grade students created bowls for the Empty Bowls Event to take place on March 21st in the WMS Cafetorium.

I am excited for this new group of students and based on the awesome behavior of students, I know we will have a great rest of the school year!

end of term

1/15/2013

I think this picture sums up the last week pretty well in the Visual Arts classroom at WMS.

It has been a busy end of the term as students finished projects and reviewed for exams. I am really proud of the work students created over this semester and cannot wait to share the experiences with the new group of students next week.

As we got ready for our exam review, students watched the videos they created to explore and teach others about the projects and concepts we learned over the semester. The one below was voted as the best of class by their peers.

final presentation

1/8/2013

In After School Art, students work on a variety of individual projects at their own pace. Many enter competitions, and others just experiment to see what will happen when (fill in the blank)... It is a diverse group of students who do many different kinds of things. That is why we are putting together a collaborative portfolio using Google Docs to make a slideshow that encapsulates what everyone has been working on so far this year. I introduced it yesterday and students have until next Tuesday to complete their slide (including their name, at least 3 works, and a short reflection).