Blog Archives

portraits done early

3/29/2012

Several students finished their projects just in time to participate in the Celebrating Art competition (deadline April 3rd)! When hearing their work could be published in a book, students really wanted to make sure to get theirs finished before leaving for Spring Break, which starts tomorrow. It will be exciting to see how many students are chosen to be published this time around; this will be our third time participating in this competition.

I will post the results as soon as I get them along with the images selected! All projects will soon be posted on our school gallery at Artsonia once we return from break.

more portraits

3/28/2012

Students are continuing to work with various materials to compete their 5 value portraits. I am excited to enter several of these in the upcoming Celebrating Art competition!

mixed media

3/27/2012

7th grade students are mixing up media today after adding value with pencil on their portraits yesterday. Today they are using Modge Podge and tissue paper to give their background a pop of color and contrast the value scale applied to their drawings.

After the decoupage dries, students will add line designs and patterns with sharpie and then use their photographs to create abstracted portraits using various cut up magazine cut outs. We are using Noli Novak as inspiration for both of these projects and are excited to chat with her in an upcoming Skype interview when we return from break!

adding value

3/26/2012

8th grade students are applying values to their portraits today to make them look more like the photographs they edited and printed before transferring them onto the large poster paper.

Students are using all kinds of materials to create their values, making their images go from abstract to more realistic images of themselves.

posterized portraits

3/23/2012

8th grade students are exploring value in this next assignment. They learned about various artists like Chuck Close, Shepard Fairey, and Noli Novak before taking photographs, editing them, and transferring them onto poster board. They then select the material they would like to use to represent the 5 values in their photos, create a value scale, and then apply it to their work. This is a project students always love because they get to portray one of their favorite subjects using any material they choose.

empty bowls 2012

3/22/2012

The 4th annual Empty Bowls event at BCWMS is tonight from 5:30-6:30 in the Cafetorium! Bring any donation of food or funds and receive a night filled with art, music, and food (provided by Subway)! All proceeds benefit Byron Community Ministries and I am very excited to have my students participate in this tradition of service to help others!

waiting to fire

3/20/2012

7th grade students finished their clay pieces today and they are now patiently waiting to be fired. It was fun to see all of the creative ideas students came up with as they molded their forms. After finishing their clay works, students created comics about their characters. I am excited to see how students translated their 3D forms into 2D characters and told stories of all sorts as a result!

on display

3/16/2012

Today was shortened due to the fog delay. Students continued to work on their clay projects and I had the chance to get my part of the Visual Arts teacher show hung at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center.

The work will be on display for the next month and will showcase the talents of the Visual Arts teachers at BCPS. In addition to hanging the work, I was also able to go to the Meijer Gardens to preview the Deborah Butterfield exhibit students will be seeing on the 27th of April.

I was excited to see her work, the blooming flowers (which is crazy for this time of year), and the butterflies in the enclosed greenhouse area at the Sculpture Park. I love going to the Gardens and cannot wait to take students there again this year due to a grant awarded from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs!

i wish there was clay everyday

3/15/2012

Clay has become one of my most favorite materials to teach over the years. When I was in middle school, however, it was probably the thing I disliked most in the art room. The result was roughly a decade of virtually clay-free behavior until I had to take a course in college my second to last semester. Since then, I have been increasingly in love with clay and really make sure to share my story of frustration to students so they do not make the same mistake I did and stay away from it for so long.

mr. mouse and more clay

3/14/2012

Students are continuing to work with clay today as their forms are starting to take on a personality.

8th graders are enjoying the possibilities of using hand-building techniques to create Anthropomorphic representations of themselves.

7th graders are working on their clay creatures and I got in on the action with demo sculptures based on what they wanted me to make. Above is 5th hour's example of Mr. Mouse (eye patch was a must) and 2nd hour opted for a Burger Man (pictures coming).