Blog Archives

Clay Creations

3/30/2013

Even though it is Spring Break, I spent a good chunk of this afternoon loading the kiln with the creatures and wheel-thrown attempts captured in the slideshows above and below. I am excited for students to start glazing all of these ceramic pieces once we get back to school in a week. Again, I cannot express how thankful I am to the Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters (BCFAB), DonorsChoose, and all of the parents/students/friends who helped us get the potter's wheel (which also came with $70 in free glazes). BCFAB is also responsible for purchasing all of the clay for students k-12 at BCPS - so without their help, all of these creative clay creations would not have been possible.

If you are interested in knowing more about BCFAB, you can check out how to get involved by visiting their website here and like them on Facebook. They are a great organization for our Arts students at BCPS and I am so thankful for their support over the years!

Filling Bowls in Byron Center

3/25/2013

Empty Bowls 2013 was such a great time! Thank you to everyone who made it possible. I want to give a special thanks to Subway, who donated the soup and bread for the dinner, the WMS music teachers (David Kline, Kris Ryskamp, and Nicole Langford) and their students for providing the great atmosphere, art students for making the bowls, and the Byron Center community for coming out and supporting families in our area! We raised well over $800 which is being donated to Byron Community Ministries, and hundreds of non-perishable items which is being donated to the Buist Community Assistance Center. If you would like to help families in our community, please visit their sites and see what items they need or how you can give of your time.

Empty Bowls 2013

3/21/2013

I am very excited about Empty Bowls tonight at WMS from 5-6:30! I hope to see many community members there as we raise food and funds for our local food bank. I wonder how much the staff bowl (shown above) will be auctioned off for... Thanks again to all of the parents, teachers, and students who help make this happen - Especially SUBWAY for their donation of soup and bread!

clay dreams

3/20/2013

Working with clay is one of my favorite things. Both 7th and 8th grade students started their clay projects this week. We are using basic hand-building techniques to construct sculptures that represent our interests.

clay

3/18/2013

I am so excited for our new classroom wheel! Thanks again to all of the friends and families who helped fund this project through DonorsChoose, especially the Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters who matched donations and sent the project over the edge in funding!

I am excited to share this resource with my students, but made sure to give it a go for myself first! After not touching a wheel for a few years, my little bowl is not too shabby!

depth of field

3/17/2013

This past week, students in my Photo class turned in assignments that explored depth of field through the use of the aperture in the camera lens. Here is a great video that explains how this works. The following are images students produced that shows both shallow and wide depth of field.

Mason, Jordan S.

Skull, Emily M.

Feeder, Shelby L.

Sign of Power, Nicole H.

Intermission, Tyler P.

Chains, Olivia B.

Time, Tyler C.

like a factory

3/15/2013

7th and 8th grade students finished up their projects today (three of them all started last week) and then worked on an collaborative mural to be installed in the Early Childhood Development Center by the Administration Offices. We were asked to create a mural for the space and are doing so with handmade stone tiles that are stamped and painted. It will be a fun piece to look at and find all of the different words that can be spelled, colors that repeat, and designs that are used throughout. The Center opens this fall and this mural will be installed sometime in early June.

One more week until...

3/14/2013

Hope to see you there!

Thanks to you...

3/12/2013

Our school is going to be receiving a Potter's Wheel! I am so thankful to all of the parents, friends, and community members who donated (even my cat decided to get in on the action) - I am especially grateful to the Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters who matched donations and really sent the project over the edge. They also did a fantastic job getting the community involved through newsletters and postings.

This is the 4th project funded through DonorsChoose and the students were incredibly excited when they heard the news today. Now we want to pay it forward...

Our 5th Annual Empty Bowls event at WMS on March 21st from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Cafetorium. Bring any non-perishable food or money donation, receive a student made ceramic bowl and enjoy Soup and Bread provided by our local SUBWAY while you listen to awesome performances by our WMS Jazz Band, Choir, and Orchestra.

You can even bid on the bowl with all of the Faculty Signatures below:

kids in the hall

3/6/2013

Students are working in the hall throughout the day - 7th and 8th graders are drawing their hallways and my After School Art students are working on the post-it note inspired mural of Mr. King.

We have really great spaces for working outside of the classroom, so it is nice when we are able to take advantage of it in these projects!