Blog Archives

Final Projects and Chances to Play

5/28/2014

One of the best parts of my job is the amount of time I get to play around with materials, experimenting with solutions before coming up with which solution works best and acting on it. It is even better when I give my students the chance to do the same thing. For their final projects, students are given a variety of choices in demonstrating the concepts and skills they have learned over the course of the term.

For 7th grade, students can select to create a video, video game (using Gamestar Mechanic), or comic that covers art concepts and skills learned over the course of the term. Mid-way through their projects, students used a peer critique sheet to check on a partner's work and get feedback on their own. They then used the feedback to make their projects better.

8th grade students are creating a reflection video where they select two works that demonstrate the most growth over the course of their experiences in Art. It is awesome that they can use their Artsonia gallery and go back years to compare projects and skills over time. They are also explaining the process in which they used to create their work and artists who use similar materials or concepts.

In my After School Art class, we have been taking advantage of the sun by creating the Cyanotypes you see below. We are using NaturePrint Paper and any objects we can find to create the images below. Students are also experimenting with Gelli Arts printing plates to create a variety of images before we finish out the school year.

Below is an example of the print made with Puffy Paint, bubble wrap, and some number cutouts from a Cricut machine. You have the print and the ghost, which shows how you can get more than one image from this mono print method.

Help Kenzie get to Carnegie: Update

5/23/2014

In two weeks, I will be heading to NYC to join my student, Makenzie Reid, at the 2014 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards National Ceremony. If it is anything like ceremonies from the past, it will be filled with special guests, awesome art, and inspiring stories around the power of creativity.

I also want to thank everyone who has given a donation to help Kenzie afford the opportunity to attend. From her efforts on the GoFundME page and scholarships awarded from the Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters and our Parent Group, she is almost there. If you would like to help, please donate here. This is her current message to those who have helped and those who plan to help her get to Carnegie (also her birthday is the week of the celebration - so you could think of your donation as a birthday gift, too):

Dear Family and Friends,

Its hard to believe that two weeks from today I will be in NYC!
For those of you who don't know much about me, I am fourteen years old and currently in the 8th grade. I like school and I study very hard to get all A's. I want to go to college to be a Veterinarian. I have had my fair share of struggles at such a young age, my biological father past away five years ago of a massive heart attack, even though it has been rough at times I have an amazing mom, step-dad and two sisters and a great step-mom and half sister. I was also diagnosed with Crohns disease two years ago and I certainly don't wish that on anybody! Having faced some difficult situations has made me grow even strong in my faith. I made profession of faith in church last fall. I am blessed in so many ways!
I am so excited to have this awesome opportunity to go to NYC. I still can't believe out of 255,ooo pieces of art and writing submitted that I was in that elite 1% who won at the National level. I am the second student from Byron Center West Middle to have ever won at the National level before.
There will be a live webcast of the ceremony on June 6th @ 6pm. I will post a link in a few days for those of you who would like to watch me walk across the stage at Carnigie Hall.
Thank you so much for your support my family and I appreciate it greatly!

Love,
Makenzie

Monsters and more

5/20/2014

7th grade students finished their Zentangle Portraits earlier this week that were inspired by the 1960s. It was fun to see how they used text, pattern, line, color and shape to complete their works before posting it to our online gallery.

8th grade students are working on Monsters this week, inspired by Takashi Murakami. It will be fun to see these sewn creatures come to life as students finish their works tomorrow and Thursday. Students are also felting details onto their works using the Donors Choose materials we received earlier in the school year.

WMS Fine Arts Night

5/19/2014

Tonight is the annual WMS Fine Arts Night at our school. I am really excited to hear the bands and orchestras perform and for students to see all of the work we have created over the course of the year on display.

I am also excited about the opportunity to raise funds for our programs through the bake and art sale planned. Check out the cool collaborative piece my students and I made using a glazing technique I learned at the National Art Education Association Conference this year:

Patterns and Prints

5/12/2014

One of my favorite parts of my job is trying out old ideas in a new way with my students. 7th grade students created images based on 1960s posters. We changed up the project a bit from last semester and I am still not exactly sure how it is going to turn out in the end. Today, the goal was to complete adding the Sharpie designs on watercolor paper and tomorrow we will have the option of adding color to the pieces through marker, watercolor, or other materials students would like to use.

Some students decided to use a strong contrast between black and white in their images.

Emma decided to include colored Sharpies in hers.

This is my example. I enjoyed filling the space with images and designs. It will be fun to experiment with watercolor tomorrow.

8th grade students finished up their printmaking activities today. In addition to creating their two-color reduction print, they were asked to create a series of digital prints and also had the option of mono printing with Gelli plates.

Lauren's prints show a clear mood and use of the rule of thirds.

Chase made sure to use a repeating directional pattern to draw the attention to the center of his image.

Hallie was one of the first students to turn in her Photoshoped multiples inspired by Andy Warhol.

This was an example of using Gelli mono prints with a block print over top. Part of making art is seeing what happens when you try putting different processes together.

Show and Tell

5/9/2014

This week has offered many opportunities to share and celebrate the success of students in the Art classroom. The week started out with our k-12 reception at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center. It is always fun to see what learning takes place in the program as students advance through each grade. I appreciate the parents who were able to bring their children and celebrate their success as we finish out the school year.

I am also very excited to announce that our classroom won in each of the three categories for the Meijer Great Choices Film Festival! This is the first year that has happened since we started participating three years ago. I am so thankful to everyone who votes and I am very excited to purchase new equipment for my classroom once our prize money is awarded! There will be a celebration for the winners and their families on June 7th.

Positive and Negative

5/7/2014

The concept of positive and negative, additive and subtractive processes were being explored in the classroom today as students worked. 7th grade students finished their paper Notans and started on digital ones. 8th grade students worked on printmaking as they finished carving their first layer in their two-color reductions prints.

Paper Notan by Harrison K.

Digital Notan by Mason J.

Students working on prints after examining the work of Caledonia Curry, Kathe Kollwitz, Andy Warhol, and Banksy.

Notan

5/6/2014

7th grade students are working with positive and negative shapes today as we explore the concept of "Notan" (the light/dark harmony). Check out the video below to see how you can make your own:

#MichArtsEdWk

5/3/2014

May 5th-10th has been declared as Michigan Youth Arts Week by Governor Snyder. To celebrate, students were asked to think about what Art means to them and they created works in Photoshop to highlight their thoughts. I was inspired by this lesson, by Tricia Fuglestad. I will be sharing the works throughout next week, tagging our Governor along the way.

If you would like to add their work to help express what Art means to you, please consider posting to Twitter, using the #MichArtEdWk to organize all of the images and reasons or ways you are celebrating the Arts next week.

Art is Up!

5/2/2014

Student work is on display at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center for the month of May! We will be hosting a community reception on May 6th, from 5-6:30 p.m. to celebrate the work of the students across grade levels. Every student from my 2nd semester 7th and 8th grade classes has work on display. I hope you will join us in this night that demonstrates the talents of our students K-12th grade at BCPS!