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Week Eight

10/29/2016

New Week, New Challenge

This week students started a new challenge entitled "Where are you going? Where have you been?" In doing so, we started brainstorming why places are important to us - both the places we have been and the ones we would like to visit before planning thumbnail sketches of possible solutions to the challenge.

This week also marked the Annual Michigan Art Education Association Conference and I knew I was going to be gone for Thursday and Friday. I did not want students to get started on their work for this challenge without me being there, so I decided to take a process that another teacher uses in her classroom and breakout a Perspective Drawing Bootcamp Challenge.

I used to teach perspective at the front of my classroom, step-by-step. Instead of doing it that way this year, I used a handful of videos from Circle Line Art School and posted them in various difficulty levels for students to complete on Schoology and submit when completed to Artsonia.

On Wednesday students were given the resources, along with a basic overview of how to give the illusion of space on a 2D surface using a variety of tricks (included color, which was also covered this week through a mixing demonstration/activity). Students were then encouraged to practice in their sketchbooks before applying it to their final paper.

It was great because there were a lot of choices students could select and be self-directed on (I also included some hand outs for students in case the internet was quirky). I love going to conferences because I get a chance to share with other teachers and learn new techniques for making and teaching art. I also love it because it gives me a chance to see what my students can do when I am not in the room.

Here are some finished examples of the various levels students completed:

Avery H.: I would compare this art to my dot. I have improved from my skills and used more materials. My lines are straighter and there is more detail in my art. Even though the colors in my dot are more elaborate and different but there is more value in my name.

Zach L.: I chose to make my perspective drawing of a birds eye view of New York, because I have always wanted to visit there. I love the tall sky scrapers and people everywhere, so I decided to copy that image down that I had in my head, onto paper. Also, I filled in the white spaces with black, so it would make an illusion of the buildings becoming higher, and popping out from the page.

Damien A.: I used the principles of perspective in my art with the road and the house. My vanishing point is at the end of the road, and I made the porch, roof, windows, and door by connecting the lines to my vanishing point. This connects with some of my other art because in other art I use a lot of shading, and it was no different with this art. you can see the most of it on the back of the pine trees and the house.

MAEA

I will not be able to explain EVERYTHING I learned at the conference, so I will just list some highlights:

Traverse City

The annual conference for Michigan Art Teachers was held in beautiful Traverse City this year. It was also peak color this weekend, which made our stay that much more scenic!

Trying New Techniques and Materials

I learned a bunch of new techniques and used some new products, too. My favorites were learning how to draw with copper point (as demonstrated by Carrie Jeruzal, this year's MI Middle Level TOY) and positive/negative ceramic prints.

Sharing Ideas

I had a great time sharing resources. I presented about STEAM with the STEM teacher at my school, Jamie Dennett. I also presented on my own about mono printing with Gelli Arts.

Learning from Experts

The conference was filled with great speakers, including our keynotes. I enjoyed hearing about the future of Visual Arts education from Dennis Inhulsen, Wordless news from Maria Fabrizio, and TAB from Katherine Douglas.

Celebrating the Visual Arts

It was also fun to see so many of my colleagues and students from across the state be celebrated. I also enjoyed my time at the Dennos Museum, viewing and learning about various artists.

It was a great week, filled with a lot of learning for both students and me. Next week is the end of the marking period, which means we are a quarter of the way through!

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Week Seven

10/21/2016

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Finish Works

Students finished up their work for the Biography/Autobiography Challenge and uploaded them to Artsonia this week. It was fun to see the very different outcomes from each student. So many different materials and methods were employed to get the work done. Below are just a few of the works completed this week.

Andrew M.: This piece of artwork represents autobiography because I used a plaster mold of my face and put a clay bowl on the back is my thoughts. I it filled with things I love and cherish dear to my heart.

Leila D.: My artwork, "Vibrant Girl", represents a friend of mine who is always positive and uplifting to be around. I wanted to make a piece that had a combination of bold and bright colors. I also wanted to somehow incorporate collage media into my artwork. I did this by taking parts of magazines and arranging them to look like my friend. After I did that I realized that it needed something more. I then decided to add multiple layers of newspaper, colored paper and magazines to the collage. I think that because I did this, the artwork seems more joyful. I can compare my artwork to Patrick Bremer because he also used collage media. He takes magazines and uses them to create realism and abstraction in a piece. There is also a difference between Patrick Bremer's piece and mine. He uses a grid to create a more realistic piece. I enjoyed making "Vibrant Girl", and hope to continue to learn different ways to make great artwork!

Lindsey P.: My artwork is for the biography unit is a photography piece that I took on my camera. In this I used a longer shutter speed and exposure to slow the picture down and make it look like my hands are moving. Also I turned the contrast up to highlight and darken certain parts of my photo. For example, my freckles stand out more when I turned up the contrast. My work connects to me because I love trying new types of photography. My artwork was inspired by photographers I see on social media and Andy Warhol because he makes his artwork look like it is almost moving also.

Ashley W.: This assignment I used two different block prints. One print was a small print of a car. The other print was a a girl looking down at a tombstone. It has something to do with my life, because when I was very young, three people in my family died in a car crash. The cars show you it was a car crash, and the tombs show that people died in it. This artwork means so much to me! My artwork compares to Andy Warhol, because he did colors that people wouldn't do often to their artwork. While he did bright colors, I did bright red in the background. Then, I did a darker color in the front, to show sadness. I took part of Andy Warhol's idea with bright colors, and mixed it up a bit!

Colton S.: This piece is a biography of Sports legends, singing stars, iconic actors, and etc. These people have inspired me, and many many other people to do the things they do, or love the things they love. This work is most like that of Andy Warhol. This is because it deals with repetitive portraits, that depict celebrities or iconic images.

My T.: In my artwork I took pictures of family members of mine in different spots of their faces. When I was done with it I put it together like a puzzle and made a new face. I have personal connections with this artwork because I took pictures of the people in my family. I think my artwork could compare to Chuck Close because of the square/blocks in the picture because I took the pictures separately. Even though it is a picture instead of a painting or drawing I think my artwork compares most to Chuck Close because of the squares on my artwork.

Topher Z.: I used the idea "steal like an artist" and stole or used the old brick prints to make the random prints. This art reminds me on how creativity is every where and you just need to find it. I did myself and made a wierd back ground that makes me think that creativity is every where.

Carmen D.: I chose to draw an eye with a road bike and landscape in the middle to do with biography. This piece of art is showing the dedication, perseverance, and passion of a cyclist.I would compare my artwork to Andy Warhol because it is a realistic drawing with lots of color.

Damien A.: I made Christopher Columbus's Ship because I think it's cool that even though everyone told columbus that he was going to fall off the edge of the Earth, he sailed his ship forward anyways, and he found America. Because of him, we all live in america today. My artwork kind of connects with Chuck Close because he had dyslexia which was a problem for him, but he found a solution for it and it worked. At first when the paint on the boat started leaking out, I tried to hide it, but instead of that, I found a solution for it and I think it worked pretty well, I put them everywhere.

Abby B.: n the work of art I have presented, I created a piece with drawing pencils and magazine clips of outer space. I was inspired to create this piece, as I originally wanted to create something to do with Cherokee heritage. I always thought that their history was extremely interesting, so when I heard the theme of the project, that's what my mind immediately went to. While looking through my research, I found a group of people called the moon-eyed people. Apparently legend told that these people of Cherokee descent, could see during the day, but could see in the night. I thought this was extremely cool, and I choose that to be the model in my portrait. One artist that I think my artwork is similar to Patrick Bremer, as we both use some sort of college in our artwork, with his the actual portrait and mine the background. One thing different is that I also used drawing pencils, while he just used magazine cutouts.

Photoshop Frenzy

The last two days of the week were a frenzy of Photoshopping as students worked to complete one work (out of five possible challenges). It was fun to see students stretch their learning, even when they had to struggle through some technical issues along the way.

It was fun to see students work together to get their images and work through the challenge of their choice using Photoshop.

Mark Z.: For my Photoshop challenge I created a digital print of me. I used the technique that Andy Warhol used when he made Marylyn Monroe with bright colors that stand out. I used this technique because I liked how the colors complemented each other. Also I liked how the colors stood out more than usual. This describes me to because I love colors that are bright and complement each other’s.

Irieca W.: I chose to do the one with it looking like a cartoon person because i thought it would be fun and cool to do at first i tried it and it was kind of frustrating for me to do. but then when i did it was easy for me to do so next time i might do some thing that will give me a challenge. because this was easy of i might do i for the next project that i have.

Kristina B.: I chose to do a city for my photoshop challenge. I used the principals of design by using unity because this piece shows harmony but also variety because of the different buildings. This photoshop challenge also uses different shape and also color because of the different shapes and color on the buildings in the city.

Trever W.: I used the quick select tool to create my artwork because I used it to get rid of the background of the photos that I used. I used the basketball and baseball in my artwork because I love to play those sports. The bulldog is in there because they are my favorite dog. The hamburger is my favorite food. That is why I choose to do a couple of those things

Alayna A.: In my artwork I used the element of design color by using bright and vibrant colors in my piece. I also used the principle of design pattern by using a square pattern that all have a picture of my face in different colors and locations. This photoshop challenge was fun to create, and the end result was very fun and colorful.

This was a busy week, filled with new works and learning. I am excited to start something new next week (and to present at the MAEA conference in Traverse City)!

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Week Six

10/14/2016

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#WIP

Andrew created a plaster mask of his face so he could use it to get this clay mold for a piece of pottery.

Watching students works in progress (#WIP) has been very exciting this week. Seeing students finalizing plans and diving into their pieces has brought into focus both their understanding of materials and application of the theme's challenge as they see fit to interpret it.

The theme for this challenge is Biography/Autobiography and students are using a variety of ways to explore the ways in which they can visualize this concept. Some students are being more direct in their tactics, using portraiture and figures in their work. Others are being more exploratory in the process, pointing to objects or artifacts or animals that resonate with theme.

Either way, it has been fun to see them work through the ideas and how far some will push the concept and materials they choose.

#SconeDay16

International Bring a Scone to Art Class Day was alive and well this 2nd Friday in October! Students did all sorts of things to celebrate.

We had students bring in scones they baked or bought. Students also made some Scone Day art and poetry.

Aron really summed up the sentiments of the holiday:

My Work

One of the best parts of my job, and something I made sure to write into my Goals for this year, is being able to also work on my art when my students are working on theirs.

Early in my career, I would have never thought to do this. I would hover over students with a careful and critical eye on every mark they made. Over time, I have realized that my students actually do better when I give them the space to grow and they do better when they see what it means to work with purpose from someone who is authentically making art for themselves.

Here are a couple of things I got a chance to work on this week:

I did a printmaking demonstration earlier this week. I used an old sketch of a panda for this work. I am thinking about actually printing it on some fabric next week.

I did this modified contour drawing on Morphi, using the iPad we got from DonorsChoose.

Here is the print from Morphi. I think I might make these into some earrings...

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Week Five

10/9/2016

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Steal Like an Artist

This week has us finally getting into the thick of the first art-making challenge theme: Biography/Autobiography. Students were introduced to five artists who use this concept in their work to document themselves and the people around them before developing their own ideas about how they wanted to interpret the theme for their own work.

Before getting too far along in the planning, I felt it was important to discuss with students how to generate ideas, build off of what already exists, and how to transform concepts that work into something more personal to work for themselves. A great way to do this, was to have a look at Austin Kleon's talk below.

Students were initially surprised that I would advocate stealing anything. But after watching his talk, students discussed what it means to "Steal like an Artist" and how to use that mindset as a key to unlock existing potential solutions in new and unique ways by learning from what has worked in the past in order to make something new. I like the idea of leveraging past solutions to make new ones and it is something I hope to push my students on as we work through this first challenge and the ones that follow.

A Week of Demos and Planning

Since the switch to a more process-based approach, it has been tough to get new students to understand the importance and patience of going through various demonstrations, idea generating processes, and even playing (which seems like something all kids would want to do automatically) before starting their final works. By the time they have come into my classroom, they are so used to diving into a step-by-step, teacher-driven outcome from all of their classes that they are not quite sure how to handle the freedom associated with choosing their own solutions to a broad theme or idea.

That is why we spend at least one week of each challenge going through demonstrations, using our sketchbooks as a playground to experiment with media, before finally diving into a solution that will reflect the final product. This week was spent doing blind contour portraits, using pencils, markers, watercolor, printmaking, and clay as well as going through thumbnail sketches to find possible solutions for their works.

Here is a peek into some of the work we did and some of the progress students have made so far on this first challenge: