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Week Eleven

11/17/2017

It was so much fun to see these little waffles come to be, especially during week eleven.

This week has been intense! I do not know if it is because next week is a short one with Thanksgiving break, or if it is because students are more willing to take risks with their art making, or if it is because this current challenge did not allow them to use a material they have already used... but I have to say that the kids in my classroom are making some wonderfully surprising works using all kinds of materials, many of which is their first time using in the classroom.

The current challenge is asking them to think about the objects we use in our lives and how the things we own reflect the values we have in our culture and society. It has been interesting to see students respond to this prompt visually and create works based on that. We also did a printmaking demo this week, which opened the whole world of Gelli Arts printing plates and the wonder of mono printing as well as block printing. I also did a wheel-throwing demo and introduced students to felting, coding, and our tech kits we got over the summer through DonorsChoose.

I am excited to see where students go with these pieces as we finish them up when we return from Thanksgiving break and how they will use their new creative courage and art-making skills to propel them to their last projects of the semester.

Here is some of the progress being made so far:

Ellyse worked on mono prints this week, using wood feathers to create texture and a relief element with her series.

Lainey gave block printing a try to show off one of her favorite sports.

Jake wanted to work with our Ozobots that were recently acquired thanks to a DonorsChoose project in August.

Zander worked with creating a drawing machine using LittleBits circuit kits that was acquired thanks to a DonorsChoose project in August.

Kennedy was one of many students who tried the Google coding challenge through DonorsChoose this week. It was fun to get them working with programming using Scratch. This was a great intro activity for what will be the next STEAM challenge before winter break.

I also spent this week doing wheel demonstrations and students were eager to give it a try. This was another awesome result of DonorsChoose a few years ago!

This dress was completed by a student using aluminum foil and trash bags. It is always interesting to see how students interpret this project.

I also did a silk screen demo this week using Mayco printed screens. I purchased a variety of sets a few years ago after a conference where I was able to demo them. It was fun to see a couple of students bring in their own canvases to apply them to.

It was great fun to see students actively engaged in the various tools to create works of their choice. I look forward to seeing them finish these at the end of the month.

As you can read from the captions, so many of the items that students engage in while working in my classroom have been a result from funded projects on DonorsChoose. We currently have a new project posted that is getting matching funds through the Carnegie Corporation. If you are able, we would love to have your support to fund our project "Mobile Masterpieces: A Fine Arts Night Family Activity."

I am excited to put these materials to use and add to the collection of great work my students are doing.

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Week Ten

11/11/2017

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Spaces and Places Complete

Students finished their second major challenge theme for the semester with the exploration of the theme "Spaces and Places, Real or Imagined." It was fun to see students go through the design thinking process and making choices about what aspect of the concept they wanted to focus on as well as the media they were going to use to do so.

This week was just another chance for students to try new things, take visual risks, and work towards finding their own unique voice as they investigate ideas that can be found throughout Art history. Here are a few completed works to share:

Cade: For this project I decided to 3D print a modern house. One artist my pace is similar to is Nathan Walsh. It is similar because both Nathan and this piece focus on buildings and architecture. We are also different because he decides to draw these building while I focus on designing and building them. One element I used was color. I used a white color to represent the house because most modern houses are built with white materials. Also I chose a smooth green color to represent the grass surrounding the house. Nathan also uses this in his work because he uses color amazingly. Nathan makes every single shade of color on his buildings seem so natural and reel. One principle I and Nathan use is emphasis. In my work I emphasized on the house in the woods and not as much as the woods around it. Nathan Walsh emphasizes all of the buildings in his art making them seem as real as possible.

Chloe: I can compare my work to Georgia O'Keefe because she centered her skull in the middle of the painting which is similar to mine because I centered the statue of liberty in the middle. I also use the elements and principles of design in my work. For example I used shapes and texture. I used different size triangle as my shapes and then as the background I collaged pieces of map and the map was of New York and this represents my texture. O'Keefe also uses very bold colors just like mine.

Khiem: I compare my art to Nathan Walsh art because he use a lot of line in one of his art and he also follow a certain patter. For example his art have line just like how my yard making a line that connect the memories. Another example is the pattern that i use . The pattern is the piece of paper that scattered around the room it goes from a lot to less and his go to two vanishing point. The reason that I use paper it because I want to remember what I use to do.

Lindsey: In this artwork, I chose to use these materials because I have not used them before together. I used the wire by forming it into the shape of a mountain and then I wrapped the different colors of yarn around the wire until it made a pattern that I liked. These materials helped me to communicate my ideas by showing depth and details rather than just creating an outline of a mountain. This artwork compares with Ansel Adams work because in his images he uses mountains, but it is different from his work because he doesn't have any color in his work. One detail that compares to Ansel's work is that the yarn on it shows depth and in Ansel Adams work he uses shadows that also show depth and add detail.

Oliver: I used a lot of different materials to make a smaller scale version of my living room because this is a space were I spend a lot of my time and I could make a lot of small details. My art work compares to Nathan Walsh's art because it is a 3D art peace of some wear like a my living room. This contrasts to his work because it is made of different materials.

Ashtyn: For this art piece I choose to use Photoshop, because I could not figure out how to put spaces and place on paper without using collage. This art piece is kind of similar to David Hockney because he uses Photoshop in his work. Another way my art work is similar is we both have nature in our work, mine is the Cougar, and the space background.

Ellery: My work relates to the artist Ansel Adams's artwork the most because we both have mountains in our pieces. Our works are different because in his pieces he takes real like photographs, and I use pictures and drawing skills to create my work. Ansel uses color in his work to create a shade, whereas there is some shade in mine but it is mostly just regular shapes. I chose the materials I did because I thought it would be a cool idea to see the contrast between the real thing, and a drawing. I also like the unity that is shown in my work between all of the mountains in the different grounds. In total, this was a fun project.

Perspective Drawing Challenge

While I was away at MAEA last week, students worked on finishing their perspective drawings using a variety of tutorials and options posted on our Schoology page. I divided types of drawing exercises into beginner, intermediate, and advanced choices that they could select and create their own works from. With the help of the wide range of videos posted on The Circle Line School's YouTube page, my students were able to complete this challenge while I was away. This week, they finally posted the works to Artsonia. Here are a few to share:

Makenzie

Alex

Kalynn

Reese

Ellie

Can I do this for real?

Earlier in the spaces and places project, I had a student start to create a cardboard arcade machine. They went home, talked with their dad, and came to school the next day asking me if they could make a real one at home and bring it in. I did not see why I should say no to such a request, so I gave it the green light and asked for the piece to bring it in when it was finished.

I wasn't sure what to expect as this student shared updates about the progress over the week, but it was awesome to see the end result when he brought it in on Friday. Not only did it look amazing, but it worked and students were able to play it.

It was fun to see so much energy around a work of art and I hope that his willingness to try something a little beyond the normal approach to a project will show others that doing so is not only okay, it is celebrated.

This is a great start to the second marking period. I look forward to seeing how we finish the term, especially as we start to gear up for competition season.

Stay tuned as we start to share more and more works getting ready for competition.

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Week Nine

11/5/2017

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Exploring Spaces and Places

Students are working on their second major project this week. In doing so, we also looked at how using the principles of perspective drawing can help us create the illusion of space in our work. To help drive that point home, students were asked to select either a beginner, intermediate, or advanced level tutorial set to complete for their perspective drawing challenge. These challenges could have been completed in school or at home. They will be due on Monday.

The schedule for work time this week also included working on their main spaces and places project, too. Some students decided to focus most of their energies on this, while others did not and used their time on the perspective drawing. Allowing students the option to choose how they use their time, while holding them accountable for their work and choices along the way is something I am always balancing in my classroom. Sometimes I am more specific in which way I would like them to work, but I find it tends to be more successful when I give them the option to decide.

End of First Marking Period

As we finish the first quarter of school, it is important to reflect on what has happened so far:

BCWMS ArtPrize 9 entry - featured on WoodTV8 (venue on Jury Shortlist)
883 artworks published on Artsonia
10 works uploaded to compete in Scholastic Art Awards
Dozens of artists researched and shared through Scholastic Art Magazine

We will begin the second half of our time together before students change classes. I hope that in that time we are able to continue to push forward with ideas about what and how we define art, ways we use design in our lives, and applying knowledge to find purpose both in and outside of the classroom.

Passion and Purpose

I had an awesome end to the week learning and sharing at the Michigan Art Education Association Annual Fall Conference in Detroit. It was a great time to connect with other art teachers and be with those who support, understand, and elevate what is possible when we put both passion and purpose into a profession.

I spend the first day of the conference sharing with other teachers in two sessions. One was with an art teacher from Pentwater Public Schools, Carrie Jeruzal. She actually is the reason I present at conferences in the first place. In 2008, she urged me to join a presentation with her on Literacy in the Art classroom. I have been hooked ever since. This year we presented on how we use the Empty Bowls project in our classrooms and use Art as and opportunity for Service Learning.

I also presented on Gelli Arts mono printing and had an amazing time sharing methods and technique for using this versatile art material. We had a great crowd of teachers who were so excited to learn, play, and share their excitement. My favorite part of the workshop is seeing the diversity of outcome and experimentation that occurs. I love presenting this workshop and thank Gelli Arts for giving me the opportunity to do so for the last five years.

As much as I love to share, the best part of the conference are the sessions I get to attend and the things I learn along the way. We had awesome speakers at our conference and I am very thankful to the organizers of our professional learning for the weekend because I am able to go back to my school and share information that will help push my students to that next level as a result.

Some highlights of the conference include:

Scholastic Art Awards Plagiarism and Copyright workshop. This workshop lead by Amy Armand was an amazing tool for helping me better recognize when students are taking that next step to make transformational work rather than copying what already exists. It was eye-opening and useful as we get ready for submitting pieces to competition this year and in future years.

Keynote presentation by Jeff DeBoer and Ralph Gilles about creativity and the importance of art education for industrial design. This talk was incredibly impactful. Sometimes we get stuck in thinking about our classrooms and the curriculum we teach and forget the larger implications and how we can better connect to careers. This session flipped a switch for me to reconsider how I approach my subject matter and how I can make additional connections with my students. I was really blown away with the potential of the Michigan Design Prize Jeff shared through the Michigan Design Council as well as the stats Ralph, who works as a design manager for Fiat/Chrysler, shared in terms of the need for designers in the field of automotive design. For example, did you know that 4300 designers live in Detroit and earn $10,000 annually more than their counterparts who live in other areas? I also learned that one of the careers they are having a hard time filling with qualified staff is clay modelers. I know of some students who love cars and clay that will be quite interested when I share this with them as a potential career option.
Creative Problem Solving is a class in some schools. MAEA Teacher of the Year, Tricia Erickson, and her teaching partner, Tanya Lockwood shared their curriculum with us in a presentation that included both her principal and superintendent from Northview Public Schools as co-presenters. It was awesome to hear from a team of teachers and administrators about how creativity and employability go hand in hand and how they use this class to help build the soft skills needed by those in various industries.

Detroit is amazing. I have lived in Michigan my entire life and have been to Detroit over a dozen times without ever really being to Detroit. I know know it was not until I stayed with a true resident of Detroit that I feel like I can now say I have been there. I want to thank my friend, Deb, for sharing her home and amazing wealth of knowledge as she toured us around the city. I had a great time seeing new areas of the city and the growth and the history she shared with us as she gave us a tour of this great American city. One of my favorite new places is now Signal Return. It is a print shop near the Eastern Market and offers opportunities to learn about printmaking as well as a chance to buy original artwork made in their shop. I love printmaking and purchased some items for myself as well as some lucky students when I return to school on Monday (I have a contest every time I go to a conference and the winners get goodies I bring back from the places I travel to). One of my favorite parts of the shop was the tour we were offered as well as a suggestion I check out another shop located on my side of the state. Connecting with new places and spaces to experience art and ways to connect craft to careers for my students is what professional development is all about for me.

My experience in Detroit was awesome and full of art and I am already counting down to when I get to go back. Thank you to everyone who helped make it so memorable!

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Week Eleven

Week Ten

Spaces and Places Complete

Perspective Drawing Challenge

Can I do this for real?

Week Nine

Exploring Spaces and Places

End of First Marking Period

Passion and Purpose

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Janine Campbell

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