Category: Donorschoose

In Color

4/16/2014

See the progress of Tara's painting for the Kendall Dual Enrollment class. We are using a stippling technique and personal palette in this project.

Students are using all kinds of materials this week to explore color. In my Dual Enrollment class, students are finishing up their personal pallet portraits by applying the color through a stippling technique. In 7th and 8th grade art classes, students are using the glazes from our funded DonorsChoose project to finish up their creatures and Anthropomorphic Vessels. I will be firing the work later this week and into next before students post the results on our Artsonia gallery.

Monsters and Collages

11/11/2013

8th grade students worked on Monsters last week, inspired by Japanese contemporary artist, Takashi Murakami. This year was especially fun because we got to use a new technique of felting wool on for extra details due to a Donors Choose project being funded! Here is a video from last year, explaining the process:

7th grade students worked on Collages last week using their previous portrait and cut up magazines. It was fun to see the creative solutions students came up with to create a face out of many other faces. you can see the full gallery on Artsonia or watch the video below.

Help these Leaves get some Color!

9/30/2013

Glazes were not a priority in the budget this year. I had to build up the essentials (like paper, paint, colored pencils, markers...). You can help solve our glazing problem by donating any amount to our new DonorsChoose project using code INSPIRE to double your impact!

Help us get some color on these leaves by making a donation today!

Thank you for an Awesome Start!

9/15/2013

We have had one of the most amazing starts of the school year that I can remember at BCWMS! It would not have been possible without the generosity and support of the students, parents, and greater community! Here are some of the things that I am most proud of for our second week of school:

1. Uploading 285 pieces to Artsonia!

Students worked on traditional and digital means of art making this week, as showcased on our Artsonia gallery.

I have been using Artsonia in the classroom for many years. I am so excited with the new Art Classroom feature that allows students to upload their art and write their artist statements directly to the site. Students can find the codes for their assignments through our Moodle page and even upload work from home! This allows more work to be uploaded at a faster pace, ensuring that families are able to share the work of their student artists almost instantly after it is completed in class! Please take a moment and visit our gallery and leave a comment to one of the talented students (you can see that as of right now, we do not have any).

2. Felting has been Funded!

Thank you to everyone who donated this week and helped make this project a reality for my students! Now we will be able to work with creating felted textiles and sculptures with this never-before-used material in our classroom. I have had several projects funded through Donors Choose over the years, but this one broke a record at getting fully funded within one week of posting it! I am excited to share the news with my students on Monday and getting the materials so we can start felting in class!

3. Getting ready for ArtPrize!

ArtStart Online Competition for Youth from ArtPrize on Vimeo.

I am very excited aboutArtPrize and our field trip coming up in a few weeks. Students can get even more involved by participating in the competition above. If your child is interested in attending ArtPrize, the permission slip to attend is due on Friday of this week.

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Thank you for making our first weeks of school a great success! If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. I look forward to all of the great things that we will accomplish in my classroom and cannot wait to share the success with you as it happens!

Felting Fun

9/9/2013

I need your help to acquire a new process for art making in my classroom: felting! Please click on this DonorsChoose link and donate any amount towards our project. If you use the code INSPIRE, you will double your impact with matching funds. The sooner this gets funded, the sooner I will be able to make something like the image below with my students!

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!

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!

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:

20 days left to donate

2/17/2013

I am really excited at the response to our class project on Donors Choose over the past couple of days! We have received several donations towards obtaining a potter's wheel for our class and there is still time to help the project request get fully funded! We have 20 days left for funding to come in and if you use the code HEART when donating by tomorrow, your donation will be doubled.

If you love working with clay and would like to see this resource made available to my students, please consider donating today!

Special Delivery

10/17/2012

Nothing beats coming to school and seeing 8 boxes full of materials waiting to be unopened! We got our shipment of materials from our last DonorsChoose Project and I cannot wait to get started. If you would like to help make our next project dream come true, donate to our DonorsChoose page and use the code INSPIRE so that your donation is doubled!