Category: Painting

Week Four

2/15/2018

On the News

Monday kicked off with student work being featured on our local news as a part of a segment that highlighted a grant program we received in 2016. It was fun to see student work featured as other teachers are encouraged to apply for the TangerKIDS grant this year. I am hoping to receive another grant this year for a project idea I have to transform our hallways into a gallery for student work.

Building Skills

Since moving to more choices for projects in our classroom, I have found that the beginning weeks of skill-building exercises have been important in challenging students abilities to manipulate materials and work with a variety of concepts in their work. The hope of these skill-builders is to equip students with the tools needed for them to independently develop and work on the thematic works we do in class in a way that is both informed and intentional.

This week, we worked on the use of line and watercolor techniques as we continued to explore ideas of portraits as a way to capture the likeness of others - well, actually maybe the opposite of that. Using blind contour and bilateral drawings, students used their observation skills to draw, but most definitely ended up with very abstract outcomes. We used this opportunity to discuss that as artists, we have the option of how we want to portray our subject. Sometimes it calls for more realism and sometimes it needs to be more abstract or expressive.

It was a fun process to take students through and I will be interested to see if any of them end up applying it to their final works as we get moving on our "You, Me, Everybody" themed projects.

Lexi

Brayden

Olivia

Ellie

Clay in STEAM Class

I am teaching a STEAM class as a part of my schedule this semester. This is my first time teaching STEAM and developing a curriculum that asks students to use their art skills and design thinking to tackle ideas and concepts across other disciplines.

In this class, students have a "Have to" and "Can do" project for each of the letters in STEAM. This means that there is one teacher-directed project and one student-direct project within Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics.

For our first set of projects that are Science-based, students had to work with clay and create a piece that could play music/sound. The design of the ceramic works were based on endangered species.

In addition to this, students also had the opportunity to hear from two of our high school ceramic students as they visited and demonstrated their abilities on the wheel. It was awesome for students to hear how they work with the clay to create their works and in doing so, explain the chemistry of the clay and the physics of throwing and manipulating forms on the wheel.

This opportunity to have skills students present to our younger students is something that I hope to do more of in the future. I was very proud of all of the students who asked questions and the way those questions were answered.

It was also a great opportunity for our large Empty Bowls bowl to be created for auction on our upcoming Fine Arts night, known as Arts a la Mode. I am excited to get this piece fired and glazed. I have some fun ideas for how to best glaze it (those hands you see next to it are going in the kiln shortly and have helped inspired some ideas).

From Objects to Art

This week in 3D, students worked on finishing up their object sculptures. Some more will be finished next week. It was fun to see students work with multiples of the same object and create a form from something you would see in the everyday in a non-art way.

I have really enjoyed seeing these students take on challenges and apply their skills and understanding of 3D media in ways that push towards new understandings and inspire new ideas. Students will be moving onto a new project next week where they will be looking at architecture and structures.

Thinking About ArtPrize10

As we move into spring, we will also be moving into the season we start to think about this year's ArtPrize entry. Last year was the first year our school entered work. This year, we are hoping to enter again and our materials for the work began to arrive this week.

The K-12 Visual Arts team will be meeting soon to hammer out ideas for the overall look of our over 3000 bottle caps when they are painted by students, but regardless of what we create and if it is actually on display in a venue this fall, I am excited we are trying something new and coming together to make it happen.

If you are interested in more information, please contact me (especially if you are interested in hosting our work as a venue).

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Week One

1/27/2018

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New Semester with New Students

This installation was completed by over 200 students in our school. It encircles a tree that was planted years ago to honor our veterans and is also next to the entrance of our school and flagpole.

Our Art classes run in semesters, which means I get to greet new students after 18 weeks and start over again with them. It is fun to see how this new set of students approach the content already covered by first semester and bring their own experiences to the table to complete various pieces of content and creation.

One of my favorite things about this first week, was getting to finish our installation of painted rocks inspired by the story "The Dot," by Peter H. Reynolds. I have been using this story for at least the last five years with my students to inspire legacy projects in our school. We have made paintings, paper globes, and now these painted rocks as a way to make our own mark on WMS.

Each year I do this, I am usually doing something with my students for the first time and not 100% sure how and if it will turn out. I openly share this with my students and explain that taking creative risks is one of the duties of an artist and it is up to all of us to be courageous in this class with the work we make. I am very pleased with this year's outcome and look forward to seeing what legacy project we come up with for next year.

Here are some thoughts from the students on their work:

Avery: For this project I created a rock that displays an abstract pattern of dots. I decided not to focus on a specific pattern in order to incorporate the Dot story. The Dot story talks about about how all artists work is unique and anyone can create art. My piece, and all the other rocks created in class, are different in order to represent diversity and beauty in art.

Gage: This is like in the story the dot because we started with one dot and we began to do more. Also it represents that anyone can be creative. Finally, it was the first project of the year.

Brady: I made this amazing piece of art because of the book, The Dot. I just made one dot and went on from there. This rock was made from a bunch of random dots and then I made more.

Katie: In this artwork, I started with one big dot--the sun. It popped into my head as soon as we started. This connects to the book because starting with one dot made a bigger thing called art. It connects to real life because we are leaving this artwork behind just like we will have to leave other things behind as in our legacy.

This is a more complete view of the work.

Empty Bowls

For years, I have engaged students with clay on the first day. This semester, I switched around some activities and actually started with paint and waited until our third day together to work with clay.

When I informed one class that we were going to work with clay, it was greeted with a "Woo Hoo!" I know that not all of my students will choose art as a career, but I do hope that they will continue to create and appreciate art as grow up and react with a "Woo Hoo!" during those experiences.

It was fun to see students work with clay in this way and for 7th graders to create bowls for our annual Empty Bowls night. Even better will be once these are fired and we get to glaze them in a variety of colors.

Henna Hands

Something new was tried with my 8th graders for our first clay experience. Instead of making bowls like they did when they were in 7th grade or the leaves like last semester did (because it is January in Michigan and there are no leaves), students created Henna-inspired patterned hands.

Inspired by this post and henna-painted hands, I decided to try this out with student and see how they turned out. For the most part, there has been success so far (only a few repaired fingers along the way). In the future, I would probably have students keep their fingers closer together or use the slab roller in order to avoid some of those issues.

I am excited to see how they finish out and what happens when we apply a glaze treatment to them. This was a great alternative to the leaves and students seemed to really enjoy the process of creating patterns.

Collaboratives

Collaboration is something I am passionate about in my classroom. I feel strongly that success in team format is much more powerful than individually. It takes much more skill and understanding to work with others and find common ground than it does to go it alone.

For the first day of our STEAM class, we brainstormed ideas that show what we value at WMS: Academics, Arts, and Athletics. These symbols were then drawn by students on canvases with WMS on them and a grid. Every time a shape changes on the grid, so does the color (keeping cool colors for the backgrounds and warm for the letters/objects).

We are more than half-way to our end goal with these works (once they are done they will be showcased in the office) and we hope to complete them next week. This is my first time teaching STEAM as a class, so it will be a learning experience for both my students and me this semester!

Can you see the WMS?

Drawing in Space

For our second collaboration in 3D, students had the opportunity to explore the concept of drawing in space by using wire. In teams of two and three, students selected an object and then sketched out the object using contour lines. After, they turned that line drawing into a sculpture using wire.

It was interesting to see that multiple groups selected cameras as their object. Below are some process and final images of particularly successful attempts.

#FirstMillion Funding

On January 25th, our latestDonorsChoose.org project was funded thanks to the matching funds from #FirstMillion, celebrating the first million funded projects on the site. I am so thankful for the additional materials we will now have due to the generosity of others.

If you are interested in helping fund a project, I recommend visiting their site and seeing a variety of opportunities to do just that!

Woo Hoo! Thanks @DonorsChoose #FirstMillion pic.twitter.com/DK8mBl6Wbv
— Janine Campbell (@campbellartsoup) January 25, 2018

This week was really packed with a lot of amazing things. I am so thankful and excited that I get the opportunity to be a part of all of it.

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Week One

9/10/2017

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Start with Clay

As I have been doing for years now, students were introduced to my classroom by getting started with clay. I remember the first time we did this - I was terrified. I had visions of clay being thrown across the room with unruly students not following directions. I really could not have been more wrong in what actually happens when you engage students with meaningful materials to make an impact right from the start.

Each year at our school we have an Empty Bowls event to benefit our local food bank. At the event, student-made ceramic bowls decorate our school cafeteria as the music students perform and ice cream is served. Patrons donate food and funds to our local food bank to get into the event and celebrate the students who are showcased.

This year I purchased some additional resources like the doily below for 7th grade students to use to add texture to their clay before placing them into paper bowls as molds for the shape of the bowl. We were able to complete these pieces in only a couple of days and I am excited to see these fired and have them glazed and ready for our Empty Bowls event later this school year.

8th grade students used leaves and terra-cotta clay this year for the first day activity. Instead of making bowls for Empty Bowls, they created leaves that will be for sale to benefit our program at Parent/Teacher Conferences in October and the Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters Annual Craft Fair at the High School in November.

Robots Arrive

I am very excited that our Ozobots have arrived! This new resource was funded thanks to generous donors through DonorsChoose over the summer. It was something I had been thinking about incorporating into the STEAM curriculum and was able to do so thanks to the support of others who gave to our project. I am excited to get working with these little guys in the coming months and I look forward to also sharing the results!

The Dot and ArtPrize

This is Sue Ferrell's work from ArtPrize this year. Her work will be shown at our venue and we used her as inspiration for our Dot collaboration project.

We have been celebrating Peter H. Reynolds' story "The Dot" annually for years in my classroom. Each year, we start the school year with some kind of collaborative permanent or semi-permanent work that will engage students with hands-on creating while overcoming the fear that can accompany creativity.

This year, I discovered an artist from ArtPrize that will share our venue at Monroe Community Church to be our inspiration. Sue Ferrell is a local artist who has been participating in ArtPrize for years. This year she is using her skills as a painter and rocks as a canvas to create a large piece from over 100 smaller parts.

I first showed students the video below of the story of "The Dot" and we talked about why I would take the time out to show them this. We had a good discussion about fear and creativity and believing in yourself. Several students used the story to discuss ideas about practice and thinking about art in new and different ways. So many middle school students get caught up in realistic drawing as being the premiere way of knowing whether or not they have talent. This story showed them that art is what you make it and can be whatever you want it to be.

Once we looked at Sue's work, students selected their colors and how they wanted to approach the rock they were painting. These will be used in landscaping outside of our school (an exact location is yet to be determined). I am excited to share with Sue when ArtPrize starts so she can see what an impact her work had on my students. As usual, I will also make sure to share with Peter H. Reynolds who has always been very kind to me and my students when we showcase how we use his work in our classroom.

What is so great about getting students started with hands-on creating the first week of school is that we already get some work on our Artsonia page! Using Schoology, students are able to access their Artsonia uploads through classroom mode and use the standards-based rubrics to complete their work (including their artist statements).

Mary: The artists who painted the rocks inspired me because she did this cool floral pattern and i wanted to try something like it. I also wanted to try making the small dots into a bigger picture. I made it very colorful and creative.

Marie: The story of "The Dot" is about a girl who doesn't believe in her abilities to create good artwork. But by just creating a mark, a simple dot, her teacher considers it as very good art. She realizes that anyone can be good at making art, or anything in general, you just have to try. "The Dot" story relates to these painted rocks because the stones are painted with small marks like dashes and dots. When combined together create good art.

Tess: The story of The Dot is about a little girl who believed she couldn't draw. Her art teacher told her to make her mark, so she did, putting a small dot on her paper with a marker. The next day when Vashti walked into class, her dot was hanging above her teachers desk in a beautiful frame. This inspired her to make more dots, each one more beautiful than the next, and even inspire a young boy to do the same. My painted rock connects to this story because I made a ¨dot¨ on my rock.

Paige: This artwork was created from “The Dot” project. It is about a young girl who doesn't think she has any talent but shows us that any art can be made without needing to be a great artist. This connects with my work because I took a rock and used lots of different dots which is simple but by using different designs and colors it turned out to be a very cool, unique piece.

What a Week!

This week was a great one. I am always amazed at how ready students are to learn and engage with media in new ways. It is so fun to see their reactions when I ask them to get involved with these materials and to brace themselves for what is planned.

I hope everyone else had as great of a first week as we did and I look forward to sharing more next week!

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Three to go

5/20/2017

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STEAM Collaborations

The STEM teacher and I decided that simply one more collaboration was not enough for our students, so we did a JAM PACKED week and a half that included three! It was a perfect way to finish our last collaborations as a group and release some creative energy during State Testing.

Here are some of the results:

#1: Mandala Madness

When we plan out our collaborations, we want to make sure students are getting equal parts Art and STEM. This Mandala collaboration really is one of the most perfect blends we have found and offers a chance for everyone to help out.

First students get into groups of four and learn about various ways cultures have used radial design as a strategy to communicate ideas. After we look at some examples of various designs, students fold and cut their own mandala, using the fold lines as their lines of symmetry to transfer the design so it is symmetrical throughout their piece.

After students completed their designs, we went outside to translate them into LARGE replicas with chalk. I happened to be sick on the day we did this, but my students made sure to turn in images of their work. Here are a few:

Students also explored radial symmetry through digital means using Sumopaint and Photoshop.

#2: Piskels to Legos

In the spirit of translating images from one platform to another, students created images using the online program PiskelApp and then recreated them on our Lego Board! This Lego Board and the Lego pieces were purchased through a DonorsChoose project earlier in the year and funding from The Byron Center Fine Arts Boosters.

It was an awesome use of materials and it was fun to see all of the different creatures and creations students came up with to add to the board. This was our first time doing this collaboration and only had about a day to complete it. I think we will do some other really cool things with the Lego board in the future based on this experience.

#3: ArtPrize Youth Collaboration

Inspired by my trip to The Lab School in Washington, D.C. for The Power of Art Conference, I knew I wanted to do a large collaborative with students that would ultimately hang in our library. The new Youth Collaboration Award offered by ArtPrize was just the incentive to get something done by the end of the year and we hope we are able to connect with a venue in order to have it as a part of this year's competition.

The above video walks you through the five day process students went through to create this colorful work. First, students looked at the combines of Robert Rauschenberg and used his application of paint to inform their approach to attaching the canvas by making marks using a variety of tools. I was able to use donated paint from X-rite that was given to us a couple of years ago for this and a variety of paint brushes, sponges, texture tools, yarn, and stamps for applying it to the three 4x8ft foam boards. Even some teachers and our Assistant Principal got in on the action. They were simply encouraged to make marks and attack the surface (I had a great painting teacher in college who would say the same to me).

Then students were shown some images by Caledonia Curry and how she uses printmaking and cut patterns on paper to create collaged and layered works. We used the idea of paper cutting to create a series of portraits of students from our school (some of the images were from photos I had taken for the yearbook and others were from students own images) and various circle patterns. Students worked in pairs for this and it was fun to see the patterns and faces emerge as they cut into the colorful pieces of paper.

Once that was complete, we worked together to arrange the cut outs on top of the painted background until it seemed to look "right." Using Modge Podge and sponge brushes, they were sealed on top of the surface.

The end result is bright and colorful and reflective of the wonderful chaos that is both the end of the year and frequently in my Middle School Art room. I think we are pretty much finished (although we may add in some Sharpie outlines in the background - we are still debating this). We have until June 22nd to connect with a venue so our work can be a part of the ArtPrize Youth Collaboration Award consideration.

If you are interested in hosting this work, please visit the link and request a connection.

This work will be on display in the BCWMS Lobby during our Arts a la Mode/Fine Arts Night on Tuesday May 23rd.

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Environments - Final Thoughts

10/27/2014

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For project theme two, we worked on the concept of Environments, Spaces, and Places. It has been a rewarding experience for me to see the amount of creative ideas and variety of outcomes based on student interested and interpretation of the assignment. Before we move on from this completely, here are some final images created and posted to our online gallery on Artsonia.

Anna P: I chose to create a 3D perspective piece based on the ArtPrize 2014 entry "Michigan in Motion," by Dominic Pangborn. I was very intrigued by the illusion of depth and perspective created by his piece and wanted to create something similar. While this piece may look flat, it is actually 3D and as you walk the perspective changes. I used images from several different angles here. The center rectangle is supported up by the walls. I used cardboard, hot glue, and paint to make my composition because they seemed like the most sensible materials to use to make this easily and realistic-looking. I chose to checkerboard the floor and ceiling to make the illusion harder to see through by making them look like they are going back into space. There are two other sections, or hallways, to this composition that I was unable to finish in time. At the end of the middle hallway was going to be a city and the last panel was to depict a destroyed city. This progression is meant to represent the past, present, and future. I hope to be able to complete these panels with as much success as I did this first one.

Keegan D: In order to build this project I used Photoshop and some images from Google. It has many elements of design. One of which is the rule of thirds I tried to place my fav pictures in the places where the would be more noticeable. After doing this it is supposed to show that our environments are a reflection of us. I also alternated the way that the faces were pointing to try to create a small variation between each.

Jon Z:This piece was created out of silver wire placed on a rock and a pair of pliers (along with the mind of me, the artist). I choose this bright white rock as my base because it would contrast with the dark, spooky, and twisted, eery trees. The concept of halloween and the deforestation of trees to make this work. The piece communicates how ugly, and dead it would be without nature.

Harrison K: I Made this mask for two reasons- one is because I love masks, and the other is to show that the environment you are in can change who you are and your identity, and depending on the different environments you are in, your personality or behavior itself may change. Again I chose to use the idea and create it into a mask, because mask are the easiest way to represent identity, which was an important role in the idea.

Kat w: This projects theme evolved around our environment (space and place). As one of my projects I decided to do two clay faces. One face represents what nature would look like if we if we constantly took care of it and kept it clean. Therefore the other face represents what happens to nature when we treat it like trash. I wanted to use clay because I felt it makes it easier to show the textures and small details of the faces. I also thought that by using faces it would make the viewer realize that when we don’t take care of our outdoors it also affects us. If we keep harming the organisms that give us oxygen, food, water, and shelter…then what’s going to happen to us if they all go extinct, because of how poorly we took care of them. I used a new technique to give this face color. I used oil red, orange, and yellow oil pastels to color the face, and then I used, watered-down, black tempera paint to give the face a dirty, antique look and feel. I wanted the other face to, not be perfect, but look more clean and elegant. I used glaze and followed the carvings in the face. I wanted the messiness to portray that there are going to be things wrong with nature, but if we take care of it it’s still beautiful.

I used pen do draw this piece. I used pen because I wanted to be able to get all of the little details into my drawing. I used crosshatching to shade the shirt and the arms. I used lines to shade the tree and the roots. I think that this represents people as one with their environments. People need to get off of their phones and computers and go outside and enjoy nature sometimes.

Jordan C: For this project, I used photography and a window cling I created to represent the environment and how it can impact a person. I decided to use the window cling because it added a twist to my pictures. My mom and I drove around Byron Center and placed the cling on the car window so it appeared to be on signs, barns, and in so many more locations. This project was a lot of fun because I was able to explore different compositions and angles. I also had to experiment with the rule of thirds and many different perspectives. The window cling had to be placed in a certain way, so it fit into the picture just right. The techniques I used included using different positions and camera angles. When I was taking these pictures, I had to pay attention to space and unity. The window cling is reminiscent of where I’ve been and how Byron Center has impacted my life. In conclusion, this project made me realize how blessed I am to live in a town with so much scenery and such a small town atmosphere.

Nolan B:This perspective drawing of the front door of my house represents environment in a variety of ways. I decided to use a pencil to create my work because it allows me to make more of a realistic and dramatic effect on my art. When people think of old they think of black and white. The black and white of my pencil helped me show that houses are environments that go back to the beginning of human kind. A home is an environment that should be it's owner's safest place to go. Since the place you sleep in at night is your house, you better trust that it will keep you secure. I used value in my art to show the places in the image that aren't exposed to as much sun as others. This gives a real look to my drawing. Also, I put emphasis on my front door by making it in the center of my piece and slightly darker than the rest of my art. Overall, this image of my front door represents environment in many ways.

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Where's Mrs. C? And Other Interesting Stuff

10/21/2014

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Thursday and Friday and Monday was spent away from my students. When this happens, I feel bad, but I was hard at work each day working on educational issues important to my field.

Thursday and Friday was spent in Lansing. For the past two years, I have been working with a team of Visual Arts Educators in the State of Michigan on the Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment Project. This project is offered to Arts teachers as a solution for implementing and developing high quality programs and assessing those programs and students within. I am very proud of the work I have been able to do, although it does require some time away from my students to work in Lansing with the other teachers and project management involved.

MAEIA Visual Arts Promotion from Jason ODonnell on Vimeo.

On Monday, I had the honor to present to Student Teachers at the Fire Up! conference at Aquinas College. It was really fun to share the amazing things my students do with the power of technology and how we integrate our learning in many ways and break down classroom walls to engage globally. Here is a picture of one of the groups I had the pleasure to present to on Monday (and as you can see, they were a fun bunch):

Even though I was away, students have been hard at work making loads of art. My 7th graders have finished two major projects in the past few days and my 8th graders are starting to wrap up their Environment/Space/Place projects. Here are some pictures of what has been accomplished since last time:

7th grade Space Projects

Ian Sands (a High School teacher in NC) posted this tutorial a while back and it has been an amazing resource for my students and I in learning new ways to use basic Photoshop tools. Thanks again, Ian - I owe you another scone at NAEA in March. You can see a full gallery of results on Artsonia, but here are few:

Nate's image works with overlapping planets to show deep space.

Arminda's image works with different gradients in the planets to show light and shadow.

7th grade Knots

Students have been working on these colorful knots for the past week or so. they have learned about line, symmetry, color, and various application techniques of colored pencil, watercolor, and Sharpie. It was fun to see the results as students made choices about how to construct their design, color it, and add finishing details.

Jordyn M.

Cari S.

8th grade process pictures

Each of the following students is working with similar subject matter (home, interior/exterior space), but attacking the visual representation in very diverse ways. It has been fun to see how students interpret this assignment and the plans they have made in their sketchbooks be realized in their work.

Blake is constructing a wire sculpture of his home as seen from Google Streetview. he is constructing it out of wire and including details like windows and doors.

Kollan is creating an interior room of a house with leather hard slabs of clay. This has been a more challenging project, but I am excited to see it complete with items populating the space.

Anna was inspired by a work at ArtPrize called "Michigan in Motion" for this work. She is going to create an illusion through the application of perspective to make this object that sticks out, look like it is going back into space - MAGIC!

Nolan is using a more traditional drawing method to recreate his front door using one-point perspective. He is applying value with different graphite pencils to help give depth to the shadows and make it more believable.

I am getting really excited and a little nervous as we finish up this theme; nervous because I am worried about time and some students waiting until the last minute to get their work in and excited to see if this all turns out as amazing as I know it can be! I will post some finished examples tomorrow and as they start to roll in from students.

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Finishing up the First Week

9/5/2014

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The images from above are a result of an assembly we had today for the Science classes. Our local PBS station, WGVU, offered this "Ballooning for Education" Assembly for our students because I was selected as a2014 PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator. I was one of 100 teachers across the country to receive this recognition. As a part of this honor, I get some great opportunities to work with WGVU to bring fun and engaging educational programming to students. I am also going to be highlighting PBS LearningMedia in upcoming conference presentations I am doing for Student Teachers and Art Teachers in the coming months.

Students uploaded their artwork on Artsonia today. Students were asked to take a picture of a portion of the canvas they painted and upload it using Classroom Mode. I love using Classroom Mode and giving students the control to upload at their own pace. You can view the process above. We also used our new digital cameras in the classroom today that was purchased due to a grant from MACUL. I am so excited to use them in the class (especially for the video project planned that helped us win the funding).

It was also awesome to read students' artist statements. I am trying something new this year with Standards Based Grading. The Standards that students needed to discuss in their artist statement included their personal connection to the art we made, how their art is connected to our community, and how art is connected to a global society. There are so many thoughtful statements to choose from, but here are two I will share:

Nolan's Artist Statement: I feel that the story of the dot is really awesome. Day after day I hear kids say that they "can't" draw. I think the dot shows that no matter who you are you can make some sort of art. I also found it super cool that the teacher made the child feel special by displaying her art. Next, the painting that we made in class will be hung in the school for years to come. If this doesn't make someone feel good about art, then I don't know what will. I can't wait for the my siblings to move into this school and see this art. Finally, we posted our project on the internet and Peter H. Reynolds (the author of the dot) commented on our work. I could not believe this when I first heard this. The fact that our work was recognized by someone famous is really inspiring. To conclude, this project was super cool and I would recommend it to anyone that doubts their art ability.

Bre's Artist Statement: What "The Dot" story means to me is very personal. Many times in my life I've made a drawing or a sketch and it got laughed at, and I don't like that feeling. I also think that it tells a story that everyone can create art. In my painting I incorporated many different colors and designs. I think that the many different colors show difference between the colors, and the difference between people in this school. The colors also come together to make one painting, and so should the people in this school. I think that these paintings show connection between the students and the staff in this school, and they show that our school is very welcoming to different people. I feel that the paintings also make our school feel more at home. Finally, my work helps the canvass have more color and creativity. I think that "The Dot" story and project was a great way to start off the year!

I cannot believe it is only the first week of school. Based on the work my students have done and the things I have planned, I feel like a step was not lost during our three months of Summer. I am so excited for Monday and what the next week might bring!

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Circles of Many Sizes

9/3/2014

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8th grade students continued to work on our canvas panels today for the STEM and MUSIC hallway. I am really excited about the energetic movement seen in the works as a result of the improvisational and collaborative effort this type of painting involves. Tomorrow, my after school art students will finish up the works and I will post the results before they are displayed.

As I wrote yesterday, this project is partially inspired by the Peter H. Reynolds book, "The Dot." I had the opportunity to share the following video illustration of the story with my students today before we went back to the canvases to make our marks.

I love the message of the story and hope my students take it to heart as they work towards a great school year.

7th grade students continued to work on their clay bowls for Empty Bowls. We will be finishing these up by the end of the week and glazing them once they are bisque-fired.

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smART space

1/24/2014

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The finished sign for the space outside of my classroom has been completed! 8th grade students and those in my after school art class did an amazing job collaborating and contributing to this triptych by making their mark. I hope to do many more paintings like this with my students for other areas in our school.

In addition to finishing out this piece, we were also thrilled to begin the transformation of the space outside of my classroom. This transformation of the smART (sit.meet.ART!) space will be completed once we get our framed art on the walls, which should take place in the next week or two. Students already got a chance to get in the furniture and use it to foster their learning and collaborate with each other.

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Paint and Clay, Day 2

1/22/2014

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I am completely floored with the results from the first two days in the Art class with this new group of students!

8th grade students and my after school class has done an outstanding job of working together to create the colorful collaborative painting pictured above.

7th grade students completed their bowls for our Empty Bowls event and some even brought in their donations to secure their own bowl for the event.

I am so excited with the progress in just two days of class… I cannot wait to see what else comes out of these classes as we progress through the term!

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Week Four

On the News

Building Skills

Clay in STEAM Class

From Objects to Art

Thinking About ArtPrize10

Week One

New Semester with New Students

Empty Bowls

Henna Hands

Collaboratives

Drawing in Space

#FirstMillion Funding

Week One

Start with Clay

Robots Arrive

The Dot and ArtPrize

What a Week!

Three to go

STEAM Collaborations

#1: Mandala Madness

#2: Piskels to Legos

#3: ArtPrize Youth Collaboration

Environments - Final Thoughts

Where's Mrs. C? And Other Interesting Stuff

7th grade Space Projects

7th grade Knots

8th grade process pictures

Finishing up the First Week

Circles of Many Sizes

smART space

Paint and Clay, Day 2

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Janine Campbell

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