Since this was my first Student Art Show I learned a lot.  All of the teachers used the same wire mesh folding displays.  I decided to hang all of the work individually but it would have been much easier if I arranged everything beforehand on large pieces of mat board then “clamped” them on.   I took a couple pictures of my display and other teachers displays.  These arrangements looked GREAT!

I also did a printmaking project for kids (some parents even left donations)!  It was a simple foam printmaking technique where students etch into the foam and then paint and press onto paper.  I’ll be posting pictures later on of the displays!

So when students get back from Thanksgiving I am going to try to set up a gingerbread/candyland still life and have them paint their own versions.  This is appropriate considering the Holidays are right around the corner.  Below are some fantastic Will Cotton images that I am going to show my students.

Alpine Ruin by Will Cotton, 2008

Pastoral by Will Cotton, 2009

Nut Hosue by William Cotton, 2007

Custard Cascade by Will Cotton, 2001

During this lesson I will talk to the students about zooming in and capturing a composition that fills the whole page.  Once we begin painting then we will talk about how to create shades of colors and pastels.  I think they will really enjoy this project, would you?  Oh, and I encourage to visit Will Cotton’s website, just click on any of the above images and it will link you.  Have a delicious weekend!

Students working in the hot sun!

Whimsical but realistic

And this is just the beginning!

My little sisters and her school's chalk art.

I also bought a new piece of art to add to my tiny, but growing art collection.  It’s a golden finch print.  I loved the simplicity and the color of the bird.  It’s by artist Wendy Detrick Worcham and you can be all of her beautiful and sweet work at www.wdw-art.com.

Golden Finch

And last but not least some of my own work.  A few art teachers in Orange County are doing an Art Journal that we pass from school to school each month.  Each Art Journal has its own theme as dictated by it’s creator.  My theme was the Circus.  Them journal I am currently working on has the theme of the Y-branching tree limbs and a interconnecting yellow ribbon.

My piece, had trouble rotating it, arg!

ATC for the Journal and it wouldn't let me rotate this one too!

Allrighty, I am all uploaded out.  So I am signing off for now.  I’ll be posting pictures of all the journals I am working on!

Autumn by Alphonse Mucha

The Seasons by Alphonse Mucha

This weekend is the Annual Downtown Disney Festival of Masters.  Of the Art Festivals in Orlando this is amongst my favorite for it’s variety of artists (last year this guy made humongous bear all out of nails)!  They also cater to Folk Artists just outside the House of Blues!  I have been going to the Festival since high school and never get tired seeing what new artists are popping in.

Also is the “sidewalk chalk art” in which high schools and artists all over Central Florida recreate masterpieces and original works on the sidewalk.  An art teacher friend and my younger sister are both taking part in this exciting Master’s tradition. I’ll make sure to take many pictures this weekend and post them on here to view.

On a side note I wanted to post some beautiful works by Alphonse Mucha.  I am trying to come up with a lesson for Elementary that uses Mucha as the artist. The whirling hair, the draping dresses, I love it all!  The Seasons really appeal to me…..Have a great weekend and enjoy the weather!

After a little research at,  http://www.aolhealth.com/healthy-living/nutrition/energy-food, I found that peanut butter, foods high in Omega 3′s and iron are great for boosting your energy.  I am also thinking nuts, raisins, and dried fruit could be good.  Does anyone have anything they eat to give themselves a boost?  Comment below:-)

So far I’ve done my best to spruce up the room by adding a cool art bubble map, visuals, and hanging student artwork.  My major challenge is organizing the materials.  I am almost out of paper and just did a big order of materials which I’ll hopefully get in the next couple weeks.

While the room may not be stellar the kids sure are.  Such creativity and imagination and the majority of my discipline problems are minor.  So does anyone have any cool artsy ideas for decorating an art room?  I always remember art rooms being so magical.

The Workshop, presented by Gail Russakov, highlighted just about everything you would want to know about altered books.  The morning was spent gluing together the pages of our book and sanding the pages of a board book.  Gail provided all of the materials and books and showed us many wonderful examples.  I chose a book on “Attracting Birds”.  After gluing the pages together we gessoed them to create a surface to paint on.  I really want to do this project with some of my 5^th graders but I have close to 100 students.  Maybe I’ll try talking to a library to see if they are throwing out old books….they would also make wonderful sketch books.

Beautiful colors!

So much texture!

Using Punchinelli (I think thats the name). It gives a great dot/pixel effect.

You know after attending this workshop it really made me want to go back to school.  I sometimes feel like I’ve spent my entire life in school.  Attending, interning, teaching.  Question of the week:  Has anyone else tried altering books? What type of experience did you have?

Oaxacan style coyote

Some examples of Oaxacan woodcarvings

4^th grade is starting their veijgante mask.  I find it helpful to group projects that involve the same materials around the time frame.  Like my 5^th and 4^th grade are in the morning and I try to use the same materials.  The Vejigante mask won over a lot of my more difficult students, cause they thought the masks were cool and scary.  Like 5^th grade they also made an idea book.  I want to stress the importance of creating a plan and that artists use plans.

Teacher example of the Vejigante Mask

Beginning of a students Vejigante Mask

Now my 2^nd and 3^rd graders are doing Autumn still-lifes.  I took my rolling table and set up a still-life comprised of pumpkins/gourds/corn/leaves/acorns/baskets. I set it up so no matter where a student was sitting they had something interesting to draw. Now the students were supposed to “zoom-in” to one spot and draw that spot.  Not the whole table.  I showed them positive and negative examples and let them begin.

Full view of the Autumn Still Life

Zooming in!

Look close at the detail!

Sometimes it is so hard to resist the temptation to grab the students pencil and say “see this is how you do it”.  I often have to tell myself that they are learning.  I liked seeing the students glance up from their work to the still life.

All right,  I need to keep up with this blog, for many reasons.  I need to record all of the successes an failures I have so I can learn from them.

To be brief my first two months at Z elementaty school have been everything I thought it would be, long but exciting days, lots of work outside of the classroom.  I think that one thing that is a lot different about teaching compared to all of the other jobs I’ve had is that it doesn’t end the moment I leave work. I am constantly thinking about different ways I can teach lessons so students “get-it” easier.  It’s hard because it each class I have virtuosos and kids that couldn’t care less.

Lets see, I did the Pinwheels for Peace on September 21^st 2009.  Let me tell you making 500+ pinwheels is tough.  While in class we talked about how we can create peace for each other and what we do ourselves to feel peaceful.  They then decorated a pinwheel template with markers.  So all I had to do was punch 4 holes in the corners of 500+ pinwheels, then fold in the corners and tack to a pencil.  Ha, I had to elicit help from my boyfriend to put them together that weekend.  That morning I arrived at school at 6:15 am to begin setting up. After much sweat and help from one of my best students we stepped back and observed the grassy hill filled with pinwheels.  The sun rose and shinned through them.  The students loved seeing them too!

Would I do this next year? Yes. Seeing how it brighted everyones day was worth the extra work.  It also gave me a chance to talk about finding peace in everyday life with the student.  Lots of learning opportunities! Next year I might have 5^th and 4^th graders help me make them.

I have so much to share with everyone and want to include photographs of artwork too!  I will be posting what all of my classes are doing by the end of this week:-) AND I am still learning how to format with wordpress, so things might not be perfect….but I’m workin on it!