ART for 1170

Clay Camp was incredible in June and since there was a  waiting list we did another camp in August. Once again a terrific group of artists who created birdbaths, wall pockets and animals and much more. Thank you moms for letting me post these pictures.  Today was "Meet the Teacher" at PKE and I can't believe how much I missed my students. I saw lots of growth, summer tans and missing teeth (gotta love first grade).  My schedule is posted on the Schedule page however I've heard there may be more tweeking next week .  I'm looking forward to another year and these artists give me so much motivation and for that I am thankful!

Cézanne<br>Still Life with Apples - Smarthistory Just a sample of a website I came cross. Not the usual dry format but interesting dialogue from experts and references. It covers a vast amount of time and artists in an easy to navigate site. A new fav! www.smarthistory.org

First Graders used the same oval foam shapes to create imaginary fish.  It was one of the last art classes of the year so I decided to take it outside for a couple reasons. One, it was a beautiful day and hey, in Michigan we don't get to enjoy too many of those during winter and two, almost zero clean up. Hey what's a little blue watercolor on the sidewalk going to hurt.  It was a bit tricky carrying in the artwork but I'm going to make a mental note to do more "outside" art.

Chihuly Last winter I traveled to Grand Rapids to the Meijer Gardens and Museum. Wow amazing Chihuly glass, not to mention a great time of year to visit the almost empty gardens and museum.  I decided to take coffee filters, washable markers, brushes and water to my Young Fives program.  I love their enthusiasm as the colors mixed.  I squashed them into this rubber ringed sheet that I picked up at Arts and Scraps and sprayed the daylights out of them with spray starch. They look crowded in the photo (they were.)  My plan was to mount them on card stock but the school year ran down fast, but I will definitely do this lesson again.

Based on Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish book I really like this lesson plan. It was the first time I've used "Tracers".  Oh my! Gasp! I know how some of you feel about using tracers, but I had these oval foam shapes from Arts and Scraps and thought they would be a great starting poing for our fish.  Maybe it was my imagination but the student stress level was zero.  They LOVED using the foam and spent more time and attention to the fish and their expressions.  

The exact schedule is still in the works but so far it looks like I will be... Monday      PKE Tuesday      NSE Wednesday NSE Thursday    PKE Friday         PKE, CE As soon as this is finalized I will  add times and teachers so you know when your child has art!

I'm not sure if it's the LARGE square eyes or the HUGE smile but this artwork created at the ECC just makes me laugh when I look at it.  I really hope their parents keep it or better yet, frame it!

I saw this lesson on Artsonia and have always wanted to try glass in the kiln. Now add a generous donation of glass beads and it was just perfect. The students made two pinch pots, inverted one then added a bird and some details to the sides of the bath. The glass worked perfectly, firing at C05. The only thing that goofed was a few birds "Fell" into their baths. I think that was because with the humidity I didn't do a bisque fire.