ART for 1170

Last fall I was so lucky, again, to have a fabulous student intern. The time passed so quickly. As most of you who have had an intern can agree, an intern in the art room is a blessing. Betty came from Eastern Michigan University and just graduated on Saturday. I am so proud of how hard she worked. She had such great insight into the students and came prepared with lots ideas, tools and powerpoints!  I think Betty beat me into work every day!  Thank you Betty for spending your time with Clarkston Schools. Lucky district that gets you! Comment if you have an art position in your district, (Michigan) Betty sent this to me on Saturday after her graduation. She made one for North Sashabaw too.  THANK YOU!

A quick look at what our beautiful oops look like. Remember originally my plan was to make Christmas trees and then I thought nope, they look more like a cactus. A teacher shared that I could have made each student's art part of a branch for one large tree. Maybe next year.

Honestly I thought this would make great Holiday trees but when I saw the shapes of the leaves/branches I immediately thought of Christmas Cactus.  I used heavy paper and put green tempera mixed with 1/3rd water in the plastic container in the top picture. I usually do the lines for the kids and then they BLOW and blow.  We're going to add tissue flowers next week. Stay tuned for more pics.

The stars aligned this fall with a great intern, Miss Forsleff from Eastern Michigan,  a deep dive study of our kids in trauma and lots of extra odds and ends.  Miss Forsleff designed a 3rd grade project based on a "safe place".  Students designed a place that they could go, play, read that is a dream spot.  LOTS of popsicle sticks, glue, rocks, yarn and moss.

A day in the life of an elementary student.  I am enjoying the beginning of the school year and embracing the task of documenting the life at NSE.  I thought being the art teacher was the best job in the world but sneaking around classrooms, cafeterias and the playground with my camera has been so much fun.

Help! everyone outta the water!!   I just love Clay! This little guy will probably end up in a garden somewhere.  I put a hole on the bottom so a small rod can be inserted of various heights so it can swim among the flowers.

Wonderful news for our upper elementary! Our district has approved ONE HOUR art!  After years and years of 30 minute art.  Lower elementary is going to stay 30 minutes (for now ;) but they do have an hour of music. What does this mean? well it's all good but we are going to have to work through how this extended times looks and feels for both the students and teachers.  So excited to finally have this happen. It was also a busy summer as my youngest is heading off to college next week.  That's 3 kiddos almost cooked.

And  Instagram from Barrett Christy And, an awesome video.  HOW COOL is THIS?   So honored to work with an athlete who is so generous with her time.

How do artists use expressions to convey meaning?  First graders explored different emotions by Rockwell and Picasso. We placed our hands on our faces and noticed how they changed when we were happy, surprised, mad, sad, etc.  Then they observed their own expressions in a mirror and drew three different emotions.

I really like this lesson. It involves skills such as folding, planning, pattern, repetition, color theory and is very popular with the students. Starting by folding a 12 x 18  in half, then in half, then in half so they can see 8 sections. Each section gets a heart or other shape, each shape is filled with a small repeating shape. The area around the shape is filled with a different line. The lines and shape must be original to each section. Students are encouraged to use different colors for every section. P.S. The use of sponges on trays is a new idea to keep paints and artwork a bit cleaner, so far it seems to help.

Live for CRAZY HAIR DAY!    It's like the moon and stars align when ONE of my three buildings celebrates Crazy Hair Day.   I did this for my daughter when she was in 6th grade, 10+ years ago.  The secret is an empty water bottle or if your hair is really long a 2 liter empty bottle.  Just pull it up and secure with an elastic band, add pipe cleaner flowers and you're good to go!

The students added new details today and at the end of the day I touched up my green over spray marks so it will be ready for more drawing on Monday.  You can see Jaden's pre study of his designs under his left arm. Many students changed their selected design when they saw what was already on the board by other students. 

It's funny how opportunities land in your lap and some you have to seek.  A parent who works for a snowboard company approached me and asked if one of my classes would be interested in designing a snowboard for Barrett Christy.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_Christy  Heck YEAH! Using pattern and repetition in art is one of our curriculum standards for 4th grade. We decided to incorporate a zentangle type design.  All the students came up with personal ideas for a snowboard, a grid sheet of their favorite patterns and then interview questions for Barrett.  We did a cool webcast with her in December then returned to our patterns to incorporate some of her favs. Here is our work in progress.  We're hoping for another webcast or even a school visit this winter.