It's not only my job to teach art, but also beautify the school as well. When my school installed an unsightly security gate, It was my job to make it appear more welcoming for the students. Five 6th graders and I devoted our recess/prep for about a month and a half to create this mural. Our idea was to create an illusion that the hallway was going on forever and that it transformed into colored stripes. The 6th graders were very proud of their work and felt very special to be a part of the school forever. We finished it just in time for the year to come to a close!
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For any elementary art teacher, these books and professional development workshops can be life savers. I was having trouble getting my kiddos to follow my painting cleanup procedures. After this workshop my district required me to take, I was elated with ideas and successful procedure and management strategies. Lets face it as elementary art teachers we have 50 minutes to make magic happen and we don't want to spend 15 minutes of it cleaning up. Everything from restorative practices to interactive modeling has aided in my management, procedures and community building in my art room. If you have the opportunity to take a workshop by Responsive Classroom or Restorative Practice, I highly recommend it or at least purchase the texts (they are priceless). Good luck with these last few weeks of school, summer is arriving fast!!!
We are all Connected...
Now that the Art Show is over and the busy days of returning work to the students is over I would love to share some photos from the show. The show was an excellent success and was 3 days of no stop visitors ranging from parents, students, teachers, administration and people from our community. The show had a plethora of work from both the primary and secondary level. Thank you to all my students, parents and faculty members for helping set up the show and for coming to see it. Thank you
for your continued support of the CRSD Art program!!
I hope that everyone is having a safe, relaxing and fun spring break! I traveled down to Washington D.C for the first time this weekend. This city is perfect for the curious mind! I of course had to visit The National Gallery of Art. I saw many masterpieces in the west wing and some very evocative contemporary art in the soon to be closing east wing. The east wing will be going on a multi-year renovation, so if your in D.C, make sure you at least check out the east wing! Here are some of my favorites below taken by my very own iPhone! I wonder if my students could name some of the artists below? :-)
I have recenlty been exposed to blind students in a visual art classroom. After thinking about all the physical modifications I could make for a blind student a fellow colleague of mine shared this awesome resource. The site is called Art Beyond Sight. It has so many resources and ideas to help a visual art teacher make a comprehensive art education possible for a visually impaired student. My colleague and I thought how could you expose a visually impaired student to art history? Art Beyond Sight answered it for us. They have complete heavily detailed audio descriptions and facts about many famous art works throughout history. I can't wait to share this resource with my visually impaired students! Art can really be experienced by all people!
www.artbeyondsight.org
Untitled Self Portrait, Linda Lee Alter
This show contains almost 500 pieces of contemporary artworks created by female artists of different races and cultures. This diverse show exhibits art of all types including paintings, drawings, sculptures, prints and many more exciting and interesting medias. The work is rich in the unique concept of identity and its relationship to their creator, the woman. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to see the exhibit. I highly recommend taking the time to visit this amazing show! The exhibit is in the museum at PAFA in Philadelphia and it runs from now until April 7, 2013. Below is the link to the website where all the info is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! http://www.pafa.org/femalegaze/
"After a wonderful day of teaching I returned home to relax, until I turned on my television. As the story began to come together I was immediately captivated and astonished by the tragedy that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. My heart goes out to the families, students, teachers, school faculty and community. As a teacher I have always taken lockdown drills VERY seriously, but have taken for granted how lucky I have been to have never had to really participate in one until yesterday. I was elated with pride as I heard the stories and acts of heroism of the amazingly brave teachers and administrators of this school! My most sincere thoughts will go out this community and I cannot imagine the devastation that they must feel. I hope that this school will be able to rebuild a trusting environment for their students, as we all know a school is as much of a home for our students as their house is." Michael Catalano
I absolutely love this video! I came across it and had to share it! I know as art teachers this is why we do what we do and what we aspire to accomplish in our classrooms each and everyday for our students!
The Life Line, 1884, Winslow Homer
Yesterday I enjoyed a nice fall day with my family and took some time to see the exhibit "Shipwreck!" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I always looked a seascapes and marine paintings at face value as a depiction of the beauty of the sea, but not anymore. I found it very interesting how even in the 1800's, society was obsessed with depictions of disaster. Many of Homer's early paintings depict an optimistic and heroic view of a shipwreck with the calm after the storm emerging into the picture plane. As Homer grew older his depictions of shipwrecks became less and less optimistic. Sharks and the elimination of the calm entered the picture plane. Mother nature took control of Homer's painting just like she took control of his own mortality, I guess it is true what they that every piece of art is a self-portrait in some way. The exhibit also had a very interesting look beyond the painted surface of one of Homer's most famous paintings The Lifeline. I recommend the exhibit it's in the Perelman building and is running till December 16th!
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