So this is something.

Teacher of the year

Maybe it's good that I've neglected blogging this year.

We're back!

It's been a long hiatus since this blog has been going, and instead of taking it down, I thought it might be a good excuse to bring it back.  The intention of this blog is to share the art that we make in class.  "The Art Class" aims to share the learning experiences of the students who create these pieces and the many techniques, skills, processes we use to make art our own every day.

I look forward to having students post their work often and hopefully this will bring attention to the commitment each of them makes to make their voices heard.    Each of us have a unique ability to create things from simple objects.  It is what we do with these objects that make art-making a special task left to people (and sometimes animals) to put something there that was never there before.

As we approach March, we will be taking special care to acknowledge that it's Youth in Arts Month, or YAM.  I hope to share the words of my students as they take ownership of the writing of this blog.  This blog is about what we learn, but it will also be about what we're willing share.

So enjoy, check back often!  We can't wait to share what is going on in "The Art Class".

Here are a few pieces to start with:

Student was studying movement in art.  Referenced from an art history book.  This students focused on the feet.

A cross-curriculum project between three disciplines.  Students wrote narratives in the voice of perspectives of different people during the civil war.

A landscape with a Chinese temple.  Student practiced using perspective and oil pastels.  

This student is delivering a message about what is important to him.

Tree project reflecting night and ay.  Student worked with paints to show variation of tone.

Landsapes with paint.  

Sketchbook update

We've come to the end of the year and we've all been working hard on our sketchbooks.  It takes time to masterfully create pages in a book.  Our task was to use the sketchbook as art.  Each student chose a theme and create each page as a reflection of that theme.

Artists were introduced to a wide variety of mixed media techniques which combined all sorts of materials to create different textures, moods, and variety of space and shape.  Students were invited to create the book in whatever manner they chose, by cutting, gluing, adding pages. 

Check out these amazing pages as the artists were working:

Have you ever wondered?

Did you ever think about what it might be like to live in another country?  Would it be better?  Worse?  The same?

This website allows you to consider what it might be like to live in another country.  It lets you see how much money people make, see how much vacation time people have, health risks or benefits, and pollution indexes. 

What would you consider to be the best place to live?  What feels like home to you?

 Check it out:

http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/

The Sketchbook Project

Have you heard about the sketchbook project?  Well, if you haven't, I've been talking about it all week.  The link is on last week's post.  Anyone can participate with $25 in their pocket.  But the truth is, we're holding our own Sketchbook Project, in which each artist with pick a theme (or 2 or three) and use it as a unifying subject to create a mixed media sketchbook.  Since this project treats the sketchbook as art, we'll be spending a few weeks to work on this project.

The first step is to learn about sketchbooks.  Many people may think artists are the only people that use sketchbooks.  But that's not true.  Sketchbooks hold a lot more than quick drawings, or art ideas.  You can keep information, collect date, paste, journal, write, and create (and the list goes on).

Artists can use this sketchbook to explore a theme that is interesting to them.  It doesn't have to be true, it can be completely made up, or just be away to collect items that belong to that them.  The first thing you have to do:  pick a theme.  We're then able to plan out what we want to do.  It's not cheating, it's smart.  So while some students may find it easy to begin creating right away, some may feel more comfortable making storyboards.  Which is what most started with this week.

In this post you'll see the exploration of a variety of themes.  Students chose to write, draw, number, and title.  Just take a look to see where it all begins.

The books.