Chihuly-Inspired Sculpture.

If you're not familiar with the work of glass artist Dale Chihuly, get familiar. He's totally incredible and very dynamic to watch. I found a DVD of him "In the Hotshop" on eBay for about $10 and I was enthralled watching his team (he's lost the use of an eye and his shoulder, so he can no longer blow glass himself) blow asymmetrical glass objects. Stunning.

I can't take credit for this idea. I found it here first. The photo shows a finished installation of many students' works.

But I had just been to the Chihuly Exhibit at the Frist Center and I thought it was too good NOT to integrate into my curriculum somehow. So lucky 2nd grade, who are studying North American Art this year, will get to try this project. The idea is to use cheapo plastic glasses, add decorative details, and melt them in a toaster oven set to broil. I thought, surely I'll set the house on fire. Surely it will smell revolting. SOMETHING WILL GO WRONG! But it didn't.

I found margarita glasses in packs of 20 for $8.99 at Party City (buy one get one free! Woo

t!) and brought home a couple packs to test this out. I didn't have my rainbow assortment of sharpies at home, so I just used black for the test run, but here's what came out of my toaster oven. I only set my oven mit on fire a little bit. :p

So I will definitely be dragging the toaster to school and trying this with the kiddos.

Old School

You just never know how long it will take for Kindergarteners to do something. Today I tried encorporating some formative assessment drawing pages from the book Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes. It's a great book, but the title makes me think of picking up a child and drawing with their head...

This is a book that my school librarian was getting rid of, and I'm glad I snatched it up. There are some really old school but brilliant ideas in here. And I tend to favor old school. Vintage, baby. :) Anyway, I tried this warm up I took from the book:

I asked the kiddos to copy the pictures and draw them in the boxes. They did very well looking carefully, but I made a front and back to the sheet so they'd be occupied long enough. I'd planned another two short activities for after this. Keep in mind, last week they came to my class and within seconds of starting their drawings, they were all shouting, "I'M DOOONE! HEY!!! I'M DOOOOOONE!"


But this time they worked so much more slowly that I didn't have enough time for my next activity, let alone the third one. Geez.


Also, 5th graders can stipple with sharpies. Oh, yes. They really can. I swear. I'm not even kidding! I made this part of the project optional, and about half the class wanted to try "shading with sharpies." So I showed them up close at a separate table, and even the ones who are not typically advanced artists were able to use stippling successfully. This was something I wasn't instructed how to do until I got to Art I in High School. So we're getting technical here, and it's actually working out.

September

So here we are in September. The kids are beginning to hit their stride for the year, and I'm finally breathing after the rush to get things rolling. Our district has a new initiative to "teach with urgency" and pretty much...it's stressing me out. I was already teaching with urgency but now I've stepped up my game and it barely leaves time for potty breaks. I've re-done my entire curriculum and here are some examples (made by me) of projects the kids are working on now.

Above:5th Grade's Op-Art Inspired Intensity and Value study using complimentary colors. Colored pencil, sharpie. Stippling added as a challenge for the students who want to do something extra.

Last year's 5th grade probably would not have enjoyed this style of drawing, because they were the type who hated to use rulers. This year's group typically are more detail-oriented, and get a kick out of drawing precisely.

Above: 2nd Grade's Keith Haring Inspired drawing, using lines to create pattern. I'd never introduced Haring as an inspiration artist with elementary students, but I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before. They LOVE him! They are interested in his whole life, and I try to be honest with them without giving too much detail. The 2nd graders are just adoring this cartoon style.

Above: 4th Grade's Contour Line Monotype, Inspired by Egon Schiele. Detail added with sharpie and colored pencils. These kids are using regular watercolor markers to draw on large mirror tiles I bought at Lowe's. (The portrait mirrors from the catalog were WAY too pricey) Then, after wetting a piece of drawing paper slightly, they press the paper onto the mirror and pull off a print of the image. Some of them come out as good likenesses, and some are still what I call "schema" or cartoony simplified versions of faces that look nothing like the kid. We are trying to focus on proportion, since in 2nd grade this group did a self portrait drawing with correct spacing of facial features, and they are familiar with correct proportions. Egon Scheile as an inspiration was sort of added on, as I had to tie this in with Europe. But the kids seemed to enjoy seeing his works (the few that weren't nudes) and it got them thinking about how expressive a line can be. We're also using his style of only painting in a few places on the figure to create emphasis.

My budget was cut this year, but not as significantly as I expected, so I think I will be ok on most supplies. Some fundraisers may be needed later in the year though. I wonder if any other teachers out there have a preferece for colored pencils in elementary. I've ordered the Crayola Twistables, because sharpening is such a stinkin' pain, and I've only got one good electric sharpener. The hand held sharpeners do OK, but the kids prefer the electric I suppose. I haven't gotten that Twisable set yet, but I hope it's worth the price tag. I also am using Mr. Sketch scented markers exclusively now. The thin-tipped scented "Stix" are great as well. And you know what? I thought the scents would be a huge distraction, but it actually makes the kids WANT to draw more. And I am definitely ok with that. :)

I'll post more examples of projects and maybe some student work as they come along!

Guess it's time for an update

So the new school year has started. It's been over a year since I blogged and maybe it's time to get my butt moving (or at least, my hands moving across the keyboard) and share/steal some art teacher-y ideas. We have this new scope and sequence, which has required me to mix up my lessons into a different order, and more often than not, to rewrite them altogether. So I'm in NEED here. I have almost got this curriculum written, but it has a few gaping holes and I'm clueless about what I can fill them with. Not only that, but our planning time has been cut shorter this year. I've also decided to make it extra hard on myself by keeping with the "Art Around the World" theme. So now I need ideas that have to do with, for instance: rhythm, movement, unity and variety, and ALSO North America.

Here are the continent themes I use by grade level:

Kindergarten: Australia & Antarctica (they only do one or two projects related to these. Most of their year in art has to do with holding scissors correctly and not losing an eye. :) )

First Grade: Africa

Second Grade: North America (I used to do Europe with them but they just couldn't quite fully understand that Zeus of ancient Greece was not real. I got phone calls. Not pretty.)

Third Grade: Central and South America

Fourth Grade: Europe

Fifth Grade: Asia

So for now let's see how it goes. I've got two days worth of classes going on completely new, untested projects. I'll share the results.

Strangeness...

Yesterday I was leaving the house to try to take another picture with the pinhole shoebox camera (which was an epic fail by the way. Ryan seems to be able to do it, but I kinda suck by myself.) and there was a black kitty in my driveway. This is not unusual. My neighborhood is basically a farm for stray cats, or cats that aren't stray, but their owners just let them wander around.

I happen to really like black cats, since I have one. But she doesn't get to go outside because she has a birth defect that left her with three feet, and one shorter, underdeveloped leg. You feel sorry for her right up until she bites you.

Anyway I was cooing at this cat in my driveway, trying to get it to come to me, or at least not be afraid of me. My mom is a wizard at this. I don't know what she does, but she has, over her lifetime, been able to attract cats, and get them to conveniently "follow her home," where her and her brother would explain to daddy, "We couldn't help it! He followed us all the way home! We might as well feed him..." Brilliant.

I keep getting sidetracked. Anyway, I left after the cat sort of looked at me and mewed, then ran off. I was gone for about 10 minutes, exposing the shot, and when I got back I checked the mail. I had one invitation for a baptist church in Franklin which was addressed to the house's previous occupant. (On a side not again, I've lived here for close to two years, and the junk mail for this woman keeps coming, including all kinds of pregnancy mail. Hello!? She would not be pregnant anymore!)

Also in the mailbox was a strange post card.

Let's investigate the details, here. Stamp, polar bear, applied upside down, and NOT postmarked. Very weird message, an attempt at humor I suppose. Front is an artwork. Also, my NAME is spelled correctly, which almost never happens unless someone knows me well. (I've covered up my address.)

"Just to let you know, Mrs. Pickles is her full name. (Though I'm not actually sure cats can marry outside of Boston.)"

I immediately texted my friend Josh, who lives in Alaska (polar bear?) and has interests in alternative marriage, and who does random things like this pretty regularly. He did not know what I was talking about. And the writing doesn't look like his either. Hmmph.

Now, I tend to be an overanalyzer, sure. But come on, is this weird? Was somebody watching me coo at that cat, and was amused by my dorkiness? Stalker? Neighbor? Or is it just Joshy and he's yanking my chain? But still was somebody watching me with the kitty? AH!! This is going to bug the crap out of me.

Your Pinhole is Showing!

K. Waiting with bated breath for my 120 film to come back. But I am kinda ticked off at Dury's. Seriously people? Too expensive. You really have to charge twice as much as Walgreens for processing? THEN forget to put in my CD that you promised? That's it. I'ma do it myself, punks. Well, I'll get there at some point. For now the cashier at Walgreens is just gonna have to learn that when she sees me come in, it's time to page, "Customer assistance at the Photo desk..."

Now I have a darkroom. It's pretty ghetto, but it works just fine. I'll explain in detail shortly. Of course, I've discovered that to process my own film is a much more complicated task than

making prints. Maaaaaybe I will just sneak into the photo lab at MTSU.

I'm really not coherent right now it seems. Today on the way to Dury's I thought, "Hey I've only got 4 frames left on the Holga...I'll just take a couple shots on the way and drop off that roll, too." But the problem was it was pouring rain, as it has been all day, and will apparently be all week.

There's this awesome dilapidated barn on my way to school, and I've been wanting to shoot there for a long time. Today I had an excuse.

So I had Ry drive up and park out of sight from the road, and I got out and dragged out my two Holga 120CFNs, one purple (my inner child is pleased) and loaded with 120 film, and the other modified with 35mm, and my Canon TLb. I took a bunch of shots. I got soaked, covered in mud, and I'm sure I got several more bug bites.

But that barn is beautiful. It was such a surreal experience to be in a place that seems forgotten by time, with the sound of rain falling through the skeletal roof. It wasn't littered with beer cans and soggy trash...not a hideout for teenagers or shelter for some wayward hobo. I felt like I was intruding on ghosts. I'm worried that the pictures will be screwed up because I had to set the shutter speed on 30 due to the dim light, and I didn't have a tripod. But at least I finally got to check the place out. Who knows how long it will stay there before it's torn down?

The funny thing is, Ryan stayed in the car. HE is the real photographer, supposedly. And he

wasn't interested. I asked him to park a little closer and he grinned at me and said, "Ah Katie. She suffers so much for her art." :)

But my parter-in-crime and I did make some fantastic mischief yesterday. He made a pinhole camera as a demonstration for his speech class, and we finally got to try it out. It's basically a shoe box with a tiny hole poked through a piece of aluminum, and a cardboard "shutter" over the hole. After painting the inside of the box black, and making it light-tight with black tape, we put 5x7 photo paper inside it, sat it down in my backyard, and exposed the paper.

Then in the "darkroom," we developed the paper, and there was a negative image of what the pinhole saw. The pinhole allows for a wide angle and infinite depth-of-field. After scanning the prints and inverting them in Photoshop, the positive images looked like this:

Ryan in the yard: 7 minute exposure.

Sidewalk and house: 12 minute exposure

Evergreen Cemetery: 16 minute exposure.