And we're back...with a focus on the high school art room

Yes--that's the first mach-up for
the Transporter  in Star Trek. Beam me up,
Scotty!

The 2013-2014 school year is underway and the NVartworks blog is back but with a big kid bent. I switched over to high school this year. I am thoroughly enjoying the discourse and talents of the high schoolers. As a newcomer onto this scene, other art teachers have been invaluable to the settling-in process. I am so grateful for their generous giving of knowledge and advice, especially upon learning after a quick Google search, that a disproportionate number of online lesson plans are geared for elementary art students.  Time to trust my gut and continue to make NVartworks a place for art educators, art lovers, and art students to gain inspiration and to celebrate our successes.

What's been going on?
My studio classes are 2D art from beginners to honors plus a couple of classes focusing on wearable arts such as clothing and jewelry. 

Getting the room together in the summer

Art 1/2 & 3/4 - Tessellations- Focus on line, pattern, value, and landscapes. A look at M.C. Escher and how Art is Math.

Art 5/6 Advanced 2D Art - What is student voice in art? How to focus on a concentration to create a collection. Students independently create the first piece in a portfolio of eight pieces.

Wearable Art -  How to hand-stitch and craft a custom purse--focusing on basic stitches, hemming, beading, inserting a panel, pattern making, design sketching, button sewing, and craftsmanship. A look at Linda Przybyszewski, Notre Dame Associate Professor of History discussing "A Nation of Slobs". Art is Math---how many yards of x fabric do we need for 70 students to create a purse x big.



Upcoming Projects from Studio 508

Art 1/2 - One and Two-point perspective with a look at Perugino, Da Vinci, and Estes and how Art is Math. During the Renaissance,  the Artist and the Scientist were the same person. How did they become so separated in our modern culture?
Art 3/4 - Marc Chagall inspired profile pastel drawings. A look at Expressionism and the art of visual storytelling.  A look at Frida Kahlo and her personal journey in paintings.  240 of Kahlo's photographs will be on display at the Nevada Museum of Art during the month of September. A required visit for 3/4 and 5/6 students.
Art 5/6 - Ongoing analysis of art works and creating meaning in an art piece. Taking risks with new media and drafting artist statments and beginning piece #2/8 in their collections. A required visit to the NMA.

A Goodbye Post with Flowers and Skulls

"Mom, life is like a roller coaster."
"Oh, yeah? What do you mean?"
"You never know what's coming around each corner. Sometimes it's crazy fun. Sometimes it's scary. The highs and lows."

You got it, Ruby! Life is like a roller coaster. A few days ago, a career opportunity knocked on my door. I wasn't looking. Why would I be looking? I had just spent the last year teaching art in Oz. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to introduce art to young children ages 4 - 11 in a school environment where art was appreciated and valued by the families. It really was magical. I learned how much I LOVE teaching art and how absolutely critical art is for a twenty-first century child. I hope to explore this more and express with you my findings in future blogs. I hope you stick around.

For the reasons of retirement, benefits, all the dry but important realities of growing up; and a lingering desire to teach high schoolers art, I accepted the position. Packing up was tearful and exciting. The tears prompted by the random passer-by popping into my classroom and reminding me just how wonderful the year has been. Tears came from the lovely texts and emails from parents. Tears came from the thoughtful Turkish cup and saucer left with a note on my desk from a student. Tears came from administration trying to find solutions to hold onto me as their art teacher. That meant a lot.

The NvArtworks blog and Facebook page will still be up and running but from a high school perspective. Students may even be contributing to the writing of posts. I hope you stick around.

For our last elementary blog, I want to end our run with our last project. Our Georgia O'Keeffe Flowers and Skulls project seems metaphorically fitting today.

Enjoy the work of your beautiful, young, creative artists.

All the above works were created by students in 2nd through 4th grades using watercolors, oil pastels, or a combination of both. A big thanks to the Kline and Yezeka (sorry if I have misspelled. I do not have access to the student rosters any more) families for taking our project to another level by sharing with us your knowledge of and collections of antlers, horns, and skulls. Thank you, Nevada State Wildlife Department for allowing us to borrow your collection of tracks and skull casts.

A bear, bobcat, mountain lion, and antelope skulls. We also had beaver, raccoon, and mink from which to gather inspiration.

I have a feeling they are going to remember what they learned from this last project for very long time. ART WORKS!

Almost ready to let go of the safety bar and release my hands into the air on this roller coaster ride.

A Hokusai Study : Elementary Art Lesson : Printmaking







To celebrate the coming of spring, we turned toward a Japanese artist focused on nature, Katsushika Hokusai. The students analyzed his pieces and learned that a print of a big wave offers so many things to think about. (visual literacy). We discussed the fishermen. Were they so skilled they could survive these waves-or not? We discussed how beautiful the ocean is and how it possesses great power and can be very dangerous. We discussed our landscape in the high desert, how we would depict it, and what stories it would  tell children in Japan. We observed how people may have lived over two hundred years ago in Japan and learned we may have something in common today across the globe in Northern Nevada.  To further our understanding of how powerful the waves are, we watched a YouTube video of a modern fishing boat on the high seas.

Taking another look at the artist's work, the children tested their visual literacy skills by suggesting the scene in the following print was of a picnic or camping (a very popular past time here in the Sierra Nevadas). They used the evidence of the blanket, starting a fire, and sitting somewhere picturesque to come to their conclusions. Close look art reading addresses many Common Core ELA standards of claims and evidence.

The Great Wave off Kanagawa : 36 views of Mt. Fuji Circa ~ 1823-1829

"The scene is titled Kisoji no oku Amida ga taki ("Amida Waterfall on the Kiso Road") from the series Shokoku taki meguri ("Journey to the Waterfalls in All the Provinces"), circa 1832. The name is based on the round hollow of the waterfall, reminiscent of the "round eye" (or perhaps halo) of Amida, Buddha of Boundless Light. A servant at the far left heats a water kettle while two men converse and admire the view from their spectacular vantage point." - taken from Viewing Japanese Prints

We tried to stay true to the ancient process of ukiyo-e. In traditional Japanese printmaking, there are three artists involved: 1) the concept artist who dreams up the idea, 2) the wood carver who engraves the concept onto several wood blocks, and 3) the inker who applies the ink to the wood blocks to make the print on rice paper. We completed our project in these same steps. However, each student held all three positions for their own art piece. Next time, I would like to stay more true to the process and have them rotate with two other students and see what happens!

Lesson Steps

The Concept

After viewing Hokusai's nature inspired images, students began by drafting a nature themed image within a circle. We traced a small cocktail sized paper plate for this step.  Grades 1-4 were graded on their coloring abilities. I was looking for control of the pencil, one direction (no scribble), and use of values (lightness and darkness of a color).

The Carving

Using a dinner-sized styrofoam plate we carved the concept into the bottom of the plate. We used pencils to carve. Don't use a super sharp pencil. Although is offers much better control and detail, it's much easier to pop holes into the plate which we don't want. A slightly dull pencil worked best for us.

The Inking

I tried brushes but the paint sinks into the grooves which will not make for a well defined print. I tried round sponge rollers. They sprayed the paint too much especially for really excited kids. Sponge brushes, the kind in the paint department at your local hardware store were best. The students were given two primary colors; some mixed to make three colors. Painted their plates and pressed them evenly onto a piece of paper.

Craftsmanship

Some classes chose to cut out the round images and displayed them on colored construction paper. Others enjoyed the pieces as they were on the original printed piece of paper. We sign and date all our art pieces--to me this is the final touch showing pride in one's creation. I have had one student profess, "I'm not proud of it, and I'm not signing it!". He recarved his plate (the grooves were not deep enough and the paint dried too quickly on the plate) and signed the second print.

Kindergarten

In Kindergarten, we had a wonderful discussion of Hokusai's artworks. The students are learning to discuss art while improving their communication skills. The students cut and glued colored construction paper in the style of Hokusai's The Great Wave. We did not use any templates. Their creations and interpretations are pure Kindergartner creativity.

Literary Extension

Our local library services carry two great biographical books for children about Hokusai.

Even Christian Dior produced a Hokusai inspired dress!!



Our Andy Warhol Soup Can Projects | Food Drive

We have been very busy creating fun and vibrant POP art in Kindergarten through 4th grades. The project started with the 1st graders doing a Warhol style creation using their hands. Here's the link to that past blog. They were very eager to do more Warhol style work, so we reviewed our colors by coloring a Warhol Soup Can page using only warm or cool color. This coloring practice and review really helped them observe the shape and lines of the writing on the can. They moved onto trying to sketch on their own; a cylinder drawn with a ruler, included block lettering, and they could color their own crafted can in any color scheme of their choice.  The kinders had fun doing the same project. Their drawings were curated by third grade students. The ones they chose will be on display at an upcoming event.

The third and fourth graders took a more direct observational approach by analyzing their cans and trying to draw the correct perspective of a cylindrical soup can on 4"x5" piece of paper. Plus, they tried to sketch the label type. We also discussed how a 3-D form can appear rounded on a 2-D surface. You'll notice our Warhol inspired cans have shadows and shading. The lesson objectives are:

• to create a can that is cylindrical with a realistic perspective- using a ruler on the straight edges
• clearly paint a shadow and shade the can accurately
• trace three identical copies (portrays the "mechanically made" element of pop art)
• keep writing, painting, etc extremely clean and neat in the style of graphic, pop art
• choose the right tool for the task ; size of paint brush, paint versus colored pencil, size of sharpie pen
• select a frame/background for the completed work that enhances, not distracts, from the art piece
• peer critique using a grading rubric - must offer tips and suggestions for negative scores
• overall craftsmanship

I can't wait to publish their finished pieces of 2x2 soup cans created in Warhol's style. They are fantastic!!! 

Second Graders are doing the same as above. However, they are not tracing the three copies and are using larger 8x11.5 sized paper to sketch and paint on. The also were given the choice to directly copy the soup can label or use it as inspiration and design their own labels. Many couldn't resist branding the soup after themselves.
The following are all 2nd grade art works.

Stay tuned for more completed pieces as the students finish up. Each grade is having a chance to curate another grade. They are learning to talk the language of art by critiquing and choosing the pieces that will be on final display.

Peer Critique

I am enjoying assessing the students peer critique one another. As they complete their Warhols, the students are randomly paired up to swap work and critique one another's pieces using a grading rubric with the learning objectives listed out. They are encouraged to offer support and tips or suggestions on how to improve if they have given a "thumbs down" review. If a student can spot the pluses and minuses of a lesson, they are telling me they understand cognitively what the skills are. I can compare that with his/her actual work. If the work is missing some of the elements, perhaps some more time teaching the technique would be valuable for this student or the student needs to slow down and apply more effort to his/her own work. They have quickly learned that giving all :) happy faces is not useful and could actually hurt their friends by not offering helpful suggestions. This is their opportunity to correct their assignments before turning in to be graded. 

Art + Community

This project naturally led to include our community in a soup based food drive. We collected just over 400 cans of soup and others have donated non-perishable items to help support the drive. At a later event, we will be using the food drive to center our theme and teach the importance of art and its positive impact on a community. Every student is experiencing how one person can make a difference and when joined with others making a difference.....it's big! 

A special thank you to all the families for generously donating to help those in need in our community. We are currently at 450!!!!