Papier Mache is here!

Here is the first steps of the tribute letter project. Letter skeletons on the left and papier mache in action on the right.

Sketches

To start the tribute letter project, students must first choose a person to whom they want to dedicate the letter. Once the person and letter/letters are chosen, the student must begin creating at least 4 sketches trying out different fonts and designs that represent the person to whom the letter/s pay tribute. After creating the sketches, the student chooses their favorite sketch to turn into a first draft of what the artwork will look like drawing it on a larger scale and adding color. Here are some sample sketches by a particularly talented 9th grader named Ivory. I love that she did 8 sketches instead of the required 4, some of which are completely fantastic (the pretzel and hotdog). You can also see her first draft completed in color.

Experiment Station

I had another post featured on the Phillips Collection Experiment Station blog! You can read it here. There is a fairly good discussion going on in the comment section, feel free to leave your input!

Field Trip Monday lead to some strange finds on Tuesday

While I try to highlight great student moments, from time to time I need to mention some of the realities of teaching. After the amazing field trip Monday, I returned to school on Tuesday to find my classroom door damaged to the point of needing to be replaced. It appeared that someone tried to open the door and used enough force to break the entire lock mechanism and leaving a hole where it once was. Students often try to break into my classroom by aggressively shaking the door, slamming into it, or kicking it, and this time, the student succeeded. I entered my classroom fearing what I might find. I imagined my things stolen and classroom vandalized. However, I found that although my things had been moved around, nothing major was missing. The vandal also left a gift: a cut cardboard heart painted red. Next to the cardboard heart was a piece of paper where the student smeared red paint from the heart and wrote their name: Nobody. Lastly, the brush the student used to paint the heart was washed and placed in the sink. It was a strange find. As there is a camera facing my classroom door, I hope the vandals get caught. In the meantime, I have the heart displayed in my classroom.

Field Trip Monday

To top off the excellent end of the week PD, I spent Monday at the National Gallery of Art with some of my students. It was a magical experience. Our wonderful friends at the NGA were able to bus us from Ballou downtown. We started off at the McDonalds in Chinatown where we grabbed a bite to eat and shared french fries and funny stories. On our walk down to NGA two of my boys gave their leftover food to some homeless men on the street, it was a really sweet moment.

At the NGA we received a wonderful tour by an energetic tour guide who attempted to focus the students' attention on various artworks and engage them in conversations. Never having been to an art museum before, the students were easily distracted and kept running from painting to painting. Even though at times I think we might have tested the patience of our tour guide, I was excited to see their enthusiasm for the art, even if it wasn't always the art they were 'supposed' to be looking at. Nevertheless, I think they got something out of the tour and our guide handled them well.

For the last hour, I allowed the students to self-guide in the east wing. I gave them sketching assignment sheet, but aside from sketching and gathering information on the object label, they were free to wander the galleries and enjoy the beautiful space that is the east building. It was fantastic to see them wandering through the galleries and making discoveries. They recognized works by Chuck Close, Henri Matisse, Frank Stella, and Georgia O'Keeffe, among others. In case you didn't recognize the first artwork at the top of the post, it is a Jim Dine sculpture that I spent some time studying with one of the girls. On the bus ride home one of the boys told me he was glad he was selected to go on the trip and that he appreciated being allowed to look at art on his own. It was great. THANK YOU NGA!

Corcoran

This past Friday was the 3rd edition of the specialized art PD for DCPS teachers. I greatly enjoy the time we share together as teachers and the wonderful workshops prepared for us. This time we were at the Corcoran learning storytelling techniques, how to incorporate complex texts, and of course some art production time with local artist BK Adams. To the right is an artwork by BK. If you are a local, you have probably seen his 'I AM ART' posters posted around town.

Explicit Vocabulary

I had to laugh when I read the description for a professional development opportunity that included the words 'explicit' and 'vocabulary.' I believe explicit vocabulary is one area in which many of my students are experts. Joking aside, the PD was great. The speaker (Angela Schroeder) was an expert on her subject and she was both engaging and informative. This is the first of several literacy based PDs I plan to attend this year.

In memory...

The next project the students will begin is the much anticipated LETTER sculpture. The students have waited all semester for this project and have been eyeing my letter sculptures on the bookshelf. The students will be creating papier mache letters based on either a single letter or pair of initials. The letter has to be honoring someone (themselves, a family member, friend, someone who has passed) and should be designed to reflect the personality and interests of that person. They take into consideration font, color, and decoration in order to create a personalized letter. Here is one example below. I will post images of our progress.

40 min project

Here is an idea quick & simple project that can be completed in about 40-60 minutes: students create artworks in which they incorporate their name or initials into a camouflaged background. In this instance, I had students make the names into relief artworks and it served as a good blend between what they just completed (relief artworks) and what their next project is (sculpture based on a name). Here is just one example:

Complete reliefs

A few finished reliefs. Enjoy!

Inspiration

Speaking of other hats, another group I am a part of is the Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop. Free Minds is an incredible organization that I learned about through my work at the Incarcerated Youth Program. Free Minds builds literacy with incarcerated youth in the DC Jail by involving the youth in reading for pleasure, meeting reknowned writers, and producing creative writing. Free Minds is one of the most amazing groups out there working with our youth. Here is an image of one of the Free Minds members reciting some spoken word for a fundraiser @ Local 16.

Recently, Free Minds used my artwork as a point of inspiration for their poets. They posted my the poem on their writing blog here. One in particular stuck me, so I thought I would share it below:

Title: I had the Choice

Bound, tied down, held against my will.

Trapped by my own words,

Bound by my own actions,

Tied for my own choice,

But I had the choice so was it against my will?

Was I forced here?

No.

I freely tie my own hands,

I freely gave another person the privilege to judge me,

So am I really trapped or freed when my choices changed.

My many other hats

In addition, to teaching I am involved in several other artistic groups that keep me active in the DC arts community. One group I rejoined this year is the American Association of Museum's Emerging Museums Professionals. This year I am not only part of the group but helping to plan events with the lovely ladies on the leadership committee. We recently had a happy hour at Science Club and in December we are partnering with the National Museum of Women in the Arts for a play. In January we are touring the fabulous ARTLAB+ at the Hirshhorn. It has been wonderful to actively partcipate in the museum community while continuing to teach. Not to mention it is great for building connections and finding resources! Here is a photo from our recent happy hour. Can you find me?

Day 2

My students have begun constructing their relief sculptures out of cut cardboard. Here are two examples- you might recognize the one on the right from the sketch in the previous post. These two sculptures represent "talking on the phone" and "rise above." Can you guess which is which?

What a relief!

To begin their Stella inspired relief artworks, my students first had to create sketches and drafts on paper of their abstracted action. I was impressed by how serious and focused they were, taking the entire period to develop a good sketch. Above are a few highlights.

Learn to see art

BFAT (Ballou Fine Arts Team) has started painting our first mural. Before we can create the mural, students need to block out the brick background behind the 'learn to see art' mural. Here we are at work!

Stella Action Reliefs

Second quarter started this week and we have transitioned from making 2d artworks like drawing, parinting, and collage to 3d art. Our first project this quarter is a relief artwork made out of painted cardboard, foam core, and other found materials and created based on an action.

The students began this week by learning how artists take real life subjects to inspire abstract artworks. As an example we looked at the work of Frank Stella. While researching Stella I found this great series of looking questions courtesy of the National Gallery:

http://www.nga.gov/kids/stella/stella1.htm

(Yes it is for kids but they are great questions for people of all ages!)

Students created sketches all week for their artworks and I had some amazing conversations. We had everything from football actions like "tackle" and "touchdown" to more personal actions like "rise above" and "shatter." Stay tuned, pictures are coming!

Cubism results

Here are just a few completed cubist paintings. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Friday was a big day at Ballou. It was a half day, the Friday before Halloween, and homecoming! During the half day, I only had 30 minutes with each class so I improvised a lesson using a silkscreened cardboard "Headlines" that I received from the National Gallery of Art. The headlines were inspired by Andy Warhol's headline series which are currently on view at the NGA. They came up with some creative Halloween inspired headlines. Unfortunately not everyone finished so we'll have to complete them this upcoming week.

Painted Cubist Collage

The students learned about Picasso this week (I had to stifle a laugh when I heard a student call him "P-costco") and tried their hands at creating a painted cubist collage. First, the students chose an object to draw from 4 different points of view then painted the objects using tints and values of a single color. Lastly, they cut out the painted objects and collaged them onto a painted background. Above you can see the different steps the students took: final cubist painting of a bird, painted tea kettle, and a coffee mug drawn from 4 different angles.

I love art PD

I LOVE DCPS art pd days! They are a great opportunity to learn from each other and learn new skills. At the first PD, I learned how to create a blog to document my teaching experiences and at the second, we had a full day learning about museum programs available to us as educators. Each museum had a booth and we were able to learn information from them and also make sample artworks. The pictures above are from the National Gallery table where I created a headline inspired by Andy Warhol (and scored the leftover 'headlines' materials!) and the Corcoran where I created an artwork based on text. I am already looking forward to the next one.

Research & Writing

Ballou is pushing literacy this year. In addition to making art, our students are also writing a research paper on the life and work of an influential artist. While most students chose historically significant artists, a few in my class chose DC artist Tim Conlon as a subject. The students emailed him a list of interesting questions asking about everything from his childhood to his goals for the future. The students were thrilled when they received responses directly from him and he seemed excited as well stating:"These are actually great questions and better than some I've gotten from reporters doing interviews in DC!" The painting at the top of the post is an example of Conlon's work. This particular artwork was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in 2008, at that time, I worked there as a gallery educator.

More still lifes

Sometimes good art takes extra time to produce. The last of the fractured still lifes were finished during lunch and after school today. This week we are combining our collage and painting skills to create cubist compositions inspired by Picasso.

Phillips

Aside from teaching at Ballou, I work as a gallery educator at the Phillips Collection. This past week, I gave two spotlight lectures on Degas' Dancers at the Barre and one tour of the permanent collection. I also have two artworks in the staff show that I created as a response to my work at the Incarcerated Youth Program, the DCPS school I worked at as a first year teacher. It was amazing and nerve wracking to see my own artwork on the wall of the Phillips. Although the picture of me with Renior's Luncheon of the Boating Party turned out blurry, I think it is a fitting look for a photo with an impressionist artwork.

Finished and posted!

Fractured still life paintings were finished last week and posted in the 9th grade hallway. We are excited to be able to show so much artwork around the building this year.

Progress

Our fractured still life paintings should be finished by tomorrow. Here is a sample of one in the process of being made from Goudas' class.

Still life objects

Still life paintings are coming! Here is a selection of objects from Goudas' room.

Do you want to B-FAT?

The Ballou Fine Arts Team launched today! B-FAT is dedicated to beautifying the community and school. We had several students sign up today and will have our first official meeting next week. Check out Goudas holding down our sign in table at parent teacher conference day,

Painting has started...

We starting painting last week-- first they learned the basics of color mixing by creating color wheels and now they are working to complete a fractured still life. More on that as they finish up this week.

Collages

This year we experiemented with a new type of collage. Students first created 3 small artworks in watercolor, marker, and magazine cut outs that expressed different aspects of their identity. Students the cut each artwork and combined them into one creative composition. We had some fanatastic results. Each collage communicates a personal message about the artist. Enjoy!