Graduation!

My students 'graduated' from art class on Friday! My art course is only half the year so Friday marked my last day with students from this semester. It is always sad to see them go, once they have finally learned how to make art and finally learned how to behave in my classroom, they leave! Ah well. I got some absolutely amazing final artworks from them and will post my top 4 favorite when I get my new camera this week. Thanks for a great semester!

For their final project, my students had a chance to design an artwork 'inspired' by the artist that they researched all semester. I asked them what is means to be inspired and they came up with the definition 'to be motivated by.' The students started by making 4 sketches inspired by the artist and then choosing their favorite to turn into a final work. As the students choose their best sketches, I ask them what about the sketch is inspired by their artist. Each student has been strongly defending their artistic choices which is exciting to see. One other variable in this project is the medium, I am letting them choose the medium they think is most appropriate. I can't believe how well this project is going considering the amount of freedom the students have. This is across the board the most motivated and engaged I have ever seen the students. The pictures are their works in progress. You can see the diversity of media represented: tissue paper, cardboard, oil pastels, and charcoal pencil

Tribute letters

My students have completed their papier mache letters. When I ask my students at the conclusion of the course, which art projects they enjoyed the most every single time this project is named. I think the students both like the personal connection of designing a letter for someone as well as the physical process of using papier mache. For me, this project marks a turning point in the course; this is their first fully sculptural project and the first project where they are in charge of making many of the design choices. One thing I enjoy about teaching art is giving the kids a safe place to make choices, experiment and sometimes fail. Sometimes a student comes up with a great design or idea that pushes their limits but it simply does not turn out-- perhaps because it was over ambitious or because they lack the skills required to make it or because they do not yet understand the limits of the materials. From these experiments/failures students learn so many lessons about making art and the importance of persistance. There were some disasters but even more successes. Here are a few of my favorite projects.

Research Paper & Artist Inspiration

My students are mostly finished with their research papers! This is the first time I have attempted to have my students research an artist using both bibliographic and internet resources. This paper seemed like an insurmountable goal when I first presented it to them but slowly we chipped away at this and I have about 75% of the papers turned in. While the papers in general are a bit shorter than the required 3 pages, include grammatical and syntactical issues, and the occassional incorrect fact, I think it was an important learning experience. The majority of the students had never written a research paper (or paper, period) and the experience of researching, writing, editing, revising, synthesizing, and typing the paper was invaluable.

This week, they are wrapping up their papier mache projects and beginning to create independant artworks inspired by the artist they chose to research. Today, some students began creating sketches inspired by their artists and next week they will make the artwork. This again, is a great chance for them to make many decisions independently and take initiative in their art making processes. I got a wonderful sketch inspired by Tim Conlon which I can't wait to share. Will update (with pictures) soon.

Write Night: Holiday Edition

Another fun pre-2012 event was the Free Minds Writing Book Club and Writing Workshop Write Night: Holiday Edition. I have written about Free Minds before, I think they are amazing! On Dec 13, about 30 Free Minds supporters, members, and friends met at Free Minds HQ in Dupont to write holiday messages for the young men in Free Minds. We also wrote comments on their poems and as always I added some notes to my former students and small pictures illustrating their poems. While I don't have a picture from this particular Write Night (again, my camera is broken) I do have a picture from an earlier Write Night.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012! The end of 2011 was marked by some great moments but also an unfortunate one, my camera broke! I haven't updated the blog because the pictures explain so much of the experience of teaching art. Have no fear, I will be getting a new camera in the upcoming weeks and will once again be more actively documenting my students' work. In the mean time, I borrowed a camera to capture a bit of progress on the papier mache letters. Tomorrow the students are completing their letters and I will once again borrow a camera to capture their work. Enjoy!