"Oh my God, can you believe we made this?"

The 8th graders are amazed at how their hard work is paying off.  We still have a few final steps to go but they are certainly impressed with themselves. 

Mural Progress

We are making some serious progress on the mural!!!  We are hoping to get it nearly finished today so on Monday we can stretch it and sign it and call it a day!  Looking good, no?

Leaving a Legacy: the beginning

The mural begins!  One section of 8th graders has been working on a very special project - a piece of public art for the middle school.  As the first "graduating class" from the middle school, this work has a lot of meaning.  

This project began with students looking at 38 different mural examples from around the city.  Next we watched and discussed 5 short videos showing the purpose and meaning of murals as well as practically how they are made.  Then each student submitted a design and we voted on our top 5 favorites, had a critique and developed a design "team" of the 5 strongest artists to combine all the ideas into one final design.  While the design team was busy at work, the rest of the students divided into the "supply & inventory" team that assessed the cost and supplies needed to complete the mural, the "fundraising" team who generated ideas of how to receive money and supply donations to make our mural, and the "presentation" team who worked on developing a catchy commercial like presentation for the principal, head of school, and other important people to get approval.  In the end, we got approval but were never granted wall space to paint our mural.  So, in a moment of creative thinking, I bought a 6 foot by 8 foot piece of canvas and a 5 by 7 foot stretcher and cross beam!  This weekend, the Spanish teacher and I went into school and prepped the canvas so the kids could start drawing and painting on it tomorrow.  We have one week to finish but I know we can do it!

Priming the final edge

Works in Progress: Hands

 8th graders are making progress on their hands.  Right now they are looking pretty great.  The next step is to paint them.

Zombie Hands

One section of 8th graders are working on plaster cast hands.  It's been a little bit of a struggle as we  figure out the best way to cast them and in fact many kids have decided they are making zombie hands instead of human hands!  Regardless of how lifelike they turn out, it has been great to see the kids working together to create art and solve problems.

One last portrait

One last beautiful self portrait, I was so pleased he finished this today!

A few blossoms

I love love love that everyone interpreted the cherry blossom assignment differently!  These are from 8th grade.  Art elective blossoms should be out by next Wednesday.

Cherry Blossom Obsessed!

I am officially cherry blossom obsessed.  My 8th graders and my art elective students are all working on cherry blossom ink paintings.  Here are some works in progress.  I'm hoping for full blooms next week!

Final Self Portraits

It was really hard for me to let go of control and give my students creative freedom for their expressive self portraits.  While some of them turned out to be a bit underwhelming, many turned out better than expected.  I also love that each one is so different.  

Expressive Self Portraits

I gave my 8th graders the challenge of creating an expressive self portrait using mixed media.  I gave up control and allowed them a lot of freedom to do this project and they really rose to the challenge.  Here are some works in progress.  I'm interested to read what the students write about these pieces.

Sharon Draper

This is an 8th graders book report poster from humanities class on Romiette and Julio- a book written by my 7th grade bridge teacher Ms Draper!  Loved seeing this in the hallways of CCPCS.

(Sorry for the bad picture, taking better pictures is a goal of mine for the new year!)

Looted/Disputed Objects

 The final set of looted and disputed objects.  I think they turned out well!  Some quotes from their reflections:

"I created a piece called the Euphronious Krater, which is a vessel used to mix wines"
"I think the best part is my background because I took my time to draw and paint it"
"I learned about designs and colors commonly found in Peruvian art."
"You had to use colors to represent your country, you had to use a shape that represented your place and you had to have the artifact on the painting"
"I used colors that appeared a lot in Mexican culture and I painted examples of their patterns."
"I like the silhouette best because it shows how detailed and unique my looted object is."
"I struggled with the painting, there were only a few main colors for Mexico and I tried not to paint the same pattern of colors"

Completed Looted/Disputed Art

Some students completed artworks this week, some will finish next week.  I love these!