Rabbit Update

I'm officially done with the building of the rabbit sculpture. It has to dry now before it can be put into the kiln to be fired. Once it has been fired, I can begin the painting process. I'm going to use oil paints to paint the clouds and add cherry blossoms and branches across the rabbit. For now, I'm going to play with throwing again and then back to some smaller sculptures I started prior to the rabbit.

Vintage Fountain Pens

This summer I was asked to help my friends go through their mother's craft room. She past away and had two rooms filled with years of art supplies. I was able to fill my small hatchback with all the goodies I helped sort through. Most of the supplies are going to be used in my classroom for future generations to learn from. There were a few choice things I kept for myself such as easels, palettes, and acrylic paints.

Among the those choice things, I found a cigar box filled and with an  assortment of calligraphy pen holders and nibs. Mixed in with these were the fountain pens and ink shown in the photo above. I love fountain pens and have bought myself very inexpensive ones from JetsPens.com over the last few years. I have fallen in love with the smooth lines they create and you can only imagine how excited and giddy I was to find such treasures hidden amongst the supplies. I went to work researching the pens to find that they are lever pull fountain pens from the 1930's. The last of the three lever pulls is a radiograph style fountain pen that has a small wire at the tip that releases the ink as you write. With love and care I spent hours cleaning them and turning my hands black and blue in the process. Needless to say, I was in heaven.

Other treasures I found were the vintage mechanical pencil, on the bottom of the photo, with a tiny cardboard tube of replacement lead. I immediately added these to my father's old drafting tools he passed onto me. At the top of the photo you can see replacement graphite and a red lead holder. I have always wanted one of these and was pleasantly surprised with how nice this one is weighted. It has become one of my favorite writing utensils to draw with and I carry it with me always.

After helping my friends sort through their mother's art supplies I decided I needed to clean and purge my studio too. This was one of the inspirations for the new and improved studio as discussed in the previous post regarding the new light and plants. My hope is when I die that my art and supplies will go to loving homes and to people that will cherish them. So back to work I go, creating as much art as I can, while I can.

Let There Be Light

Sorry, I got distracted from the task at hand to tell you all about my Switzerland trip. I have spent a lot of time since I've been home cleaning and purging my house. Summer vacation is usually when I do this, but having been inspired by how clean and clutter free Switzerland living is I needed a change. I reread the Apartment Therapy book by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan "The Eight-Step Home Cure". Max made a great point when he stated "we are into hypernesting and that instead of asking ourselves what would really make our home work better, we usually jump to the conclusion that there must be something to buy to solve our home's challenges (flatter tv, closet storage unit, etc.)" The issue then is we continue to take more into our houses, but rarely does anything leave. I am a single person in a small condo. There is no reason it should be bursting at the seams with the amount of "stuff" I have. So I have been figuring out what I truly need and not hanging onto the things I "might" need.

Most of the house didn't take very long. The beast that I left for last was of course my studio. My friends mother passed away about a year ago and I recently adopted a ton of her art supplies. Fantastic, right?! Except for the fact that I was trying to down size. I would say it has taken approximately a week, many different renditions, and a lot of break throughs to get to this point.

The biggest break through I had this weekend was finally letting the light in. After all the years I have lived in my house, I have had box valances over the windows in my studio. They came with the condo when I bought it. I simply reupholstered them with new updated fabric and that was that. I kept them up as well as put up blackout drapes in an effort to keep the room cool. My studio bakes all day and is at least 5 degrees hotter than the rest of my place. This isn't pleasant to work in when I set the house at 82 degrees to save on AC over the summer. So there I am sweating in my cave of a studio. Yuck! No more I tell you! I decided to take the boxes down and what a difference it makes. The room glows! What about the heat? To regulate the temperature I have a fan in the doorway blowing cool air into the room and all is well.

With all this new found light pouring in it looks like a brand new studio! Where there is light, there is life! I immediately ran to the hardware store for shelves to cover with plants. I have been going through withdrawals from the greenery and vegetation I grew up with. Life can seem so desolate in this desert landscape I am trapped in. Breathing new life into my house and my studio has been so rejuvenating! It is the studio I have always wanted and been craving! So, without further ado, here is the new and improved studio!









I haven't taken down the L-brackets from the valances, because I was trying to figure out if I could use them to install hanging plants. I finally figured out what I want to redo the floor of my condo with. I have struggled to make up my mind until now. I just need to save up the money to do so. Aye, there's the rub!

Classroom Set Up and Back to School

I've been hard at work setting up my classroom and getting myself ready for school to start. It has been a lot of fun making all the posters and revamping my class management. I spent far too much time this summer researching ideas on Pinterest, but the benefits are definitely obvious with the fun and creative learning environment that I've made. If you like the ideas in this post or interested in more click here for my Classroom Management board on Pinterest.

Here are a few pictures of what I've been working on.

Currently, my Complimentary Color board has the chameleons complimenting each other, but I'm interested in focusing more on art critiquing and developing art vocabulary and language this year. I plan on changing what the chameleons talk about eventually having them model correct phrasing. 

Under the "All Done" poster are bookcases with activities that students will be able to work on as they complete assignments. Next to this is a display of critical thinking questions that I found on multiple blogs. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I found chameleon color themed display materials at Lakeshore. This is the color mixing portion under my still life materials. The pictures below display my classroom management and student jobs. Each table has 6 chairs and each seat is marked with a color. The colors coincide with the jobs listed. I plan on revamping some of the job descriptions and delegation of tasks, but I have not gotten that far yet. 

New Art room rules!

I still have a lot to do to get ready, but I wanted to share what I have done so far. Thanks for letting me show off! Lots more to do in the next week! Happy back to school!

Thank you,

Back to School - Bulletin Boards and Lesson Plans

Tis the time of year to go back to school. I have been busying myself with lesson planning, bulletin board making, and restructuring my classroom management. This last week has been spent browsing Pinterest and Art teacher blogs gathering ideas and getting inspiration for how I want this school year to  run. I feel there are always ways to improve my teaching style, classroom and time management, and efficiency. I have found a treasure trove of ideas on the internet and have been working to putting these ideas to good use.

Color Chameleons found at LakeshoreLearning.com Paint samples from Home Depot.

Through Pinterest I found a great idea using paint samples to show tints/shades and I plan to incorporate this in two ways. First, each table in my room seats 6 students and each seat is assigned a color. These colors are assigned a job so that each table works as a team in being responsible for their materials and supplies. Next to each of the chameleons (shown above) I post that colors job description.  The second way I am using these is for the simple visual demonstration of tints and shades. What I do not have pictured is the grey scale that is also included. I love how it is two for the price of one! Classroom management and informative all rolled together!

Pepper was helping hold down the cut outs so they wouldn't fly away.

BLUE and yellow make green, not Boo and yellow. Silly Boo!

Another bonus with this particular set of cut outs is it demonstrates how colors are mixed to create secondary colors (shown above). I also saw a great poster idea that said "Complimentary colors say the nicest things." I bought a second set of chameleons to make this poster, having them talk to one another.

So cute! I will try to post more pictures once I set my classroom up. 

Thanks,

More Art Room Pics

I am very proud of my re-organization of my classroom this year. The powers that be decided I needed crazy technology hanging from my walls like a speaker system controls and a projector mounted on an arm. I am trying to forget about these monstrosities and horrible eye sores. I did want to share what I love about my room. The pictures are of the new table organization and classroom management system incorporating the paint splotches on the table with coordinating jobs listed on the cabinets. Last year each table had a job to help with classroom management, but this year I decided I wanted each table to be it's own microcosm and be self sufficient. It will take a few weeks to get into the groove, work out the kinks, and get the kids properly trained. So far, I am loving it! I have my first year under my belt and I am ready to rock and roll this year.

Sad, but true. . .

I was hoping to post the wonders I got out of the latest kiln firing. Sadly, the pottery studio I go to hasn't fired the kiln yet. I've been doing test tiles and experiments with fusing my drawings and my ceramics as I've mentioned in previous posts. I am having a hard time moving forward without the information from the results of my experiments. Sigh.

I am off right now to start my first day of school with the kids. I am really excited for this year. It is my second year as an Art teacher and with a lot of the kinks worked out from last year, I am hopeful for smoother seas. In an effort to better organize the information of lesson planning, I have created a Pinterest account. You may have noticed the button on the right. Other than the usual fun stuff, this is the place I plan to collect ideas for my lesson planning and imagery to use in the classroom.

Wish me luck!

This is a picture of my new display above the classroom library.