Off to Convention! Any Advice?

The NAEA convention takes place in NYC this year. Since I live so close, I am making it my business to be there! I am hoping I bump into some of my fellow teacher bloggers, so please keep an eye out for me.

I have been looking over the schedules and am feeling a bit overwhelmed. The offerings for the first day alone are 68 pages long! I want to take advantage of as much as possible, but don't want to fry my brain with too much input day after day. Does anyone have experience with past conferences? Are there things you wish you had gotten to see or do in the past? Are you inspired more by hands-on learning or great speakers?

The one thing I have in my favor is that I can navigate the city well, and already have exposure to the museums outside of convention (although free admission to MOMA is quite tempting!) So, please comment, what's your game plan, if any? What would you do if you were going? What should I not miss?

Three Sisters Patterns

During my teaching assignment last fall I tried out a new lesson plan with first graders to learn about the Thanksgiving holiday, creating a pattern, and to highlight a living artist's work.

We discussed the companion gardening technique of the Wampanoag people, and why they called beans, corn and squash The Three Sisters. While researching this assignment I came across the website of a New England artist named Janice Schupak Frishkopf, whose works inspired my students to create their own autumn harvest patterns!

To make our patterns I provided tracing templates for ears of corn, beans and various types of squash. Students were asked to show each of the Three Sisters in their patterns, to repeat shapes, to let their shapes reach outside the border of their paper, and to start with the largest shapes first. They could also let shapes overlap. The first class they worked in pencil to trace out their patterns.

After the pencil drawings were finished, I placed ears of dried Indian corn, and decorative squash at each table. We looked at all of the different colors and textures, and then added color to the drawings with oil pastels. The last step was using cake tempera to add a wash of color to the background and/or as a resist.

Their color choices and attention to detail were more than I had hoped for! And they really had fun creating their own distinct patterns. I actually left this lesson in progress for the returning art teacher, and she finished up the assignment with the children. When I had a chance to sub again I saw their finished pieces on display. I just had to take a few pictures! Thank you Emily for letting me introduce this lesson in your class room, for helping the children complete their art, and for letting me share this lesson on my blog.

Kimono Collages

I've seen ideas for this project a few places, but the one that comes to mind was over at Blue Moon Palette. I loved the idea of using patterned origami paper as a textile for designing a Japanese kimono. Each student selected a sheet of origami paper for the main design. They then added scraps of other patterns and solids to create the binding, sash, belt, sleeves etc. We discussed being mindful of what colors and patterns worked well together. Some choices were bolder than others, but they all worked so well! Final touches were mounting on a square of black or white paper and adding a paper border.

This is a great lesson to combine with textile design, art history, world art, fashion, or even just the basics of color, pattern, composition etc.

Happy New Year!

I had better wish you all a Happy New Year now, before it gets to be June! Sorry for neglecting my blogging duties. As you all know I had my first full-time position as a leave replacement for one of the elementary art teachers in my local school district. It was a great experience, full of firsts, and full of learning. I loved every minute of it! Thanks to all of my fellow bloggers who helped me be prepared as I was for the task. Our community is such a wonderful thing, and I don't know how teachers, new and experienced, ever got along without it in the past!

While teaching, I also contributed to two upcoming publications— one was as an illustrator, and for the other I was invited to write the foreword. These were incredible experiences as well and I can't wait to share more about them with you!

I am back in my little studio with new classes and lessons in the works. My new favorite class is Manga Club! I have a great group of students who are so enthusiastic and are teaching me as I teach them. Hurray!

I wish you all well in 2012. New posts coming, I promise!

Liebster Blog Award

Kathy Zwahl at a wonderful blog named B art Z Elementary Art was nice enough to bestow upon me the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks Kathy!

Leibster is German and means dearest, beloved, or favorite.  The premise of the Leibster Blog Award is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. I especially love that in being honored you are also being acknowledged by your online peers. The origin of this award is quite a mystery. It seems to have taken on a life of its own.

So, here are the official rules for recipients of the Liebster Award:

1.  Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2.  Thank the giver and link back to them.

3.  Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

4.  Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

This honor can be given to a blog of any subject matter, but I decided to pass it on to other art educators. My five Liebster Awards go to:

Mrs. Crosbie

Maureen is a long-time educator and brand new blogger. Her images are beautiful, thoughtful and fun. Keep at it Maureen, I can't wait to see more.

The Lake Forest Louvre

Ms. Krass has a beautiful blog, well organized, and with lots of art history inspired projects. Lovely! Thanks for all of your online efforts.

Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists

Hope's blog also serves as a virtual classroom with a word wall, sketchbook ideas and more. My favorite lessons as of late are the winter collagraphs and abstract trees.

Arteascuola

Miriam is  a brilliant teacher abroad who really brings out a painterly quality in her students' works. Her blog is in Italian, but take the time to run it through Google Translate. That's what this virtual world is for! Ciao Miriam! Piacere di conoscerti.

ARTASTIC! Miss Oetken's Artists

Kati shows a great relationship with her students, and makes her lessons fun. Look for the fashion design lesson, adding clothes to Michelangelo's David and Botticelli's Venus. Great job!

 

I hope you get a chance to look at some of these wonderful art teacher blogs. They are such an inspiration to me!

Raven Collages

During my full-time stint at elementary school, 4th grade students and I created collages based on the book Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest by Gerald McDermott. I read the story aloud to the class and we discussed the stylized designs and colors found in the illustrations.

All works started with a blue rectangle on a black border with four red squares in the corners to begin the border design. Students also had a template for the shape of the raven itself. I decided that since the design and space for it to fill was so specific, this would be the best way to go. Although by fourth grade I try not to use too many stencils.

After that all of the cut paper designs were left to their individual choice. Enjoy!

Positive/Negative Space Trees

First graders finished a unit on line this fall and also learned about positive and negative space. On black construction paper we learned to draw a tree with bare branches. These branches needed to reach the edges of the paper to create different areas of negative space. When the children were happy with their drawings, they traced the lines of their trees with white construction paper crayons— I LOVE THESE! Especially when used on black paper.

The trees (positive space) were not to be colored, so they remained solid black. All of the areas between the branches of the trees (negative space) were filled in with many different colors and types of line. The children took their time and did a great job completing these projects. Here are some of their masterpieces.