Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Did ya' see?!....

Roylco featured my 
Rock n Roll Romare Bearden lesson on their blog today!

Click here to check it out. 

Monday, August 19, 2013

Ancient Egyptian Portraits made modern


After spending a few classes on head-on portrait drawing
fifth graders switched up their angle and made these
Profile view Egyptian style portraits. 
We looked closely at many examples of Egyptian artwork, discussing notable stylistic details, the significance of head-dresses and skin color, and hieroglyphics.





Sunday, August 18, 2013

Citrus Fruit observational drawing


Observational drawing and creating a balanced composition
were the objectives for this fifth grade lesson. 

The students did practice drawings of the citrus fruits from various angles before we began these, focusing on the slight differences in shape. 
Each student had to draw at least five citrus fruits and arrange a balanced composition. 
I brought actual lemons, oranges, and limes in for the kids to look at as they drew. 
Some students used a little bit of colored pencil before the watercolor
to give them a boost with the shading. 





Friday, August 9, 2013

I'm still alive, new school, & my pinterest issue


Wow- again, I fell off the bus and I apologize to all my readers out there!

I have been just overwhelmed with life for the past couple months, the time has flown by and I have not posted anything. My apologies. I still owe you all some more lessons I haven't gone through the photos of yet- they will come!

In other on-goings I will be moving in a couple weeks, down to the ocean in Rhode Island and couldn't be more excited. With my move comes a new job- so I will be transitioning to a middle school art position. I will try to post the rest of my elementary lessons before my blogs starts to focus more on 6-9th grade.

The photo above is from the Tony Feher show which was part of a big field trip my students took the DeCordova Museum this past spring. The blue mosaic is made from layers and layers of blue painters tape - so cool! Target offers field trip grants  which I applied for last fall and made out trip possible. If you are in need of funds get on it now and apply- totally worth it.

My last rant is something I need to bring up--
It has recently come to my attention that some of the pinterest pins from my blog have been posted with some negative and rude comments attached to them. 
There are many ways to teach and no teachers are exactly alike- that is what makes education evolve and engaging- especially art! It is our job as educators to take a proactive approach not only in the classroom but in all aspects of life and set an example.
Of course people do not agree with all that one finds on the internet, whether it be bloggers, articles, pins, what-have-you- if you aren't into it that is fine, then skip it and move on, but please do not take the good work of others and post/comment/pin in a negative and demeaning way. 
Pinterest is a pin board- it is a tool for visual bookmarking. Every pin on pinterest is taken completely out of its originally and intentional context- by looking at a photo of one piece of a teacher's classroom or teaching materials you cannot know what grade, demographic, subject, or anything about what and how they teach. Please remember that before you post un-informed comments. That is all. 

On a brighter note- I have a surprise ahead on August 21st, stay tuned!