High school win

I don't write a ton about my art teaching on this blog, it seems that when I want to- I am at school.  If I wanted to write on this blog there, I would have to sign out of google on my school account and sign in on my personal account.  And let me tell you - to try and get both of my emails back into the tabs of my computer at school is a royal PITA. I am able, by some sorcery, to have up both of my email accounts available in tabs**, so if I sign out of my school account- bad things happen.  SO, therefore I do not write at school on Blogger.  I thought I was solving all sorts of issues by getting an older iPad to use at school, but turns out google decided to take the Blogger app OFF of the app store- what the ever living hell?????  And the nightmare that ensues to try to post from Safari on Blogger at school is not worth it.  So I take pictures with my phone for now and try to keep up to date on my school blog.....  My plan always is to work on it at home.

 •-•

 If you have lately looked at my school blog, well you will see how well that particular plan works.  So until I get a handle on that, oy.... idk.  

4 very cool phone designs and their selfies

Anyway, since I am apparently in a writing mood, I want to show all of you these VERY cool things that my Intro to Art students are doing.  Turns out I have a very creative bunch of freshmen.  **YAAAAAYYYYYY** I'm so freaking lucky!!!  

I begin my Intro to Art class with a design unit.  This has many reasons, one of the main ones is that they don't have to worry yet about drawing.  Which makes many kids nervous when they get to high school, though they are perfectly good drawers.  I have several set "mini lectures", and one of them is about the fact that if they were perfect drawers, they wouldn't necessarily need art class!!  I love those little aha moments that they have when I tell them that....

So anyway, I begin with a Zentangle design, which is pretty nonthreatening, and then proceed to a design project that includes the elements of design.  It is a way to start deliberately using compositional techniques by knowing what they are using.....  Some students are very intuitive and get it, but it helps to know what you are dealing with. Most kids need to actually know the list in order to use them to their full potential.  This is a good way for me to get to know the kids, their abilities and build up trust.  Trust is a thing that if you don't have with your students, certainly in art, then you might as well give them a text book and let them wing it.

I could tell I had a high functioning (artistically) group of students in my intro classes, and so I wanted to push them a little. Plus also I came up with this new lesson to bridge the design lesson with the new intro to photography unit that I am doing with them next.  What could be more engaging that designing something for their phone and give them absolute freedom to make their selfie look like they want???  Not much!

So I presented the assignment and I saw the look of terror on some of those faces...  I had to laugh a little.  The trust isn't complete yet, they don't know me like they will- and actually like they do now that they have completed the assignment.  I had to tell the poor, panicking kiddos that indeed I had not given them one moment of instruction on drawing a face.  So how would I expect them to draw a fantastic realistic portrait??  My idea was to allow them to either cartoon or try to do the realism.  TOTALLY lets them off the hook and allows them to relax and design the phone case- with freedom.  The selfie could have been shown with a filter, or with other students, or what have you, and they had the choice of their backgrounds, all that good stuff.  I did impromptu lessons on colored pencil techniques, drawing upside down with a photo, composition things.....  it was stellar!!

The top selfie is from a student who went to Italy with my group!  His I recognize as the stop we made overlooking Sorrento!  (or possibly on the top of the Island of Capri)

The results blew me away.  I now wish I had thought to take more pictures- other solutions to this problem were very different and just as effective.  Gives me goosebumps.  I'm so excited to get to school every day and see what these folks can do.

Their trust that I won't embarrass them, judge them harshly, or make them feel less than gives them the courage to try out hard things. Without their trust they would never even attempt things that seem difficult.  The Mrs.O they had in elementary school is not the Mrs. O that they have in high school.  Art every day is a far different situation than grade school, and they seem to respond positively to me.  And I am delighted to share my mornings with them.

Trust is something that takes time, and consistency, and effort on my part and I hope to never let them down.  We have a lot more to do and it will involve taking chances.  There are a lot of life lessons that happen in the guise of art, and I hope that I prepare them in some small way for some of the choices that they will have. I say over and again- from intro through advanced art,  the easy things in life (and art)  are not the most satisfying.  It is the hard stuff- the things you struggle with,  the things you really have to work on- they are the most memorable.  They are the things that in the end give you the most joy.

**As you can imagine, I am a tab person and I have a ton of them UP and open on my Safari.... don't judge me!  Lol

Looking in and about the towns of Italy--

Graffiti? Street Art?  Paintings?  All three perhaps

There is so much to see that is not in an official museum or park in Italy- from the graffiti to the wrought iron street lamps, to unexpected statues and fountains...  there are pictures  just everywhere.  I caught a lot of these snapshots on my phone, as it was either when I was in the bus, or it popped up unexpectedly and I didn't have my camera out or what have you.  Of course, some of it was recorded with high numbers of pixels from a dandy camera, but this is definitely going to be a mashup of the two. And though I proclaimed this post as not in museums, I am done with organized thought patterns...  I've had enough of that.  LOL  So peruse at your own risk- the artist brain has finally won over the logic.

Mosaic in Ostia Antica

A few of these photos have probably been on this blog before, but most have not.  I felt like I had a bunch of pictures that really didn't fit into any of the posts- and actually there are a lot more.    It's hard to whittle down when there are so many.

Part of a statue in Venice- the winged Lion with Venus

A plaster cast of  one of the remains in Pompeii

The graffiti tunnel in Florence

I found so many cool things that were an accident- from wandering around, or looking up and over, or just turning around.  I'm always looking where I maybe shouldn't be- I get distracted.  But it leads to the best things.

Bust of the artist Bernini

From the amazing lights that hang from the buildings to the incredible umbrella pines of the south of Italy to the columns and friezes and bits and pieces of buildings and statues, Italy has a lot to look at.

Really cool light fixture! In Roma

Ostia Antica

Pompeii- I think the baths

Mosaics in Pompeii

I loved how after looking at the remnants of the ancient buildings, a few hours later you would run across the modern examples of street art-  of both legal and illicit nature.

An art work in a window in Venice

I think this was in Rome- a figure carved in a stump

Available and hidden:  The ancient art that was valued and portable was available for transport- stolen and collected.  Protected and placed in official churches and later museums and private collections.... kept whole and intact.

Ancient Painting in Pompeii

And of course the amazing column artifacts

Many ancient buildings were either destroyed, fell into decay from neglect, were covered by volcano lava (thank you Vesuvius) and were then hidden.... either whole or in pieces, to be later discovered, uncovered and recovered....  sometimes to be reconstructed, usually on display in some way.

Winged Lion with the Goddess Venus in Venice

Venetian Masks

The juxtaposition of the old and the new- old relics, and the manmade for tourist traffic.   Reconstructed ruins and ephemeral chalk work on the sidewalk......  things that you pay to see and things that you can pay  to take home.

Blogger did some odd things and I don't feel like fixing it- the pic directly above here is a light fixture in Rome, and the pic above this one are some artifacts at the Vatican 

Again - a sculpture up above that is was in the Vatican, and the street art directly above is from the underground tunnel in Florence.

In the same way, modern art we see can be made in ways that are always for display but can be made in both overt and covert ways. Art that can be made to be sold to the passersby,  sometimes literally made on the street and sometimes sold from the street  or created under cover of darkness to be seen with an element of surprise or defiance.  Street art can have pure artistic intent or convey ownership- ownership of a territory by the mark of a swish of paint.  To defy people to spray over, daring them into a  painted argument.  

Artifacts from Pompeii

Street art in a pure form- sold on the street of street scenes

Vessels in Pompeii

Paintings left on the walls from ancient times- I can't remember which one, though.   perhaps Assisi?? 

Side walk art

A lovely carousel--- I think in Florence

Art from the Uffizi

Detail from one of the arches in the Roman forum

Part of a fountain- I LOVE these faces. Venice

The street art of political bent, of pure artistic expression, of decoration- all variations of people expressing their modern ideas amongst a very old old culture.  If I had to choose something that was my favorite thing about Italy, it would have to be this.  The old and the new, the hidden under cover of darkness artists that make prevalent and pervasive statements that are more permanent than those who work legally in the symbolic light of day.

Make revolution irresistible 

Detail of mosaics on the floor in pompeii

Carved detail in a ruins in Pompeii

In Ostia Antica

A beautiful detail in stone- on the ground at Ostia Antica

Some dwellings are an actual form of street art- or at least a decorative art

Italy- a combination of new and old, beauty in all forms- one of the biggest joys in my life- so far. But I have more adventures to come.

Happy Teacher Appreciation week!

Being a teacher, it feels weird to wish myself a happy week, but at this time of the year, you just never know!

Most people do not understand the dynamics of school and May.  The last few years there had still been some cold and snow and other yuck that kept spring fever from hitting so hard.  Well this year, as nice as the weather is to experience on the weekends, the kids are feeling the call of summer.  And we still have half a quarter to go!

This is a time of great stress for everyone.  I am speaking here as a High School teacher.  Teachers are trying hard to get through the material that is part of their curriculum and battling a whole HOST of distracting events.  You wouldn't believe the number of athletic events that take kids out of school in the afternoon.  PLUS there are standardized tests occurring in the mornings, scattered through the next week or so.  Throw in seniors just getting to the end of the month, students trying to get caught up/passing so they don't have do recovery credits in the summer, the stress of trying to find jobs, and all the personal things that we only have a passing knowledge of.

Every day you go in hoping that the kids are doing well, that the day will be smooth and everyone is cooperative.  This does not always happen, but we do what we can.  The same exact thing happens at the elementary school, but with slightly different behaviors.  Whether they want school to be done or NOT be done for the summer (there are some who apparently do not look forward to the summer off) there is some acting out that is going to happen.

So every day I go into the building with the hope for a good day.  And regardless of whether that comes true or not, the kids need to know that I will still be there for them even if they are behaving in a way that defies reason and logic.  Because you never know what is really going on in their lives or their head.  And I hope that I can find a way to remember this and always be a joy giver in their day.

Student Art work courtesy of the Mad Art Teacher- November 2013

I had mentioned in a previous post that I would put up some really nice student art work and so here it is!  There is a variety of classes represented and a variety of assignments.  From realism to abstract  to design, there is a lot to see here.

This is my HS student's art work, I put some of my Elementary kid's work on the other blog I have.  The other blog is merely a way for me to keep track of the very irregular schedule the elementary ends up having.  Wow, I think I have seen my Thursday kids, in particular the 5th grade once or twice in the past 5 weeks.  

Anywho, there are some single shots of work and some window pictures.  I did no editing, so if some of the pix are dark or unclear, that accounts for it.  :)

close-up drawing

Close-up assignment

Skeleton drawing for drawing and painting. Initial drawings for Advanced art

Design assignment, abstract painting

Closeup

Abstract 1

Design

closeup

Initial drawing

Initial assignment

skeleton 

shading assignment- Intro to art

abstract2- leaf

Abstract 2

Abstract 2

Hand drawing- Intro to art

I am very proud of the progress made during this first quarter.  Even though the advanced art kids are asking for the freedom to do their own projects, they are doing super well with a bit of structure.  AND none of them would have attempted any sort of abstract work.  We are not familiar with abstract up north here, so a little exploration was well worth the discomfort they felt exploring absolutely unfamiliar territory.
Don't worry their chance is coming!  But they will have to prove that they have some deep plans for their projects.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the art work!  I am really looking forward to the 2nd quarter- they are proving to be an outstanding group of artists.  And this is giving me so much joy.