Whirlwind of Activity

I have been in the process of loading many photographs into the blog site and will try to get a slide show ready to post as soon as I learn how to fix one. It has been a whirlwind of activity in the art room. Students have been working on many different projects....wardrobes, printmaking, snowflakes, and ceramic clay totems.

We recently had the disappointment of not getting any of the grants that I wrote this year. I felt strongly that my students should do a project with Springfield Little Theatre to cover the theatre arts MIGS. I was encouraged to use some issued funds to pay for the beads, wire, and ribbon needed to construct radial snowflakes. The students really did a wonderful job on them. The plan was to display the student snowflakes in the histroic Landers Theatre during the run of "Narnia". My husband and I strung twinkle lights and hung over 138 handmade snowflakes in the lobby and concession areas of the theatre. They were beautiful. The theatre will keep them up through the run of the Springfield Ballet's "The Nutcraker" and downtowns' "First Night" celebration. I know the snowflakes will be a lovely keepsake for each student when we get them back. I will take them down in January and return to each student. I spent some time on finding alternative funding to pay for the student tickets to go see the production. Amazingly, this wonderful season provides very generous gifts!!! I am truly thankful!!! As you know students then paid $3 for bus transportation. Thank you to all who sent $ and extra $ in to cover the transportion. I will use Mania funds to cover any short fall we may have. We have been comparing and contrasting the book, movie, and musical. I think the students really enjoyed seeing the show. I was proud of the behavior shown on the trip. The set, lighting, costumes, and make-up really made the musical come alive. We will continue our discussions on the topic after break.

Up-date from the Frogs on Parade project:
We were sent a check for $150 from the zoo for our part of the auction. This money went back into the regular school supply account to cover the project costs. Additional frogs not sold at auction may be purchased at school for $5.

Grade 7
Last day in class to work on wardrobes will be Friday, December19. Most students are working on door panels and knobs. Painting will be on Thursday. Students will complete the project by applying their story, poem, or artist statement to the back of the wardrobe.

Grade 6
Students have started constructing a ceramic clay slab cylinder. They are applying various decoration techniques to build a tiki/totem abstract face. We hope to finish before break so they can have that time to dry out

Assignments for week of October 27 & into November 3

Grade 7-Students are adding aboriginal dot designs to the ceramic clay frogs. We will continue on this through Wednesday. Drum sticks will be stained or painted on Thursday. On Friday students will complete a brief artist statement/biography to include with their frog for the auction. This will be due on Monday. Students may type it up at home or neatly hand write. Max width will be 7 inches across. We will mount the statement/biography to cardstock in class on Monday and add some decorative dot details. I plan to have a student art exhibit of the frogs during lunch on Tuesday, November 4. I will ask a few students to act as docents for the exhibit while they take turns eating lunch. I will also need a few students to act as docents during the eighth grade lunch. Grade 7 art students will set up the exhibit of 6th and 7th grade frogs during class on Tuesday.
Next projects:

• finish fall pastel drawings...possibly two more days.
• Narnia based 3D wardrobes...the outside design will be based on traditional architecture... students need to come up with an imaginary place/topic based on personal interests to be the interior of the wardrobe.

Grade 6-Students have completed frogs. We are working on a few group project frogs to add to the auction. Students will complete artist statements/biographies to include with their frog in the auction. This is due on Monday. Students may type it up at home or hand write neatly. Max width is 7 inches. On Monday, November 3 we will mount the papers to cardstock and add some decorative details. We will have a student art exhibit of the "Frogs on Parade" at lunch on Tuesday, November 4. I will ask a few students to act as docents for the show during the 6th grade lunch times.

Students are continuing on the African design GOLD worksheet. This will be collected on Thursday. Students voted to change our topics for printmaking and ceramic clay. The abstract faces will be the subject for a future ceramic clay project. We will form cylinders and use clay additive techniques to create tiki/totem designs. Our current printmaking project is designing a Kenya based warrior shield. We will print the shield 4 to 5 times and collage to shields together from these original prints. We will incorporate some fiber arts by sewing in some yarn or rafia into the completed collages.

Other projects:

• I still hope to try pastel PUMPKIN drawings if we can get a few more pumpkins to have as reference. Please keep us in mind as the plastic pumpkins go on sale. I would like to touch on working with space in a picture plane as we try the still life drawings.
• If we get the Narnia grant I plan to have students construct SNOWFLAKES out of wire and beads for the lobby of Springfield Little Theatre. These would be great keepsakes to use as decoration every winter.

Don't forget...November 7th is the "Frogs on Parade" auction!!

Extra Credit Opportunities for 2nd Quarter

The following are two opportunities for extra credit:

• PTSA Reflections Contest.....rules packet can be picked up in the office. I have one copy each of the Visual Arts and the Photography rules in the classroom for student reference. I am willing to let students check out certain supplies if needed. Just let me know how I can help. The theme is "WOW". Due date is December 1.
• The Springfield Public Schools Administrative Assistant to the Chief Financial Officer has requested 8 1/2 X 11 student artwork for the end of year budget book. She will accept artwork throughout the year. The selected artwork will be scanned and the original returned. To receive extra credit submit at least a week before the end of the quarter.

Students please let me know if you are interested any either of these opportunities. You could work on either one in class if you have extra time.

Continued Work in Progress...week of October 20

Grade 6-Frogs on Parade....It is very exciting seeing completed frogs finding their home on the lilly pads. The show is going to be AWESOME!!! Make plans to attend the exhibit and auction on November 7. I am working on how to do an exhibit at Hickory Hills before the frogs go up for auction. Frogs shown are "Sick Froggy", "Winter Wonderland", "Pink Froggies", "Tiger", "Chocolate Dipped Frog Berry", "Stained Glass", and "There's no place like my lilly pad"(Dorothy...OZ).

Students have turned in Art binders/folders for the 1st quarter. We have started a study of abstract tribal portraits to use for our printmaking project. Students are working on a large gold worksheet. This includes a few definitions, recording samples of eyes, noses, mouths, and so forth. Students are now trying to put parts together to make make interesting tribal faces. This worksheet will be collected for points next week.

Frogs will be graded with the tally sheet shown in class. This score will be included in 1st quarter grades.

Work in Progress....week of October 20

7th grade students started working on pastel still life drawings of pumpkins and grouds. These are samples that I shared with the students during the introduction of the project. Students have been working on showing space by using placement on the page, overlap, and cropping. We have started to establish a table line and general colors. We will continue to study value by recording highlights, low lights, and shadows. My plan is to have grade six work with pumpkins only. I purchased some plastic pumpkins to get us started. They were 50% off at Hobby Lobby. I will be able to use them year after year. We are still in need of more pumpkins so I can set up a still life on each table. Let me know if you would like to help with pumpkins for the art room. Thank you to the Kovalenko family for sending in a pumpkin.

Grade 7: Ceramic frogs have been fired, so we are taking time away from our pastel still lifes to finish the frogs. Students have started the base coat of the painting process. Dot painting will start on Wednesday and continue into next week. We are in need of little black or clear film containers to store our small amounts of thinned out acrylic paints. Anyone who uses film...please save the containers for the art classroom. The main grade for the ceramic frogs has been recorded. Students will still get a score on the painting of the frog as well as the drum stick. Art Binder/folders have been collected, graded, and returned for the 1st quarter. I pulled a few completed Art Starts to put on display in the hall.

Grade 7-Frogs in Progress

Here are a few of the 7th grade frog instruments. All students have finished the ceramic clay construction part of the project. A grade check will be completed on the frogs after a few days of drying. Proper attaching techniques will be easily evaluated after drying is starting to take place.
Projects will need to dry to the "bone dry" stage in order to be fired in the kiln. Firing will take one day and another to cool. Students will be working on planning sketches for the paint process as well as constructing the mallet using a dowel rod and Celluclay Instant Papier Mache'.

Week of September 29-Update...preview of Oct. 6-10

It was great to see so many parents at Open House! Thank you for taking the time to visit Art Studio 166. I was excited to be able to share the exciting things happening at Hickory Hills, eventhough I had to talk at warp speed.

Frogs! Frogs! Frogs!

Mark calendars for the Auction at First Friday Art Walk-December 7

Grade 7-Monday will be the last day to model with clay. Most students are smoothing the clay to aide in the painting process. We have about 7 frogs going through the drying process. The rest will start on Monday. They look amazing! The students have done an outstanding job on the construction of the instruments. Monday, October 6 will be clay clean-up and getting the room ready for planning of the painted designs. Introduction of 3D wardrobes will follow.

Grade 6-We have a few completed frogs!!!! They are all so different and fun. The sixth grade have pushed right along with a crazy classroom.......everyone doing something different, but the results will speak for themselves........the frogs are great! Students have continued to work on the "Mad Lab" drawing through the process of this frog project. I will admit that it is going to be nice having everyone using the same media after this project, but the demonstrated creative thinking skills are so important. We will try to finish this project by Wednesday, October 8.

We are still in need of pumpkins, gourds, and corn for our pastel drawing project. Let me know if you could help with donations.

I am looking forward to Mania and being able to earn some extra money to use in the classroom. I will also be getting together a request for acquisitions from the PTSA.