OK, don't laugh

OK, don't laugh, let me explain.  Every year we are asked to decorate our doors for homecoming.  I usually grab a few students and send them to the art lab to draw something for our door.  After an hour I went to go see what they were doing and there I was... in a bikini.  Although they did me the favor of drawing me in a nice figure, I was a bit shocked to see it.  They were pretty prepared to hear me complain because they were ready with their replies. 

I had told them "Whatever you want to draw is fine by me".  Oh Lord, when will I learn.

In case you were wondering this year's theme is Las Vegas ( I have no clue why).  Sorry to say we did not win a prize this year, I guess noone was ready to see me in a bikini.

First Project for Art 1

Yay!  The first project for Art 1 is complete.  Students had to draw their hands using modified contour drawing.  The objective was to draw their names in sign language, drawing from observation.  This is why the sign language hands are the left ones and not the right hands. 
I gave the students the option of coming up with their own backgrounds, if they could not they had to do a collage. 
I am happy with the end results.

Exhibit Opening and Artist Talk

The pictures above are just two views of today's student artist's talk (view previous post).  The picture with the audience was taken before the crowd started to file in.  We had a great turnout, I'm going to say about 60 people.  I invited my student's family, friends, middle school teachers and high school teachers.  I had the mini-exhibit at the library, even though we have a school gallery, because I wanted something more intimate.
My student spoke about his work and answered questions about his pieces, I was so happy and excited for him.

Student Artist Talk

I'm trying something new with my Adv. Art Students.  I am selecting one student every two weeks to give an artist talk about their work. 

I am placing a handfull of pieces in the library, sending out invitations (pictured), serving tea and cookies and then opening the floor to my student.

I want my kids to learn how to speak about their work in front of an audience.

We will be having the first exhibit opening and artist talk this Wed.

I have to say, I am a bit nervous. 

I know how nerve racking this is going to be for my kids, but I hope it will be a good experience for them.

Wish us luck.

Dia de los Muertos Exhibit

I am the founder of a group called the UVAS.  We are a group of female art educators from El Paso, TX and surrounding region. We are having a small Day of the Dead exhibit at a local library and we began to set up for it yesterday.  You can view our set up by visiting our blog, the link is at the left.

This brings up my next topic.  I am not sure if I am going to do Day of the Dead with my classes.  I havn't done so in several years, but I am reconsidering this year.  My only dilema is that I don't like disrupting on going lessons to introduce a new one. 

Watercolor?  Papier-mache?  Hmmm, I'll have to think about this one.

Most importantly though, it's almost Friday!

Before and After

Well, in this case it is after and before.  A few years ago I read the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by B Edwards and ever since then I like to begin with this hand lesson with my Art 1 students.  Art 1 students are usually freshman and sophomores, a few are upperclassmen.  I have them do a pre-instruction drawing of a hand (pictured right above).  I then take them through the steps of  blind contour drawing and then modified contour drawing.  Once the students see the difference in their work, they become more confident with their drawing abilities. 

When I was a middle school art teacher I also began the school year with this project and touched on it throughout the year.  I do believe it made for better projects and prepared the students for high school art.

I hope your new school year is going well.

Interesting Comps

These are the pictures of the completed pieces from my adv class.  On the first week of school the kids had to look around the room and do observational drawings in their sketchbooks.  They then had to create an interesting background using different materials.  Once the background was done they had to select one or several of the items they had drawn and create an interesting composition.  Since many of the students are new to my class this assignment allowed me to see how the kids could draw and to see how creative they could be. 
Some of the kids hit the mark and others missed it by a bit, but I'm mostly happy about the results.