Reflections

We are naturally geared (and conditioned) to use the end of something as an opportunity to reflect on where we've been, what we've done and/or how we might change.

As an artist, I love the act of reflection and do it circularly and effortlessly throughout all phases of the creative process - not just at the end. Artists have to think about and understand their decisions in order to move forward. Focus + reflection = meaningful action. Without it, you sit in place.

As a teacher, I reflect the same way - (constantly). How better to know where you're going than to understand, notice, recognize and appreciate where you are, not just where you've been? This year, I've got my eyes wide open, my hands are ready and I'm looking to the light! Happy New Year fellow artists, teachers and learners.. Here's to 2012!

500 Years of Self-Portraits!

I just taught an art history lesson to my students that highlighted 500 years of self-portraits. For my students, I think seeing and learning that virtually every artist has created a self-portrait (or tons of them) during their lifetime, put all of their own hard work into perspective!

It was a great conversation that they will follow up on when they select and write their artist research posts on their blogs in January. I’m thrilled with the self-portraits my students created. Click here to see and read more!

Art @ NJEA

There are two days built into the school calendar for the New Jersey Teacher's Convention. (Nov. 10 & 11) It is often viewed as a vacation by students, but for me it's work.

For the past three years I have organized a statewide preK - 12th grade student art exhibit called Art @ NJEA. The event is sponsored by The Art Educators of New Jersey and is located right on the exhibition floor at the NJEA Convention. The show featured 75 pieces of work from 26 teachers in 10 of the 21 counties from around the state. All members of AENJ are eligible to enter student art!

Haddon Township High School was represented by four students this year: Caitlynne C, Emily D, Emily H and Ally D (TL - BR).

I'm so proud of my students!

Self-Portrait Color Studies

Here are a few of our 9 x 12 inch color studies. Each student cropped a section from his/her large drawing and used it as practice for all of the steps involved. This step allowed the students to feel more comfortable painting and approaching the assignment. I love them and am so pleased with how they are coming out so far...I think my students are too! A few are already working on their 18 x24 inch paintings! Click here to see more.

Fantastic Faces

If you were to ask my students if they feel like they have been staring at and drawing their face for forever, they might say, "Yes!"

But the truth is, it's only been 6 class periods and some are already starting to practice their monochromatic color scheme painting.

Their 18 x 24 inch self portraits are on their way to becoming Monochromatic Tempera Batik paintings. Click here to see more portraits in progress!

Infusion of Color

This week, the students also used apples as the subject matter for these colored pencil studies. From top to bottom: Tara M (11), Olivia D (11), Joey K (12) and Patti A (11).

Fruit Still Life Drawings

Our drawings came together and took about 5 days to complete from sketching to shading. We knew from the start that the fruit wouldn't last forever, so the students took a picture of their composition with their phone or ipad - and used it like a digital cropping tool. (I consider this acceptable use of technology, even though students are technically required to have their phones off and away.) After the fruit got moldy and was taken home to my compost pile, the students drew from their pictures as reference. Visit kiickstart.com to see more student drawings.

The drawing above was created by Caitlynne C. She is a junior and a second year art student.

The Art, Miracle and Science of Drawing Fruit

Two days into our fruit still-life drawing lesson, I honestly thought we experienced a lemon juice miracle! (pictured above) However, four days later, it was quite clear that our lemon juice miracle was just science delayed. Our fruit became brown and slimy bringing with it a friendly infestation of fruit flies. (pictured below) Despite the less than perfect classroom conditions, we carried on and did our new pencils & papers proud!

Our once succulent fruit has now returned to the good earth in my compost pile! Ah, the circle of life. Fruit flies and all, it was worth it! The assignment generated a positive experience for the students, and while they might be a tad more self-critical than I am as their teacher, I’m pleased with their efforts and results. No one can learn how to do something, or how to get better at doing something…without actually doing it! Funny how that education thing works.

Of course, we aren’t the only artists who have drawn rotting fruit. Consider Caravaggio, the Italian Baroque Master (1571-1610) who painted “Basket of Fruit” in 1599.

Or in more contemporary times: here’s a video time lapse of strawberries rotting in reverse. (wild)

Images of my students’ drawings – coming soon!

Developing Responsibility

I’m trying something new this year. In an effort to provide my students with a sense of ownership and responsibility, (while also hoping to reduce the constant and never-ending output of pencils and erasers that I experienced last year) I gave all 57 of my high school students 3 of their very own drawing pencils (2H, HB, 6B), 2 markers, 2 blending stumps and 2 erasers. To hold their new supplies, the students created a personalized envelope from one of their decorative papers and received a penny folder from Staples to hold their work. These supplies are theirs forever!

The whole experience reminds me of when I was in 6th grade and received my very first art supply kit from my grandparents for Christmas. I liked how they looked, felt and smelled…even though I didn’t have the foggiest idea what to do with them! As I slowly learned how to use those materials, I felt more and more like an artist.

30+ years later, I'm extending the same ownership to my students with hopes that each one of them will feel more and more like an artist.

New Media

Last year, I taught high school drawing and painting for the first time in my 21 year long career. This year (number 22), I'm tackling new media, by taking my first group of students to the computer lab yesterday to get them started on our year long blog assignment! It was so exciting. I have 60+ students in my Creative Arts classes and they are all required to keep a blog. We're still in the process of building them, but so far so good! I was very proud of how they handled this and how serious about it some of them are already becoming. They may be "digital natives" being taught by a "digital immigrant" but we're speaking the same language...and I like it!

Teaching by Example

When I started developing and writing the Art is Elemental curriculum, I became frighteningly aware of the waste and wastefulness in my work life. It inspired me to take action in my classroom. Last year I invested in a bunch of IKEA dishtowels (79 cents each - they were 49 cents when I started doing this at home a couple of years ago.) I have the towels hanging by my sink. I change them daily (more so if needed) and I wash and fold them over the weekend to restock them on Monday. There are still paper towels available for the really gross jobs.

I wasn't sure if it would work or if it would really make a difference or not...but I gotta tell ya, IT DID! The kids use them, they feel much better on your hands than the cardboard-like paper towels the school provides, and it became second nature for all of us. My garbage can barely had anything in it at the end of each day (no lie!) and over the course of one school year, I figure we maybe went through 4 rolls of paper towels!! How crazy is that?

I was kinda expecting that I might lose steam for this endeavor, (people who know me, know that I'm a tad compulsive) but I stayed motivated by just looking at my garbage can! I think actions like this are a simple way we can teach by example. I'm about to start year #2 of my "resusable hand towel system", but this time I only need to purchase a few more! Reuse & Reduce, the investment has already paid off!

iphoto books!

Creating a book to document, celebrate or share your students’ work is easy and fun to do! If you use a mac, your iphoto has options built right in! If you use a PC, there are lots of resources, like Shutterfly, that will assist you in creating books using pictures you already have.

I developed a lesson for my sixth grade students that had them using Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Earth From Above photographs as inspiration. The students reacted and responded to several of his photographs and created their own interpretive tempera batik landscapes. In addition to being inspired by Bertrand's photographs, the students also learned a little bit about where his photos were taken and where those places exist on our planet.

I really loved the paintings and found myself drooling over them and their luscious textures and colors. My students enjoyed doing them too! My appreciation for Bertrand's work and my gratitude for the inspiration it provided me and my students, left me wanting to thank him directly. I had never made a book in iphoto, but I knew it would be the perfect thank you gift. Turns out, it's super easy to do and was only $39 for a beautiful, customized, 20 page, hard cover book! How great is that?

When we go back to school in September, I'm going to have my students sign it before I send it off to him! I think they will be thrilled to see their work published in a "real" book that's going to find its way into the hands of the artist they studied in class! It's not just good manners to thank the people who inspire you, it's also a good lesson for students to see demonstrated!

Click here to see examples of more students’ work. A complete PDF e-booklet of this lesson is included in the NEW Kiickstart Tempera Batik DVD, available this October!

Art in Our Schools

Over the past several months a committee at the New Jersey Department of Education has been reviewing the NJQSAC, DPR process. The goal of this review was to streamline the accountability process. Sounds like a good thing right? Well, I'm not so sure about that.

NJQSAC is the process NJ schools go through every three years to demonstrate they are providing the proper instruction required by the state. It's a lengthy, time consuming process that no one likes, but in my opinion, it's been kind of a "good nuisance", because it keeps art programs (and other special area programs) in the arena with the other core subjects. It validates and acknowledges all of the subject areas and their role in preparing 21st century learners.

If the changes they are proposing go through, the two tiers would be:

TIER 1 (STAYS MONITORED): Language Arts Literacy, Math, Science, Social Studies and World Languages. These content areas will remain as part of the NJQSAC District Performance Review.

TIER 2 (WOULD NOT BE MONITORED): Visual and Performing Arts, Technology, Health and Physical Education and Career Education. Under the new changes, these content areas would no longer be monitored through the NJQSAC District Performance Review.

It's a sensitive issue, because this is the first attempt, by any group, to prioritize content areas, defining some to be "important enough to monitor", and others "not as important".

A public hearing on the changes is scheduled for August 3RD at 3 PM.

Email the NJ State Board of Education Office

and ask that all nine content areas be included in the DPR under Items 14, 15 and 16 of the proposed District Performance Review.

Click HERE to send a message. You will be provided with an editable form letter.

What's at risk??? It's my concern that this type of change to the core content areas in the state of New Jersey will make it easier (and acceptable) for school districts to reduce course offerings and cut programs in the Tier 2 subject areas. In education, things that aren't "required" have a funny way of disappearing.

If students don't have to have certain courses to graduate, as required by the state, they're easier to cut because they are deemed as unecessary. I don't know about you, but since when has a holistic, well-rounded education ever been UNecessary???

got ideas?

Every creative person I know understands that the creative process is a circuitous route. Looking at seemingly unrelated things can give you some of your greatest ideas! I've noticed that my best ideas have almost always come to me when I was doing something else...like taking a shower, sleeping, working in the garden or by allowing myself to think around the idea that I'm hoping to find. It's harder to get a good idea when I have to have it NOW. Time, space and air help me. It's why summer is such a wonderful gift, not only to my stress level, but also for allowing ideas to flow freely. It's far less stressful to get lost when you aren't late for something, just as it's far less stressful to think around an idea than to think hard about it with a gotta have it now sense of urgency.

One of the best ways I know to "get" ideas is to be receptive and open to letting them find you. It requires us to relax, and believe that they actually will find us! There's action involved in this, it's not passive, but the action isn't in the form of a direct attack on getting an idea, it's done more in the form of looking at stuff, reading, journaling, sketching, talking, listening, making lists, writing things down, taking a nap, etc. - circuitous!

Today is the halfway mark of summer vacation. How lucky I feel to have a job I enjoy and the time to find new ideas to keep it fun!

when TRAsh becomes ART

The RMS Plastic Installations - JUNE 8, 2011

Inspired by the school-wide art theme, "Art is Elemental" the RMS students rescued plastic utensils from the garbage during their lunches from September to June. The dirty utensils were "thrown away" in a special container, and were washed and decorated - ready for their new life as Art.
Fifteen middle school students were randomly selected to participate in the installation project and created three temporary murals using over 1,200 decorated utensils and over 1,700 plastic lids! The RMS Plastic Installations speak to our society's reliance on disposable plastics.

Watch the video!

Click here to see more photos and to read the students’ statements.

Art is Elemental

In addition to rewriting the high school curriculum, I'm also writing the Middle School Art curriculum...I'm calling it, “Art is Elemental”. I meet my middle school students for a maximum of 22 class periods per year on a rotational cycle – on days 1 & 2 or days 3 & 4. It adds up to be about 15 hours total per year…wow, right? It’s such a short amount of time at such an important age, that I wanted our time together to mean something more than just “creative fun”, but of course, I also wanted it to BE creative and fun! I came up with the Art is Elemental theme, so that I could teach “big ideas” in a short period of time without my exploratory cycle class being a total drag. The learning experiences are structured so that my students gain knowledge about important environmental issues and then get to synthesize their understanding by making art. It’s a perfect combination that I’ve really enjoyed so far!

Over the course of three years, we will focus on earth, water and then fire/air, and address issues like conservation, pollution, waste & wastefulness, recycling & upcycling and sustainability. Once the rotation is complete, I’ll start the cycle all over again. Each grade level will learn about all of the elements and many environmental concerns associated with them, just in varying orders. Last year, all of our activities were centered on the Earth!

The essential questions that drive my planning and curriculum writing are:
Does art make you think about yourself and society in new ways?
How do artists use their creative skills, talents and ideas to influence how we view the world and our surroundings?
Does an individual have the power to make a lasting difference?
In what ways is our society more advanced than those of the past?
In what ways might we be moving backwards?
What can you do that will positively impact the environment?
How are things, events or people connected to each other?
If we don’t change, what will?

To get you inspired to think about weaving environmental themes into your own lessons, here are some terrific resources I find useful:
http://www.thinkgreen.com/second-life (short video I show my kids)
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/howstuffworks-recycling-aluminum.html (short video I show my kids)
http://www.terracycle.net
http://zerowastehome.blogspot.com

Our Bowls are Full

Hunger in America. The statistics are alarming. For one in every six Americans, being hungry or without enough nourishing food is a real concern. For children, the current national statistic is even more grim - one in four children can’t rely on having enough to eat.

Empty Bowls is an international grassroots effort to fight hunger and was created by The Imagine Render Group. The basic premise is simple: Artists, educators and others work with the community to create handcrafted bowls. Guests are invited to a simple meal of soup and bread. In exchange for a cash donation, guests are asked to keep a bowl as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world. The money raised is donated to an organization working to end hunger and food insecurity.

This year, my art students, the NHS and the student council students, hosted their third dinner! As of 2011, our community has donated over $12,000 to The Foodbank of South Jersey, as well as over 60 gallons of leftover soup to a local soup kitchen, and hundreds of dollars worth of canned goods to a local shelter. This is a big shout out to my colleagues, Paul and Maura for helping to make it happen, and to my students who keep me smiling!

There are many organizations all over the United States that would benefit from an Empty Bowls event that you could host at your school, church or community center!! Helping others feels good, teaches an invaluable lesson and reminds us that being part of a community involves working together to impact change.

To learn more about our HTHS dinner event, click here.

Some other great links to inspire you to get started:
Philabundance
Feeding America
Share our Strength
Bread for the World
End Hunger Network
World Food Day – Annually on October 16th.

Silver Linings

As part of the new curriculum I’m developing, I am including a visual journal component. It’s a full year, on-going assignment that allows for marking period, mid-term and final exam assessments. So that I can display student work throughout the year, and not have it be stuck in a book, my students are creating their journals from the inside, out.

Starting in September, they work on paper, gathering it up in a folder, and then we bind the books in May. This year, I did a Coptic book, but next year I am planning for a different structure.

This idea was a metaphor to express what I was feeling (because I felt like I was turned inside-out), but its bigger reward was that it allowed me showcase my students’ work in a unique and contemporary way. I couldn’t fathom trying to maintain the type of art show that we had in the past. So, to beat my blues and to change things up, I arranged for our art show, (that I called CLiPPED), to be displayed at a local gallery. Each student fabricated a metal clip out of copper, brass and nickel silver and selected their 15 favorite papers to display from their clips. Each was a miniature portfolio of their work, and an opportunity for my students to take charge of how they presented themselves. All of my students were required to participate and each received an assignment grade for his/her collection of work. It was one of the highlights of my year.

To see more photos of the show, click here.

To see photos of the finished Coptic books, click here.

Bloom Where You are Planted

My twenty-first year teaching also marked my first year teaching high school drawing and painting. When I accepted my position at the high school back in 1996, I was hired to teach a highly specialized crafts program. For the past fifteen years, I taught three basic units of bookarts, metals and ceramics, smattered with some printmaking and mixed media while my colleague taught drawing and painting. The budget cuts eliminated any familiarity of what was our award winning art program and trimmed it down to one teacher (me) and one class (Creative Arts), taught three times a day. I also teach the entire middle school in cycle rotations, during the other three teaching periods of my day. whew.

I learned that resentment really wrecks a good mood! I wanted to feel good about my job again. This lesson helped me with that! It began with six beautiful bouquets of flowers ($20 at our local, bulk flower supplier). My room looked beautiful and smelled even better! The students drew using a viewfinder and created a composition for what was to become their tempera batik painting. The finished results are stunning!

This lesson yielded fantastic paintings for every student. It is the topic for my next DVD! If you’d like to see more student images, click here. The new video is scheduled for release in early October. Please check kiickstart.com for current information.

Bouncing Back

wow. I'm embarrassed. My last post was in October, a mere eight months ago. If anyone out there has looked here during these past 8 months, I apologize for my disappearing act.

Now that it's summer, I'm trying to bounce back from what proved to be a challenging year, both emotionally and physically. Despite the changes to my teaching position and the devastating cuts to our HS program, I've worked tirelessly to maintain a positive outlook and to bring the same energy and enthusiasm to my job that I always have. This wasn't always easy, and if you spoke with my husband, who has witnessed my tears and frustration, you'd know I wasn't always successful. But in reflection, I'm actually quite pleased with my resilience.

This year, I have learned that nothing zaps my professional energy quite like the shifting attitudes towards teachers and other public employees. To think, I've spent 21 years doing a job I love, working hard, thinking that teachers were part of the SOLUTION... just to find out this year, that we are actually perceived as the PROBLEM. Ain't that a kicker!

To help me bounce back, I am going to post at least once per week this summer. A minimum of 8 posts in 8 weeks, instead of nothing in 8 months! So, if anyone's actually looking, coming soon, will be posts highlighting the 2010-2011 school year. Projects, insights, installations, art shows & more!