Reset part 2

If you click on the panorama you can get a little better idea of the state of the room. One big accomplishment today was to clear my desk and that always makes me feel better! Papers stack up so quickly so it was nice to be able to leisurely go through them all. But then I got side-tracked. I have a New Year's resolution about creating a work of art periodically (daily? weekly?). Any way, I got started.

This is a zentangle portrait of my friend's dog, Quinn. She had complimented me on a similar image I had made of my dog Zeus. I had been wanting to make one for her and am happy that I finally got around to it! Zentangle is a great activity for students when they finish up ahead of the others. It can be as easy or complicated as you want and it's impossible to mess up. I'll get to the glass inventory next time...

Reset time!

My daughter created this wonderful poster for me for Christmas. I was familiar with the quote but had to look up the originator - should have guessed - VanGogh! I think it's a perfect sentiment to start off the new year. Thanks Erin!

I came into my classroom this am - hung up the poster - and then took this photo.

My plan for coming in was to take inventory of the glass fusing supplies. I have been awarded a grant to get that up and running again (more on that in a future post). But after looking at the room - and especially the photo of the room - I am going to begin with a little de-cluttering. As you can see from my desk (lower left) that is where I need to start. My goal will be to post a significantly improved post clean-up pic in a few hours!

Looking forward with Digital Photography and Advanced Computer Art

This group of advanced students will be in for something completely different. Like ADNM we will be polishing up and presenting our portfolios up until midterm exams. 

After exams, we will kick off semester 2 with a foray out of the computer lab and into the art studio. The students will be looking at the work of Andy Warhol and Shepard Fairey. We'll have one week to create art within Photoshop or Illustrator. This art will then be re-interpreted in some way in the studio. Here's one example of what I had in mind:

Multi-Color Stencils - Apex High School

We did something similar last year and created these gradient paintings:

MHS Gradient Paintings

ADNM Semester 1 Wrap Up

This holiday break comes at such an interesting time for art students.

The semester is just about to end - we'll have 12 class days when we return on January 2. Then it's exam week. Here's what those 12 days will look like in the art department:

Art, Design and New Media

Such a full 12 days in store. These amazing students will be moving on to Health and I will be getting all new students! We will use the remaining days to reflect and showcase - all students will present their portfolios. This is when they see how far they've come since September and hopefully I can launch them with the a newfound (or deepened) sense of possibility, of digital understanding and of the potential for creativity in their lives - in the visual arts and in the connectedness of everything!

Take a look at the eportfolios to the right to see what they have learned!