Warm & Cool Portraits with Tesselations- 2nd Quarter

Daily Paintings

This summer I took a painting class for two weeks through Baltimore County Public School's Department of Professional Development. It was a wonderful experience and one of my favorite parts was that I learned about this artist named Carol Marine. For several years, she has been creating one small painting a day (which she sells on EBay) and blogs about it. I so enjoy checking her blog every day to see her newest piece- click here if you'd like to do the same!

Below is a link to a video that shows the process of her creating one of her paintings, in fast forward. I LOVE THIS DEMO! I recently showed my 8th grade class before they began their still life paintings (we watched it twice because they thought it was so cool)... I think you'll be inspired too- check it out!

Carol Marine Daily Painting Demo No. 2 from Carol Marine on Vimeo.

Gingerbread House!

Here are some pictures of the completed Gingerbread Beach House, now on display outside of the MS lobby... The girls are VERY proud of it and it looks even better in person!

Works in Progress...

I haven't had a ton to post recently in the way of finished projects, since many of my classes are working on longer term projects, particularly my 7th and 8th grade classes that are painting... Here are some pics so you can see what we're doing:

5th graders have spent the last four classes creating slab mugs out of clay. Once they created the mug form, the boys embellished their mug with monstrous features and handles to create their very unique creature/monster mugs. Once they're bisque fired, the boys will glaze them. Today was the last day to add details - here is a student working and a rather dark photo of the pieces drying in the kiln room.

Second quarter 6th graders are just finishing up their warm/cool portraits with tessellations- pics to come this week. They will begin their first drawing from observation during our next class- this quarter, they will draw their shoes...
7th grade artists are currently working on acrylic paintings on canvas boards inspired by the artist Georgia O'Keefe. Students are applying O’Keefe’s techniques and her favorite subjects as inspiration- zoomed in flowers, shells and animal bones and skulls (which we borrowed from the LS science room!). Some students are painting more abstractly, as O'Keefe sometimes did, while others chose to be more representational. Every student is focused on gradually blending colors for a smooth effect, bold shapes and the intricate structure of their chosen forms.

8th grade artists are busy creating acrylic paintings on 16"x20" stretched canvas. Students first created an interesting composition by completing an accurate drawing of one of four still life set-ups around the art room. After transferring their drawings to the canvas, students are now using acrylic paint to render the still life in color. They are progressing beautifully- just taking a long time! I treid to take these pictures so you can see both the painter and what they're looking at...

My advisory has been working for the last 3 periods on a gigantic gingerbread house. You may recall that my advisory last year created one as well as a collaborative project with the kitchen staff. Most of the schools that use the same food service company as Calvert participate in the contest and there is a cash prize for the winner. My girls decided to do a beach house this year (complete with graham cracker crumb sand, fruit roll-up ocean, roof thatched with pretzel sticks, palm trees, etc.) and it's looking super cute- here are some photos of them working on it today:

Aztec Sun Prints

The Aztec Sun Stone is a revered Mexican artifact that is said to be perhaps the most famous symbol of Mexico besides its flag. The Sun Stone was recently discovered and excavated in 1970. The original basalt version measures 12 feet by 4 feet thick, weighs 24 tons, and is on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park. Because of the carved hieroglyphs, with the names of the days and the cosmogonic suns, the Aztec Sun Stone was first incorrectly identified as a calendar stone. Actually it has been a "temalacatl“, a round stone used to tie captive warriors in gladiatorial sacrifices. Only recently deciphered, it actually tells the history of the four great disasters which caused the migrations of the Native Americans who would ultimately build the great TENOCHTITLAN (Mexico City, Today).

Fifth graders used the Sun Stone as inspiration to create their own sun designs for printmaking. They used graph paper to create designs that were stylized, simplified and symmetrical which they transferred to a rubber printing plate. Using a gouge, students focused on balancing the positive and negative space in their carving. Finished plates were printed with colorful inks and papers to create a series of three prints for display!

Team Building

Yesterday the 6th grade headed to the gym to do team building activities in advisory. There were six different stations at which the kids had to work as a team to do a physical challenge- I think they had a great time!

First Faculty Art Class!

A few weeks ago, Mrs. Williams sat down next to me at lunch and said, "Have you ever thought of teaching a class for Calvert adults??" Well, the answer was yes, but I had just not taken the time to think it through... I constantly hear other teachers say "I could never do that, I am so bad at art" when they look at the kids' work on the walls, and I tell them that if I can teach an 11 year old to do it, I could teach them too! I thought it would be a great way to challenge myself by offering a class to adults (an age group I have never taught before!), as well as a great way for the adults in the Calvert community to get together and enjoy each others' company while relaxing and trying something new.

After I announced the 6-week drawing workshop (we'll meet afterschool every Tuesday from now until Winter Break), I had 18 eager students signed up within a few days! Our first meeting was yesterday when I had them draw from observation pre-instruction, as well as do an activity that my 6th graders do to "fool their brains"... Here are some shots of the faculty getting in touch with their creative sides! They're a lot better than they led me to believe... let's hope I can teach them something!!

Real Food Farm fieldtrip

Yesterday, the mt 6th grade advisory participated in an Outreach field trip that is a whole-school collaboration with Real Food Farm. "Real Food Farm is Civic Works' innovative urban agricultural enterprise engaged in growing fresh produce on six acres of land in Clifton Park in northeast Baltimore." You can learn more about it by visiting there website (click here).

Lower School students recently spent three sessions planting seeds in their classrooms. The second phase of the project involves the 5th and 6th grade girls going to Clifton Park to plant the seedlings, which we did yesterday, and hopefully they will also participate in the harvesting phase about six weeks after planting. My advisory, together with Mrs. Babb's 5th grade class, visited RFF yesterday. After an informative introduction, the girls got a tour of the "hoop houses" (plastic greenhouses) and grounds, and then they helped thin out seedlings, plant them and mix compost. We're excited to see the fruits of our labor in a few weeks! Here are some shots from our trip: