AIMS Art Teacher Share!

Today I hosted a two-hour "Art Teacher Share" workshop in my art room and it was a great event! Approximately 20 AIMS (Association of Independent Maryland Schools) art educators came together to share successful lessons and great creative ideas. Some even traveled from Washington, DC to attend! Each teacher prepared and presented at least one lesson plan... It's always great to meet and network with other art teachers to inspire and energize one another- Looking forward to attending more in the future!

Maryland State House Exhibit

This seventh graders' artwork was chosen to represent Calvert school in the MAEA (Maryland Art Education Association) State House Exhibit ~ 2010 during the 2010 Maryland Legislative Session. This statewide exhibit is installed in the tunnels of the State House in Annapolis where the legislators travel each day while in session. This show is on display to celebrate excellence in art education and to thank our legislature for its continued support of art education. The exhibit will be on display through Tuesday, April 20, 2010. If you are interested in going to see it, email me and I will give you viewing details! Congratulations!

Houses for Haiti!

You may recall when Calvert participated in the Pinwheels for Peace project back in the fall. Well, the art teachers who started that project recently thought of a new one called Houses for Haiti which I thought was a great idea and did with all of my art classes last week! The kids decorated little pieces of mat board with permanent markers and assembled them before I sealed them with a thick epoxy and attached a magnet. I am lucky enough to have two great shops in Hampden selling the magnets for $5 each: Antique Exchange on the corner of 36th and Chestnut and Red Tree on 36th Street. All proceeds will go to the Art Creation Foundation for Children, a non-profit arts organization created for the education and personal growth of children in need in Jacmel, Haiti. Most of Jacmel was destroyed by the earthquake in Haiti and they need help! If you can, go buy a magnet in Hampden or make a donation directly to the organization by clicking here. Thank You!

Lidded Clay Slab Boxes- 5th Grade Boys

Second quarter fifth graders created these clay boxes constructed out of slabs. The boys learned how to use wooden slats and rolling pins to create thin slabs of uniform thickness, which they attached to create a closed cylinder. They created lids by carving around the cylinder and creating a "key"- a notch or shape on the slit that keeps the lid from sliding off, kind of like a carved pumpkin. The design and glazing of the pieces was up to them... Here are the finished boxes (Disclaimer: My camera screen broke and now it's hard for me to center my pictures in the frame, so these aren't the best!!!):

Coffee Break!

Eighth graders have finally completed their acrylic paintings of coffee mugs and tea cups on 16x20" stretched canvas and they look FANTASTIC! These paintings, along with those created by the second semester art students, will be on display sometime in March at a local coffee shop. I will post details when I have them!

Knights in Shining Armor

Fifth Grade boys were inspired by knights of the Middle Ages in this metal tooling project. They designed their knights' armor by looking at books for inspiration and adding authentic details like chain mail textures and weaponry. Students used special wooden tools to emboss pieces of 36-gauge aluminum. Then the covered the metal in black ink and used steel wool to buff them before cutting them out. The knights stand about a foot tall and are displayed gallantly above the 5th graders' lockers!

Fashion Inspired by Art

In this project, 7th graders developed basic skills in determining and drawing the proportions of the human figure and face in order to create “self portrait” paper dolls. To inspire the fashion, each student chose an art style out of a hat and did some research on the art and artists involved in the movement. Students even included tabs on their garments to keep them on their paper dolls!
Post Impressionism- Dress inspired by Van Gogh's The Starry Night:

Minimalism- Outfit inspired by the artwork of Frank Stella

Pop Art- Dresses inspired by Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans:

Cubism- Dresses inspired by the artwork of Pablo Picasso:

Expressionism- Outfit inspired by Edvard Munch's The Scream:

Impressionism- Tutu inspired by Edgar Degas' L'etoile (La danseuse sur la scene):

Fauvism- Dress on doll inspired by Henri Matisse's Harmony in Red:Pointillism- Dresses inspired by the artwork of Georges Seurat:

Art Nouveau inspired dresses: