Taking a Break...

The day after my last post, this handsome little man made his early appearance:

And so, I am on maternity leave through late February... see you then!!!

Clay on Words

I love these eighth grade clay projects! I got this lesson idea at an Art Share I attended years ago from another teacher in a local independent school and think it's a great one... The challenge given to the class was to become more aware of the understanding and usage of idioms/sayings/word plays in language and to interpret them creatively in clay. We talked about word plays and idioms, and how usually, native speakers of English understand what the sayings mean, but that people learning the language might be quite confused when trying to literally interpret them... for example, chicken fingers... huh?! Chickens don't have fingers?!

Our Lower School library has some really great books that I like to check out as references for this project, especially Fred Gwynn's books titled The King Who Rained, A Little Pigeon Toad and A Chocolate Moose for Dinner. Students have to come up with 10-12 ideas, and then sketch out their ideas for four of them before deciding which to make. Then, they spent several class periods using a variety of sculpting techniques in order to create these final pieces! See if you can guess the saying before reading the captions beneath each one! :)

"Rule of Thumb"

"Swordfish"

"Spring to Defense"

"Buffalo Wings"

"Ants in the Pants"

"Monkey Business"

"Rainbow"

"Smart Cookie"

"Cat Burglar"

"Sick as a Dog"

"Party Animals"

"Hold Your Horses"

"Corn Dog"

"Saved by the Bell"

"Crab Apple"

"Cash Cow"

Calvert Artwork Showcased!

There were two recent opportunities I had to display Calvert artwork for a greater audience, and I always jump at the chance to share what my talented students are doing! On October 18th, I attended the Maryland Art Education Association's annual conference in Silver Spring. It was a great day of networking and sharing ideas with other art teachers from across the state. One of the highlights of the conference is always the student exhibit, and I was happy to include Olivia's Shades of Summer Self Portrait in the AIMS display (center bottom)... 

Then, last Monday, November 4th, the Association of Independent Maryland & DC School's annual conference took place at the Baltimore Convention Center. All AIMS schools are invited to showcase student artwork at this event, and Calvert has been doing so for many, many years. Here are our three display boards with art ranging from 7th Age (1st grade) through 8th grade!

Congrats to all the Calvert artists featured!

Blown Glass Pumpkins

My 8th grade class took a field trip on Tuesday to McFadden Art Glass in Baltimore where we had an amazing time making blown glass pumpkins. The kids were involved in every step of the creation process and they had a terrific experience, as usual. Here are some pics of the process, followed by the final pieces- enjoy!

Tim McFadden demonstrated the creation of a piece from start to finish as the class intently watched:

After molten glass was collected on the blow pipe from a giant furnace, the pipe was cooled in this nifty fountain to make handling it a little more comfortable:

After a second gathering of glass, students gently rolled the glass onto colored glass frit of their choice (the pipe has to be turning the entire time so the glass doesn't plop off the end like dripping honey!):

The glass is heated again so that the color can melt into the glass...:

...and then Tim helped blow the first bit of air into the piece, before we rolled against this metal table to get it to a nice even shape:

Then, after another reheating, the glass is dropped into this star-shaped mold and blown into again, creating the textured pumpkin-like ribs:

Students then worked at the bench to shape the piece further and pinch it with these big tweezers to create the top:

Meanwhile, a friend is helping out at the end of the pipe by blowing additional air into it to make the pumpkin larger (also not as easy as it looks- you have to blow pretty hard and move from side to side while blowing since the pipe is constantly twirling):

At the same time, a new bit of glass has been gathered, rolled in colored frit and is heated by a friend- this small gather will become the stem of the pumpkin. The pumpkin is detached from the pipe and the stem is attached and twirled around... 

The last step is to use a blowtorch to soften the sharp end of the stem and attach it to the pumpkin body!

 

The pieces are put in an annealing oven overnight so they can slowly cool (cooling too fast = shattering glass). I was able to get the pumpkins the following afternoon and they are absolutely beautiful on display in the showcase in the main lobby...