ARTopia - Honor Your Creativity

NAEA Fiesta de Colores Lessons!

Hello! I just returned the NAEA conference in New York City (where i got TONS of art lesson ideas!),and met many fellow art educators from around the USA & other parts of the world. Ms. Phillips (my co-presenter) and I were thrilled to have such a great turnout at our workshop. Here you will find the attachments for some of the lessons I talked about. Naturally, they can be adapted to many grade levels.

Also, remember the"Feeling Like Frida" lesson is in the March 2006 Arts&Activities Magazine.

Thanks so much for attending our workshop & let us know how the lessons work out for you!

Download naea_latino_lessonspart2.pdf Enjoy!Download naea_latino_lessons.pdf

Mavis Stevens

  Mavis Stevens visited our school this week. She is an extraordinary fiber artist from Buford, GA, and she is this year's GA YAM Honorary Artist. It was so wonderful to have her here at our school this week.  "Miss Mavis", as we called her, visited with all 29 art classes, she told students about how she grew up as a little girl & realized how much she liked art, how good it made her feel, and how she wanted to always feel that way. She explained what fiber is, and how she narrowed down her technique & became focused on her particular medium. It is done with a special attachment to her sewing machine, and later on I will be posting a picture so that you can have a better idea about how she does her amazing art.  Miss Mavis earns her living by creating and selling her art. Having her here this week has really inspired me, not only as an art teacher, but as an artist and mom.  I am buying a lizard for my daughter Zoe's room that Miss Mavis created. I have even commissioned Miss Mavis to create a giraffe wearing Birkenstocks for Zoe's room also.  Seeing Miss Mavis's artwork has gotten me so excited & inspired, that not only do i want to hang these pieces on the wall, but I am going to paint Zoe's walls with some crazy colors, with squiggle lines, and dots, and have a room "splashed with color"! I am so excited! I really enjoyed having  Miss Mavis here at our school this week. She has inspired me to create different things. What did you enjoy about her visit? How has she inspired you?

Robbie Quinn!

Monday, March 6 was an AWESOME day here at JHH. To kick off Youth Art Month (YAM) & Music in Our Schools Month (MIOSM), we had Robbie Quinn come to our school, and he performed his fabulous art songs in 2 different assemblies. (if you aren't familiar with him, visit http://www.robbiequinn.com/?page_id=5 ) But that's not all he did. He spent the rest of the day visiting with the art & music  classes, answering questions from students, and doing some acoustic performing. Many students had questions about Robbie playing the harmonica, so he gave them a little rendition. And one song students requested over & over again, was the color wheel. We all here @ JHH LOVE that song! Students even waited in line to get Robbie's autograph--- Robbie also talked to the students about one of his pieces of art------------------------------- Ever since Robbie's performance, students & teachers have been expressing to me how much they enjoyed it. But I want others to know what you thought of Robbie's performance. Why did YOU think it was so great? What was your favorite song? I loved his new song--"Red,Yellow, & Bluegrass"--I can't get the tune out of my head!

What do you think of Robbie's artwork? Tell me your thoughts! (And Robbie, let us hear fromyou too!)

Feeling Like Frida

Wow! I am so excited! I had an article published in a magazine called "Arts and Activities". It talks about a project I have done with students here @ JHH. You can read about it here:http://www.artsandactivities.com/Page/Article0306a.html

Many of the students who did this project are still here @ JHH, and you can see their artwork when you visit the link as well. What do you think about the project? If you did it in art, how did it make you feel? Are there any comments you want to tell me? I can't wait to find out!

Add windows to your Perspective drawing

Recently, 5th graders learned how to add details such as windows to their perspective drawings.

If you want to learn how (or you just need some more practice) download the video to find out more. Be patient, it takes time to download.

Download 3windows_in_perspective.mov

What do you think about this unit on perspective? What kinds of jobs are there that a person would need to know about this?

Perspective

5th graders have been learning about 1 point perspective the last few weeks (Also known as "3-D drawing")

Lately, they have been creating their own city, making sure to use a ruler & their imagination. I love perspective. I can remember when I was in 7th grade at Edwards Middle School & it was the first art class i had ever had in my life. The teacher taught us how to do perspective. I would go home & design all kinds of cities.  I hung them up all around my bedroom. I wanted to be an architect once I realized that's what it was called.

Attached, you'll see a Quick Time video showing you the steps to start your own perspective drawing. Try it. Don't get frustrated though. Perspective can be tricky at first, but once you "get it", your imagination will run wild! You just need to PRACTICE!

So what do you think about perspective?Download draw_a_city_using_1_pt.mov.mov

Artsonia

If you haven't heard, JHH students have a website which display artwork they have done. www.artsonia.com/jhhouse1

There is Amazing works of heart that you can view.  Just today i uploaded the black & white desings 4th graders created last month. They look aweseome! Did you know you can order stuff from Artsonia? Shirts, mousepades--all kinds of things! 15% of the profit comes right back here to the art room to help buy need materials.

I love using the Artsonia website to showcase student work. It's incredible that people all around the world can see what we are doing and comment on it.

What do you think about Artsonia?

Do you feel like a famous artist?

Square 1 Art

It's HERE!!!

That's right. The square 1 art fundraiser is here.  Packets go home today, and they are due back by Monday, October 17.  This is such a great fundraiser. Each student receives a FREE magnet today with their self-portrait on it.  You can also order other items with your artwork, like a CD case, or a water bottle. I can't believe the water bottle is ONLY $9.00. What a bargain! To see other items you can order, look at your packet, OR go visit www.square1art.com. There is such great stuff. All the money raised goes towards purchasing items needed for the art room. Remember, the class within each grade level that raises the most money will receive an EXTRA art day, sometime before the December break. I am so excited  about this fundraiser! Are you? Why?

Ms. Rhoads

Jennifer Rhoads, a senior at Georgia State University in Atlanta, has been my student teacher for the last 8 weeks. Unfortunately for us, this is her last week at JHH. Next week she is off to Stockbridge High School to student teach. Art teachers are certified P-12, therefore Ms. Rhoads needs to have experience in elementary and high school. It has been so wonderful to have Ms. Rhoads here. She has taught the students a lot, but I have also learned from her. Ms. Rhoads has showed me how to better use a program called Photoshop. I sort of knew how to use it before, but now I am much better at it. What have you learned from Ms. Rhoads? What do you want to say to her?

What is ARTopia?

You are probably wondering "Why is this called ARTopia? What is that?" Well, the definition for the word utopia means "an imaginary place considered perfect or ideal". In the art room here at JHH, imaginations of student come ALIVE! So ARTopia is a perfect place to let your imagine run, and your creativity fly! It's where we can honor our creativity, meaning it's a place we create, reward, and respect our creative selves. We are always trying our best, and we respect the art of other classmates. How do you use your imagination? How do you honor your creativity? I can't wait to read your answers!