I'm in a New York State of Mind!

Tomorrow is the start of the National Art Education Association's annual convention in New York City and I am going! This will be my 4th trip to the NAEA convention (I went to it NYC in '06, New Orleans in '08 and Baltimore in '10 which I also presented at) and I could not be more excited!!! The four-day convention includes over 1,000 participatory workshops, panels, seminars, discussions, exhibits, tours and keynote addresses by world-acclaimed educators, artists, researchers, and scholars. It is THE BEST opportunity to connect with other art teachers from all over the world and I have come back from every convention energized, excited and armed with dozens of new project ideas- I CAN NOT WAIT! There are also really great opportunities to try out new state-of-the-art materials to advance visual art instruction in our schools, which is pretty cool. I am most looking forward to the talk on Saturday by noted artist Chuck Close... I am bringing my book of prints by him to see if I can get it signed! And, I already have a lesson idea to potentially do using his artwork as inspiration when I get back!

Another WAY COOL thing about this convention is that one of my student's paintings was selected to be in The Big Screen Plaza art show! The Big Screen is a giant 30 x 16 ft. outdoor LED screen in midtown Manhattan  that showcases artistic talent for visitors to view and appreciate. During the NAEA convention, the Big Screen Plaza will be showcasing artwork from NAEA art teachers. We were invited to submit only one of our student's pieces of artwork and I chose to submit one of the Wayne Thiebaud-inspired paintings of pies (see below). There will be over 6,000 art teachers at the convention, but there are only 500 pieces of student work selected for the Big Screen Plaza show… and hers was chosen as one of them! The work is supposed to be on display within the slideshow at approximately 7:07pm on both Friday and Saturday. OF COURSE, I am going to make sure I am there by the screen to take a photo of her work as it is displayed.

Islamic Tile Design Printmaking

In the Muslim world, every aspect of daily life is considered to be art- furniture, rugs, dishes, fabrics. Muslim artists do not try to imitate nature but concentrate instead on conveying what nature represents. So, almost all Islamic art is made up of complex abstract patterns that create a sense on unending repetition. For Muslims, geometric patterns reflect the language of the universe and all geometric patterns are developed within a circle, the symbol of unity.

Inspired by their recent study of Islam in History/Geography, fifth grade art students began this project by creating a radially symmetrical design on graph paper. They transferred their designs onto a small rubber block, carefully carved the negative space using a special tool called a gouge, and then printed them repeatedly on paper of their choosing. First, here are a few photos of the printing process:

 

 

 And the final work:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These Shoes Were Made for Drawing!

Third quarter sixth graders drew their own shoes during their first real "observational drawing." It was a bit stinky in the art room with all of the shoes off (!), but students did a fantastic job creating realistically rendered three-dimensional looking drawings....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BSA Show

The Spring student show, a comprehensive exhibition of work from all levels and all studios, is currently on display at Baltimore School for the Arts now through May 4th. The opening reception was this past Friday afternoon and I had the pleasure of going to see two of my former Calvert art students who graduated in '08 and '09 who had several impressive pieces of work on display. If you have a chance to go, you should! The work is incredible! 712 Cathedral St., corner of Cathedral and Madison...

Empty Bowls

Empty Bowls is a fundraiser that benefits the programs of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore. At Empty Bowls, guests choose a hand-crafted ceramic bowl and enjoy a soup and bread meal, while learning about hunger and homelessness in the Baltimore area.  Guests keep the bowl as a reminder that there are people in our community struggling to find their next meal.  This fundraiser helps to raise awareness of hunger and homelessness, as well as raise needed funds.  This year, at this 6th annual event, over 1,500 people are expected to attend, so the organization is in need of at least that many donated ceramic bowls! Calvert School 6th graders are sculpting and glazing bowls this month in advisory to show their support for those suffering from the effects of poverty in the Baltimore community. Here are some photos of Day 1 of bowl creation!

Good Enough to Eat!

In this ceramics project, eighth graders used various sculpting techniques to create these mouthwatering sculptures of their favorite foods. Students were challenged to create an interesting arrangement on their plates by overlapping items and to add realistic details in clay and with glaze. As you can imagine, this display is causing quite a stir around here and all the younger students are asking, "Is that food REAL!?!"