Feeling the Turkey Break A Comin’

Got through the first nine weeks and still pushing. There have been some ups and downs, the downs have been minor or brushed over with words of confidence from my team. The group at this school is really great. Very open and ready to lend an ear to hear venting and actually offer help. Really super nice to have.

So we start with Art 1 working on Cubist style portraits with the help of a dice roll to determine shape of eyes, nose, mouth ears, and even the shape of the head. Shout out to Mat Grundler for the idea. The kids then took their ideas to paper and practiced using oil pastels. Note to self. Put newsprint down under drawing paper to minimize clean up.

After their drawings they begin the construction of their clay slab. “Score. slip, stick, smooth.” The construction went off with only a few hiccups, mostly due to not having enough slabs ready. Tried to use recycled clay.

As the slabs are in the kiln, I turned to an extension activity prepping for Halloween. Exquisite Corpse. Each student draws a different section of the paper and body without knowing what the others have drawn. Very strange and funny.

In between classes I judged the bookmark contest that the librarian had put together.

One of my 8th graders talking / mentoring a 6th grader who hangs out in my room in the morning. Just something I love to see. Glad that I can have that kind of space.

Ok so I’m still finding supplies stored in a very sad state. To quote my BFF from college. “Really, really, this is what we going to do with ink?” Miss you something fierce Rebecca S.

As I learned from them drawing portion, paper down makes for easy clean up. All the work is out of the kiln and the kids are going to town on these faces.

Using a little water and the latex gloves we have been hoarding for years, I stained all of the artworks with India ink to bring out the intense colors of the oil pastel. A little science in the art room. Oil and water don’t mix. But work well to create an awesome result.

Some of their work before the ink bath.

Finished work is truly way beyond what I was expecting. Time to raise the bar!

Moving an Art 3D assignment to Art 1 to see what they can do. Well amazing!

Word Sculpture using a word to describe yourself.

End of first progress report for 2nd nine weeks. Classroom full of kids trying to get it done, work ahead, or just hide out.

Now getting ready for science fair. These kids needed a studio to create a new ROV to clean the house. I kind of feel like I’m the Myth Busters lab of Otto Middle School. Way cool.

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2 Comments

    michele kidson

    5th Nov 2018 - 10:12 pm

    wow, love the cubist work and the 3-d pieces! fantastic projects and great engagement of growing minds!

    jodypaynesays

    6th Nov 2018 - 12:48 am

    It’s a joy to see young faces so intent on creating. You may believe you are teaching them to understand and enjoy art. What I see is that and more. Learning to submerge your attention away from the world and into creativity and imagination will take these people far. Well done!

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