Japanese-Inspired Art

The first grade classes at my current school recently completed a gorgeous cherry blossom project. It had some similarities to one I'd done in the past, with both 8th graders and preschoolers. I came here to look up the pictures and realized I'd never posted them! When I dug them out, I came across a happier surprise - the last time I did the cherry blossom project, I displayed it with a printmaking project I came up with on my own - and really like, as it teaches students about three different types of printmaking, requires the students to take care in their craftsmanship, and can be done without a ton of special printmaking supplies. 

Back? Now with bulletin boards!

A two-year blogging gap is no big, right?

I've been working as an extended-day instructor for preschool students at a wonderful private school in Northern Virginia for the past two years. While I have loved the experience, I'm happy to say that - starting this month - I'm the new assistant art teacher for K-8th grade! One of my new duties was to fill the display space near the front office and since we don't have student work to show off yet, I decided to fall back on my illustration skills and love of art history.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

This was a summer of change. I got back from a long trip and immediately found out my parents had sold their home of 30 years. I traveled down to Virginia to help them pack up, while meanwhile, I continued to search for a new apartment in New York. Long story short... I was not able to find one, after three months of searching, (literally) hundreds of e-mails, and phone calls and about a dozen in-person interviews. I managed to get a sublet for September, but at the end of the month, I was forced to make a tough decision - to resign from my job (it's harder to teach when you're homeless) and leave New York.

First Annual Art Show!

Saint Ann's first school-wide art show was a success! For a while, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to pull it off. I came in on my day off in order to organize and mat everything. But the issue was hanging all the artwork between the end of the school day and the show - a two hour window! Luckily, I had some great students helpers, who made hundreds of tape loops and helped everything come together just in time for the other students and parents to arrive.

First Grade van Goghs

 

First grade has been focusing on Vincent van Gogh during the month of February. Older kids tend to remember van Gogh as "That guy who cut his ear off!", so instead, I introduced the class to his art through the book The Starry Night by Neil Waldman. We discussed the concepts of fiction (fantasy) and nonfiction (reality) and I told the kids that while Vincent van Gogh was a real artist who lived and died many years ago, this fictional story imagines what might happen if van Gogh visited New York City today. This first grade class is particularly large and loud, so instead reading the book to them, I'd made a video of it to show on the SmartBoard. Yay, technology!

Fairy Tale Portraits

Water-Based Marker Prints