Anniversary Winners

Happy Anniversary to meeeee!!!

My librarian just selected the winners for my First Annual Anniversary Giveaway to my loyal followers. Drum roll please....

1. megy630
2. Mrs. DeMint
3. The Modern Art Smock

I'll be contacting you soon via email to ask you what you would like for your prize! If you haven't signed up as a follower yet, please do so! If this goes well, I hope to repeat the experience when I get to 50 followers and every new 25 followers or so after that...

I still have pix to post of 3D Middle School (Gr 6-8) artwork over the weekend so stop back soon!

Ceramic Artwork from our K-5 Schools

Couldn't wait to show you all the great ceramics that are being shown during our current District art exhibit...

Isn't this just grand?

Clay whistles were popular with more than one teacher this year. For any small sculptures or jewelry, some teachers teachers use a plexiglass 'box' over the projects to discourage theft...

I'm not sure how these fellows are constructed - they're new this year - but I'll have to find out because they look great!

Never get tired of seeing these cute houses...

These face jugs were just wonderful - each and every one was so unique and had such expressive personalities. I also like the limited palette of only 3 colors...

One of my Wabi Sabi pots...

These ceramic lidded boxes were new this year & were a favorite of many...

And now for dessert...

3D Artwork from our K-5 Schools

I found a lot of inspiration from the 3D tables at our annual district art show.
We're fortunate that every school has a kiln so there is always a good sampling of ceramic projects. In this post, I'll concentrate on the non-ceramic 3D.

We had some Chihuly sculptures, paper mache and ...well, here are some pix:

This is a gorgeous quilt done for a classroom teacher by her students while in art class. My art colleague had the students each complete one square and sent it home w/the classroom teacher for sewing and quilting.

Aren't these fun? Simply done in felt with applique and blanket stitching around the edge...

One of the most colorful tables - love those Chihuly sculptures...

Fun masks made with aluminum tooling and permanent markers...

Fancy 'glasses' made with layers of paper mache...

Hope you enjoyed these...I work some fantastically creative & talented colleagues, don't you think?

1st Anniversary GIVEAWAY on the 29th for my followers...

More Samples of 2D Artwork ...Middle School Style

Here are some pix of the AMAZING artwork created by our middle school (Gr. 6 - 8) artists...

Portrait collage using marker and construction paper...

Note: Some of the exhibit panels are covered by sheets of plastic to protect the work so please pardon the glare you may see...

A variety of papers were used to create this self-portrait...

This gorgeous frog was small (about 5" x 8") and wonderfully done in Prismacolor pencils...

Pencil work...

Illuminated letters, again done in prismas...

Another portrait...

Collagraph self portrait...

Hope you've enjoyed the 2D work - up next 3D!

Don't forget the GIVEAWAY this Friday, the 29th, for a lucky follower(s).

Samples of 2D Artwork from '11 Art Show

In my last post, I talked about our annual Art exhibit.

In this post, I wanted to share some pix of my favorite 2D artworks from the displays of my colleagues at K-5 schools...

Next up will be 2D work from the 6-8 Middle schools that always inspires me to push my 5th graders a little bit more...

Our Annual Art Show

We have an annual District Art Exhibit which includes all 23 schools in our K-8 urban district. This year our show runs from April 18th - May 10th.

We display at the local shopping mall. Each school has a 6-sided panel (3' x 6' panels, hinged together) to display 2D work and an 8' foot table for 3D work.

The panels are set up inside by one of the main entrances to the mall and down the center aisles by stores.

Tables with the 3D artwork are arranged together in an open area.

There are awards given - one Best of School along with 1st through 4th place ribbons (5 of each). Teachers work in pairs to judge each others work. Later a team of 3 judges - not affiliated with the District - award Best of Show ribbons for 2D & 3D in different age categories.

I send parent letters home with every student whose work was included - this year we had a total of 101 2D & 3D artworks. An award ceremony is held on the last night of the show at one of our schools for those winning Best of Show, Best of School and 1st prizes so letters go out to those specific students as well. Those honored receive 'prizes' of art supplies.

I'll be posting some of the 2D and 3D work that caught my eye at this years' show over the next few days.

Stop by the blog There's a Dragon in My Artroom to learn how other bloggers organize their shows...

One Year Anniversary Giveaway

My first anniversary as a blogger is coming up at the end of the month. Woo Hoo! Pretty good for an ADD'er to stick with something for a WHOLE year, right?!!!

In honor of this momentous occasion, I'd like to have my first giveaway(s) for my followers - I appreciate your support immensely! If you're a frequent visitor but haven't already signed on as a follower - hurry!

My kiln room and project drawers are stuffed w/project examples - some teacher-created and some from students who have moved. I have extra Wabi Sabi pots, fish sculptures, coil pots, Kumihimo braidings, DuBuffet self-portrait of yours truly, radial symmetry, etc. Thought this would be a good way to clean out some of the extra stuff.

The names of my followers will be placed in a container, shaken thoroughly and drawn by the school librarian who so generously accepts my most grievous behavior issues for timeout. Drawing will be held on April 29. Good Luck!

Storyteller Progress

Some classes are finished constructing their storyteller sculptures...

A week or two to dry and bisque fire then we can begin to paint. I'm thinking I'll keep them to a limited palette of browns, black, white and maybe turquoise...

And another view...

I think the animal figures have turned out much better than the human figures this year...

but we'll see what happens after the bisque firings...hopefully there will be no explosions or other surprises in store for me!

Vaseline is a Good Friend of Mine

As I was frantically trying to complete my glazing on Friday for a weekend firing, I made sure to get out my trusty jar of petroleum jelly!

I learned years ago to coat the inside of any lid that would need to be opened and reopened with a dollop of pj.

I use it on my glaze jars and also my student glue bottles which I have to refill several times a year.

I never got the hang of using Elmer's glue bottles - those orange twist applicators always became clogged or jammed for me. I use refillable 6 oz. clear plastic bottles and teach the kids how to use a push pin to open a clogged nozzle (vs. the scissors or pencil that they prefer to use...).

For my younger kids (K-2), I use a separate set of bottles and replace the nozzle cap with the tap n glue lid.

It's great when only a small amount of glue is needed. You'll need to teach them how to press down while moving the bottle to release the glue because otherwise they will s-q-u-e-e-z-e with all their strength and nothing will come out!! It's a great way to save on glue...

Musings

Is it Friday finally? We had a week full of state testing so 16 out of 29 classes were canceled. Instead of teaching those 16 classes, my awesome talents were used to provide restroom breaks for classroom teachers who were confined inside their rooms. Since I didn't get my usual preps, I had to work late every night to mat & label over 50 2D projects for our District art show which starts on Monday. Stayed 'til 6 tonite (thanks for helping Jo!) to get everything stapled to our six-sided panel and wrapped up for my custodian to deliver to our mall (right across the street!) on Monday morning.

The last of my 3D is getting fired in the kiln as I write this. Most every day this week I was unloading & loading the kiln before and/or after school. Since so many of my classes were canceled, the kids didn't have the opportunity to glaze their pots in time for the Art exhibit. We were just going to dip & glaze anyway, so I chose a few of the better constructed pieces & dipped them myself. Hopefully they won't hate me forever for depriving them of those precious 60 sec of getting messy...

Second grade fish sculptures required the personal touch, so since I DID get to see 2 of those classes on Thursday morning, I chose about 6 kids from each group that showed potential for excellent craftsmanship and had them spend lunch recess completing the work the last two days. Hopefully, when I open the kiln on Monday morning, the results will look great...

In addition to canceled classes, Potty Pal duty, completion of projects and exhibit displays, I had a meeting with a staff member early in the week who is in charge of our Intervention program. She & 3 classified staff work with small groups of kids that are far below grade level. Unfortunately, her initial schedule meant that about 40 - 50 kids would miss most of their specials (30 min of the 45 min class). However she was receptive to my offer for help in 'tweaking' the schedule - we did what we could and after meeting w/the principal this afternoon to get more support for the toughest changes, looks like all but a handful will get most or all their specials back... WOO HOO!!

Next up - taxes...

Let the Glazing Begin!

My first graders were ready to glaze their animal sculptures this past week.

Before unleashing them, I had a discussion about the differences in the clay during the firing process. They observed examples of clay in the 3 stages of greenware, bisqueware and glazeware.

(L to R) glazeware, bisqueware and greenware

We compared the color of the clay (gray to pinkish white to yellowish white), the finish (dull to shiny) and how the clay felt (smooth, rough, smooth) in the various forms.

Before handing them their sculptures, I dip the bottom into hot wax to prevent the glaze from getting on the bottom. It cools almost immediately so no worries! I use an old crockpot whose glass lid broke.

Wax resist solution can cost $11 a pint and up depending on the vendor (I would need several pints for 29 classes) but for about the same cost I can get enough canning wax (about 3 - 4 boxes, found in most grocery stores where canning supplies are sold) to do all my clay projects for the year - Can you hear the savings? Cha-Ching!