So proud of my young artists!

Our Muse Club Nativity

 

During October and early November, fifteen members of the Incarnation Muse Club met before and after school to create this lovely crèche for the University of Dayton's annual Christmas crèche exhibit. This was the first time that area students were invited to participate and have their work displayed along with the university's extensive collection of multi-cultural Nativity sets. The work has been on display since Thanksgiving weekend and I will finally be bringing it "home" to share with the school community.

 

Ready for the kiln!

We loved our cute little sheep!

The Three Wise Men

The Holy Family

Our Angel and Cherubs







So much work and so many hours...but so worth it! The fifteen students, all in grades 6-8, were an impressive team, doing every bit of the work from building and glazing the figures to designing and painting the backdrop, on their own time before and after school. The reception at the University of Dayton in November was especially sweet when the awards were announced...and this creative team won the Marian Award for their artistic vision and creativity!

 



 

OMG! Is it August already???

After responding to a FB post from the NAEA Elementary Division inviting art teachers to post their blog URLs, I decided to create a post to get the new school year started, and was rather stunned to see that my last post was from way back in February. I know it was a rough winter, with way too many missed days, but I had no idea how much time had passed!

So here is a quick recap of the past school year...

The year began with my very sparkly, clean art classroom in mid- August and ended with piles of debris outside the door as I spent several days after school was out purging every closet and corner of the room.

In between there were art shows....

 

Clay projects in the repaired kiln...

Weavings and fabric paintings...

iPad adventures...

 

Drawing....and painting....and so much more!

 

 

And now we're back where we started...another summer coming to an end and another school year set to begin in just a few days. 

iPads and Matisse in Grade 4

 

 

One of the perks of teaching art in a STEM school is the availability of technology. In December, I got a classroom set of iPads. I did have nine iPads at the beginning of the school year, which was great, but having one for every student really opens the door to so many new and exciting possibilities for my students.

 

In December, my first graders used the iPads and the Art Doodles app to learn about Henri Matisse and then create Christmas-themed cut out collages. That was fun, but I wanted to take the lesson a step further with my fourth grade students. They first used Art Doodles to create their image, then saved it to their photos. The challenge was to recreate their image using a 6-inch square of construction paper, colored paper scraps, and a pair of scissors.

 

Day 1: After an introduction to Matisse and his work, the students used Art Doodles to create their images.

Day 2: Recreating the image using cut paper

 

Day 3: Finishing up

 

 

On the third day, some students needed a little time to finish their cut paper collages. After that, everyone set up their iPad with the artwork and we had a "walk around exhibit". There was a lot of good conversation among the students as they noted color and design changes and talked with each other about why these changes were made.

 

 

After the walk around, a few students added a few  more details to their work, but most of them were happy with the end result and ready to move on to something new. Success!