Random Mumble: I'm Sorry Mother Earth

I found myself outside, by the dumpsters at Bear Tavern today spray painting frames for our upcoming exhibition. How terrible- spray painting on Earth Day. 

The grass had black outlines. Those that know me know that I love Earth Day. 

Every year we do a huge project at school related to using recyclables in our collaborative murals. This year, we had to hold off on our garden mosaics for Earth 

Day due to PARCC test prep and testing. Fortunately, we will be able to get some mosaic time in tomorrow as the numbers will be lower at school for Take Your Child to Work Day.

The third grade teachers who are quite artsy offered the idea to work on the murals during this "lower number day" So, we will be beautifying our garden space tomorrow for a bit. Stay tuned!

Random Mumble: Hands off this Day of the Week

Every year, there's always a particular day where your classes never seem to meet normally. As always, this year, it's Monday. 

Between holidays and half days and whatever else, I am feeling very territorial about my Monday classes because I will barely see them this second half of the year!! Now we have snow on the horizon threatening to take what days I do have. 

Mumble, mumble. We're all in the same boat as Special Area teachers- just gotta roll with it- but it's tough!

Teen Studio= Best Night Ev

Last week began my first Teen Studio class.... it was a perfect mix of art making, laughter, candy, good conversation and reminiscing. We spent an hour and a half together creating slab lanterns and sculptural roses. I honestly couldn't tell you which project was more fun- they balanced each other so well. 

It was great working with current students and catching up with students I've had in school before. I enjoyed the special quality of seeing my girlz outside of school and in the beautiful studio space at The Painter's Loft Studio. 

Till Next week!

Random Mumble: Thanks Deep Space Sparkle!

I'm so tickled that the amazing Patty Palmer from Deep Space Sparkle featured my Cezanne lesson plan on her page this week!

With Cezanne's birthday on Monday, she did a post on "Cezanne Inspired Lessons". Patty is an incredible art teacher and blogger. 

Here's the link to her full post:

http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2015/01/16/happy-birthday-paul-cezanne/

Happy Thanksgiving

As I reflect on my blessings, being an art teacher is high up on my list. I feel so fortunate to be a part of a wonderful school community that has incredible people (students, staff, PTO and families alike) to make each day uniquely special. In the art room, we are excited and busy exploring art making together. It's the greatest thing in the world. We challenge each other to think about things differently while learning about each other. I absolutely adore my students and am thankful to have such great ones. 

Anime style turkey drawn at home by Sylvia, Grade 5

I hope that you all have a lovely Thanksgiving holiday- see you next week!

Cover Ox

Just had to say, "Aww, how sweet!"

I just saw the cover of this years BT school directory and it's Oxie on the cover! What a neat idea and great surprise for the day. Our PTO at Bear Tavern is so clever and creative. 

Lauren in the main office was excited to show me that on several of the pages there is a little snapshot of different parts of Oxie. 

Thanks again and again to the BTPTO for this cover spot. 

The Best Things in Life....

Great news for our school community today. We get to keep our Ox! The 5th grade committees from 2014 and 2015 worked together to fund the generous gift. Dexter Philip Oxford, III "Oxie" went for $1,700. What a huge gift!

A colleague just texted me that we won the ox and here's my response:

I do feel pride and relief that our ox will stay at home in front of the school but more so than that, I genuinely appreciate the connectedness of those in our school community who made this happen. I felt that the gift, was already given once I knew that the 5th grade committees were planning to bid on and win the ox. 

The bigger picture, the connectedness, is the real gift for me. Knowing that the painted ox meant enough for others to bid and win this piece of sculpture for our school. It means a whole lot to me. 

The best things in life are definitely not things...the best things in life are people...it's memories and being connected with those around us.

It looks as though all of the schools will be keeping their oxen as well. Huge relief for us all!

A special thank you to the 5th grade committee and Britt Dominick for making this happen for our school. 

Grade 5 half portraits and Clean Watercolors until January 6th...

My 5th graders are doing half portraits right now that are coming out pretty neat. They are doing a great job mixing skin colors using 2 or more different combined colors. More details on this lesson soon. 

We use a lot of different types of paints throughout the year interchangeably. Liquid Watercolors are a personal favorite but we frequently use tempera cakes in two varieties, liquid tempera, acrylic, mixing mediums and watercolor palettes. 

The watercolor palettes require the highest maintenance because they are smaller, more delicate and the wells are so close together. The lids are a perfect space for mixing colors BUT you have to clean them off. Usually we use plastic paint palettes for mixing colors for this reason. If the watercolors are, well, really watery and the kids close the lids and turn them in any direction, the paint runs to the lid and all over. You get the idea. Check out Exhibit A below.....

Two of my classes are using watercolors right now. They were so excited to use the new, 16 color sets. One student gasped seeing the beautiful new colors. I showed my classes the old watercolors and then the new watercolors and we discussed how to use and care for our brand new sets. 

The biggest difference in how we're handling the watercolors is in leaving them open to dry. My quality control checkers and I can take a peek at the watercolors at the end of the period to see how clean they look or where a little bit of attention needs to be focused. We set a goal of January 6th as the date we hope to keep our watercolors in new looking condition. Why January 6? Well, one student came up with the date as it's her birthday and is a few months away. 

It's early,  but so far so good. Here are the sets after 2 weeks of use by several classes.

Communal supplies are a true lesson in care and respect. Who knows, maybe our new watercolors will continue to look so until January 7th.... :)

Happy September!

Happy September and Welcome Back! So, it's 90 degrees here in New Jersey but the heat couldn't slow down the awesome start to the school year today. It was so great to see the Bear Tavern students excited for another year. Ten years ago I was a first year teacher. Time truly does fly. I think about those years, eight of which have been spent in public schools, in terms of the experiences and the faces. This school year, I can only think about my current 5th graders and how it was just yesterday that they were tiny first graders, had the cutest little smiles with two front teeth missing and how we used to sing songs while making art. Every single time, the sun would find a way through the window to those little, happy voices. And at the time, I remember always feeling pure joy from those moments because the rest of the world stopped. Any feelings of nerves that I had from being new to the building back then would just disappear. My 5th graders don't necessarily know what exactly those special times meant to me or that I even remember those little moments back in 2010.

Then

The hardest part about being an elementary art teacher is missing the kids when they move up to middle school. After seeing the kids grow and mature and become such talented artists over several years, it truly is tough not to see them daily/weekly anymore. It's so tough. So, I kind of see each class as a special moment because what other choice do I have?

...and Now.

I begin this school year feeling so glad to have the opportunity to teach art to such wonderful children. 

Weekend Mornings Inspired by van Gogh

Book of van Gogh's letters in hand with acrylics and brushes, I spent a few hours each morning this past weekend sitting at the kitchen table painting...for myself vs. a lesson plan... and it felt awesome. For those of you with young children, I am sure that you are familiar with how rare it can be to find time for hobbies. 

 I started out with 'Starry Night Over the Rhone" which feels more of like a painter's sketch vs. a full finished painting because it took such a short time to paint. With each brushstroke, I pictured Vincent outside, connected with nature painting for the pure joy and desire to just paint and live.

Step 1

Step 2..done

Sunday morning brought a more challenging sketch of just an Iris. Not quite finished yet.

Step 1

Step 1.5...not quite done

It's a Little after 9:00 am and My Day is Already Perfect

This morning was off to a bumpy start with traffic and accidents on 295. Honestly, I wish that I could have my very own lane on the highway. Large cup of tea, Coldplay on the radio and my very own lane to drive in. Well, it was quite the opposite on my commute in this morning but now the day is perfect. On my way down the hallway heading to my PLC meeting with a bagel, fruit salad and orange juice in my hands (perfect breakfast from our pot luck staff breakfast), I see a student waiting for me with two paintings in her hands.

I LOVE when my students create art at home and take the time to show me their work.

So I say "oh, zentangles, they are beautiful!" i asked her who made them (foolishly assuming that she came across these beauties and just wanted to show me..) and she replied "I made them over the weekend!"

H E A R T M E L T I N G

So forget my perfect breakfast after a rushed commute. Here in front of me I had one of my 5th graders showing me TWO pieces of art that she created at home that are BEAUTIFUL AND INSPIRED BY A CURRENT PROJECT. This student enjoying art enough to continue to create a current project at home (and on a piece of reused cardboard at that) is all that I can ask for. What a gift. Thank you Claire.

Grade 4: Moments I Cherish

It's that time of year when kids miss school due to illnesses. When they come back to school, they most always have catch-up work to complete. When they miss art, they miss a whole lot... a weeks worth in one day.

Last week, as my 4th graders in Mr. Belford's class moved on with their clay coil containers, I had a few students who were absent the week prior.
I had half of the class continuing to build into their coils and the other half that had finished and were ready to glaze their bisque pieces. My absent students needed me to explain the lesson but I had to distribute glaze colors to half of the class first.
So, I asked each of the students who needed a demonstration to ask a friend who had clay out to demonstrate for me until I was done with the glazes.

Well, lets just say that my 4th grade "teachers" did more than amazing job demonstrating. As I eavesdropped, the language used was accurate, it was caring, it was patient. Of course I grabbed my camera,

I went over to meet with the students who had missed my instruction and realized that there was not much more that I could add in to secure the concepts and understanding of how to build a coil container in a creative way.

It is those moments like those that I cherish. Life feels perfect when I see education at its best in moments that show me that my students can pass along information in this manner.

PD Mumble: 2014 Art of Ed Winter Conference

When I arrived home today, there was a box waiting from The Art of Ed! I opened the box as quickly as I would if it came from Anthropologie or another favorite store. 

Inside were some sample art goodies hand-selected by the Art of Ed Founder Jessica Balsley. 

 My favorites are a nice sized container of one of my favorite brands of ceramic glazes, Speedball.

Also, a copy of Scholastic Art that I never received, a funny button and a new product called "Playcolor". I really like the Playcolor but it's quite pricey :-(

Playcolor Sticks

The Art of Ed online conference is later on this month on a Saturday. My colleague Gillian Beck and I are getting excited about doing professional development from the comfort of our homes. It will be a neat experience considering that the Art of Ed blog is a well executed, wonderful resource for Art Educators. We are excited about what info will be shared and feeling the connection to some knowledgeable people.

For more info on the conference and to sign up ---> The Art of Ed

Mumble about Sinks

Despite having three wonderful, separate sink areas in the art room, my students and I all gravitate to the low sink at the right of the room. 

Today, at clean-up with my 4th graders who had major paint stuff to clean, I, out of the blue, assigned each of my three table "islands" their own sink. The helpers dealing with cleaning up all of the water containers received rights to the low sink. WOW! It was awesome. No traffic jams, no impatient hands washing hands over hands. And all three sinks were being utilized. I've always joked that it's funny how certain parts of a classroom (and our homes) are more lived in and it's tough to utilize all of the wonderful spaces, today was a success in that sense! mumble, mumble.

Low Sink

Other two sinks

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  I hope that this year is a wonderful one for all of you. Thank you for checking in to read Art Rocks! and being my audience as I chart all sorts of "art stuff". 

I am striving this year to explore art by locals and that is off the beaten path. While taking a walk in Upper Montclair before Christmas, I happened to take a short-cut and came across this beautiful mural. After doing a quick Google search, I found out that this mural was created over a year ago by students at Montclair State University. I am in Montclair quite frequently but never knew anything about this hidden treasure!

Seeing this mural made my day, just as this special holiday card made my day as the winter break started a couple weeks ago.

I am always happy to see children write "Art is the Best" and "Art Rocks!" and "Art is Cool" and "I Love Art". I don't think that I am patting myself on the back to say that my students write these phrases a whole lot because Art, independent of me, is all of those things.... and art is in every single child. It's truly in every person but buried deep in some.
I love my students a ton. In 2014, I look forward to continuing our journey exploring what they can create. I am excited to see their excitement as they realize again and again how talented they each are.

Thanksgiving Mumble: Feeling Especially Thankful

Today (and yesterday as well) we celebrated the completion of our ceramic lamps in Art Enrichment. It was a huge accomplishment for my students that I did not want to pass up so we celebrated with food and cheer. Have you toasted with 5th graders before? They are so spirited! And their lovely parents.... what a beautiful morning! 

When I began my art teaching career in 2004, I was a ceramics teacher at a high school. I was impressed by the level of projects that we completed back then. 

Today as I looked at the ceramic lamps that my 10 year olds made, I felt such excitement for my students and a sense of pride for them that is different than my normal level.

As an Educator, I feel extremely fortunate. I  have the best students. Children who I have watched grow beautifully over the past several years. Children who I see the world in and know that they are wonderfully smart and creative and special. Children who I believe in with all of my heart.  I have had parents at the schools I've taught in (especially at my current school) who I could talk to for hours and hours if afforded the chance. My colleagues at Bear Tavern make each day wonderful and my Principal is phenomenal. 

As an educator, the joy is always in the challenge of creating experiences that are positively memorable. In my quest to make these experiences, I have found that I, in turn, have been so blessed over so many years. In my first couple years of teaching, naturally I felt blessed because of how happy I was to have a great job with wonderful students. As that newness of being "an art teacher!" faded, I began to feel blessed beyond measure.... my heart glows in a way that can only be understood after teaching for a while and in different capacities. 

Through my journey with my students in Hopewell Valley to my experiences teaching at Grounds for Sculpture, camps and private organizations, I just love being an art teacher and am so thankful.

I hope that all of you are counting your blessings and enjoy this American holiday with the people you cherish. Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for reading this blog.

Mumble about a Friend

A friend of mine recently started teaching art for the first time and I am so excited for her.
When you have the chance to love what you do and "do what you love" it's such a great way to be.
I am also happy because my instincts served me right and she will be an incredible teacher. When teaching is your calling and you can make a difference in the lives of others, it doesn't get better.
Van Gogh is one of the most beautiful minds to grace the art world. This landscape of his "Wheat Fields at Auvers under Clouded Sky" is a dedication in this post to my friend and all new art teachers who have found their calling. Love every moment for in every moment there is a lesson that will take you further on your beautiful path.

Summer Moments I Appreciated the Most

I have to say, this summer was one of the shortest on record. Naturally, I enjoyed spending extra time with my family and friends but as an art teacher, there were a few moments this summer that I really needed to have.

Last school year I burned myself out. Not literally but I did feel so exhausted from having such an incredibly busy/wonderful school year. It was my own fault because our school had so many wonderful events that I couldn't help but be a part of. We celebrated our 50th anniversary and really went all out,
a   l   l     y  e  a  r     l  o  n  g with exhaustive preparation. Outside of the classroom, I worked on 16 different projects. Yes, I was crazy....in love with each project.

Mural after mural, field trips, art contests, art shows and exhibitions, technology projects, Earth Day, fundraisers. It went on and on all year.

Feeling exhausted for most of July, I decided that I would have to be a stronger person immediately. My weakness is that I am easily inspired by amazing art, concepts and ideas. I like to figure out how to make things work and I like to do it in the company of others.  It will be a forever challenge but while feeling "burned out" you start to wonder if the energy, time, effort and sweat is worth it.

I took a workshop at Grounds for Sculpture at the very end of July and literally scared the instructor with my creation...he could not look at it for long it's that hideous. What can I say, I was thinking about Halloween art projects! I think this scary face that I created out of clay was a reflective piece. The other adults were sculpting friendly faces and animals and then there was this thing I made.....












The moments that I experienced in the month of August came unexpectedly

While at Art in the Park, a camp of guest artists, a Bear Tavern parent said to me "I am so glad you're here this week..."
For those of you fellow teachers reading, you may or may not appreciate the value of those words to a recently recovered burned out teacher but the value in such a candid comment caught me by surprise.
I actually had to digest and process the words. When I did finish my processing (hours later) those words became engraved in my heart for the timing and sincerity of them.

Then I led my groups through creating self-portraits and felt my heart swell as these students did an incredible job.




Again, unexpectedly, I felt myself feeling energized by the art and by the kids enjoying the process of creating. Many of the kids I had taught before and had not seen in a few years so it was great to see how wonderfully they were maturing.

notice the vintage Bear Tavern t-shirt

Art in the Park was a phenomenal week. I met some great people and reconnected with many. I went off to Florida and when I came back to Bear Tavern, another unexpected moment came to be. While giving a tour to some new teachers, my Principal says something along the lines of "And there's the Art Teacher, every staff member finds their inner artist (or becomes an artist) after stepping foot in this building".

feather project found on pinterest

Maybe I'm being mushy but how nice!
So all in all, I learned from these moments that I don't necessarily need to be a stronger person. I have all the strength I need and any bit that's missing I find in the support and company of the many around me.
Besides seeing my students in a couple of weeks, I am looking forward to seeing my colleagues and the parents that have been such a tremendous support.