I was able to spend some time yesterday afternoon installing over 100 more tiles to our existing tile wall in the cafeteria. I am thinking about framing out the wall but am not quite sure yet. Hopefully you will have time to pass through and see how large and pretty this installation is now.
"Make your mark and see where it takes you" is a quote by "The Dot" author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds.
I love the powerful messages in his books and read his stories each year. This year, we participated in International Dot Day by creating circular shapes with designs on simple construction paper with markers and/or oil pastels. We are now working to collage the designs together for a hallway display.
I love the hand drawn and cut shapes as much as the beautiful, individual designs that my students created as they are a reflection of how individual and special each artist is. So many students and staff members wore dots (or stripes) today as a visual reminder of Reynolds' quote. Being a Monday, I was impressed by how many members of our school community actually remembered. And the funny thing is that this message is a special one for adults as much as children. Have the courage to make a mark and see where it takes you.
Talk about a beast of a project! The Interactive Multi Media mural is nearing completion.
The mural will have 4 iPads load with student created digital books uploaded into them. My part was to create the display for these iPads. Here is part of the IMM mural team (my Principal, the media specialists and choral music teachers, Sam Berk and Ashley Garguilo TCNJ Art Students are not present)
There is a lot more to add to the display but we are glad to have things moving along towards our May 31 unveiling :-)
L-R: Teresa Nakra (TCNJ), Donna Costanzo(BT), John Kuiphoff(TCNJ), me, Ken, Neville, Ron (HVRSD Facilities)
Here is a picture of a mosaic that was made by a group of students who wanted to stay in at recess. We submitted it for the Township Arbor Day contest and received special recognition and a PIZZA PARTY!
We are very excited because when we completed this mosaic, we knew that we created something beautiful for our school...so a pizza party is icing on the cake!
A Bear Tavern 5th grader named Shea won 1st Place in the Arbor Day art contest. What awesome kids I teach.
I am looking forward to getting this mosaic back to Bear Tavern. (It is at the municipal building right now). It is definitely one of my very favorite pieces that we created.
Our 50th Anniversary exterior mosaic which consists of five, 3'x4' ceramic panels depicting events since 1962 has been a labor of love. Every single tile was handcrafted by my talented students in all grades including preschool and kindergarten.
The artsy staff at Bear Tavern have poured support into the project in so many way. Not only did they make their own fabulous tiles but have been there to offer advice, extra time filling in holes and general positive spirits.
Our Artist-in-Residence, Jessica Liddell, is pulling together all of the pieces. I am coordinating installation as you read this entry. She will return to grout when spring arrives.
Check back for updates on the final install and finished panels or stop by the main entrance to Bear Tavern sometime soon!
Update: April 16, 2013
There she is...Jessica Gorlin-Liddell our Artist-in-Residence installing tiles to fill in the spaces.
Here are the panels that the awesome HVRSD Facilities guys installed last week.
One of my very favorite Van Gogh paintings is 'Almond Branches'. The painting was a gift for his Nephew. I just love the thought of him creating this beautiful, floral painting for a boy and every time I see this painting, I think of my son. For as long as I've loved this painting and for the amount of time that I stood looking at it like a cliche of a museum-goer, it never struck me to do a project around it. Standing in the hallway at Bear Tavern looking at the space where we are to create a wildlife mural, I noticed these eight, drab looking panels in the space above and in between our mural destination. Something has to go there, but what? A sky?! Not a corny old sky! Then it hit me Of course not a corny sky, a sky that is beautiful, strong and delicate! Almond Branches in a sky! And there you have it!
It's circus week so my classes are a bit choppy. 3rd grade this morning only had art for 20 minutes. I promised our next project was a clay project so I didn't want to move on to something else or give a free art period. So, I spread out eight large pieces of paper and served them three scoops of paints and let them mix up the perfect blue sky. Wash the tables, wash your hands and on line for the assembly!
On comes 5th grade a few hours later. Same thing, but with slightly more time. Just enough that the half dozen or more hands that wanted to participate were able to enjoy painting the branches and flower petals.
I will hopefully be able to install some of these beauties tomorrow between lunch and the end of the day. Just can't wait!!
We have been so busy in the art room (what else is new!) that I have not posted as much recently. We have been working on a mosaic for our school to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Bear Tavern. We have been so productive creating tiles and working on art projects. It's been an incredible time and we are looking forward to completion!
I will blog mosaic results in the next few months.
I hope that many of you were able to see the fused glass window at the school Friday evening during the BT Circus. The window represents so many things to me that are important. The 4th graders worked individually to create their small glass tiles using all sorts of colored pieces of glass. Several staff members were able to create tiles as well to fill in the gaps. Our Artist-in-Residence, Jessica Liddell, fused the tiles in her kiln and returned the tiles arranged as a rectangular window.
Each tile is so beautiful. As a final piece, the combined beauty of the 91 tiles is easy to get lost in...easy to stand looking at the window with eyes traveling from each tile to tile feeling the power of it's beautiful glow. Each tile is different but has elements in common.
Director of HVRSD Facilities installing window
As young artists, my students have so much in common but so many different ideas on how to arrive at a final product. I like to think of my students as artists without a medium. They are still discovering all that art has to offer. Some are naturals with drawing or painting until they discover the possibilities of sculpture or duct tape. What an exciting thing.
The window was delivered on a Thursday afternoon and the Director of Facilities for Hopewell Valley installed the window for us personally. Having installed multi-million dollar stained glass window for some of the most expensive places, this installation was easy for him but no less important to us that we were not kept waiting for this installation. There is nothing worse to me than keeping beautiful art stored in a dark closet.
The Bear Tavern administration, staff, community and offices have been so supportive of our arts efforts. Every single time the window is passed, it will be a reminder that we are so fortunate to have the resources and support to be artistic and create meaningful pieces of art that make our school beautiful for all.
What:4th graders will learn to nip colored glass and arrange their pieces on to a clear glass tile following the designs of shapes and lines they create.
Each tile will be fused in the kiln and then arranged to create a permanent glass window installation at Bear Tavern to be admired for years to come.
Students will meet and work with Mrs. Gorlin-Liddell during art class. She is a Professional artist specializing in ceramics, murals and glass fusing. She works with numerous schools each year to create permanent school installations. She also teaches classes in her Philadelphia studio for children and adults.
I am surprised that I am up posting right now as today was an exhausting day. The kind of day I would not trade for anything but I am tired. The art room was double booked all day today and will be again tomorrow to make sure that all of my 1-5 grade artists are able to meet Will "Kasso" Condry, Muralist, to view him painting a mural in the art room "live" and to participate in a collaborative circle painting project that I am running. Busy, busy, busy. All that were in the art room today know one thing with certainty--->Will Condry is quite incredible. Before I fall asleep, here are a few photos from the day.
Update: June 28, 2013. This blog post has been VERY popular due to Pinterest and has generated thousands of page views for this blog since Dec. 2011. If you create a project inspired by this post, please share your results and link back! Have fun!
I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE THESE CIRCLE PAINTINGS
.....and now..... Kasso mural sneak peek...and he's not nearly done....
He painted in these expressive circles the "skeleton" for this section of the mural in minutes.
student asks a question to Will Condry while he paints
Starting next week and lasting for a few days, Will "Kasso" Condry, founder of S.A.G.E Collective, a group of phenomenal mural artists responsible for dozens of incredible exterior murals in Trenton, Philadelphia and New York will be working with a small group of students to develop ideas for a mural in the art room. Students and staff at Bear Tavern will have the opportunity to watch Mr. Condry paint the final mural live and insert the student created designs.
S.A.G.E Collective recently completed commission work in Hopewell, NJ on the Highland Farm during the Hopewell Tour Des Arts. See below for a video of the two days worth of painting!
We are looking to commission Mr. Condry and S.A.G.E Collective to do an exterior mural this spring and to bring the Bear Tavern students, staff and families together to assist with the painting-a true community project. Stay tuned...
I mentioned that all students would be able to view Mr. Condry painting live next week. While Mr. Condry is painting, we will be doing collaborative circle paintings.
I first learned of the Circle Painting organization a few years ago and love, love, love their work. The spiritual nature of circles/self coupled with working on a painting as a group is awesome.
Although the Circle Painting group is not coming to Bear Tavern (yet), we are going to do our own!
See below for a nice clip on Circle Paintings
Here are pictures of the ceramic Garden of Hope mural we put up at the end of October for Breast Cancer Awareness. All students helped to install the mural.
We're working on a mini ceramic mural roughly 12' x 4 'ft that all students @ Bear Tavern will help to assemble later this month.
The mural is dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness month and is in conjunction with the "mini walk" that Mrs. Overman is running. She has other activities planned but enlisted my help with the artsy part.
Here is a clay tag that 5th graders Julie, Anna and Tiffany made today. They will glaze it once it has been smoothed out and fired in the kiln. Nice job girls!
Here are photos of the tile wall installed in June 2011. Parents had the option of purchasing a tile to donate to the school to be permanently installed. Each tile has your child's art created for the Square 1 Art fundraiser. You will have the option again this Fall to purchase a tile for permanent installation. The location of the tile wall is outside of the cafeteria, heading towards the health office. There are roughly 70 tiles donated by grades 1-5.
