End of Year Art Show

Finally sitting down to post this (I'm slow, but that's no surprise).  I was going to have pictures, too, but those are on a computer 6 hours away, silly me.  It'll be at least 3 weeks, but I'll try to get the pictures up when I get home.

This year, Other Art Teacher and I decided to do a special 4th grade end of year show as the kiddos will be leaving us for the middle school next year.  In the end, it became not only an art show but a fundraiser for our art program.  This is how we set things up:

Art Teacher vs. Artist

When I was in college, the Art Education club tried to host a "Dinner with an Art Teacher" once or twice a year.  We would invite several nearby art teachers and all have dinner and then discuss a topic related to our field.  For one memorable meeting, we chose to discuss art teachers as artists.

It seemed that a commonality among art teachers was the apparent lessening of personal art making, even a complete cessation for some.  One guest speaker told us that she had gone for ten years without making any art--she told us she just couldn't find the time, energy, or inspiration to work on her own ideas.  After so much time had passed, she became interested in items she had found at a yard sale and began to photograph them.  It snowballed from there, and she became an active artist once again.  This led to a very lively discussion.  Why was art making left by the wayside?  How did they begin creating again and how did this affect their experiences in the classroom?

Week One

So, week one of my comics workshop.

It was kinda stressful but slowly got better.  Day one was by far the worst.  The kids in my workshop are by and large good kids, and I know most of them.  However, I do have some large personalities (and large voices).  That first day was kind of a nightmare, honestly.  One boy, who had some behavior issues last year--nothing bad--has been hit with fourth grade attitude.  He was all around loud and rude, and made more than one comment about cartoons being stupid (or something to that effect--it's kind of hard to remember thanks to being upset).  He and a few other kids were just plain obnoxious for the entire hour.

Workshops Aplenty

Every year, the entire school participates in something called "Brain-based Workshops".  These workshops are meant to stimulate our kiddos' brains and give them more focused support in certain subject areas.  Workshops range everywhere from mathematics to drama, depending on each teacher's choice.  I wasn't able to participate in this last year as I left in the afternoons to teach at the kindergarten, but I'm pumped up for it this year!

No Contest

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday (we all really needed the break, I'm sure)!

Other Art Teacher and I got the art show hung just before school let out for Thanksgiving and just in time for literacy night, so we had a lot of traffic through that hallway.  It was wonderful!  We were hearing a lot of feed back about how good our 1st and 2nd graders did and how great the hall looks with all that art up.  Our superintendent even got to see the kids efforts, which is pretty great I think.

Done and Done!

So I spent the last two days crawling around my floor mounting art for the 1st and 2nd grade art show; I am absolutely tapped out.  Because of certain issues, we (the other art teacher and I) mounted the artwork on large sheets of black bulletin board paper to be hung on the wall.The way I did mine meant working on the floor was easier than the tables. But I am sore, and my knees feel absolutely shredded.

But everything is hung and labeled now! Yay!  We've gotten a lot of positive reactions from teachers and students so far.  The older kids keep asking when they get to have an art show (it will be in the spring). I am very happy they're all so excited.

Overall, very pleased with how it all looks and the reactions.

Back in the Saddle! (Or at Least Trying to Blog Again)

When the new school year started, I had every intention of blogging on at least a semi-regular basis.  Alas, I have been lazy.  Of course, things have been rather busy...