Moving digitally...

I created grade description panels that were framed and placed at the start of each grade level in our art show last week. I've been exploring various digital art and publication sites recently and decided to toss the panels (a PDF file) into issuu and send the "publication" out to families who weren't able to go to the show so they can read about what we've been doing. (I added a cover and an end page.)

Issuu is an online publication site. It's FREE, and it's really fabulous. Our school will have 6th and 7th grades next year (and 8th the year following), so I'd love to start a student magazine. This would be a great way to publish it!

Open publication - Free publishing - More art show

End of Year Exhibit!

The Arts & Enrichment Evening was smashing success! What a terrific turnout, in spite of a seemingly endless rainstorm that hit a couple of hours before the event and put us behind setting up the art work. The guys from Artome were fantastic, and I think seeing that truck roll in with all of my young artists' framed work was more exciting than most things I've experienced in quite some time! If you want a gallery experience for your art show, call these folks!

Here are a few pics from our show. Thanks to a co-worker who snapped photos for me!

5th/6th grade aisle

4th grade self-portraits (With 6th grade in background. The only snafu was that
the guys who packed the Artome truck didn't load enough displays. About 1/3 of
6th grade work had to be propped in chairs. I tried not to complain. It could have been much worse.)

5th grade self-portraits and Kandinsky color studies

Another 6th grade display.

Kinder artist with her watercolor painting (3rd grade pastels behind)

2nd grader with his warm/cool landscape (3rd grade behind)

1st grader with her watercolor painting (1st grade prints behind)

1st grader with his self-portrait (K/1st art work behind)

Kinder artist with her classroom teacher.

1st grader with her watercolor painting (2nd grade behind)

Arts & Enrichment Evening!

The Spanish teacher and I are putting together our 1st annual Arts and Enrichment evening, which will feature my end-of-year student exhibit, as well as crafts and a performance from his students. I can't wait! I'm working with Artome for the exhibit. This is the first time I've done a whole-school show, so it's been quite the undertaking. However, Artome makes it a lot easier than matting and framing everything myself. If not for them, I don't think I'd be doing this. I know there are art teachers who spend weeks (months??) preparing artwork and hanging, so I'm grateful for the help.

I had invitations printed through Vistaprint, and they'll be here Tuesday. (I've used this company for business cards before, and I used them for my creativity campaign posters earlier this year. Great quality, and I can't argue with the price for such professional products.)

Here's our invitation. If you're in South Florida on May 18, feel free to stop by!

Creativity Campaign!

Since this is my first year with all of my students (new school), my goal with every grade has been to encourage creativity and risk-taking. I'm on a serious crusade to get my young artists to loosen up and to delete the word "perfect" from their art vocabulary.

At the start of the school year, I challenged my 6th grade students to create a work of art incorporating this quote from cartoonist Scott Adams: "Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." We looked at various examples of designs that combine text and imagery, and then I set them loose. The motivation? One work of art would be chosen to be immortalized on posters and in other media promoting the visual art program at our school all year. I got some great entries, but the strongest, in my opinion, was this one: simple, well-designed, eye-catching, and it very successfully combines technique and text to illustrate the quote. (And everything was spelled correctly!)

Click to enlarge

Here's the poster I had printed up, which is now plastered all over the school. (LOVE Vistaprint!)

The students have really taken ownership of the program and are truly feeling like artists. I still have my non-risk-takers, but we're working on it. I plan to do this every year with a different focus. I'd love to have a very large collection of posters when I retire! :)

5th Grade Showcase

Awesome cake donated by a local restaurant

Because we are a magnet school of the arts, our third through fifth graders choose a focus class that they enjoy and want to explore more thoroughly. At the end of the year, all of the 5th grade Art majors have one work exhibited in a showcase at a local library. The reception for this year's exhibit was last week, so I thought I'd put up a couple of photos. A lot of the pictures have the kids in them, so here are a few shots of the show...just one wall of the library, but what a wall! :)

Congratulations to our graduating young artists! Thank you for your hard work this year. I hope you will all keep creating!