Saturday, April 16, 2016

What the Art Teacher Wore #160

 Clay Week Monday, Here We Go!: Since we are studying the food-sculpture artist Peter Anton and making our own food sculptures, this Modcloth number seemed totes appropriate. sweater: Buffalo Exchange; dress: ModCloth; belt and crinoline: Amazon; tight: Target; shoes: Aldo

I shared with y'all earlier this week that it was Clay Week up in my art room. In preparation, I spent my weekend filming videos...which made for a less-than-relaxing weekend. But, in the end, it made for a much easier Clay Week experience! I'm so glad I did it. For each lesson, I shared an intro to Peter Anton, our artist inspiration for our food sculptures. Then I jumped into our clay lesson. For my 30 minute first and second grade classes, that meant I showed them the first phase of the sculpture. At the end of the 30 minutes, they bagged their project and completed it the following art classes. For my 60 minute classes with third and fourth grade, I would share with them the first half of my video, allow them time to work and then have them meet me again on the floor for the second half of the video. This allowed them to not become overwhelmed with directions. 
The best part about sharing the videos was that it allowed me a little time to breathe and prep. As y'all know, clay lessons can be taxing. This video freed me up to wedge clay (lil known secret: just put the leftover clay back in the back with some water and smack the back on the floor several times. Viola! Wedged!), cut clay and prep supplies. My master plan is to film many videos this summer to have ready for the new school year. Stay tuned!
 Clay Week = Comfy Week: When picking my clothing out in the mornings, I was all about the stretch jersey, y'all. AND washableness. Clay is so stinkin' dusty that I just knew I'd be covered. So wearing dry-clean-only/hand-wash-whateverness was not gonna happen. top: Buffalo Exchange, originally from Forever 21; dotted dress and tights: Target; shoes: Aldo
All week long I heard, "I love clay", "I want to be a clay creating person when I grow up...what's that a called again?", "Thank you for letting us work with clay!" It made me realize that I need to provide more than just one week of clay for these kids...so next year, I plan to do clay week in the fall and the spring!
 All the Emojis, All at Once: Not gonna lie, telling kids whom I normally allow to work on projects for extended periods of time that they have ONE DAY AND ONE DAY ONLY to complete their project is a lil stressful. Both for me and the artists. So I was feeling all the emojis, all the time. Happy! Rushed! Surprised! Annoyed (DID YOU REALLY JUST THROW THAT CLAY LIKE A BALL?!). You get the pitcher. top and jean jacket: Buffalo Exchange; skirt: Target; tights: Amazon
This is what our tables looked like on MONDAY. By Friday, those paper coverings were trashed. I spent my Friday throwing them away, cleaning all the clay tools and putting them up and just de-clay-ifying my entire art room. Whew! It felt so good to get all that dust outta there!
 Thursday, Don't Make Me Cut You: While I did love me some Clay Week, it truly was a looooong week. Holy Smokes! You don't even wanna know how many days this week I woke up thinking it was Friday. Only to discover...well, you know the rest. sweater: thrifted; top: Urban Outfitters; skirt: ModCloth; tights: Target; boots: Aldo
I'm sure y'all have your own methods for teaching clay. I learned everything I ever needed to know about teaching clay to children from Danielle McDaniel, aka The Clay Lady. If you aren't familiar, I strongly recommend you check out her books, supplies and videos. She is FABULOUS!
 I Ain't Too Proud, Friday: A coupla weeks ago, a sweet kindergarten student of mine wore this amazing jacket. I was all, "oh my word, where did you get that?!" To which she replied, "I dunno, my grannie got it for me". You better believe I checked the label of her coat. I immediately went home and looked up GapKids and found this jacket...in the biggest size I could get it. It's still pretty snug but I'm a lil on the small side up North with the chest of a 12 year old so it works for me! dress: altered by me. It was too short so I added the leopard print jersey; belt: Amazon; boots: Frye; jacket: Gap Kids; necklace: Anthropologie
I mean, right?! I had to have it! Granted, I coulda made it but...I currently don't have time to do squat diddly so I decided to treat myself. It's good to do that once in a while (and by "once in a while" I mean thrice daily). xo!
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Wednesday, April 13, 2016

In the Art Room: My Favorite Clay Lessons

Well, y'all, I gotta tell ya. It's been a long, exhausting but super fun and exhilarating week. Which can only mean one thing: Clay Week! I started doing a week of clay for the entire school a coupla years ago and now that we have it all down pat, we ain't never going back. The only thing I plan to change for next year: do two separate clay weeks, one in the fall and one in the spring. The kids love clay so stinkin' much that I want to give them more opportunities to explore! 

I spent this past weekend filming clay demo videos that I've been sharing with each of my classes. I did this for a couple of reasons: 1. it's so hard to demo clay and insure that each child can see. 2. I don't forget any of the details or get distracted by raised hands, talker-outers or whatever randomness that causes me to get off track and 3. the kids pay so much more attention to Television Stephens than Fur Realzies Stephens (which I take offense to but whateves). I've not added these videos to my YouTube channel yet because I'm too tired, y'all! Instead I thought I'd share with you my favorite clay lessons (with links to each lesson!) of all timez.

IN OTHER NEWS (by the way, if you know me even for a second, you know that "in other news" is my fave segue to totes off-topic-town), I've been keeping secrets from y'all. It's time I let the big ole cat outta the bag: I've been working with Quarry Books...and I'm writing a book! That's right! AND it's all about...clay! So...in case you noticed that the DIY's on this here blog have pretty much dried up to nothing that's because my weekends have been spent working on el book-o. I've been keeping it kinda on the down low because I didn't want to get too excited lest Quarry find out what a crazy I am and back outta the deal. But it would appear that they are in it to win it and so am I. I'll keep y'all posted...but I just had to share. 

AND NOW, back to my fave clay projects!
When it comes to Clay Week, I do love to have a theme. This helps with the teaching as I can reference the same visuals. It also helps when we put together the art show as there is a real cohesiveness to it all. The clay display is always in my art room. It looks so nice to see all of these thematic projects together! One of my favorite lessons for an Asian theme were these Painted Indian Elephants inspired by my art teacherin' buddy Debbie Flynt. Each one was so colorful and unique!
Another hit, especially with the kids, were these Chinese Dragons by my third grade students! So much creativity and imagination went into each and every one that this was def a kid fave. 
Pandas are so stinkin' cute. We've taken to watching Animal Planet's Panda Cam in my art room (along with puppy, kitten and otter cam...y'all, it's seriously the best thing ever). My fourth graders had a blast making these Pandas with Personality for our Asian theme. 
Because our art show is in the spring, I settled upon spring with an emphasis on Monet's Waterlilies one year! My fourth graders created these frogs with so much spunk and personality that they really were a true reflection of the young artist! 
Kindergarteners are a freakin' joy to do clay with as they absolutely love every minute of it! While we were working today, I heard so much laughter, happiness and discovery that it just made my day. We created these textured butterfly wallhangings to go along with our spring theme. 
Opening my kiln to these pretties, I remember letting out a squeal! They were so colorful and spring-like and the third grade had a blast making them. 
My favorite projects are the ones where the kids just go bananas with little details and creativity. That's what my second graders did with these cute and fun waterlilies.
One year, our theme was animals because we "sold" our creations back to our parents (for a donation) which we turned over to a no-kill humane society. This was a fun experience for the kids to see the power of being kind and art! My kindergarten and first graders created these sweet Pinch Pot Pets
My second graders used two pinch pots to create their own version of Pinch Pot(s) Pets! I love all the variety of ideas in this lesson. 
My fourth graders created these fun cat and dog sculptures. I love to encourage silliness and imagination in their works so that they really explore making a simple idea like a cat or dog their own. Again, this was a hit with kids and parents! 
Second grade created these tigers one year that double as a container. There's a pinch pot on the back of each tiger that was flipped upright to be used as a bowl! Our mascot is the tiger so this was a great tie-in with school pride as well as keeping with our animal-loving theme. 
And now for a batch of randoms. These fish were not tied to a theme but super cute. I love that clay can be a great vehicle in teaching texture. Such was really emphasized in this textured fish lesson for first grade!
Wall hangings can be a fun alternative to sculpture when working with clay. It's often difficult for the young kids like kindergarten town to create standing sculptures. So, with a focus on texture, my wee ones last year created these textured birds! This blog post has a how to video if you are interested.  
This is one of my tried and true favorite lessons that I used to do every year with second grade until I grew tired of it and moved on. I brought it back for an after school group last year and they loved their textured initial wall hanging!

What are some of your fave clay lessons? I am SO EXCITED about our clay theme this year and cannot wait to share it with you...it's gonna be the best one yet!
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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

In the Art Room: Art Scouts, Update!

Hello, art teacherin' friends! Thank you SO MUCH for all the Art Scouts love, y'all. We are beyond thrilled that so many of you have signed on to be a Scout that our Tennessee camp is officially SOLD OUT! Because we wanted to share the Scoutin' love, we decided to open up a second Art Scouts Camp in Laura and Ginger's home state of Ohio! Here's more...
That's right. I'm giving Leo a run for that Oscar with my emotional performance, y'all. 
Because of how quickly Scout spots filled in Tennessee, if you are interested in our Ohio camp, might I recommend you act fast. Both camps will be the same, just different scenery. Registering is easy but if you are a visual person like me, you might appreciate this lil step-by-step-to-register process...
We have been having so much fun putting together our badge-earnin' activities for y'all! If you are as excited as we are, you might wanna take a look-see at what our Camp will entail:
So, we hope to see y'all Scouts real soon!
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Sunday, April 10, 2016

What the Art Teacher Wore #159

 Tuesday Because I Forgot to Snap a Pic on Monday: Sorry, y'all. This here blog post only features the four outta my five day work week. I've slipped into the habit of forgetting to take pictures until the end of the day when 1. I look haggard (and by "haggard" I mean not that far from looking like Merle Haggard) and 2. I've already changed outta my dressy duds into my workout ware. So, long, uninteresting story short, I missed Monday. Aren't you glad I 'splained all that to you? scarf, sweater and top: vintage; skirt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; shoes: Anthro

Hello, besties! I hope y'all had a fan-fabulous week and are ready for more! I know I'm not alone when I say that this time of year is BANANAZ. 
(Okay, seriously? I could watch this for the next five hours and not get bored). And I don't like that feeling of everything being bananas. In fact, I dislike bananas ALMOST as much as this guy...
I mean, how do y'all deal with stress? Personally, I know when I'm getting myself in too deep when my eyes start twitching. I'm a naturally lazy person who likes to do things in her own time (read: NEVER) so having things pile up on my To Do list kinda wears me out. To prevent myself from becoming overwhelmed, I like to have certain sayings on a constant loop run thru my head: One Day at a Time; Easy Does It; When Eating an Elephant, Take One Bite at a Time...
Dude! I was kidding! I'm not gonna eat you, I'm a vegetarian. Although I might chase you for those sweet converse!

So, what stress-relieveing tips and tricks do y'all have? I'd be welcome to some. Mostly cuz I'm having the darnest time Sharpie-ing my newly sprouted gray hairs with a twitchy eye. 

Until next time, kids!
 June Cleaver Wednesday: When I recently found this vintage dotted number at Buffalo Exchange, I knew I had to have it. I felt like a cross between Lucille Ball and June Cleaver all day long. Prolly not the wisest thing to wear vintage on a painting, sculpting, and weaving day but when has that ever stopped me before?! brooch, scarf, dress: vintage; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; shoes: Dolls by Nina
 Artsy Thursday: One of my lil kindergarten students came in with the most amazing outfit: a splatter painted jean jacket with the words ARTIST stitched across the back. Y'all better believe I checked the label on her jacket to see where it was made: Gap Kids. They make an XXL, y'all. If you don't think I ordered one over my lunch break than you just don't know me by now. top: Forever21; art supply skirt: vintage, etsy; belt: Amazon
Fri-YAY, y'all! Knowing that I'd be spending my day prepping for CLAY WEEK, I wore my fave flats: those hawt pink Minnetonkas. I can't wait for the kids to get elbow's deep in clay next week. I'm so excited about their projects, can't wait to share! skirt and shirt: made by me, more here; spool necklace: made by me, more here

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

In the Art Room: Embroidery with Third Grade

When I was a kid, I spent two weeks of my summer in rural Indiana with my two grandma's. One grandma had a pool, my aunt and cousins and a freezer stocked with enough White Castle burgers to last a lifetime (my record for those wee burgers was 5 in one sitting. You better believe I was proud). The other grandma had no A.C. or no kids to play with and pretty much only hot dogs to eat (she liked to eat them cold {insert dry heaves}). Now all y'all might assume I dug stayin' at Pool Grandma's house better and, well, I'm not gonna lie, you'd be right. However, the one thing that Cold Hot Grandma (Grandma Rosie, that is) and over Pool Grandma (Grandma Marilyn) was that she was super crafty and loved to teach me. One summer, she taught me how to embroider and it was just about the best thing ever. 
With that memory, I thought I'd share embroidery with my third graders. Last year, they created these little embroidered hearts for our mural. This year, with my new third graders, I thought I'd give them the opportunity to really explore embroidery. Here, lemme talk you thru it since I'm super good at jibber-jabberin'.

Now, I'm sharing with y'all their unfinished pieces as many still have embroidery they want to do. I truly am having a hard time stopping them, they love it so! Not gonna lie, some kids have decided to move on. For them, I'm going to offer some puffy paint as an alternative to stitching more designs. Once complete, these bad boys will be framed and embellished with a metal tooled frame. I'll be sure to keep y'all posted. 
Here's the video I shared with the kids. Having a video for something like stitching is great because you can replay it for those that missed the directions the first time. 
Like I said in the video, we used stencils to create our initial design and stitched that the first day. From there, the kids were able to use chalk to add more details to their design like little fish, bubbles and stars as seen above. 
Many kids used hoops but some preferred to just go it without. I wanted them to have the experience and learn how to use the hoops. 
I found the colorful burlap at Joann's. Tapestry needles are the best way to go. You can score a dozen of the metal ones through any of your art supply catalogs.
As you can see, sharks and dolphins were the most popular stitched creatures. Having a ton of choices made it so every child found something of interest. We also had turtles, toucans, crocodiles, tropical fish, lizards, frogs and parrots.
 It made me so happy when kids wanted to learn another stitch. I have a giant embroidery sampler in my room that I made years ago that have satin, running, flower and star stitches that serve as inspiration. 
 Love those flower stitches!
Love this toucan with the satin stitched beak.
"Look! My lizard is a Love Lizard!" This was after we all agreed it looked as though it'd fallen in love. 
Not gonna lie, this has been a long project...but one that the kids have enjoyed. I hope they have happy memories of stitching one day as I did with my Grandma Rosie. If not, then they can go eat a cold hot dog (juuuuuuust kidding)! What are some of y'all's fave embroidery projects for kids? For more fiber arts art class fun, go here
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