What the Art Teacher Wore #169

 Monday, Here We Go!: The first day back with students is usually a lil spooky for me but this year, I was surprisingly calm. I shoulda known that was a sign! The days did go smoothly but I did change and improve my little chat before each class. Next week, we are on to the fun part: art makerin'! dress: made by me, details here; belt and crinoline: Amazon; shoes: Converse, Zappos

Hey there and welcome back! It was our first week back to school with the wee artists and we kicked it off with a bang. Each year, I try to do something a little different to start the school year. I noticed that I've written several blog posts about those first days of school so I thought I'd make a list of those here. Some ideas I still use and some have changed and evolved. Regardless, I hope you find 'em helpful:

* The First Days Back, Welcome to Asia! That time I kicked off the school year with an Asian theme.

* The First Days Back, Artists, Vocab and More! Here I'll walk you through exactly what I say and do during those first days with a couple of video clips.

* The First Days Back, A Room Tour! This post shares with you more tips and tricks as well as a room tour.  

* This Year's First Days Back! I just shared this the other day, but in case you missed it...check it out here for my older students and here for my younger. 

* Art Teacherin' 101: Also, to get you in the swing of things, I've chatted quite a bit about going back to school in some recent Art Teacherin' 101. You can view all of those here. I share a new Art Teacherin' 101 nearly every Wednesday so if you subscribe to my channel, you won't miss! Also, if you have anything you'd like me to chat about, just leave it in the comments and I'll make an attempt.

I hope y'all have a great start back. I'll be back with you real soon. Until then!

 My third and fourth grade students LOVED playing the Art Rocks Escape Game to learn the rules, routines and way around the art room. This is definitely something I'll be bringing back again. 

 Sharpen Your Pencils Tuesday: I so love the little pencil print on this dress by Love Ur Look London. I shared it on my Instagram and Love Ur Look said that they were bringing that dress back soon. So if you don't see it on their website, stay tuned! shoes: Converse, DSW

 I love taking photos of how happy and clean my art room looks before the Fire Marshall comes and loses her mind and the kids come and create masterpieces. Ah...the cleanest it will be all year!

Splatter Me Wednesday: If y'all are a shopaholic like your girl, then you know ModCloth is a dangerous place. I've had my eyeball on this dress for a long while so when it dropped down in price to the lowest I'd seen it, I scooped it up before it was sold out. Another dangerous site? Zuilily, y'all. Check out those Tom's! necklace and scarf: thrifted

 This weekend, I've been trying to reach outside my comfort zone and work on some new projects that I'm super excited about. I'll be sure to unveil my new project here first...I can't wait to share it with y'all!

 Portrait Dress Thursday: We're all in self-portrait land on my end of the art teacherin' world so this dress seemed like the most appropriate thing to wear! dress: made by me, details here; necklace: from an artist in Charleston; shoes: Cons, Zappos

So this is the first time I've ever shared four blog posts in one week, y'all. It's been a goal of mine for a while but I gotta tell you, it's a lot! Because I've got some "adulting" to do this weekend (reading rewrites for THE BOOK I wrote {ahhh!}, video-lesson planning and plowing the field, aka, cutting the grass), I don't know that I'll get to that DIY I've been dreaming about all week. But, while it lasts, I hope y'all enjoyed the four blog posts. Hopefully it wasn't too much for ya! More on the Shibori dying here. 

Fun Friday!: Not even gonna candy coat it, it was a long week, kids. Friday was a much welcome sight! dress: ModCloth, also on super sale!; Rainbow Brite Belt: Buffalo Exchange

Several of you have asked about my new choice in footwear. My feets are fine...I'm just over wearing the heels. I noticed that by mid-day, my dogs were tired and I just wanted to sit down (what I usually did was just switch to my Fast Flats, those ballet style slip ons you can pick up at the drug store). Over the summer, I picked up a pair of Chucks on a whim and I loved how they looked with my vintage dresses. And my feet are happy! So now I have a super serious Chucks-obsession to add to my long list of shopping-obsessions. And there you have it: the unfascinating story of my shoes. 

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Deep Space Sparkle Workshop, 2016

This summer has been the summer of Doin' Stuff: finishing a book, creating two Art Scout Camps with my fellow Troop Leaders, working on a coupla top secret projects (I'm not trying to hide things from y'all, I promise. More details when I'm free to share 'em!) and, last but certainly not least: co-presenting with my buddy Laura Lohmann at Patty Palmer's Deep Space Sparkle Workshop!  

In BEAUTIFUL Santa Barbara, y'all. I've already picked out my Barbie Dream House on the beach. 

The theme of the Deep Space Sparkle Workshop was Latin Art and I loved that folks got dolled up for the part. I mean, how cute are these ladies in their handmade Frida crowns? 

The Workshop started at a comfortable California pace at midday on Friday. Everyone was greeted with a smile and a swag bag full of goodies. 

To jump start the Workshop, Patty opened by chatting about establishing a mindset of making in the art room. Many of the ladies in the audience traveled from all over the country (and one from South Korea!) and are all walks of teacherin' life: some where art teachers, classroom teachers, special needs educators and a yoga instructor who brings art into her studio! So many lovely ladies who have one thing main thing in common: the desire to teach creativity to children. Can you ask for a better bunch?

 I was up right after Patty (tough act to follow much?!) and, I'll admit, I was a wee bit nervous. I've presented on a much smaller scale before but nothing like this. I was mic'ed up, there was a film crew and close to 200 folks in the audience. However, being with such a wonderful group of ladies who quickly became friends really put my mind at ease. I shared with them something I do so love: fiber arts!

On our first day together, we prepped and painted our plates for circle loom and tree weaving. And look how pretty!

 Ohhhhh!

 Ahhhhh!

Oh my! I loved each and every one ever before the addition of the weaving!

Next up was the always-awesome Laura! I love her painted apron and Frida crown, don't you?

Laura shared with everyone her super spectacular technique of teaching painting to children...without the mess of water. I'm so ready to give this a go in my art room this year.

She also shared her love of Crayola's Model Magic clay. The ladies had a fabulous time exploring and creating with this medium. 

 Each creation was so much fun and completely unique.

Someone was loving the beach as much as I was!

The patterns was what struck me with this piece. 

To wrap up the first day, Patty hosted a lovely fiesta. Complete with delicious food, drinks and a chance for everyone to mingle and make new friends. It was such a pleasant way to end the first day.

The following day, we started bright and early with a fun Mexican tile printmaking project taught by Patty.

I've never tried printmaking with water-soluble oil pastels but now I am itching to give it a go!

Now that our plates were dry, we were ready to dive into tree and circle loom weaving. 

Weaving can be tricky to teach to a room 200 folks. To do so, I'm simply explained the process as I do to my students: slowly and simply. The weavings turned out so beautifully. 

What I love about teaching is that folks come up with their own unique ways to problem solve. We had fun sharing our different ideas and thoughts about approaching weaving with children.

From there, Patty did a wonderful portrait lesson featuring Frida Kahol.

And Laura shared two fun projects that were both colorful and bright: large marigold paintings and a still life collage. 

 The room literally blossomed!

 This is a project I so want to bring back to my art room. 

 So much happy!

Patty wrapped the Workshop with a final project (not shown) and a good ole Q & A session. Then, sadly, we had to say goodbye to our new friends. I managed to get a couple of photos...but many were pulled from Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for sharing those photos, new besties!

 Masters of the Art Teacherin' Universe (and weaving!).

 My Facebook buddies and I finally had the chance to meet in person. Loved meeting you, Cheri...

 and Charlene! 

And the super sweet and adorable Leann. Making new friends is always my favorite part of workshops!

It was such a fun weekend of connecting, creating and, well let's be honest, being in sunny So Cal. 

BIG THANK YOU to Patty for having me join her wonderful Workshop. Until next time, y'all!

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In the Art Room: Route 66 Diner Signs

I'm one of those horribly annoying people that get a whole bunch of ideas at eleventh hour. Prior to said eleventh hour, I tend to suffer from severe Idea Constipation. How do you know if you suffer from Idea Constipation? Warning signs may include: slack-jaw staring at walls for extended periods of time; the watching of exactly three dozen cat videos on YouTube; the sudden urge to clean an entire kitchen just to avoid real work (this is only in the most extreme of cases as everyone knows that cleaning a kitchen is STUPID.) I am a victim of Idea Constipation. Only at the very last minute do I have exactly One Million Ideas and little to no time to bring them to fruition. I like to call this the And-And's (mostly because Idea Diarrhea sounds disgusting) and I suffered a severe bout of both just prior to our thematic school-wide art show.

You see, once I settled on the idea of having a kid-created 1950's diner, I got the idea to have them create diner signs. Of course, this was just mere weeks before the big day and we were in the thick of finishing projects (I seriously had one fourth grade class inform me, "We CANNOT start any new projects, Mrs. Stephens! We have so many to finish!" They are so bossy, y'all). So, like, we had no time atall (please read that last word with a British accent as that's the only way it is meant to be read). Then I got this IDEA...

Due to reasons too boring and annoying to share, our end-of-the-school-year statewide standardized testing was cancelled just days before it was to be given. This meant that our third and fourth grade teachers, who had planned to test all week, now had to scramble to come up with lessons for their students. Well, that's when I stepped in. I volunteered to make them a video of this project for them to show and teach in their classrooms. This benefited me because the kids created these fab-o signs and the teachers because it gave them something fun and educational to do with their students. SPECIAL SHOUT OUT to my awesome colleagues who took on the challenge of being the crazy art teacher for a day. I seriously work with the best people. 

And just look at the results! These classroom teachers are giving me a run for the money. I provided them with the supplies and just a day later, they delivered the kids' masterpieces to me. 

Of course, we then had to use puffy paint to neon-ize our signs. That final step we did in my art room...because I like to watch the usage of puffy paint like a hawk. Kids love the puff...almost too much. 

In the video, I had the chance to chat with the kids about the history of diners and it's influence on artists and their work. We chatted about Edward Hooper.

 George Segal and his diner sculpture.

 Local and contemporary artist Diane Davich Craig and her paintings of, among other things, diner signs. 

 Not too far from our school is the world famous Loveless Cafe (those of you that visit Nashville, don't be fooled into thinking that Loveless is in Nashville. It's actually quite far from it and usually has a line that snakes around the building). Many of my students have been there and recognized the sign. The video worked well to introduce the concept of diners to them, artist influence and get them excited about the art show AND making their own sign!

The kids and their teachers were very proud of their work. A couple of the teachers even made their own signs along with the kids.

 I kinda wanna make one too. 

And I really love how the parent volunteers paired the student's diner signs with the diner ads they created (another eleventh hour idea). 

In other news, in order to prevent another bout of Idea Constipation, I've already started plotting and planning the theme for next year's art show! 

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