In the Art Room: Spring Breakin'/Conventionin'

Hey, friends! Now that the spring breakerin'/art teacher conventionin' dust has settled, I thought I'd share with y'all just what went down in sunny Cali and windy Chicago. I gotta be honest with you tho: I was terrible at documenting both! The lack of photo shooting (and sharing in social media town) was not intentional. I seriously just never seemed to have a moment to bust out my camera/phone! The fun of meeting so many folks, making so many friends and just chatting the night away was all encompassing. And I wouldn't trade that experience for the world!

So what I've got here in this post is a meager offering of images of what was a fabulously good time. I'm actually sharing these pics in reverse order of my adventurin' as we just wrapped up a brief trip to Southern California this past Sunday.

We shopped, hiked and, of course, Disneyland'ed our days away. I could totes live in SoCal if it weren't for the traffic. And the fact that I'd need a mountain of mulah to afford all the amazing restaurants and shops I'd be gettin' myself into. I always feel so happy after a visit to California. I mean, this amazing canyon hike starts in a Ralph's grocery store parking lot. THAT'S HOW MUCH AWESOME THEY HAVE. "Oh, yeah, man. See some canyons get some canned goods. It's how we roll." 

But let's rewind to the previous week when I found myself in the sunny (altho, true to it's name, windy) city of Chicago. The NAEA convention was all that and a bag o' nuts (and by "nuts" I mean Nuts on Clark, y'all. Holy cow! I love the carmel and cheddar mix!). This here photo was taken outside the Lego store during my one afternoon of shopping adventureness. I managed to do some serious damage in the MOMA section of Uniqlo. Y'all should check that out if you've not already. 

So the NAEA conference was held in this enormous and confusing maze of a mammoth called McCormick Place. Y'all. This joint could hold, like, 25 Chuck E. Cheese'es (I have no idea why that is my chosen reference of measurement but 'tis. Mostly cuz I've no idea what the size of a football field is but El Chucko, I do). Need some perspective? Not only could it hold about 5000 plus art teacherin' types but also a C2E2 convention (which is kinda like ComicCon but not. It was explained to me why it's not the same as ComicCon but I fell asleep after the first coupla minutes. I was all, wake me up after the story of Princess Peach, would ya?)

POKEMON! Just now noticed the handy place to hang a badge. #thickneck. #genius.

One of the highlights of my Chicagoland adventures was getting to see my fam. You see, I grew up right outside of Chicago in Joliet. My aunt Judy (who is actually my age...you decipher that fam tree) lives in Chicago and my mom lives in Indiana. We had a great time going out to dinner, staying at mom's seedy dive of a hotel and catching up. My mama even went with me to see the van Gogh exhibit! Along with my three thousand closest friends...

Holy moly, y'all. Who knew folks be so excited to see a bedroom. I wonder if anyone would even pay a dollar to see mine. I can promise you it's not nearly as neat as van Gogh's. 

At the convention, I presented three times which was a thrill. I was ALMOST as excited as my buddy Tracy there in the front row (heeeeey, Tracy!). I presented alongside blogging buddies Phyl and Laura all about, you guessed it, blogging! If you missed out, go here for the deets, y'all. 

I also had the honor and pleasure of presenting with Janine Campbell. We chatted about student legacy projects. Janine actually inspired me way back at the convention in San Diego when she showed one of her legacy projects. Since then, I've been a big fan of big collaborative pieces. She was such a great speaker that I felt like her crazy sidekick. I mean, just look! Does it look as though I am performing an exorcism or what?!

One of the highlights of the convention was getting to lead a hands-on needle felting workshop! Each participant had the opportunity to needle felt an apron (I chose green because the event was held on St. Patty's Day!). Many got a solid start and had a ton of fun. It was like hanging out with 20 of my newest best friends!

After a super brief needle felting intro, each dived right in. All participants had such creative and unique ideas. I loved each one!

 My favorite part was just getting to know each participant. 

 I mean look at that table of colorful awesomeness!

Most folks worked on their aprons but I love that others decided to work on sweaters and even one person even worked on a coat (it looks fab, Lisa. Can't wait to see it finished!).

 I mean. Really? Really. Awesomeness. 

It was such a wonderful experience. I'm so glad to have had the chance to meet so many amazing folk and share what I love the most in the world: ART! (and art teacherin'). 

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In the Art Room: Printed Cityscape Collages with Third Grade

What you see here is my final installment of printmaking lessons for the firsties thru thirdz. We started our printmaking units many moons ago and we've been having a big time since. You might recall my lil printmaking pep talk here...

You can check out the first graders printmaking lesson here as well as second grade's here. Fourth gradeland is currently in the midst of a collaborative/legacy/sculptural project that meant they were left outta the printmaking loop. I'm hoping to remedy that before the school year ends. I'll be sure to keep y'all posted. Until then, let's talk about these beauts...

 I am so in love with how these printed and collaged cityscapes turned out, y'all! The kids had a blast printmaking...but where really thrilled to see their cities come together. 

Lemme tell you what each kid created:

* After creating their own printing plate (demo'ed in the video below), each child printed a minimum of four prints on colorful copy paper. They were to do two prints in white ink and two in black ink (or the reverse of that, depending on what was available at their table). 

* The following art class, the kids learned about wax resist, warm/cool colors and watercoloring a skyscape. Each student created a warm and cool colored sky (with a sprinkle of salt for added effect!).

* Finally, each kid got back their warm and cool skies along with their prints. They then assembled their printed, painted and collaged landscapes with a layer of cardboard in-between for added depth. This resulted in TWO finished pieces by each student, as you see above!

This was such a fun and successful project for all students. Here's a list of supplies we used:

* Scratch-Art Foam (tho styro plates would work in a pinch...they'd just create a rounded landscape which could be totally amazing!)

* Speedball Printing Ink (or markers and water! Watch that first clip!) 

* ink pens

* colorful copy paper

* watercolor 

* oil pastels for the wax resist

* cardboard

* glue

I hope these videos are useful as I'm too tired to type out the directions (lazy much?). I have found that all kids can be successful with printmaking IF you teach them correctly and IF you are a stickler for proper printmaking techniques. I found that having the kids work in pairs really helped them hold each other accountable, even the littles. 

For example, we learned that you don't need a barren to rub the back of the print, just use a good back massage. No pounding necessary. Unless you wanna take a time-out break (eyebrow-raise, head-tilt, teacher-face).

 Every print pulled was magic. However, not gonna lie, the first prints are usually stinkers. Not enough ink, not enough "massaging" the back of the paper, etc. I told the kids to NEVER throw a way a print. If they didn't like it, they were to figure out what was wrong with it and learn from it. Blurry? Then you moved it accidentally. Can't see your lines? You used too much ink. Faded looking? Not enough ink. That's why we did a million prints. So we'd at least have a handful of successful ones.

In other news, I cannot take any credit for this perspective drawing or that amazing use of letter reversal. This kid's just rockin' it!

 Once all the prints were made and backgrounds painted, the kids were given a 9" X 12" piece of paper. They attached their paintings to the top and were told to CUT OUT their skyscape. Oh, the whining, y'all! "I can't cut out all those small shapes!", "This is gonna take forever!", "My hand is cramping, can you help me?!"

Nope. You do it. 

 And then they did.

I threw the option of adding a rectangle of cardboard between the cities out there. Most kids opted to do it as they loved the depth it added. 

I think if I were to ask them what one of their fave things this year has been, they'd def say printmaking. The magic of it is addictive!

Next up: rolling their printing plates thru the slab roller with clay! I'll keep you posted on how their ceramic cities turn out. Til then, what are some of your fave printing projects, y'all?

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In the Art Room: First Grade LOVE Prints!

Thank you so much for the positive feedback on the printmaking videos, y'all! I'm so glad you liked them, found them helpful and, most importantly, had tips and tricks of your own to add. I love our great, big, fat hairy art teacherin' sharing-is-caring community! To keep up with more videos, feel free to subscribe here. Today my first grade students wrapped up their printmaking adventure with these LOVE-ly lil Robert Indiana-inspired printed and collaged pieces.

Y'all. It's January. I cannot even believe that I've gotten a Valentines-esque project knocked out already. I know some folks are all, "I don't do holiday themed projects" and I usually go ahead and nod my head but not cuz I agree (honestly, Ima go all Switzerland on that debate and stay neutral)...but cuz I can NEVER get my act together early enough to have anything ready! I mean, 'member that big We Have Heart mural we made last year? Dudes. We, like, started that on Feb 10th. 

But not this time...

CONFESSION: I had no idea what the kids were going to do with the piles of prints they were making...until seeing this piece again recently. And then I was all, yaaaazzzzz! Which, by the way, is the new Eureka! 

It's gotten around the school that the firsties have been printing maniacs in the art room. We spent two 30 minute art classes making at least 4 printed pieces. One day we worked with blue inks and the following, yellow and red. 

I told the kids "at least" because some of them just enjoyed the printing process so much that they wanted to print again and again. It's so magical! Others were well over it after the fourth print on the second day and they moved on to greener, less print-ier, pastures. 

Now, I will say, I hustled today to get the prints to the point that they could be created into these collages. I have jury duty for the next two weeks (can you hear the excitement in my typed voice? Me neither) and I didn't want any UFO's lingering around for me to return to (UFO: Un-Finished Objects). So today I trimmed all the prints at the paper cutter, organized them by kiddo and prepped the LOVE letters...

Normally I wouldn't do that much work on behalf of the kids (and my sanity...right now is the first time I've sat down all day) but, like I said, I don't like me no UFO's. To prep the letters, I made them in such a way that the kids would have minimal amount of cutting (thirty minutes, people. Thirty. Minutes). I wrote the letters in reverse so the kids could cut along those lines...but put the glue on the back (we did a little ditty: The Lines are in Black and That's the Back!). The reason behind this was I didn't want the black lines to show...but clean, crisp white letters.

The kids also had to hustle. They had to lay out their prints and decide upon a good design, glue those down, cut out their letters and glue that as well. We might have been 3 minutes late to P.E. (sorry, ladies!). 

But, oohhhhhh, the results. I mean, is it just me or are these not the most swoon-worthy thing ever? 

(Shhh, don't tell: this is my personal fave). 

And now I can go off on my jury duty adventure knowing that I don't have any UFO's in first grade floating around! Love to hear about your printmaking adventures, y'all!

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What the Art Teacher Wore #152

 Monday, Monday: I know it looks like I'm wearing a completely oversized pair of culottes (80's friends, 'member those?!) but I swear I'm not. Instead it's just an oversized dress with a super oversized crinoline underneath. I mean, y'all. I can't even fit through most doors with that partic'lar crinnie on! sweater and dress: Anthro; shoes: Clarks; brooch: vintage

Hey, buddies! First of all, I wanna say thank you for all of your kind words after last Sunday's blog post. I appreciate you allowing me to whine and the happy thoughts y'all sent my way. I took a little day off this week to have some time to myself and it truly made a world of a difference. Mental health days are always a good idea, in my book! 

Second thing is HOLY MOLY, Y'ALL SUPER DUPER WANT YOU A PALETTE HAIR CLIP! If I had all the time in the world, I'd open up my very own Palette Hair Clip biznatch and start rackin' in the big bucks! But until that day, I'll just have to award the Palette Hair Clip to (drum roll please...)

CHALLEN BAKER! Here's what she said about creating a homemade gift: 

My favorite gift that I ever created for a loved one: a paper dress that I made for my mom when I was a wee preschooler. (My parents always said that I was the creative type). I wrapped little pieces of paper around my mom so I could measure out her size and then I proceeded to tape them together. I even made her matching paper shoes! I recently inherited a sewing machine so I would love to start making some dresses out of fabric. Once I get the hang of this sewing machine I would LOVE to make some paint palette hair clips for myself and my friends! (Thanks for the tutorial Cassie!).

Yay! Congrats, Challen! And thanks to everyone for playing along. I've not done a giveaway in a while, this was so stinkin' fun. Might have to get all Oprah and start giving stuff away more often. Until then, have a super fun week, kids!

 Holiday Party Tuesday: So holiday party season has begun and I'm lovin' it! In fact, I had a wee Christmas craft night this past Friday (more details on that this coming week, our craft was epicly awesome, if I do say so and I just did) and I'm heading to one tomorrow night. I love any reason to get all dolled up, eat delish food and chat with buddies, don't you? sweater: DIY, here; dress: thrifted; dotted tights: Target; shoes: Shii

 "It's Tacky...And Yet, Somehow Tasteful" Sweater Wedensday: Says the checkout clerk at the grocery. I swear, I get more tips and tricks on my ensembles from the grocery store, y'all. Also, did I tell you that I have kindergarten convinced that the color of my legs is all dependent on the food that I eat? This time, with my sparkle tights, it was speculated that I had eaten glitter. They are so funny! sweater: thrifted; skirt and tights: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina

 Blue Christmas Thursday: I dunno if you can see it very well but this dress is about as lit as I was Friday night (ahem). The kids loved seeing that my dress could light up and I loved sharing with them how I made it. I think it's good for them to realize that you can create your own clothing, you know? Of course, they kinda know that about me at this point, I suppose. sweater: thrifted; dress: DIY here; shoes: DIY here; belt and crinoline: amazon

 Craft Night Friday!: I love hosting craft nights, y'all. It's become one of my fave things and it's really the only time I bother with cleaning the house so it's nice to not see dust bunnies the size of my head for a change. I'll share more details soon but I will say that we dined on breakfast, complete with big a## pancakes, egg scramble and cheesy potatoes (along with Bloody Marys and mimosas!) before diving into a glitter-tastic craft. If you follow me here, you've already seen a sneak peak! dress: DIY here; tights: Amazon

I sometimes get asked if I get all fanc-ified on the weekends. Well, only if I leave the house...and how could I possibly do that when I have this hunk of love holding me down. It's nearly impossible for me to even write this here blog post. Until next time!

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