In the Art Room: What to Wear

Sure you can buy a fur realz pair of Jeffrey Campbell pencil shoes (because, ya know, we teachers got money to burn) or you could have way more fun and make your own! I simply painted a thrifted pair of kicks with acrylic paint and covered that in ModPodge. I've seen other fine-footed art teacherin' types take a more sensible route and paint canvas shoes in the same style. With lots of wear, mine have started to cracked at the crease. If I were gonna do it all again, I'd prolly invest in some leather paint as it's got a bit of a give. 

On this here blog that I call home, I thought I'd run a lil series called Back to Art Teacherin'. If you are an art teacherin' type like myself, the end of summer vacay is nigh and what better time to prep for the Return of the Children (of the corn) then meow? So in this here series of Back to Art Teacherin', I'll be chatting at y'all about the following:

* What to Wear (which, hello, is this here post!)

* How to Decorate Your Art Room to it's utmost fabulousness (always a blast)

* An updated version of that dreaded Art Supply Order 

* And, best of all, what to teach those chillins on those most important first daze of schoolin'!

So, without further ado-ness, let's talk about sumpin near and dear to my baked, battered and blackened heart: Clothes!

 Just admit it, one of your fave things about getting back to art teacherin' is the smell of sharped pencils and freshly cracked boxes of crayons. So why not have an outfit or two to match? Pencil appliqué skirt here, needle felted crayon sweater there. 

What's a crayon sweater without crayon shoes? I mean, really? 

I didn't always have an obsessions with What I Wore. Nor have I always created my own clothes. Naw, y'all, this here is a new-ish thing for me. So if you don't know how to sew, felt, embroider or appliqué (yet), don't you fret! I taught myself simply cuz 1. We don't have cable and I get bored easily and 2. Because I've always wanted to create my own clothing! It's been that nagging creative outlet that I'd ignored for years thinking, eh, it's not real "art; I should be painting, drawing, sculpting, whateves-ing!" How lame was I to put off something I was truly interested in? If you find yourself doing the same with whatever it is you are intrigued by, tell that Sally-Self-Doubt, Negative-Nelly, Trash-Talking-Tina to hush it and go make you a Rock Star Apron if you wanna!

Why you mad, bro? Jelly of my kick arse art teacherin' apron? This is one of the first things I stitched up several years ago. It was so much fun to make and the kids loved it! That inspired me to create even more craziness. 

 What to wear on those painting days in the art room (which is pretty much everyday, right)? Why a palette dress, of course! I love the vintage charm of this Michael Miller fabric, y'all! 

 Tho if your wee artists are anything like mine, there's likely to be paint ever.ee.wheres. In which case a dress that you've painted or one stitched from Jackson Pollock-esque fabric is prolly the way to go. 

All of which calls for paint splattery shoes. 

Now I know that if y'all have been by this blog before, you've prolly seen just about everything I've got here for ya's today. Like, for instance, this here montage of artist-inspired numbers. 

 

 So it turns out I double downed on my Monet ensembles this year but I just couldn't help it. What's not to love about that painterly dude? That stitched and needle felted number took exactly two sessions of Project Runway reruns to get thru while that summery dress was a snap. 

It's funny, the other day I saw an article about people who take a buttload of selfies (FYI, not the actual title of said article. Tho "People Who Take a Buttload of Selfies" is a killer title, if I do say so. And I just did.) and, according the the author who apparently has NEVER taken a selfie in her LIFE (hair flip), those that do are manipulative (CHECK!), selfish (CHECKITY-CHECK) and, basically, just arsehole-ish. Well! There you have it! Me, in a nutshell. It's like she could see my manipulative, selfish sssooooouuuuuulll. 

 

 Last year's Kandinsky show at The Frist was the inspo behind these two numbers. Maybe it's cuz I'm totes clueless but not until seeing them now, side by side, am I realizing how opposite they are. Lil black dress here and wild -n- crazy in white here. 

It never fails, every winter, I take up needle felting all over again. That Scream Dress is one hot lil number to wear what with the completely wool lined inside (I think the screaming is actually due to the smell comin' off me). The Starry Night took all of eternity what with the embroidery (which you can't really see so why'd I do it, y'all? WHY?) and the lights.  

 

 Oh, applique. I always forget what a super fun pain in the rear you are. Fur serious tho, I do love changing the look of my clothing with appliqué. It gives a great flat look (perfect for pop art!) that you just can't quite get with needle-felting. Applique was one of the first methods of sewing I learned. I think I liked it because it reminded me of collage. In fact, to get over my fear of sewing, I told myself that the stitches were just like glue holding everything together. For some reason, likening sewing to collage (something I'm comfortable with) made it a whole lot less frightening. Lichtenstein-y here, Warhol-ishness there. 

 I was chatting with our weather-predicting custodian today and he claims that we are gonna get MASSIVE snow this year (which, for we Tennesseans means, like TWO WHOLE INCHES). We had quite the winter this past year which for me meant Snow Days/Sew Days. I got so much stitched! This here tribute to Mondrian was one o' em. 

 

 Now even if you can't sew, felt or appliqué, you can draw, right? That there Keith Haring number was just doodled on some pleather with a white Sharpie paint pen. And that Great Wave dress was the thing that started this whole Artist-Inspired series! The most easy artist dress made: that Magritte number. All I did was make the hat and add the birds! 

 For the last couple of years, I've made a Back to School dress. You know, one complete with school supplies and artsy whut-nots. Like that crayon and chevron thing and that crazy art supply number (with sleeves big enough to fly away with!). 

 My fave thing on the planet? Shopping for fabric, y'all. And when I find me some artsy fabric like that pencil fabric on the left and that marker fabric on the right, my palms get all sweaty, my heart skips a beat and I might cry a lil bit. 

 

 I love me a great big skirt, y'all. The kind that when I walk past a table, my big swooshiness knocks over cups, glasses, small children, you name it. That giant shower curtain skirt on the left does the trick quite nicely but that puffy pencil number isn't too snabby neither. 

 Wait...giveaway. DID SOMEBODY SAY GIVEAWAY IN THE TITLE OF THIS HERE POST? 

Yes, sir and madams, I most certainly did. I've got a small grab bag cache of art teacherin' books that I'd love to send your way (not pictured. Obvi.) But here's the catch (there's always a catch): you gotta tell me your most fave back-to-school shopping memory! Mine involved my dad taking me jeans shopping at the dollar store before my eighth grade year. THE DOLLAR STORE, Y'ALL. All this girl ever wanted was some Guess jeans! Pretty sure this is why I don't wear pants to this day, the flashbacks are killer. Lemme hear your tale and don't forget to leave your lovely lil email addy so I can be sure to send these awesome art books your way. Until then!

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In the Art Room: Those First Days of Art Class, 2

Oh dear Lawd. Please don't ask me what is happening here as I've no explanation. 

Well this here blog post is just a pinch delayed! I do believe we're heading into the second MONTH of the school year in my neck of the woodz. Howevers, since I did post a First Days of Art Class last year, I thought I'd share another this year. Some things have changed (with some influence from Teach like a Pirate by Dave Burgess, one of our Artsy Book Club choices) while some have remained the same. I thought I could best explain myself (complete with odd hand motions, apparently) in a coupla short vid clips. One thing I forgot to mention in the clip are the flashcards I used on that very first couple of days. You can see 'em here...

I like to use flashcards at the door as the kids enter. To get them into this routine, I flashed 'em these as they entered. Once everyone was in and on that red line, I told them that this group of words they read had two things in common: they were words that described them and words that described art class. 

Just a lil close-up of our Word of the Week. I actually see my kids on a 6 day rotation so this is more of a Word of the Every Six Day Rotation. Which wouldn't fit on my sign so I took some liberties. Since we are in our 3rd rotation of the year, we've thus far chatted about the words "artist", "unique" and "creative".  As far as artist inspirations go, we've looked at Kandinsky, Hundertwasser (boy, that was a fun name to teach the kids) and and Rizzi. We've yet to use the phone to Dial-an-Artist...I'll let you know when we do.

That Spring Drum was pretty rad, amiright? I know you want one. They are made by Remo and if you google "spring drum" for a hot minute, you'll find tons of retailers with 'em for cheap. Mine is a larger size but I'm willing to guess a smaller one would work just as well. Lookie here.

What?! Rules are SUPER FUN to go on and on and ON about, riiiiight? That Sound Machine can be found here.

My rules with some Haring illustrations. I'll eventually post these permanently somewheres in the art room. By the way, those questions I ask the kids can be just about anything. I just wanna get them talking and feeling comfortable. I also wanna keep it kinda short for those long winded friends of mine.

In all honesty, I've yet to use this routine. I can't seem to break myself of my normal habit of getting the kids attention which is either playing my Energy Chime (thanks, hubs!) or saying, "Point to the ceiling. Point to the floor. Point to your nose. Point to your toes." That usually does the trick. But I'm gonna keep trying.

Um-hmm, y'all better behave. Less you wanna look at this. 

Oh, I did mention The Smartest Artist in that clip. More deets here. AND Dot Day! We're closing in on the big day! I'd love to hear what you are up to. I just hope my genius artists can finish in time, agh!

Oh! And in case you missed my Virtual Room Tour posted a coupla weeks ago, here you go!

Chat with y'all soon.

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Comin' Attcha Live: Opening the AOE Swag Box and an Artsy Book Order!

Hey, y'all! I was so excited to see these two boxes on my doorstep this afternoon (one from The Art of Education and the other my Artsy Book Club order, I made a wee film of myself opening them up! First up, the swag box from the Art of Education's online summer 2014 conference. If you aren't signed up for the conference yet, there's still time. I did make a BIG mistake in this clip when I said the conference is on Wednesday. It's actually Thursday, July 17th. I'll be there (with some art teacherin' rock stars) presenting at noonish. I hope to chat with you live at the conference! Now, let's talk swag, shall we?

Y'all, this box was amazing! You'll have to watch the clip to see what's inside...however if you can't stand the sound of my annoying voice (I promise within the first 30 seconds you will be so.over.it.) I did snap a pic of the loot. It's so good, you guys! Check it: 

 While I was oohing and ahhing over the contents, someone was makin' herself at home in the box.

"WHAT?! If it fits, I sits. DUH."

(that face. I don't even know.)

Anyone else gotten their books yet? I'm excited to start creating and pirating with y'all!

And, there you have it! I do hope you enjoy these completely unedited and obnoxious clips. I'd love to do more...but I'd also love to keep the handful of readers that I have. Thanks for dropping by, y'all.

I'll see you at the AOE Conference on Thursday. In the meantime, let's read some good books and watch kittens crawl in boxes, emkay? Chat with ya soon!

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In the Art Room: A Day in the Life

Entering the Art Room: I have a long strip of blue tape on the floor near my doorway. I'll usually greet the students at the door with a "Please stop at the end of the blue line". While there, I chat with the kids for just a moment about what we'll be up to today. On this day there was a lot of, "why are you taking pictures of our feet?!" Duh, foot fetish.

As an art teacher, I am always super curious how other art teachers run their classroom. I want to know all about their routines, procedures, how they get the kids to clean up because Lordie knows I struggle with that. So I thought I'd share with you a glimpse into just how a 1/2 hour art class looks in my room. I'm hoping this will inspire other art teacher bloggers to share a similar story. I'd love to bring some fresh ideas into my world. 

So, let me tell you what you are about to see: I attempted to snap some photos at each phase in my art class. Because my time with the kids zips by at the speed of light, I wasn't able to capture just one class. This is a montage of a second, kindergarten and third grade class. Each has a fairly similar routine so I think you'll get the idea.

The Art Supply Store: Aka "the store". At the store I lay out all of the supplies that the entering class might need. Because I see between 8-9 different classes in a day, I usually have to change out the supplies right before each class enters. That blue line I mentioned before dead ends at the store. This way, I can tell the kids what they need to grab and they can collect it as they enter the room. Side Note: I try to keep all supplies needed throughout the art class at The Store. This way, whenever the kids need anything, they know they can find it there.

Going Shopping: This is what we call our supply gathering routine. On this day the kids were beginning a self-portrait painting lesson. Once at their seats, they drop off their supplies, write their name and teacher codes in pencil on the paper. As soon as that's complete, they join me on the floor. This takes about 5-7 minutes.

Meet Me on the Floor: On some occasions, no supplies are immediately needed. That's when I'll ask the kids to bypass the store and make a first and second row on the floor.  About this Mess: I know what you're thinking, "What a mess of stuff!" You call it messy, I called it organized chaos. Each of those boxes on the left is a different class, labeled and ready for me to pass back. My demonstration supplies for each class are resting on top of the boxes.

Demonstration Time: This is a group of kindergarteners about to embark on paper weaving. I have found that when teaching weaving a giant loom really helps if they're paying attention (yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Striped Shirt). After I have given a demonstration, I run through all of the directions again using call and response. Not sure what I mean? In my room, it goes like this: I'll clear my throat and that's the signal that anything I'm about to say, the kids are to repeat. It almost sounds like a little ditty with lots of hand gestures and voice inflections. I have found that this really helps the kids remember the directions they are to follow.

Working on the Floor: This doesn't happen very often unless it's an activity where I'll need to check on a lot of children at once. So with this kindergarten weaving project, we changed our two seated rows on the floor into one giant circle. While in this circle formation, the kids wove and I could walk around the outside of the circle and help those that needed it.

Peer Tutoring: Oh how I love peer tutoring. The kids love to help each other and are often better at explaining the concepts to their friends than I am! It amazes me. In this weaving situation, I had the students who successfully completed their weavings help their friends who were struggling. The key is that they are to help not do it for them. That's sometimes a concept they don't quite grasp.

Creating: Most of the time, the kids work at their assigned seats. Each of my tables seats four students and each table is assigned a color. On each table in one of the four corners is a star that coordinates with the color of the table and has a number on it, one thru four. During art class, we have "art jobs". You can kind of see a list of these written on the board in the demo photo. Sorry, should have taken a better photo. My jobs include: Art Room Sheriff and Deputy (in charge of keeping order and quiet voices); Table Caller (calling the best tables to line up first); Hosts of the Smartest Artist (the wrap-up game we attempt to play most days); and, everyone's favorite: The Clean Up Band...

The Clean Up Gong: If this doesn't motivate you to clean up your act, I mean art, nothing will. Hubs bought me this gong for our 10th wedding anniversary (yes, you read that correctly). The kids absolutely love it. Funny story:  I was running late (as usual) and so we were scrambling to clean up. My Clean Up Gong'er for the day was OTL (out-to-lunch) and forgot to do his job. So as the teacher walked in to collect her students, one little girl yelled at the Gong'er, "Hit the bong! It's time to hit the bong!" Yeah, I had a little bit of 'splainin'  to do that day.

Clean Up Drums: I don't play drums nor do I know how. I do know how to play a "fill" and that's what I taught the kids at the beginning of the year. So, when it's their turn to play the drums, they play that little beat. As you can tell, they kinda love it.

The Clean Up Chime: Crazy, right? But it's funny, the kids have this down. They'll usually play in this order: drums, gong, chime. They will all get in their places, look at me and when I say, "Hit it!" they have at it. Then I'll usually play "Celebrate" by Kool and the Gang. With all this racket, clean up time can be a little busy. Especially since we are usually down to the wire on time. Once the students have cleaned up, they are to stand behind their pushed-in chair. Then they wait for the Table Caller to tell them to line up.

Lining Up: This is the doorway which the students entered the art room. It's also the exit. What's not shown in this photo is that blue line of tape on the floor. You can read more about The Masterpiece Gallery here.

The Smartest Artist: So The Smartest Artist is this wrap up game we play at the end of class (if time allows). There's the host and hostess on the right with their microphones looking at the contestants standing on that blue line. In the foreground is our score keeper. You can read more about The Smartest Artist here.

At the End of the Day: I love my job. I don't love the clean up. Been trying to convince the book keeper that some of my art supply funds should go toward a housekeeper.

So there you have it, a peak into a half an hour of artsy'ness. I look forward to hearing what it is you do in your room that works like a charm. Because if it's one thing I've never been called, it's charming. Thanks for dropping by!

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