In the Art Room: Art Conferencin' in Illinois!

Y'all, I'm just back from another incredible art conference this time in the great state of Illinois, a place I called home for many years. I had so much fun presenting (I was one of the keynotes, eep!), teaching and learning that I just had to share. The art educators of Illinois really know how to make a girl feel welcome and put together a FABULOUS conference to boot!

I kicked off their conference with a chat in a lovely renovated theatre in downtown Normal. I was thrilled that so many folks made it out to hear me chat, I thought for sure they'd be sleeping off their Cubs win. I really enjoy speaking with other art teachers, they truly are the best crowd!

Almost immediately after that, I lead a two hour needle felting session. I love teaching hands-on classes at conferences as it feels like hosting a craft night at my house. Just a bunch of soon-to-be friends, sitting and relaxing all while learning something fun and new. I was so inspired by what folks were creating!

My friend Heidi made this super cute Starry Night inspired hair clip to go with a dress of hers. If you aren't familiar with Heidi's blog, you need to check it out! 

 I love that folks were all set to needle felt on their clothing. Check out this sweet scarf that got a lovely flowery update!

 Amazing art teacher Jen Baker was my BFF at the conference as she made sure I was where I was supposed to be, doing what I was supposed to do at all times (and, with a flake like me, that's a pretty tall order). In all seriousness, Jen was BEYOND amazing as I was witness to her working her tail off the entire conference making sure that EVERYONE was happy and having a great time. She needle felted this sweet little palette on her sweater!

Sue at Back to Back Fiber provided the supplies for our workshop. She sent us beautiful sheets of prefelt that we also used to create wee masterpieces with. 

 Of course we had to make Palette Hair Clips! It's how you know you are officially Needle Felt Certified! 

We even had folks needle felting over holes in their sweaters or dreaming up the cutest of motifs. 

I mean, look how stunning!

For realz tho, my fave part of art teacher conferencin' is making new friends, hearing about their art rooms and learning from them. 

 And even if we aren't talkin' art, we are ALWAYS having a good time!

It was such a wonderful group to sit and stab stuff with. Thanks, ladies, y'all are the best!

Because I just can't get enough of all things fibers, I attended a class by the Fibers Queen herself, Natasha of Ester's Place. Not sure if Natasha knows it or not but she's kinda like my fibers BFF. I love hanging out with her. We had the best time at the conference!

We made these amazing wet felted flowers. I'm not a lover of wet felting...but Natasha is changing my mind! Full details on these projects soon. 

After a wee break, I joined several dozen art teachers for a relaxed and informal Q & A session. That was so fun! We shared ideas, stories and laughed a lot. The best part was we had a very wonderful group of college kids in our group who were fun to share our thoughts on art teacherin' with. 

 

 This here is one of them! Pleasure to meet you, Samantha!

 Buddies from way back. Always fun to see Kris and make new friends.

 I was super excited to finally meet Deyana in person. We've been internet buds for years...so it really was like chatting with an old friend. She's the owner of Socks and Souls which you should really check out. They have some GREAT art themed socks. I scooped up several. 

 Making friends from my old stomping grounds was so cool. My buddy Nora teaches in Joliet where I grew up!

Jen and I managed to stay out of trouble late into the evening with a group of other art teacherin' types. 

 The next day, I was back hanging out with Natasha again. We made the world's biggest felted collaborative piece. Can you believe this beauty?! I will DEFINITELY be sharing a complete blog post on this with video included. It was so much fun!

Illinois, I had a blast! I was so excited to speak and share with y'all as well as LEARN from some of the best art educators I've met. I was so thrilled to speak in this theatre that I had Jen snap my photo under the marquee...it wasn't until the photo was taken that I realized the movie they were showing. Idiocracy. How fitting!

DIY: IKEA Curtain Cat Print Dress

Yeah, yeah so pumpkins and black cats are so, like, a week ago (I've already busted out the Christmas decor, you don't have to tell me!) but, to my credit, I did finish this black cat dress a coupla weeks ago. It's just taken me until now to share it with y'all here!

I scooped up the fabric for this dress from IKEA and I'm in love. It's actually curtain fabric which means I'm like the Scarlett O'Hara of the sewing world. They did have this same print in orange with smaller cats but I really liked theses big bold babies and the black and white motif. So I picked up the last package of curtains and, when I was heading to the checkout (which took me 35 minutes because, you know, IKEA is about three miles long), I noticed that there was a hole in the curtains. The hole wasn't going to affect my sewing but, if it's anything I've learned from my mama-in-law, it never hurts to ask for a discount. And am I ever glad I did as the $25 price was dropped to $5! I only used one curtain panel for the dress which means, if you are super groovy at simple math like me, this dress only cost me $2.50. Sweet!

I warned y'all last time that I'd learned to create gifs. And I already apologized for it. So suck it up, buttercup. 

Now if you've seen one dress from me, you've pretty much seen them all as I FREAKIN' LOVE this style: large band at the waist, fit and flair. I have found this to be the most flattering for my body type and I have a hard time straying from sewing anything else. 

I often do a lotta gathered skirts but lately I'm kind of tired of them. Of course, gathering a fabric as stiff as curtain fabric wasn't gonna work in this sitch. Also, with a gathered skirt, I just can't get the fullness I dig. So circle skirts have become my new fave. In fact, the last dress I made, this Vincent van Gogh number, is almost identical to this one, sans bow. 

So, lately, life has been rather busy, to say the least. I've been so stinkin' fortunate to be asked to travel to the Wisconsin art conference as well as the one in Illinois (details on that this week, it was A BLAST!) to be their keynote speaker and present fiber arts workshops. I've loved every minute of it. And I'm getting ready to head to Texas for theirs in a matter of days. However, that means I've had to take a wee hiatus from sewing. I've missed it! I'm looking forward to getting back into my sewing room and making more messes soon.

OHHHH, yeah. I forgot to tell ya, those cats were a bit of a pain to work with as their faces are not exactly symmetrical. That means trying to match and align them was a total headache. The bodice I'm wearing is actually the second one I created as the first had cock-eyed cats...which is totally going to be the name of my first band: CASSIE AND THE COCK-EYED CATS!...but not a great look for a dress. 

When el hubbo and I recently traveled to Disneyland, I snapped photos in Cars Land. I flippin' love Cars Land and if only for the ambience. It has a whole Route 66/1950's vibe that I totally adore, especially at night. 

They have these fabulous neon lights that I love. Cars Land was my inspiration for the 1950's Diner Art Show we had last year!

 I mean, how cute are these signs?! Total inspo for this project. 

 One of my favorite shows growing up was Alice. I loved Flo and her "kiss my grits!" attitude. 

The food at the diner is very good and they have a great vegetarian Shepard's Pie option that we love. Must better than your usual lukewarm pizza park food. 

Because of how graphic this dress is, it gets a lotta comments when I wear it. I scooped up a lot of big and bold print from IKEA on my last trip. I'm looking forward to time in my sewing room to create more of these wacky and wild dresses.

And just because it's catty doesn't mean it's limited to Halloween, does it? I mean, shoot, I'm catty all year 'round!

 I really love it with these ska-wannabe kicks I recently picked up. 

It's super fun to wear. I just need to get better at that whole twirling thing...

Obviously. Pretty sure the neighbors know I'm crazy! 

In the Art Room: Romero Britto Inspired Self Portraits

If you follow me here, then you already know that all my kids are currently creating self-portraits for our upcoming winter art show with Artome. I shared what my third graders are up to here (Y'ALL. THEY ARE TURNING OUT SO AMAZING). My second graders are making a variation of this Super Hero Selfie project that I did with my fourth grade last year...I'll be certain to share those with you soon. My firsties are becoming royal with these Royal Self Portraits while kindergarten is doing a variation of Ain't Gonna Paint No More selfies. Because the Artome frames fit 9" X 12" artwork and I usually have my kids work twice that size, I've had to really rethink and adjust some of these projects. I'll be sure to share them with you in the near future. To get the ball rolling, I thought I'd share with you this videoed Romero Britto lesson and the fourth graders' results. 

In case you don't know, Romero Britto is a Brazilian neo-pop artist who lives in Miami. I have shared his colorful work with my students when we did this project:

My fourth grade kids are so great at creating colorful designs and patterns that I thought this project would be perfect for them. 

 But I had to give 'em a little inspo first...

Before diving in to the video:

Here's what we cranked out the first day!

They did a bang up job and were pretty stinkin' proud. I teach doubled up fourth grade classes (meaning there are about 35 kids in the room). After doing the first portion of the video independently at our seats, we returned to the floor with clipboards, our papers and pencils to do a guided drawing together. I really liked having them watch the video as there were less interruptions. I did pause it every now and then to reexplain or allow the kids to catch up.

Once we were finished drawing on the floor together, the kids had mirrors at their seats. I told them that the guided drawing was a kind of template for them that they should alter and change once at their seats. I encouraged them to really study their faces, freckles, glasses and details and add them to their selfies. Once completed in pencil, they traced over their lines in Sharpie.

I really thought the kids would get further along than this...but they were so into drawing their likeness that I didn't want to rush them ahead. Next up, I'll provide them with some pattern idea sheets for them to draw their designs before adding color. 

I really can't wait to see how these turn out!

I have noticed that teaching self portrait drawing to older kids is pretty tough. Not cuz they can't handle it but because they are so hard on themselves! So I really REALLY discourage any erasing until they are back at their seats. I tell them that it is "just practice" and that they are learning something new...and to go easy on themselves. Only when they return to their seats are they allowed to change and erase...but I don't allow them to get another piece of paper. When I had a students say, "I don't like mine," I asked, "what do you not like?" When she replied with an "everything!" I told her to pick one thing she liked the least and we worked on that. Then we picked the next thing and we worked on that. Within five minutes, she was much happier with her drawing. It's a process with this age group. You gotta do what works without letting them throw in the towel. 

Next up, we'll add patterns of things that interest us (I used paint splatters and music notes in mine to give them some ideas) as well as color. 

I'll be sure to share our progress! Until then, feel free to use this video and lesson in your art teacherin' world. I'd love to see what your kids create! Shoot me an email if you do. 

Art Teacherin' 101: Episode 23 KINDERGARTENLAND

Ah, yes. Kindergarten. If it's one group of people that have my complete respect, it's the kindergarten teacherin' crowd. K-town comes to us all over the place: some have been in school, others have not; some know how to follow directions, others would rather roll around the floor (I mean, who wouldn't). You get the idea, it's a Big Ole Mixed Bag o' Fun. Ish. Ness. So I thought we could talk about that herd of cats we call Kindergarten in this week's 101. AND I thought I'd give you a sneak peak into a 5 minute chat with a group of 'em: 

What works the best for me: Call and Response. I use that trick with EVERY grade level, kindergarten up to fourth. It really works wonders for grabbing attention and getting kids to remember vocabulary, directions and steps to follow. Here's how I introduce it to the kids:

With kindergarten, I really like the happy/sad board. It's an instant visual and it's something easy I can keep up with. Again, I use it with everyone...but I notice I reference it most with the littles. By the time they are older, I hardly use it unless one of them reminds me. And then I'm all, "sure, would you mind keeping track of it for me?" I'm all about the distribution of power (aka, getting someone else to do my job). Here are the deets on that:

Another method I use with the wee ones is palming. I mention this in the video but you can see it in action here: 

Because we're chatting about kindergarten in this here post, I thought I'd share my most favorite lessons as well. If you've been around here long enough, you've heard my Larry the Line poem that I start my kindergarten school year with:

Larry the Lines leads us to our very first art project: Line Sculptures. From there we continue with a unit on line. You can find that entire unit here. 

I love using books with kindergarten, as I know many of us do, and one of my favorites is Mouse Paint. It's a great way to introduce color theory...and review lines to create shapes like these sweet mice! 

I love to introduce a unit on shape as you can see here. One of my favorite self portrait projects come from the artists in kindergarten land and you can see more of that here. I almost always do a variation of this landscape lesson each year. 

When it comes to clay, I LOVE introducing textures into clay creating. Check out these fun birds! We also had a lot of fun creating these clay butterflies. 

I'd love to hear what some of your favorite kindie lessons are. They are a group that is NEVER short on excitement...and if you can harness that, you've got gold. By the way, I often update my YouTube account before I share here so if you subscribe, you can get the latest, if you like!