What the Art Teacher Wore #99 and CONGRATS!

Let's Get Standardized Monday: Most frequently asked question whilst wearing pencil shoes? "Does the eraser work?" Which, to me, implies that the kids think the shoes can draw. I usually tell 'em, "No, but that's okay. I never make mistakes." Still trying to figure out why that is usually met with an eye roll and a groan. What?! blouse: Old Navy; Applique Wrap Skirt: DIY, go here; dotted tights: Target; shoes: DIY, go here

Congratulations, Natalie Friedl! 

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner of the Best Dressed Art Teacher Contest! 

Be on the lookout for an interview with Natalie on this here blog within the next week or two. 

And thank you all who participated!

I had the best time chatting with you via email and being inspired by your creativity. 

This was so much fun for me! I'd love to host another contest like this in the future (what do you think? An annual thing, perhaps?) so keep dressin' the part and don't forget to snap a photo for me!

(And now back to our regularly-scheduled, non-bold chitty-chat:)

Well, hello here, friends! I'm so happy to see this week of giving standardized tests is behind me (and I'm quit positive I'm not the only one). This past week, my mornings were filled with quiet and calm test-giving while my afternoons were buzzing with urgent finish-this-for-the-art-show-right-now mania. It was quite the yin yang though, in all honestly, I'd have to say I prefer the yang. 

Speaking of the art show, I'm excited to say that while it isn't until Thursday evening, the majority of the artwork is up! Well, until the blue sticky stuff holds, that is. I'm very fortunate in that I have the most supportive parent volunteers at my school that hang ALL the artwork that the kids have made ALL year. Which ends up being over two THOUSAND pieces of art work. "Wait, what are YOU doing then, Stephens?! Eating bonbons whilst sipping paint water?!" Um, no, I would never do that at the same time! Actually, I've been doin' time loading and unloading the kiln, matting and framing work and lighting fires under children to get stuff finished. I only have a mini-mountain of five classes left to be hung. The school walls are looking lovely and I'm so excited about Thursday night! I see photo-heavy blog posts in the future.

In light of test giving, I thought I'd share with you the work of Harriete Estel Berman. I think you'll dig it. Until next time!

Pick Up Your Pencils, Begin is a collaborative sculpture about the effects of standardized testing on education. According to Berman's website: "Thousands of #2 pencils form an ephemeral curtain that moves with the slightest breath of air. This installation emphasizes material reuse, student education, math, science and diversity."

Harriete Estel Berman is an artist whose work, aside from installations pieces like this one, includes jewelry, tea cups, sculptures and wall pieces that are created from recycled materials. Like the used pencils, these materials often speak to the subject matter being created. Have ya'll heard of Berman? I have...but had forgotten about her work until test-giving week. I would love to introduce her to the children next year before test-taking time. Have any of you discussed her work in your art rooms?

Make Your Mark Heavy and Dark Tuesday: I think that's my fave standardized testing line. I think EVERYONE should make their mark heavy and dark, don't you?! sweater and hair clip: DIY here; blouse: thrifted; skirt and tights: Target; shoes: Softt

Berman writes, "Pencils were sent to me from around the world uniting a community of artists, students and educators. This installation represents my continuing commitment to make artwork from recycled materials addressing social issues."

"As the number of government-mandated tests multiplies, anger is mounting over wasted school hours, 'testing to the test,' a shrinking focus on the arts, demoralized students and perceptions that teachers are being unjustly blamed for deeply-rooted socio-economic problems." This quote from the article "Pencils Down" from YES Magazine, Spring 2014

Not the Sharpest Pencil, Wednesday: I'm so not. So I can relate to these poor kiddos that struggle with the test. I remember just reading and rereading the questions, not knowing the answers, looking around at my classmates who seemed to be bubblin' like no tomorrow and thinking, "I'm just dumb." I feel sorry for the kids who feel the same, it's a blow to the ego at such a young age. blouse: DIY, here; 

Berman says, "During the assembly, which took years, I went to schools, lectured about my work and the students worked on the pencil project. Interesting in concept, asking people to work on your art project  is not easy. The implementation was a difficult reality. More than once I had to come home and fix the pencils the students or the public assembled."

Why Maxi Dresses in the Art Room are a Bad Idea, Thursday: Because every time I squat down to pick something up or help a kid, I inevitability step on the long hem, stand up and promptly fall over. In wedge heels. Not my finest moment(s). top: Anthropologie; pencil dress: vintage, etsy; sandals: Target

This process took Berman five years. Each of the pencils was drilled with a micro drill modified by Berman's son. From there began the long and tedious task of threading each of these pencils together. According to Berman's website, there were a lot of mistakes made along the way and lessons learned. But the effect is amazing, don't you think?

Goodbye Test, Hello Mess! Friday: So happy to be back in my normal All-Art/All-Day routine! splatter dress: made by me, DIY here; top: Buffalo Exchange; necklace: Forever21; tights: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina

Berman used model of a bell curve as the basis for her sculpture. Each color became a panel of pencils. The bell curve is how student performance on standardized tests is evaluated. Most students fall somewhere in the middle when it comes to testing which is why the graph bells in the middle.

Berman brings up the point that standardized testing is big business. We shouldn't be fooled into thinking that this is for the good of student education. The government spends over $600 billion a year on education and much of that is for text books and testing. It's clear we've lost our focus. According to me.

Berman states, "Standardized tests only evaluate a small spectrum of student ability excluding the arts, athletic and theatrical performance, creativity and more. The arts teach creativity and problem solving, two skills needed in the 21st century, but they are increasingly marginalized by a curriculum based on performance standards."

This lady gets it. I strongly urge you to check out her blog and read more, she's amazing. Until then, check this out: 

DIY: A Standardized-Testing Fashion Statement

Ya'll. Could my hands be any more creepy-vainy? Recently, when I was using the Elmo (not the Muppet, although that'd probably be more fun; the overhead-projector-thangie) and my hands showed up on the big screen, I overhear a kid say, "Her hands are SO veiny. Like an old lady." Nice. 

Hello, dear friends! I come to you in the midst of all things bubbly and questionable. And by that I mean, Standardized Testing Land. Not the champagne-poppin, Gatsby-esque party you had in mind, eh? Sorry to disappoint. 

When I heard the news that I'd be spending my mornings giving a standardized test, I decided to weigh my options in a standardized testing format. Which looked a lil bit like this: 

An art teacher has to give a bubble-fillin' test. This art teacher has sad memories of taking said tests as she is dim-witted and easily distracted (oh, look! a squirrel!!). How does this teacher prepare to give a test? Does she:

A. Discuss her past with her therapist (who will most likely fall asleep again during their session) and  attempt to work through her test-takin-pain.

B. Sharpen and promptly huff any No. 2 pencil found within a mile radius of her home.

C. Felt oodles of clothing for the test-taking occasion. No sense in not lookin' the part, ya'll (do they say "ya'll" on all standardized tests or just the Southern ones?).

D. Who cares, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SQUIRREL?! 

Well, Hot Diggity! If you guessed "C" than you are the Winner-Winner, Chicken Dinner! I totes spent my weekend felting this Doodlin' No. 2 Pencil sweater and that Pocket Protector Dotted Blouse. Because seeing a therapist is way overrated ("What do yoooooou think, Cassie?"..."Um, I think I need meds. And a booze-cation. Preferably combined.")

Testing, Testing, One-Two-Three: Outfit deets, ya'll. sweater: thrifted and DIY'ed my moi; skirt: super old, Target; tights: super-not-old Target; pencil shoes: DIY, go here, you. 

So just how did this Pencil-tastic Felting Adventure begin, you ask? Oh my, you ask the best questions! You should consider writing standardized tests! I'm so glad you asked. This weekend, hubs dragged me out on this totes tough hike and, while I was huffing and puffing up a some terrible hill, I got this awesome idea that I'd go home and stab up a storm! Not the hubs, mind you, although the thought did cross my mind. I decided that since the following week I'd be test-giving (never a pleasure to those on the receiving end), I should at least look the part. 

So when I got home, I dug through my "clothing to be DIY'ed stash" (yes, I have such a thing. Get yo'self to the thrift store and create your own!) and decided that this Super Soft but Dreadfully Dull sweater was just the perfect canvas for my masterpiece. If that's what you'd call it.

Using 100% wool yarn, I laid out my looped pattern, placed my bristly felting pad underneath and commenced needle felting. If you visit this post, you can see annoying clips of me chatting about the joys of felting. 

Needle felting with wool yarn is great because you can really control the direction and get some detailed work going. 

I had this done in no time. Unlike this felted dress which put more hairs on my head than testing this week. And that's sayin' somethun.

Since I thought this would also be a fun sweater to wear when we learn about line at the beginning of next school year, I opted to do a ziggy-zag on the opposite side. Because symmetry is WAY overrated. At least that's what my therapist says. 

Oh, look, a Pencil Rocket Ship! 'kay, so the pencils weren't lookin' so hawt until I added the yarn outline. That seemed to emphasize them a bit more and made them look less, well, rocket-shippy. 

Sadly, I didn't have any silver roving for the metal end...I thought for a hot minute about embroidering silver onto it but then laziness called and said, "Hells No" instead of "Hello". So rude.

All this craft-a-macating was not without Blood, Sweat and Tears. Okay, maybe just some blood. Watch out for those felting needles, ya'll! They are serrated, sharp and sassy!

Yay! Done! 

And then I was all, "But wait, there's more..."

 Lemme just draw my next idea out for ya. For that, Ima gonna need my No. 2 Pencil, yo.

 Since the sweater took no time, I got the idea mid-way through to make a shirt with a Pencil Pocket. 'Course, I had to add a coupla art supplies in there. I started by drawing out my design, tracing it in sharpie, placing it under my shirt and retracting that in pencil, as seen below.

 Told you it was below.

 I felted some...and decided that the details weren't up to snuff. So I had fun embroidering them in. Because I'm a dork like that.

 Almost there...

About the hair clip: Yeah, I made it, guess I shoulda snapped some how-to's of that! I started by breaking a bunch of pencils (always fun and stress-relievin') and sharpening them in graduated lengths. Then I hot glued them to a stiff piece of felt. One of those long metal alligator hair clips was then glued to that back. This gets LOTS of attention from the chillins, more so than my clothes!

 And, viola! A Pocketful of Art!

Mo' Outfit Deets: blouse: Old Navy; skirt: Anthropologie; tights: Target; Crayon Shoes: made by me

 All set to get all Standardized and Testy! Now, if you would, please open your test booklets to Is-It-Summer-Yet?! and answer questions 1 thru These-Last-Few-Weeks-Shall-Be-The-Longest-of-Your-Lives.  Until next time, be sure to make your answers heavy and dark, ya'll!

In the Art Room: First Grade Koinobori for Children's Day!

Are ya'll familiar with the Japanese holiday called Children's Day? I think sometimes my students are convinced that everyday is Children's Day which is why nearly every night is Grape-Flavored Grown-Up Drink Day for this art teacher. But I digress.

The real Children's Day is celebrated in Japan on the 5th day of May which, in case you didn't know, is the 5th month. It's a day set aside to respect children's personalities and to celebrate their happiness. Which, seriously, that part should be everyday in an art room, don't you think?

On this day, all children fly a carp kite called a koinobori on a flag pole, along with the koinobori of those in their family. The father's koinobori is usually at the top, followed by the mother with the children's kites, from oldest to youngest, flown below.

I had big visions of flying the kids' koinobori outside of our school for the occasion and for our upcoming art show (which is in 10 days, people! Not that I'm freaking out at all). However, we had some pretty Big, Bad and Ugly weather at the start of last week that lead me to believe that keeping these lovelies inside would be a better bet. The last time I hung something in these windows, it was a pretty big hit so I thought I'd do it again with our koinobori.

Along with a sign, of course. Otherwise everyone just thought they were super cool fish kites. Which they are but there's also a super cool story behind them as well.

So just how did my friends in First Grade Land create these awesome koinobori? Dude, it was so super easy and, like, the World's Fastest Art Project (which for me is a total rarity). Here's a list of the supplies we used:

• Roylco's Japanese Carp Wind Sock Kit For about $8, you can get your kitten mittens on a set of 24 die-cut fish with tag board strips that get glued into the mouths (if you look at the orange fish above, you'll see the tag board propping open the mouth.)
• Sharpies. This is optional. I had the kids use these to add details that they wanted to remain permanent.
• Watercolor Paint. Boy, talk about an End-of-the-School-Year-We-Are-Almost-Outta-Supplies Limited Palette, ya'll. But, we're artists, kids! We can make do! Or something like that.
• A Spray Bottle Full of Water.
• Yarn.
• Hole Punch.

How the lesson went down:

My kids have been learning about Asia, with an emphasis on Japan, all year. In fact, we'd just finished off this sushi lesson not long ago and had just completed making a ceramic koi fish. I needed a short and quick tie-in lesson while our clay projects dried and fired. These koinobori were just the perfect thing. 

After chatting about Children's Day, the kids were given a tray of warm and cold colored Sharpie markers. We chatted about the parts of a fish (fins, gills, scales, tail, etc.) and how we might emphasize those with either warm or cool colored Sharpies. 

That took up our first 30 minute session.

For the next 30 minute session, we reviewed correct use of water color paint (which obviously doesn't include cleaning the tray, ew!). I also told the kids that they were again to use warm or cool colors but that they didn't have to stick with the same color family as they used last art class. Once the kids had collected their supplies (a paint brush and two ziplock bags -- the two things I forgot to mention in that above supply list, doh!), they were to raise their hand and I came over and squirted their fish with water.

Because the paper is made from the same stuff as coffee filters, a wee spritz of water really helps the water color paint to spread out. The kids thought that was pretty rad.

Once the kids had painted their entire fish, they were given the option of splatter painting.

I don't think a single kid opted out of that one.

To dry, the kids gingerly carried their zip locked fish to the floor. The reason I kept the bags on the bottom was that I found that the color will often run off the paper and on to the surface that it is sitting on. However, if the paper is allowed to "sit in it's own juices" so to speak, it dries much more vibrant. 

Now, normally, I woulda had the kids add the tag board and attempt to tie the string. But I was in a bit of a time crunch. So I set aside about 15 minutes every afternoon to hot glue the tag board at the top, hot glue it into a tube, hole punch the top and add the yarn. By the end of the week, I had all of my classes finished.

To hang, I bent a paper clip so that it looked like some sort of scary prison shank and stuck it into the foamy ceiling tie. I added the top fish to that paper clip. Then I hole punched the bottom of that fish and added a bent paper clip to that hole where I attached the second fish. If I'm not making any sense it's because I'm deep into that aforementioned Grape-Flavored Grown-Up Drink Day and I simply cannot be held accountable for my incoherentness. 

I managed to get 'em all up and ready for Monday, May 5th on Friday. I can't wait for the kids (and the grown kids) to see them and celebrate all things children -- especially during our standardized testing week!

Until next time, enjoy Children's Day! Or Grape-Flavored Grown-Up Drink Day. Your choice.

What the Art Teacher Wore #98

Stormy Monday: Ya'll, if you live in the South you know there was some pretty terrible weather. Thankfully, after going home two hours early, we were left unscathed, but those in Tupelo didn't fair as well. I'm sure they'd appreciate your thoughts and prayers, if that's your thing. sweater, dress: vintage, thrifted; tights: Target; shoes: Dolls by Nina

Well, kids, next week my wee friends in third and fourth grade land embark on their standardized testing adventure. Which had me thinking about sharpened Number 2 pencils all weekend long (tell me I'm not the only one who's a freshly-sharpened-pencil-huffer). In fact, I tossed all current DIY's out the window this weekend (as well as cleaning and yard work, but that's, like, every weekend) and crafted up two pencil-y inspired ensembles just for the occasion. Cuz I gotta dress the part, ya'll. I'll be posting those DIY's later this week. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd share the pencil-y creations of Brazilian-born artist Dalton M. Ghetti. Have ya'll seen his work before? I'm just blown away by his work. My plan for next year is to share more contemporary artists with the kids and I know they'd love to see these pieces. Have any of you shared Ghetti's work in the art room? I'd love to hear some lesson ideas from ya'll that don't involvemy little friends carving into pencils with knives. Whatcha think?

Oh! And if you've not yet voted for the Best Dressed Art Teacher, please go here, check out these awesome teachers and cast your vote! Voting ends Thursday, May 8th.

AND, I almost forgot, May the Fourth Be With You! If ya'll didn't know I have a love for all things Star Wars, go here and here to see the depth of my crazy.

Alphabet, Dalton M. Ghetti. So Ghetti, who moved to the U.S. at the age of 24 in 1985 is a carpenter/house remodeler, according to his biography. Growing up in Brazil, he and his fellow classmates learned to sharpen their pencils with knives and razor blades (so, maybe I can use sharp objects with my littles? Um, pretty sure my administration would vote NO!! on that one).  Noticing his interest in sculpting and creating, his parents gave him a tool set at the age of 8. Since then, the dude's been creating all sorts of sculptures with a variety of media.

According to that bio, "To create his [pencil] sculpture, he holds the pencil in his hand under a strong light source (table lamp or sunlight) and carves it mostly with a sewing needle and a very sharp, triangular, small, metal blade. He works at very small intervals: 1 to 2 hours maximum per day whenever he gets inspired. He works very slowly by removing specks of graphite at a time. It therefore takes months or sometimes years to complete a sculpture." I love hearing that he only works when inspired and for a short amount of time a day. That means, there's no more using the excuse, "I don't have the time!" Everyone's got at least 20 minutes a day to work on something, right?

Let's Get Spring-y Tuesday: Everything is green right now. Especially after all the rain we've had. So much so that when I cut the grass this weekend, it was like plowing a field which was super hard to do in those heals, lemme tell ya. dress: vintage, thrifted; shoes: Fluevog; tights: Target; felted sweater: DIY by me

At first, Ghetti sculpted large things. But then his interest in small living things like moss and insects caused him to switch gears. He decided to create the smallest thing possible with just his hands and the naked eye (that's right, dude doesn't use a magnifying glass, if you can imagine). So, one day, he picked up a pencil and started carving.

Boot.

More Like Irish Spring Wednesday: So. Very. Greeeeen. sweater, shoes, dress: thrifted

For Ghetti, he believes people should pay more attention to the small things. The details. So he uses his art to call attention to that. The pencils he uses as his canvas are discarded ones that he finds on the streets. What others consider trash, he turns into fine art.

Dorky Thursday: Even after several photos, this dorky one was the best I could do. My apologies. dress: vintage; tights: Target; shoes: Indigo by Clarks

Forever Linked. For Ghetti, sculpting pencils is his form of meditation. He doesn't sell his pencils. You can buy reproductions of photos of his work. But the guy isn't doing this for the money. He sculpts for himself,  from his heart. Isn't that amazing? 

Happiness is Friday: Seriously. With the art show a week and a half away, I'm putting in some serious hours at school. I don't enjoy 12 hours shifts, but I know the end result will be worth it. That doesn't mean I don't love me a Friday! dress: Bernie Dexter; sweater: Buffalo Exchange; shoes: Anthropologie

Giraffe.

Amazing. I'm looking forward to hearing how you'd share this amazing artist's work in your art room!