In the Art Room: The Art Show, Part 1

 It's official, ya'll: School's Out for the Summer! And it really truly couldn't have come at a better time. Our school wide art show was a week before the last days of school which was a good thing since I was basically a useless puddle of exhaustion after the fact. I'm just glad that my Stress-Related Art-Show Eyebrow-Twitch finally stopped as I was tired of the dude at Starbucks thinking I was hitting on him.

Before I share with ya'll the amazing artwork of my kindergarten through 2nd grade students (3rd and 4th grade kiddos and clay projects to be shared in another photo-laden post), I have just gotta give a great big 

Thank You! 

to the dozens of parent volunteers that popped in everyday for two weeks leading up to the art show to hang the artwork. That's right, they hung everything that the kids created all year (my rough estimate was about 2300 masterpieces). I'm super lucky to have such amazing support from the parents of my young artists. Ya'll are the bestest!

Okay, without further ado, I present to you the masterpieces outta Kindergartenland!

 In kindergarten, I like to start the school year with a great big fat unit on line. We sculpt with lines, paint a pattern of lines and create an abstraction of lines. These bright and happy paintings are always a favorite of mine.

Another fave this year was clay butterfly sculptures. I really love that crayon/watercolor technique for the little ones. It seemed to add more depth to their texture than glaze would. That painting on the right is another project from our line unit.

For Read Across America week, I wore my Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus dress and we created these cuties. This was a big hit with the kids and parents alike. We had a lot of fun trying out our wet-on-wet watercolor skills with this project. Look below and you'll see how they did that in the background of their work.

 One thing I love about having the parents hang the artwork is that each hangs the pieces a little differently. I find that this makes for more dynamic displays from class to class. Foxy lesson here and Starry Night Collages here.

 This year, I made signs for the art show that were inspired by that AMAZING art teacher over at Painted Paper. When I saw her post on art show signs, I knew I had to use our stash of leftover painted papers to make my own.

 Onto the 1st grade artwork. The little ones were so busy this year! One of our most recent masterpieces were these koinobori that we were able to hang in a large bank of windows. Details on that fun and quick lesson here.

 My 1st grade started the year creating those hilarious Viking Self Portrait collages with Rebecca, my former student teacher (who is RIGHT NOW interviewing for her own art teacher gig, wish her lucky, ya'll!). Details on those Starry Night Collages here and Party Pandas here. 

 Our second round of self-portraits were of a Japanese theme with ourselves dolled up in kimonos. Details on that lesson here. 

 When I was absent for a couple of days attending the NAEA conference in San Diego, I left my "But I'm Not an Artist!" sub directions on teaching the kids to draw these pandas. And, much to her surprise, her drawings, as well as the kids, turned out great! This also meant that I could come back to work with a lesson already started and simply bust out the watercolor paints for the kids to finish them. Details on those ceramic stars to come.

One final look at 1st grade before we move onto the...

 Again, the idea for these signs came from Painted Paper. Each set of signs was hung right above the hallways leading to that grade level. 

I really loved the work that my 2nd graders created this year. Some of my favorites were their circle loom weavings and their cherry blossom paintings. 

 Every year, I have my 1st through 4th grade students right an autobiography to hang with their artwork. This also proved to be a great sub lesson when I was out for a different occasion. Can't remember what. Booze Cruise, maybe? Wishful thinking. My 2nd grade also took part in the Viking and Kimono fun. 

 We hang ALL the artwork that the kids have created ALL year. Which means that one class can take up a whole lotta wall space. I have yet to find what sticks the best to cinderblocks in the muggy pre-summer heat of our halls. We've tried every kind of tape, that blue sticky stuff by Dapp, double-sided tape by 3M and hot glue. While hot glue works great, it's a headache trying to get it off the walls. Next school year, I'm begging and pleading for more cork strips.

 Paper marbling was a fast and fun project to teach about the Japanese art of Suminagashi. 

 I liked this lesson so much, I blogged about it twice. 

 I've always struggled with a circle loom weaving lesson where I loved the results as much as the kids did the process. In the past, we wove on CD's and unpainted white plates. The results were fine...but when we painted the plates this year, it seemed to take the weaving to a whole new level. 

And there you have it, ya'll! The 2-dimentional masterpieces by kindergarten through 2nd grade. Stay tuned in the next coupla weeks as I share the rest of the art show as well as lessons with ya. 

Until then, how do you know it's officially summer? Well, it's 1pm and I'm still in my pajamas! May your days be filled with pjs and craft projects, teachery folk! For the rest of ya, take a day or three off, you've earned it. Tell your boss a crazy art teacher said so!

In the Art Room: Kindergarten Clay Butterflies

Ya'll. I got this genius idea about a month and a half ago that all 400+ of my students should be working with clay. At the same time. And while this made for easy set up/clean up (read: We're 5 minutes late, ya'll -- Stop, Drop and Get Out! The next class is using the same thing!), all that clay left my room covered in a lovely layer of dust. Which, if you are an art teacher then you know, means two things:

1. The kids will figure skate across your dust-covered floor much to your pretend dismay (because, let's face it, you do the same thing when they're not in the room).

2. The kids will leave a path of dust covered foot prints leading a slightly disgruntled custodian to your door (ha, I totally kid as I have the most understanding custodial buddies around). 

Despite the dust-bowl-esque appearance of the art room, I love teaching clay as much as the kids do working with it. Seeing what creations they come up with is always so much fun. Howevers, with the wee ones in kindergarten-town, I like to start with the basics of hand building construction (slab, coil, sphere) in a pretty structured way.

Which leads me to this here Clay Butterfly project. If you're new to teaching clay or you simply need a quick project that teaches the basics of clay construction in a fool-proof-ish kind of way then this big bad butterfly is the thing for you. Here's what you'll need:

• Low Fire Clay (I use cone 06)
• No kiln to fire the clay? No worries. Try this out with air dry clay or Sculptey, available at craft stores.
• Skewer
• Toothbrush and cup of water
• Texture for the butterfly. We use a lot of lace, doilies and placemats in my art room.
• A butterfly template, optional
• Crayons
• Watercolor paint

 When I introduce clay, I have the kids gather around a table and do a demo from start to finish. Then I run through the entire thing again, this time having them repeat the directions after me. I thought I'd share with ya'll the start-to-finish routine...but don't worry, I won't make you repeat it back.

On auto-repeat, I tell the kids: You can make ANYTHING outta clay as long as you can make a Slab, a Coil and Sphere. With those three things, anything is possible. First, I have 'em make a slab.

1. Begin by squishing the clay as hard as you can between your two hands. Then thump it down onto your textured surface (this thumping-down business is always a hit, no matter what the age) and begin pounding the daylights outta that clay. Now, you're gonna have to remind the kids that the goal is not to punch they clay too much, it's not your brother after all. The end result should be a clay that is a consistent cookie thickness.

 Sometimes you can pound and pound that clay and it just won't get wide enough. So I tell the kids to pound their clay at a diagonal to help the clay stretch and become the desired width.

 The end result should have the texture of your pounding and be consistently cookie thick.

 2. Peal that clay off of your texture like a Fruit Roll-Up. I have to tell the kids that otherwise they'll simply dig at it with their fingernails. If you show them how to pull the clay and the texture away from each other, it's much easier. Also, isn't that texture rad? Clay is so receptive to texture that I'm always showing kids ways to incorporate that into their clay piece. Lace is my personal fave.

3. Once the clay has been pealed off of the texture, have the kids trace a butterfly template (not shown, duh). Or, if you are a Template Hater, don't. I use templates for this activity as the focus is on working with clay. If I can remove the frustration of drawing and redrawing a butterfly onto clay, them Ima gonna do it. When the kids cut into the clay, show them how to properly use that skewer stick. It should stand up vertically, like a solider. If the kids hold it like a pencil, they either just saw through the clay (leaving behind a chewed up looking edge) or don't cut all the way through. 

3. Smooth out those clay boogers. I know those rough edges aren't sharp now...but just you wait until you run your hand over that bad boy after a good bisque firing (that's a first fire for you first timers). I've sliced my hand up on such a surface. I always emphasize running a finger over the edges to smooth 'em.

4. Once they've gotten that slab butterfly body made, I teach 'em how to make a coil. For them, that's old hat. That's like the very first thing all kids make outta clay: a snake! Using my extra clay, I roll out a coil that is as long as the center of the butterfly. If I make it too long, I cut it to size with my skewer.

5. Now, I don't use a scoring tool, I use a toothbrush. I do use the terminology "slip and score" and explain to them that it's the glue that binds it all together. Without it, your clay project is sure to fall apart and you'll be so super sad. Don't let it happen to you.

 6. Stick that coil to the slab. In my demos, we chatted for a hot minute about the three parts of the butterflies body and used our pinching fingers to create them.

 7. Using spheres, we created eyes for our butterfly. Again, we toothbrushes because we didn't want our eyes to fall off. It totes sucks when that happens. Eyelashes (because all butterflies have 'em, right?) and mouthes were added along with anything else the kinderkiddos might imagine.

8.  When they brought their finished pieces to me, I wrote their names on the back and stuck two holes in the head for antennae and a hole in each wing for hanging. You might not want to do this in front of the children, especially if you fail to tell 'em what you're doing as stabbing their clay project proves to be a traumatic experience for some...not that I've ever done it or anything. Ahem.

Now, bisque or first firing these guys was cake because I could just stack 'em up on my kiln shelves. But I knew that glaze firing would involve many rounds of loading and unloading the kiln because of the flat and wide nature of the pieces (in case I'm not speaking your language: you cannot stack glazed pieces in the kiln as they'll stick together once fired). If you recall from earlier in this here post I mentioned that EVERYONE in the UNIVERSE was making something out of clay so glaze firing all of these really would have slowed my firing to a snail's pace. Therefore, I knew I had to find a glazing alternative.

I gave the kids watercolor paint and we had a chat about crayon resist. It helped that we'd dabbled in this in a previous lesson so the kids kinda got the concept. I told 'em that bright colors worked the best and that coloring super hard was the key to making this work. I likened it to putting a raincoat on the butterfly so that when it got wet with the paint, the paint would roll right off the rain coat. We also chatted about the symmetrical nature of a butterfly's design which inspired some kids. For others, they either weren't interested in that or their texture pattern made it too difficult to create a symmetrical design.

Once the crayon coloring business was through, the kids were free to paint. I asked them to pick one color (my friend above chose not to but the end result is lovely) and really like really had to stress painting away the white spots. The key is to have a moppy wet brush and to paint slow enough for the paint to sink into the crevices. Once complete, I slapped some ModPodge on 'em and my fourth grade morning helpers added the hanger. I added a dot of hot glue inside each opening at the top, inserted the antennae and, viola! Kindergarten Clay Butterfly!

What are some of your fave kindergarten clay projects? I'd love to hear, ya'll!

What the Art Teacher Wore #100 (WHAT?!) and an Art Show Sneak Peak

Monday, Let's Do This: Oh, I was so ready on Monday. I had my To-Do List scrawled in Sharpie on my hand (ever wonder why my hands are mysteriously hidden in my photos? cat's outta the bag) and I was ready to get the Art Show finished up in time for the big night. crayon dress: made by me, DIY here; sweater: Betsy Johnson, picked up at Buffalo Exchange; shoes: BC, super old; palette pin: gift from a friend (thank you, Paul!)

 Ya'll are gonna have to forgive my absence. This past week was our annual art show and I was doin' some serious time at the joint. From framing, to loading and unloading the kiln (up until the actual day of the show, ack!) to finally finishing the mural that'd been on my floor for, gulp, a month (okay, more like two months), the To Do List was seemingly unending. I did end up letting some stuff go (Let it go, let it go; Can't frame one more thing anymore; Let it go, it go; Turn away and slam that art room door) which made it so I could actually leave the school and see that man who lives in my house and eats my chocolate. 

I thought I'd share with ya'll just a teeny tiny sneak peak of our art show. We had a turn out of well over 400 folks (I only know this because they ordered 400 cups of ice cream to pass out for our Ice Cream Social and they ran out half way through the night!). The evening went by in a blink and left me totally pooped...but in a good way. Be warned: many photo-heavy art show posts to come. Oh! And I'm a wee bit behind on sharing art lessons with you but I'll be catching up on those soon (hello, summertime!).

AND, lastly, can ya'll believe this here is my 100th What the Art Teacher Wore post?! I just traveled back in blog time to find my very first weekly outfit post. I didn't have the title nailed down yet (I called it "What NOT to Wear" for the longest time!) but I've completely enjoyed sharing my outfits with you. However, if you have any thoughts or suggestions on this weekly post, I'd love to hear 'em!

Until then, have a great week (it's our last one!) and I'll be back with ya'll soon!

I don't believe I've ever shared this mural that my student teacher, the kids and I created this year! We always make a new one for the front lobby and this one was a mammoth. With a photo of every child in the school, it was a beast to assemble. I'll share with you the details in an upcoming blog post.

Rainy Tuesday: For some reason, the weather this week took a turn for the chilly worst. Temps dropped from the 80's to the 50's which had me propping open that kiln lid and warming my hands. dress: thrifted, vintage; sweater: ebay; boots: Hunger; bows: H & M; belt: from another dress

Just a peak at some a kindergarten display. I've written about most of these lessons: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus painting and A Unit on Line. I'll be sharing a lesson on those clay butterflies later this week.

Clean Your Room! Wednesday: Gah, up until the day before the art show, those kids were still creating paintings (that I ended up hanging the day of the show! I was like a monster: Must. Hang. EVERYTHING.) That afternoon, I spent hours putting everything away (all my closets currently  look like an episode of Hoarders) and prepping my room for the big day. dress: old, Anthropologie; sweater and shoes: thrifted; tights: Target; bow belt: made by me

My art room used to be the school library. When they remodeled years ago, the wall to wall shelving became wall to wall cabinets. I know, I'm spoiled rotten. Usually my counters are covered in bottles of paint, brushes to be washed, construction paper, you name it. All that got put away and I covered the counter in paper to display clay projects. Extra Panda Paintings, as well as Ice Cream paintings (in honor of the Ice Cream Social) were hung on the cabinets. 

Okay, ya'll. The kids made awesome Asian-inspired clay pieces this year...but my favorite lesson is gonna have to be these ceramic Painted Elephants of India by my fourth grade students. Each one is clever, unique and amazing. Lesson to come.

Art Show Thursday!: Even my toes are excited. My administration is The Very Best. They allow me to get a substitute teacher on this day so I can finish hanging artwork and prepping clay displays. I got this idea from another art teacher years ago...and it's simply genius. It also allowed me time to take our school's superintendent as well as the board members around the show. I think it's crucial to inform everyone of the importance of art education. Job security, people. blouse: garage sale; skirt: etsy; sandals: Target; necklace: The Paper Source

Alright, ya'll. As much as I LOVE murals, I really hate putting them together as it usually involves me crawling around on the floor with a hot glue gun with a tail of two bright orange, extra long extension cords attached. But the end result is worth it, says me. I got the idea to make this mural light up after creating my Starry Night Light Up Dress and based the theme off of this Winter Wonderland Mural the kids created a couple years ago. 

Finally Full-Day Friday!: I seriously cannot believe my school year is this close to being over. I'm very sad I didn't get to cover everything that I would have liked...which leads me to believe that I need to work on my school year planning skillz. It's on my Summertime To Do. sweater: super sale, Anthropologie; picture frame dress: Modcloth; tights: Target; shoes: Fluevog

On Wednesday afternoon, as I was clearing the tables for the art show, I found this graffiti on one of my tables. I have an idea who wrote it...my fourth grade students, whom I'm taught since kindergarten, have been very sentimental these last couple of weeks. I'm going to miss them so much...and I think they are feeling the same.

Another clay project fave of mine are these fourth grade pandas. The student on the left had created a clay umbrella but the weight of it caused it to fall over. Our solution was to add this drink umbrella once it was out of the kiln. These two pandas are just hilarious to me...it's kinda how I imagine hubs and I in just a matter of days. Summertime, here I come!

DIY: The 7 Habits of a Crazily Dressed Art Teacher

That's right, ya'll. It's my closet. While I do share it with the hubs (my apologies, dear), he owns just a small piece of real estate [not pictured, those aren't his leopard print pants, I swear]. Lemme tell you what you are lookin' at here from left to right: on the left shelf: summer sweaters, shoes, bags and more sweaters; on the top row of hangers: tights on hangers (so I can easily find ones to match my ensemble), skirts; on the lower level: pants and blouses; middle: (more) sweaters, pants (what?!), under-stuff (I don't have a dresser, so this is where I keep that kinda stuff); right: dresses. Lots of dresses. clear plastic tubs above: winter duds.

The hubs is currently reading that uber-famous Steven Covey book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And I totes wanna know those habits (because I secretly wanna rule the world and dress ya'll in Crayon shoes) but I also totes don't wanna read the book (even though I'm pretty sure one of those aforementioned habits would be "don't be an illiterate lazy a**"). So, every evening at dinner, I casually ask hubs about the book to trick him into thinking I'm making polite conversation when really I just want the Cliff's Notes. But I think the dude is onto me. Because, at the end of every ever-shrinking conversation, he says:

"You should really just read the book."

And, maybe I will. Although I'm more of a trashy/smutty summer novel kind of girl. If only Covey's book was titled something like "Fifty Shades of Highly Effective Bridget Joneses" we might be curled up on a beach towel together. For now, I'll just borrow heavily from his book for the title of this here DIY blog post:

The 7 Habits of a Crazily Dressed Art Teacher *

1. Do What Feels Right. 
Okay, let's be honest. I look ridiculous. Like some sort of Rainbow-Brite/PeeWee Herman love child. And that might not be the look you are going for. Because how many times have you woken up and thought, "You know what? Today, I'm gonna dress like a rainbow shot out of a unicorn's a**." So, you should always, always do what feels right for you. For me, in the beginning, tiptoeing into the pool of Crazy Art Teacher meant stepping up my accessorizin' game. 

2. The Devil is in the Artsy Details.
Have you ever noticed that little people notice the little things? Like the time you only put your eyeliner on one eye ("Mrs. Stephens, what's wrong with your eyes? One is fancy the other is sleepy!") or the day you opted out of wearing a Bumpit ("Where is the prettiful Mrs. Stephens? Your hair is so...sad.") Yeah, you pretty much have to sweat the small stuff with the smalls because...they notice everything. 

So, why not bank on that?

Start by accessorizing. I began with something small, cheap and easy (um, no comment): pins! Pins are great, ya'll, especially for those of us that wear a lanyard or an apron all day. In the beginning of my art teacherin' career, I got big time into making pins outta Sculptey which fed two needs: a creativity itch and that desire to be different. When I found that the kids responded to that little touch of pizazz (anyone else hate that word?), I decided to expand my accessory repertoire to necklaces (DIY directions for that necklace above, go here.)

Most of my necklaces are either thrifted, sale-racked or handmade. Details on that embroidered pin here. 

Scarves were another one of the first accessories I wore in the art room on those days when the heat just decided to up and die. I remember once when I took a scarf off during a lesson when a student said, "Oh, please keep it on! It's super cute!" And, well, you know I'm all about the Super Cute. Because I'm 12.

Why not put ever accessory together in one ensemble? Headband, check. Scarf, checkity-check. Tacky gold belt, done. Cup of tea, like a boss.

Another fave accessory: Head Gear. Well, wait, not THAT type of head gear, I already did years of that in my adolescence. Head decor, I mean. Anything to jazz up the 'do is a do in my book. Details on the sushi headband here. Pencil clip DIY here.

Because nothing says "Crazy Art Teacher" like this kinda Head Decor.

3. Make a Leggy Statement (Added Bonus: Never Shave Your Legs Again!). 
These days, you can find tights in just about every color of the rainbow (thank you, Target) and for cheap. I'm in the habit of only buying things that are on sale for a coupla reasons: 1. They's cheap like me. 2. You'll notice that only the "weird" (read artsy) stuff makes it to the sale rack. That's because the rest of the world, which is inhabited by Non-Crazily Dressed Art Teachers, steers clear of 'em. Perfect for the likes of us.

Amazon actually carries a huge selection of artsy tights. Don't believe me? Search "Starry Night Tights" and tell me I'm fibbin'. Sweater DIY, here.

While you're thinking of legs, don't forget your feets. I'm kinda prone to heels although I do keep a pair of ballet flats in my art room when the dogs grow tired. The majority of my shoes are thrifted (that might gross you out but my tolerance of disgusting is off-the-charts) and then DIY'ed. The crayon shoes, leopard print, glittery and blue splatter paint shoes are all of my footsy-masterpieces.

Follow this linky-loo for all the gory foot-feitishy deets, yo.

4. Put an Apron on It. 
Let's pretend for a sec that I'm Beyonce (not a stretch, right?) and Ima singing a version of "All the Single Ladies" which I like to call "All the Artsy Ladies". And it goes like this:

'Cause if you liked that dress, then you should have put an apron on it
If you liked that top, then you shoulda put an apron on it
Don't be mad once you see that kid got paint on it
'Cause if you liked that skirt, then you shoulda put an apron on it
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Seriously. Aprons are cute and fun to make. Like that dorky one above. Do yourself a favor, put an apron on it. 

5. Shop that Thrift Store like an Art Teacher/Hoardin' Boss. 
If you aren't thrifting your art teacher duds, you are seriously missing out. My fave thing to do is to go with a group of art teacher buddies. They'll talk you into buying the most craziest of things. I'd say that about 70% of my closet is thrifted and I'm cool with that. 

What do I look for at the thrift store? Anything odd, unique, colorful and pattern-tastic. I usually steer clear of fad fashions as I've found that I usually end up giving those right back to thrift store months later.

A peak at the pattern-y duds in my closet.

6. Create Your Own Clothing. 

Okay, that sounds totes overwhelming, right? So, kids, start small. Like I said, I began by making pins outta clay. When I first decided to tackle clothing, it involved me literally gluing stuff to a dress because I didn't know how to sew. Then my mom bought me a sewing machine, I read the manual and created some super ugly things. That I loved and wore with pride. Then I started felting after watching a coupla youtube videos. These days, I'm usually confident that when I come up with an idea, I can make it happen. I enjoy doing that. You might also...but your creative outlet might take you down a different path. Follow it. You might be surprised what crazily-dressed artsiness awaits. (Campbell's Soup Can Dress, here. Hokusai's The Great Wave Dress, here.)

7. Nay the Naysayers. 

Now, as you embark on your Crazily Dressed Art Adventure, be prepared to be met with some resistance. I know I've had my share. From that stranger who snapped my photo at Starbucks and posted it on Facebook to comments like, "Why are you wearing that?!" by a colleague, just brace yourself. Not everyone can handle the scandal. That's why they're not art teachers, ya'll. Or, at least, the ones with ballz. And you, my friend, I can tell have some Big Bad Artsy Balls. So embrace your crazy! And share it with your students. You won't regret it. Although your significant other might. (Totes Crazy Art Teacher Outfit DIY, here.)

Until next time, let your Crazily Dressed Art Teacher Freak Flag Fly!

* Disclaimer: This here blog post is for the Art Teacher Ladies out there. If there are any art teacherin' dudes that would like to share their Crazily Dressin' Tips, shoot me an email at cassieart75@gmail.com!