What the Art Teacher Wore #143

Summer-day: You know, my fave thing about summer vacay is when you get to the point where you forget what day it is. That's when you know you've hit toootal relaxation AND, sadly, that the end is nigh. Just one more week of freedom before we return! dress: vintage score from Buffalo Exchange; crinoline: Amazon; shoes: old, BG's; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; Enid Collins Box Purse: ebay

Hi, friends! I realized the other day that I've only shared with y'all maybe one (or two) What the Art Teacher Wore blog posts this summer! One part cuz during the summer, I'm off my routine which means my blogging schedule (as if there ever was one) gets all kinds of jacked up. The other part cuz, well, when I'm not wearing the same stinkin' outfit for days in a row, I'm in stretchy pants (I just can't bring myself to admit that I'm in the yoga pants camp so "stretchy pants" they shall be) and a hole-y t-shirt. It's a glamorous life I lead, lemme tell ya.

This week kept me on my toes tho as I had to venture out and teach teachers! Our local art museums The Frist and Cheekwood Botanical Gardens offered a wonderful three day professional development and I taught a lil bit of fiber arts on the first day...

Teaching art teachers is so stinkin' fun because they come up with the very best of ideas. We focused on needle-felting and ways to both tie that in to the current art exhibits as well as bring the craft back to our art rooms. I shared some of my student projects involving needle-felting as well as some that I'm planning to try out with my students this year. Being the most creative teachers I know, these dudes came up with great ideas as well as the most beautiful of needle-felted creations! 

SIDE NOTE: I'll be leading another fiber arts workshop at The Frist on Saturday, September 26th. This one is open to everyone, not just art educators. We'll be focusing on needle-felting, embroidery and more...the last I checked, there were only 6 spots left so if you are interested, go here and I'll see you there! 

I loved everyone's different take on the craft of needle-felting and the inspiration they got from the both the Italian Style show as well as the Wiener Werstratte. This artist was inspired by an incredible fur coat designed by Karl Lagerfeld. I love how she layered and needle-felted through the felt. 

Two artists created landscapes and I just love them both. The impressionist style of the one on the left is so subtle. Needle-felting really seems to be perfect for that kind of look. Although the one on the right is very graphic, which I love. My work in needle-felting is usually very flat and graphic as well so I can totes relate to the style and look of that one. 

Ah, summertime happy place. 

The artist on the left created a Japanese family crest. I had no idea that you could needle-felt synthetic yarns until she gave it a go with her boarder. I love the roses in the foreground of the one on the right. 

And this artist drew her inspo from the graphic designs of the postcards and fabrics we saw. I love the colors and joy in this piece, makes me so happy!

 Fave Purse Tuesday: So you mightah noticed in these here photos that I'm carting around a box-purse. I've always loved Enid Collins box purses but this summer, after scoring a couple at the flea market, I've become obsessed. I was so thrilled to get this one which is currently my fave. I've now got a lil (growing) collection that is gonna require me to install a shelf to showcase 'em all! sweater: thrifted; dress: vintage; shoes: Jeffrey Campbell; brooch and earrings: estate sales

 Rainy Day Wednesday: We've been having these rando outbursts of rain then INSANELY humid (we call it "muggy" where I'm from) weather. I mean, it literally feels like you are walking into someone's mouth the moment you step outside. No bueno. So it requires footwear like these Crocs that can take a lil rain and a lil shine. sweater and blouse: thrifted; skirt: Anthro found at Buffalo Exchange; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; brooches: estate sale

So-Cal Thursday: I finished off my Artsy Sew Along skirt right before we took a lil vacay to Southern California! If you are sewing along, don't you worry. I'll get the vid clippies up soon once we return from the land of eternal sunshines. shirt: thrifted; skirt: made by me!

 

Evenings at Disneyland: I'd love to share with y'all photos from our Cali-adventures but I dare say this blog post is photo-heavy enough! However, if you follow me here, you can keep up with the craziness even more (hurray! -ish!). When in Cali, we venture into California Adventure every evening to see The Mad T Party band as they are Uh-Maze-Ing. Here I am chillin' on the streets of Muppet-ville waiting for the next show to start. top: Old Navy? Target? I can't remember; skirt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; belt: Amazon. Fur realz. Just type in "big a$$ belt" and you'll find this; shoes: TJ Maxx

DIY: Artsy Sew Along, Stitching // Gathering and a Winner!

Whut-whut?! Guess who finally decided to come back to her own sew-along party? Das right, kiddies! My bottom-of-the-heartest apologies for the delay. I always forget that July is pretty stinkin' busy in Cassie-town, what with laying on the couch, taking a shower (occasionally) and deciding whether or not to get dressed to get the mail or just shock the neighbors again and do it in a bathrobe with the backside accidentally tucked into my grannie panties (like that visual image? Yer welcome!). I know, right?! It's amazing I've even managed to find the time to put together these two short clippies for you! Here's what I'll be yappin' about today:

1. You've already got your pockets in, riiiiiight? And it was super simple, yeeeeeessss? If you've not done that yet, no worries! Just hop over here and come back in an hour.  Now we are ready to stitch the front of the skirt to the back two panels!

2. From there, I'll show you how to add your gathering stitches. 

And that's it for this post. Short and simple. My plan is to be bacattcha soon buuuuut we'll see how I feel after a couple more days of couch rollin' around and Mad Men power-watching. It's a rough life, summer livin', I tell ya.

OH!! The giveaway! Thank you so much to all y'all that entered to win the goods to make your own Palette Purse! I recently carried my purse to an art event and got so many stinkin' compliments, if I do say so (and I just did. So there.) My fave comment is always, "Oh! Where did you get that?!" which is way better than "ooOOoooooh, that's...cute. Did you make that?!" like I'm some five year old wearing a moldy macaroni necklace. All y'all crafters know what I'm talkin' about. Anyway! The winner is...Andie Anders! Congrats, buddy! And thanks all y'all for playing. I seem to give away stuffs pretty frequently around here so if you don't come here for my good looks and charm (whuuuuuut?!) then pop back by for the free shizz. 

Now, let's stitch!

Please ignore that crazy nonsense about entering to win the contest! We already have a winner, duh, me.

I dunno what you do when you need a sewing break but I fabric shop. It's most def a bad idea that I don't recommend. I mean, lookie what's currently in my slacker-shopping cart: kitties! 

Bananas! 

And back to werk. 

Next time, we'll work on that waistband and the zip. Hemming should be a snap and we're done! Yay! If you are stitching, please be sure to share on the Artsy Sew Along page and on instragramz with the #artsysewalong. Thanks, kids!

 I leave you with more eye candy from one of my fave fabric brands Cotton and Steel. Til next times!

In the Art Room: Tennessee Arts Academy, 2015

Every summer, right in the middle o' July, I attend the most amazing professional development known to man: The Tennessee Arts Academy in beautiful (albeit hawt as Hades) Nashville, TN. If you follow me on the Instagramz than you've prolly seen me sharing the most amazing projects, craziness and overall good times which all went down this past week. AND if you've been hangin around this here blog for a pinch, then you've seen my past TAA adventures here and here. This year was easily one of my faves because I got to spend time with my craziest art teacherin' buddy, Laura Lohmann of Painted Paper! 

Laura is a powerhouse of an art teacher, y'all. My group stayed with her for just two days and we learned so stinkin' much about her amazing approach to teaching art to children. I'm gonna share just a handful of her projects but I gotta encourage you to visit her Teachers Pay Teachers store to purchase complete copies of her lesson plans. Laura pours over these plans and they are a steal of a purchase when you see all of the art history and project ideas included. Y'all can thank me laters.

On our first day with Laura, we worked with Model Magic to create flowers. Our inspo was Monet but Laura left the creativity and imagination up to us. Her projects are very open-ended and her directions are short and to the point. Once the flowers were done, we set about painting paper. This is Laura's whole deal: have the students create tons of painted paper to use in later projects. That stack in front of her was created by my group in a matter of an hour. We used a variety of texture tools and simply painted as many papers as we could in the time we had. This became our beautiful stash to create later projects with. Like those flowers I mentioned...

Once the Model Magic was dry, we painted our flowers anyway we liked an adhered them to a piece of cardboard with Aleene's Tacky Glue. Our painted papers serving as a background. After gluing my papers, I did enhance them with a small brush and some white paint. 

Because of Laura's anything-goes teaching technique, everyone created a wonderfully different piece. 

This photo gives you a little peak into how Laura teaching painting to children: without water. RIGHT?! The kids work from paint palettes that have been set up in Roy G. Biv order. When they paint, they start with the lightest colors first and work their way around the color wheel. When they wish to change colors, they simply wipe their brush on their place mats. We used maps of Laura's home state of Ohio for our mats!

Laura's suggestion of painting tools included many that I'd never thought to use with my students: round stencil brushes, scouring pads, odd looking paint tools from Lakeshore, you name it, her kids are painting with it! 

Next up, we created Tikis! Using our painted papers, we learned about Paul Gauguin, Tahiti and the history of tikis. Then Laura let us loose and we created the most amazingly fun tikis ever, if I do say so mah-self.

 Like, riiiiight?

 On our second day with Laura, we painted large flowers on tag board. This lesson is actually FREE on Laura's TPT page right meow. You needs to get it because these flowers were so beautiful and fun! 

What a lovely way to start off the school year and brighten the halls of our schools, right?!

 After that, Laura had us creating landscapes inspired by Monet...

Like this lovely reflections painting by a fellow art teacher buddy.

And Gauguin. Now, I gotta tell ya, normally, I'm all chatty at TAA because I do love to hang with "my people". However, I was so into what I was creating on this day that I don't believe I said a peep...and I ended up with a stack of ideas to bring back to my classroom. I'm so excited!

A view of our Gauguin-inspired landscapes.

On the third day, it was time to switch classes and go spend the next coupla days with one of the funniest dudes I've ever met: Jim McNeill. Jim is the illustrator of Pam Stephens' "Dropping in on [insert famous artists' name here] with Puffer" and Tessellations: History & Making of Design.  I gotta tell ya, I've never been a fan of tessellations myself and had some pretty serious reservations about this two day event. However, I really got into it! I fell in love with creating my Diner Dames, as I've dubbed them, and actually think I might have to make more! 
Folks had some super clever ideas for their tessellations. There were even ones that popped out, morphed and transformed! It was pretty magical. 

I even did a lil art teacher teachin' for a couple days and taught some fiber techniques for teachers to take back to their classrooms.

My art teacherin' students learned needle felting, string art, yarn bombing and how to teach embroidery to small children. I absolutely love teaching art teachers, they come up with THE BEST ideas!

On Thursday, Laura and I had to get all pretty for our big AOE conference! I was so glad that Jessica of AOE allowed that crazy girl and me to present back to back since we were at TAA that day. I had the opportunity to watch the presentations last night and, as always, I learned so much (Alecia Eggers, can you PLEASE come organize my liiiiiiifeeeee?!). 

Now, whilst I was painted paperin' and gettin' my tessellation on (er, whuuuut?) the high school art teachers were hanging with Debbi Engbring, high school teacher from Arizona (pictured second from the left) and Laurie Gatlin (on left) from SoCal. 

Laurie is an incredible teacher with a unique way of teaching her students through the use of sketchbooks. And I'm not talkin a black-leather bound book or some spiral bound nonsense. Naw, her kids MAKE the books, paint the pages, and sketch daily. I first met Laurie this past fall at our state conference where she was our keynote speaker and shared her method. I was blown away. She's amazing!

Debbi had her students IN TWO DAYS create these magnificent teapots. Y'all. These were not thrown on the wheel! She had a very clever way of having the students use half styrofoam sphere's to create each half of the sphere and then put the two together. From there, more clay was added to decorate as well as black glaze for some sgraffito. Super amazing.

 Now, I gotta tell ya, my favorite-favorite part of TAA is hanging out with this bunch! We are the facilitators or the helpers for the arts portion of TAA. Jim Dodson, on the left, is our fearless leader who organizes everything from the art shows that take place (both student and teacher art shows happen at TAA) as well as arranging all of our presenters and speakers. Libby Lynch (second from the left) organizes the art shows mentioned including the finale art show that features the work of all the teachers. And the rest of that line up is just a buncha trouble! From the right, there's Ken, me, Debbie Flynt and Kim Shamblin, all art teachers and all TAA buds for life. 

Okay, that's a wrap! For more information on Tennessee Arts Academy and how you can attend (anyone can, y'all!), be sure to pop over here. There's A LOT more to it than I've managed to squeeze into this already-large post. So, if you have any questions, leave 'em in the comments! 
 

In the Art Room: School-Wide Collaboratives!

Hey, kids! I'm comin' atcha with a mere two and some change weeks o' summer vacay left before The Return. Which means, if you are anything like me (and, Lordie help you if you are), you are dreaming up ideas for the new school year. One of my fave things to do to kick off the beginning of the year is have a big ole school-wide collaborative (or "scollab" as I like to call 'em). And lemme tell you why:

1. It gets the kids creating right at the start of the school year! If your kids are anything like mine, they spend their first full week learning rules -n- routines everywhere they go. The cafeteria. The classroom. The playground. The bus. WHICH I know is important BUT I'm dealing with the under-10 set. When they come to the art room they are soooo over that mess. Not only that, but I've had most of my students since kindergartenland. If they don't know my R-n-R's by now, well, when they see that we're gonna create on the first day o' art, they learn 'em real fast. Nothing like a big ole fun and messy carrot to get 'em behaved and ready to create, amirate?!

2. It makes the school look lovely! At the start of the school year, our school halls are empty and nuthin but wall to wall BLAH-eige (my friend Debbie coined this term: blah + beige = BLAH-eige). What better way to spice 'em up than with some kid-created masterpieces?!

3. It shines a spotlight on your art program! Let's face it, you ARE the Donna Summer of your school:

Sing it with me, "I work hard for the money. So hard for it, honey! I work hard for the money so you better treat me right!" However, you just can't run around tellin' folk how hard you and your young artists are working. You gotta show them. Put up a show stopper at the start of the year and you'll have everyone talkin' about your art program. 

Now, I know y'all are thinking, "That's all well -n- swell but what scollabs should I dooooo?!" Well, I'm here today to share with y'all some of my very faves with linky-loos to the blog posts that will walk you thru all of the steppies. Let's start with this fourth grade legacy mural! And, good news, if you are attending this Thursday's AOE conference...

You can hear me chat at length about each of these projects! As well as me questions live at the conference. AND take a tour of my school and get an even better view of these masterpieces. However, if you can't attend, don't you sweat it. I've got ya covered in this here blog post!

The mural is proudly displayed in the front lobby of our school and give a fair amount of fun -n- funk to our entrance way, doncha think?

Another fun scollab we did this year was our Village of Kindness mural/installation. 

Our theme for the school year was Be Nice and what better way to do so than with a village full of houses with kind messages to greet the viewer.

This also incorporated a fun backdrop that was painted by my rockin' second grade artists! More on that process here. 

This scollab is prolly one of my all time faves and it was purely by accident. Our school hosted a "street painter" or sidewalk chalk artist who introduced the kids to her trade. The kids were then supposed to try their hand at chalk art outside on our sidewalks but the weather decided against it. So we used the flip side of ceiling tiles instead! Full details here. 

Now we're thinking of doing this project every year because my administration loved it so much!

 If you want a scollab that will have EVERYONE feeling all warm and fuzzy at the start of the school year, have I got the one for you. The Gallery of Gratitude is an idea I played with forever...and I totes wish I had done it sooner. It meant so much to the faculty and staff to see their portraits and words of kindness written about them. 

Who doesn't love to feel appreciated?! This project def did the trick.

And, last but not least, the final scollab I've got for you here in this post is the Johnson Elementary has Heart mural! If you need a heart stopping show stopper (sorry, had to), this is it, kids!

So, what do you think? Are you ready to tackle a scollab to kick off the start of your school year? If so, what do you have in mind? I'd love to know. Leave me a lil sumpin sumpin in the comments, would ya? Til then...