What the Art Teacher Wore #17

Blue Monday: Egyptian print dress: etsy; metallic belt: H & M; metallic shoes: Anthro (someone had ripped the bows off the shoes so they sold 'em to me for $20!); headband: super awesome Peachy Tuesday

In honor of the school-wide Egyptian-themed art show and the premiere performance of Walk Like an Egyptian by our second grade stars, I decided to go all Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus with my outfits this week. That's right, I'm All-Egyptian, All-the-Time with the exception of Field Day Friday.

And in honor of my Egyptian ensembles, I thought I'd share with you some Ancient Egyptian history. When it comes to Egypt, I'm like a regular Encyclopedia Britannica -- and for those of you born after 1995, I'm like a regular google search. Read carefully, there's a quiz later!

Love this dress. Picked up from the fab etsy seller Hollie Point Vintage.

The color of the print reminded me of Egyptian shabti. These little figures, usually no more than a few inches tall, were believed to spring to life and become servants for their owner in the Afterlife. Hundreds were usually found in the tombs of pharaohs and queens. Image found here.

Trying Out a New Backdrop Tuesday: I thought I'd show you something other than my classroom or my front step. Just a little corner in our front room. Egyptian print dress: etsy; belt: made by me; shoes: Urban Outfitters

I love this dress and the seller was especially kind and excited to know I'd be wearing it when teaching los kiddos. For that reason, you must check out Vintage with Appeal.

The print on this dress reminded me of images I'd seen of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. This book was placed in the tomb of the deceased. It consisted of spells that were believed to help the dead in their journey through the underworld and to the Afterlife. Image found here.

Wednesday: blue shirt: Target; embroidered top: Urban Outfitters; Egyptian skirt and belt: thrifted; sandals and necklaces: Target

So my students all know an adapted version of the Steve Martin classic King Tut. And I'm only mildly offended that they refer to me as "King Nut".

King Tutankhamun was most famous not only because he became king at 9, but also for his mysterious death at age 18. His tomb was found completely intact in 1923 by Howard Carter. The Egyptians believed that those that tampered with tombs would become victims of bad luck. A mysterious number of people died after the unearthing of Tut's tomb.

Art Show/Performance Thursday: dress: etsy; belt: thrifted; necklace: Target; shoes: Clarks; flower: made by me

Another fab etsian. Can you tell I scooped up all of the best Egyptian dresses? I've already started searching etsy for next year's theme! Please visit this lovely shop, the owner of Oh, Dear Things is just the sweetest.

The anch is featured all over my dress. It's the Ancient Egyptian symbol for life. Found here.

Field Day Friday!: So, I'm standing in line at Starbucks getting my morning tea...dressed like this. A posh mom walks in with her elementary-age kid and stops dead in her tracks, giving me the once over. Meanwhile, her kid, who is smiling at me, is wearing a private school shirt. And I'm dying to say to her, "That's why you pay the big bucks, lady. To keep yer kid away from the likes of me." Shirt: tie-dyed in my art room, shredded and beaded by me; skirt: anthro, gift from a friend; tights: amazon; shoes: Earth shoes

Nothing goes better with tiger-stripe tights than a tiger stone scarab beetle ring. The Egyptians saw the scarab beetle (also known as the dung beetle) rolling balls of dung across the sand. From this they gathered that the beetle was responsible for rolling the sun up and down everyday. In their mind, the scarab beetle was the symbol for rejuvenation. Ring found here.

In the Art Room: Top 10 Tips to Putting Together an Amazing Art Show

I've blogged about many of my art shows. You can read about the one from 2012 here and here; 2013 here and here and 2014 here and here! 

Well, it's that time o' year: ART SHOW TIME! I know for many of you art teachers out there, you've already wrapped up your annual show and I'm sure it was a success. I just finished off my 12th art show and I gotta tell ya, I'm still learning. Fortunately I have learned a thing or ten over the years and I thought I'd share them with you in this here post: The Top 10 Ways to Host a Humongo Art Show! Enjoy, y'all! And please share your tips and tricks in the comments, I'd love to hear from you.

This big ole collaborative piece was created a couple of years ago and still hangs outside my room. Second graders created the Jackson Pollack-inspired papers that frame the piece, while fourth graders created the tissue flowers and third made the brown palette and bristles of the brush. Make big beautiful stuff like this and you have instant and permanent art on your walls!

1. Start organizing early. Bwahahaha!! For those of you that know me, please pick yourself up off the floor and stop laughing. Folks are starting to stare. Y'all. I'm the least organized person On Planet Earth. That should make you feel pretty good about yourself for a coupla reasons: 1. You prolly can find your keys, wallet and phone every morning without a panic attack and 2. You can totally pull off a Humongo Art Show! 

In all cerealness, might I recommend you do the following: 

* Keep all student artwork organized by class. You already do this, I'm sure. I hoard every single thing the kids have made all year long for the art show. I remind the kids of this plan. In the meantime, I attempt to share as much of their work in temporary displays in the halls as well as on Artsonia.
* Matte their work as they complete it. I think everything looks a little nicer with a black frame. If you frame things as they complete them (or have the kids do it if you like that lopsided frame look, ahem), it will be a lot less stressful during art show time.
* Have the kids sign their work. Personally, I don't like labels on art work. I find them distracting. Imagine Mona Lisa with a big ole white label slapped at the bottom. Distracting much? What I do like is seeing an artist's signature. We spend a long time talking about how when an artist signs their work, that's their way of saying, "masterpiece complete". We sign our work either at the top or bottom in black sharpie. I let the kids decide if they'd like to write just their first name or their entire name. 

 Kindergarten artwork hung by one parent volunteer...

 Kindergarten art work hung by another parent volunteer. Notice how differently each parent hung the work. My theory: if it's up, it's good enough for me! By the way, here are some links to those projects seen above: clay birds, snowy landscapes, shape paintings, line paintings, self-portraits. 

2. Get help. Lots of it. My school has had an art show since before my time ("BC", Before Cassie, was a lot loss crazy I know!) so it's well established. My first couple of years, I hung everything every.single.thing. myself. I spent my spring break hanging. I spent my mornings and late nights hanging. During my third year, my brother was in a terrible car accident (he's a fine now. An English teacher on a reservation. Sup, Kris!), I was unable to hang the art show and something magical happened: parent volunteers came in and HUNG IT ALL. From there on out, I've utilized my parent volunteers to hang the art show. 

Here's how I do it:

* Woo them with donuts. At the start of the school year, I had a meeting during my morning planning for parent volunteers. I called it "Donuts with the Art Teacher". I walked my potential volunteers thru some options: volunteering in the art room during projects, hanging art work, mounting pieces and/or Artsonia help. I scored two dozen emails and kept them mildly busy until the art show. 
* Give them art hanging direction but don't be a micro-manager. Here's my theory: we are hanging EVERYTHING that EVERY KID has created throughout the year. I teach over 400 kids and they make between 5-7 two dimensional pieces. That's a whole lotta art work to hang. I tell the parents just a couple of things: where to hang the work (we hang all artwork outside of the student's classrooms so they can easily find their pieces) and what to hang it with (more on that in a sec) but I leave the aesthetics of hanging the work up to them. Some parents like to hang work by projects and some like to scatter the work as you can see in those pics above. Let them take ownership and enjoyment in hanging the work. That's what will keep 'em coming back.
* No parents? Let's talk alternative routes. Before I tapped into my parent volunteer network, I had the students help me hang the work. We'd walk our stack of pieces out the hall with our balled up pieces of sticky tack on the back and work on hanging. This was very effective with my older students and is something I plan to go back to when we hang smaller displays. Once finished hanging, the students could write criticisms, a-glow-and-a-grow or simply chat about their work. You could also utilize your fellow teachers. I find that bribery works wonders. Bring in some pizza, provide the sticky tac and make an afternoon of it. What would take them an hour would take you thirty. Presented to your colleagues that way just might get them to see your point of view.

 There's nothing worse than spending hours hanging artwork only to see it all on the floors in the morning. This year, my GENIUS bookkeeper came up with a solution! 

And it even works on walls we've never been able to hang on before! Fourth grade project lessons: donuts, landscapes, woven pouches, metal relief work and suns, just follow the link!

3. Nothing sticks to cinderblock. But this works. Oh, cinderblock. I've tried it all: masking tape, nope; blue sticky stuff, sometimes but that's only when the kids don't peel it off the back of the work and do I-don't-wanna-know with it; double-sided sticky tape, yeah, that works. But it's expensive and can tear the art work when it's removed from the walls. And don't even get me started on hot glue. Oh Lawd. I've lost fingernails trying to remove that from walls. 

This year, my bookkeeper suggested we use deer mesh. We taped it to the walls behind the cork strip molding and reinforced it with some push pins. Then artwork was simply paper clipped to the mesh. NOTHING FELL OFF THE WALLS. It was the most amazing experience to not find dozens of pieces of art on the floor each morning. Not only that but the mesh is practically invisible and not distracting. And it was super cheap. We bought 6 rolls for about $100 and only used 4. Many of the classroom teachers even kept their mesh to display class work. If only I'd thought of this years ago!

4. Get the kids excited. Since we've been doing an art show at my school since the beginning of time, the kids know that all of their work throughout the year will be on display. And they're excited by this! We finish off our masterpieces, create big banners and signs (visit here) and we write up lil artist bios so folks can get to know a little about the person behind the work. We write these every year so by the end of their fourth grade year, the kids have a nice collection to look back upon. It's just one of those fun ways to get the kids amped up about the art show.

Here's some other things we've done:

* Create an Art Show Pin. One year, back in my pre-blogging days, our art show fell very close to Mother's Day. So each student in the school created a small ceramic flower that we adhered a pin to. Students then created invitations with the pin inside. It was such a thrill on the night of the art show to see moms comparing their handmade pins. I just might have to do that again this coming year!
* Have the kids create invitations. This year, we simply let parents know via email, newsletter and a phone call about the art show. In years past, the kids have designed and created invitations that they shared with family and teachers. 

* Make posters and banners announcing the show. We did a lot of that this year. We hung them throughout the school and even used the left over paintings as backdrops for the words Think, Imagine, Create, Inspire that now hang in my art room.

5. Invite the big wigs. Your kids have worked hard all year. Your volunteers have busted their tails getting it all up and displayed. You just might have lost countless hours of sleep and reality television show watching time to prepare. INVITE EVERYONE YOU KNOW. You better believe my superintendent and entourage came. You better believe he was tweeting as fast as his fingers would allow. Y'all. Brag on yourself. It's good for the soul.

6. Get a sub the day of the art show. So years ago I was at an NAEA convention listening to some magical art teacher talk about her magical art show. And I was feeling a little peeved because I was all, "I could never pull all that off!" Then she spoke the magical words: GET.A.SUB. Yes! I've been doing it every since. The day of the art show, my art classes are held in an alternative location while I clear my room, set up displays and generally run around like a mad woman until 6pm. I'm fortunate to have a truly understanding and supportive administration. They get it. I bet yours will as well if you tell them what a big event you have in mind. Doesn't hurt to mention that you've invited those aforementioned big wigs!

Second grade artwork on display. Project ideas: circle loom weaving, symmetrical butterflies, collage landscapes, penguins, ojos de dios, and metal relief still life lessons. 

7. Offer free ice cream and they will come. We usually have between 400-500 folks show for our art show. That's not too shabby with a school of about 400 kids. It's been long established that we also have an ice cream social on that evening which is a big draw. The school provides the ice cream but that's about as much as I know. I never make it out of my art room to get any! We used to also have a book fair on the same evening but this year, it just didn't work out timing wise. I don't do craft tables or make-and-takes for a couple of reasons: 1. I think the artwork speaks for itself. To me, the evening is about the student work. and 2. I'm just not that organized! I love the idea in theory but with our crowds, I think it could get real crazy real fast. I admire those that can pull it off tho!

Special thanks to my buddy Laura over at Painted Paper for the fabulous Mexican art lessons! You can read more about those leaf print banners that first grade created here. 

8. Make it easy to find art work. There's nothing as unfun as having one million children and their not-so-happy parents come up to you and say "I can't find my artwork!" Well, make it easy for them! I always hang all student artwork outside of their classroom. We try to have everything up a good week or more before the show that way the kids can spend some time finding their work. This also helps me when lil Clementine comes to me and says "hey! I can't find myself portrait hanging up!" Well, Clemmie, that's cuz your crazy art teacher hung it with a different class. Best to get all that cleared up before the big night. 

Same goes with clay display! Have those pieces sorted by class and have the kids create labels to go next to their work. If you are super organized (read: not like me), have the kids create the displays themselves that way they know EXACTLY there their work is. Clay fish and sculpture lesson here.

 9. Create artwork throughout the year and then LEAVE IT UP! Bam! Instant work on the walls! The second grade created those reversible dot paintings at the start of the year for International Art Day. They got such a great response, I just left 'em up! 

Our Gallery of Gratitude still gets a lot of stops and stares. Not to mention it's such a nice warm-fuzzy of a collaborative piece. By the way, signs like the one you see on the left really help folks find artwork.

Also for Dot Day, the first graders created that mural which still looks happy outside my door. And those Kandinsky dots were created with a sub! I love how they brighten up my door. Perma-art is the way to go, y'all!

Third grade desert landscape lesson here.

10. Taking it all down and sending it home. Sniff. Okay, so that's a drag. Here's how I (don't) take down artwork:

* Request super nicely that the classroom teachers do it. Our art show is very near the end of the school year. Which means we teachers are cleaning out and packing up. Many of the teachers have their older students carefully remove the artwork. Others prefer to do it themselves or call in a room mom to do the job. I leave this portion of the art show in their hands. I just kindly remind them that what would take them 45 minutes would take me that times 23. After the work is taken down, the teachers return all my push pins, blue sticky tack and mesh.
* Have portfolios made. The super awesome aides at my school create portfolios for EVERY KID IN THE SCHOOL. It's simply a large sheet of bulletin board paper folded in half and stapled. Many of the teachers have the kids work on decorating those while they take down and pass back artwork.

Third grade ceramic flower lesson here. 

* Send fragile work home safely. The last couple of years, the day after the art show has been field day. This works out perfectly for me as that means I don't have art class. Instead, I arrange for each and every class to come to my room accompanied by their teacher. The kids sit on the floor and for 10-15 minutes, the classroom teachers and I wrap up clay projects in newspaper, put them in cheapo brown lunch bags and staple the name tag to the top. This insures all clay projects get home safely (except for the random kid who drops their bag and you hear that terrible CRACK sound) and out of your art room! I manage to knock all of that out by noon so I can enjoy a little field day action and room clean up.

Why do an art show, y'all? Moments like this. 

Whew! Was that enough info for you? I certainly hope so! If you have any questions, please lemme know! And I'd love to hear your art show tips and tricks as there's always a better way, right? Thanks, y'all! 

And special thanks to all the parent volunteers that always make the art show possible year after year. I love y'all!

In the Art Room: Kindergarten Reindeer

Have you ever seen a reindeer that A.) Resembles Jay Leno and B.) Looks this cute resembling Jay Leno? I didn't think so.

Happy Christmas Eve to you! So the story goes that if you've been well-behaved, you'll be getting a visit from some chubby dude and his entourage of reindeer this evening. Lead by the one and only Rudolph, of course.

My kindergarten artists spent several art classes sculpting these reindeer masterpieces that, despite leaving me feeling as though it was not Grandma that got run over by reindeer but the Art Teacher, made me seriously proud. And, after one told me, "My mom is going to be so happy about my reindeer that she is going to say, 'Oh! Goodness that is the best little reindeer ever!'", I knew they were proud too.

How on earth did these five and six year olds create such amazement? With a half an hour, it really was nothing short of a Christmas Miracle. This lesson had some serious "Okay! Plan B!" moments so I thought I'd share with you how they were created. 

Our inspiration, of course. I've had this book since childhood. In fact, it even has my name written on the inside in my five year old handwriting.

For this lesson, we used the following:

• Low fire clay
• A stencil for the base
• Brown, clear, white, black and red Stroke and Coat Glaze
• Clay mats
• Skewer sticks
• Toothbrushes and cups of water
• Ziplock bags and damp paper towels
• A mountain of baby wipes

Several of my students put their reindeer together just as they would draw them: with their legs all in a row. 

I broke this lesson down in many days after trying to cram too much in during one class. When that lesson ended in tears (I managed to dry up before the fourth graders walked in), I decided to drag the lesson out even further. I'd rather give the kids too much time then to rush them. Being a super slow processor myself, I understand the need for lots of time. And tissues. Here's how I broke it down, yo:

On the First Day of Reindeer Clay, I gave to them one grapefruit sized piece of clay. I told them something crazy like, "hold your clay in front of your chest above your clay mat, drop it and pound it flat as a pancake." For a full minute the art room sounded like an elephant stampede with kid giggles throughout. Once flattened, the kids flipped their clay over to the smooth, not-pounded-on side and used their skewer sticks to trace the base shape. And that took us the entire art class, believe it or not. Each child was given a damp paper towel and a ziplock bag with their name on it. They were to "wrap their clay up in its blanket, put it in it's sleeping bag and say 'nightie-night'" until next time.

On the Second Day of Reindeer Figurines, I gave to them one piece of clay the size of a tangerine. We chatted about how many legs a deer has and I showed the children how to divide their clay into fourths. Twist sphere of clay in half and Viola! two pieces of clay. Twist other two pieces and Double Viola! now you have four. From there, they learned how to roll their clay into coils the length of their finger.

On the Second Day of Reindeer Clay, that really wasn't all, for the head I gave them one small ball. Once their coil legs were complete, they created a head. For one class, I tried to have them create all the coils, the head and assemble. That proved to be a reindeer train wreck. We just didn't have the time. Plan B for the following classes was to create all of the parts, wrap them up in a paper towel, gently place them on the base and place the base back into the bag until next time.

On the Third day of Reindeer Crazy, we had zero time for being lazy. The kids assembled their reindeer by "gluing" with the toothbrush and some slip to legs together for the front and two legs together for the back. These two sets were then glued together. Hooves were bent outward and assembled to the base. Lastly the head was added and our reindeer were kiln ready. Once dry, of course.

While the reindeer were drying, my other classes would come in and notice the reindeer. Except they didn't take them for reindeer. They'd say, "Oh! What cute dogs! Who made them?!" It reminded me of the story I read to the kindergarteners while we waited for some of our friends to finish sculpting, Olive the Other Reindeer. Like Olive, our little reindeer just needed some antlers to complete their look.

On the Fourth Day of Reindeer Craze, my little artists were ready to glaze! And I was so proud of their careful attention to detail.

"My Rudolph is a girl and she likes to wear a lot of red lipstick."

On the Last Day of our Reindeer Critter, our reindeer received his antlers made of pipe cleaner glitter! Now I was down to the wire on this, time wise. Normally, I'd expect the kids to create their own antlers, but between programs, field trips and assemblies, we just ran out of time. Thankfully, a very kind aide (thank you, Heidi!) and I managed to get them hot glued in just in time to send them home with the artists.

 I love the unintentional resemblance to Beaker on the left. Notice the sweet little black foot prints in the snow on the one on the right.

And there you have it! Just in time to guide someone's sleigh tonight. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Day tomorrow. Enjoy!

What the Art Teacher Wore #87

A Relaxed Kinda Monday: I loved my Monday off. I spent the day shopping with a good buddy and devouring sushi with a my ole student teacher. I'd do that everyday if I could. dress and sweater: Anthro label picked up at a second hand shop; tights: Target; boots: Frye, bought at a second hand shop

I don't know how ya'll spent your Saturday, but I spent mine chillin' out and chatting with over 1000 art educators. At my mother-in-laws. In Birmingham. Whilst wearing my pajamas. 

No, moms-in-law and I weren't hosting some sort of Art Teacher PJ Party (although that does sound like a rip-roarin' good time), I was attending The Art of Education's 2014 Winter Conference! It was such an amazing day with so many presenters and so much information that my little head is still spinning. Thankfully, Jessica of The Art of Education has allowed attendees access to the presentations so that I can go back and watch what I might have missed. 

Did ya'll attend? What are you excited to try in your art room? Me, I just went out and bought 10 dry erase boards today to use as free draw and sketching as was suggested by Art Teachers Hate Glitter...genius!

Now if you happen to have found me and this blog after viewing my (painfully goofy) presentation on Saturday, welcome! On this here blog, I try to share a DIY project, an update of what's happening in the art room and a wrap-up of my weekly outfits (along with a featured artist) each week. To keep up with all that crazy, you can find me on facebook here.

Also, if you're into reading books and drawing pictures and chatting with other artsy peeps, you might consider joining in on our Artsy Book Club! We will be drawing our way through the book One Drawing a Day by Veronica Lawlor. Our start date is next Monday, February 3rd but you can join the fun and begin creating any ole time.

To set the mood for our upcoming drawing adventure, and because he's the Artist of the Month in the art room, I thought I'd share drawings from Vincent van Gogh...

Self-Portrait 1887 oil on panel ...who, with his read beard and long skinny nose kinda resembles my hubs. Although, not gonna lie, van Gogh actually looks a little less hobo than my man. But whatcha gonna do. So, ya'll know the sad story of van Gogh's life, right? He became an artist in his late 20's after trying his hand at selling art (which his brother Theo was successful at doing), teaching and preaching. I have a feeling his manic personality frightened many and prevented his success at those chosen careers. So he decided to pursue his childhood passion of art.

1888 Fishing Boats at Sea pen & ink...looking at these drawings, you have to admit, van Gogh was a master mark-maker. I cannot believe the amount of depth and value he's able to create in this sketch with just pen and ink. Looking at his paintings, I don't often think of van Gogh's work as detailed and intricate...but looking at this drawing makes me think differently.

Tuesday: I haven't a clue what we did on this day, isn't that the saddest thing ever? I've started keeping a little book where I write a couple of sentences of what happened that day...but that would mean I'd have to get off the couch, find said book and read what happened. And there's currently a cat planted on my arm...so I'm not going anywheres. dotted sweater: thrifted; dotted shirt: Old Navy; skirt and shoes: Anthro; dotted tights: Target

Two Hands and Peasant Woman Stooping and Gleaning black chalk on paper...so I've read that when van Gogh initially decided to become an artist, he took tons of drawing classes and just drew continuously. It's amazing when you look at a body of his work, his drawing improves drastically. I'm hoping that the same will happen to me during the course of our drawing book.

Wednesday, Already?: The lovely thing about a short week is that it's, well, short. sweater: Anthro, picked up second hand; skirt: J.Crew, very old; tights: Target; shoes: Anthro

1884-85 Head of a Young Man with a Pipe pencil...I love his portraits. They remind me of Alice Neel's work. And I love her stuff.

Sunflowery Thursday: On this day after school, a buddy and I drove to Nashville's art museum, The Frist Center for Visual arts to drop off student masterpieces! It's always an exciting time for the kids. I have 10 students whose work will be on display there and I know they couldn't be more excited. sweater: DIY here; dress: vintage, thrifted; tights: amazon; shoes: Anthro

1888 Arles, View from the Wheat Field pen & ink...again with that off-the-chain amazing mark-making. There's so much going on in this drawing and he's able to capture it all. Nutz.

Feelin' Snippy Friday: Okay, art teachers...isn't this the best dress ever?! I wish I could take credit for it...I found it on Modcloth a week or so ago in their sale section. Sadly, it's no longer there. But I do think it could easily be replicated. It's a sweatshirt so it's just about the coziest thing ever. dress: Modcloth; tights: Target; boots: The Walking Company

1888 Fishing Boats at Sea pen & ink...and while the other drawing was so busy, I love all of the feeling of air and space in this piece. It's interesting that by not making marks, he's able to say so much.