What the Art Teacher Wore #147

 A Purple-ish Monday: So, thanks to our fab-o kindergarten teachers, we're still dressing in colors! Monday was purple day and, as it turns out, I must not like purple because there is next to nuthin of it in my closet. Which is really saying something because my closet, as you mightah guessed, is jam-packed with clothes. So this lil purplish ensemble was as close as I could get! dress: vintage, Buffalo Exchange; headscarf: vintage, thrifted; shoes: my new favorite! Minnetonka

I hope all y'all are having a wondrous three day weekend! Just so you know, when I become Princess Cassie, Ruler of the Universe and BEYOND, I will make three day weekends the law. No longer will poor ole Monday be that dreaded day of the week. In fact, I'll have it's name changed to Mon-YAY! and change Tuesday to "Tuesday, You Suck!" It's a working name. Don't judge. 

In other news, since this is a What the Art Teacher Wore post, lemme tell you what happened to me on Monday. As I was putting my students on the bus, one fourth grade girl stopped, looked me up and down and said:

"Mrs. Stephens, I have art tomorrow. Can you try and wear something more crazy?" 

Me, stunned: "What's wrong with this?!" with a flourish of my hand going from my purple-bowed head down to my hot pink moccasin-ed toes. 

"Eh. It's just kind of, you know, bor-ing."

Y'all. My critics are not foolin' around. You better believe I did it up right on Tuesday. 

Speaking of doing it up right, my email inbox has been BURSTING with photos of the World's Best Dressed Art Teachers! The What the Art Teacher Wore/Back to Art Teacherin' Contest goes live on the blog this coming Tuesday. That means if you wanna see your sweet face here (and possibly in School Arts Magazine!), email me some snaps at cassieart75@gmail.com. Be sure to check back here on Tuesday and cast your vote for the best dressed! 

 Just a couple of sweet snaps of my first grade friends for y'all this week. I can't wait to share their masterpieces with you! All of my students are currently "in the jungle" and learning about the work of Henri Rousseau. If you follow me here, you've seen quite a few of  their pieces. I'll share the complete lessons here in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned! 

 Lovin' the focus on this sweet boy's face! Now that my firsties have finished their works, they are creating a jungle mural to place their artwork in. My plan is to have that up by open house. Cross those fingers for me, would ya?

 Bust Out the Brown Tuesday: I seriously think I just grabbed anything brown and threw it on that morning. I had that vintage skirt in my etsy shop for a hot minute before I decided I loved it too much to sell off. sweater, belt and blouse: vintage, thrifted; skirt: vintage, Buffalo Exchange; shoes: Minnetonka; sweater clip: etsy

 A Colorful Way to Wear Black Wednesday: I didn't wanna wear head to toe black cuz, ya know, I already did the "alternative" thang in high school so I'm over it. Isn't funny how what we called "alternative" has gone threw so many name changes? There was goth then emo and now, what do they call those all-black-wearin' kids? Hipsters? Goth-Hipsters? Gothsters? Yes! That's it! dress: Modcloth; polymer necklace: Charleston; shoes: Swedish Has-beens, Anthro; Rainbow Brite belt: Buffalo Exchange

 White Day is Not a Good Day in the Art Room: Yeah, so who guessed that wearing this all white number was gonna end badly? I didn't even realize it did until I got home, took it off and noticed I had green paint splotches on the butt of my dress. I'm guessing I sat in something fun-n-funky. Good times. dress: Anthro

 Fave Color Friday: C'mon. I'm the art teacher! I can't pick one FAVE color, I love 'em all! And, let's be real, they all look SO GOOD TOGETHER, right?! You don't have to answer that. top and skirt: thrifted; bow tie and suspenders: gift from my bro; belt and crinoline: Amazon; shoes: Minnetonka

DIY: A Color Wheel Clock!

My dear moms was visiting this weekend and in between us hitting the local Farmer's Market, eating, shopping at a vintage fair, eating, visiting my long-lost aunt and uncle and, you guester-Chester, more eating, the topic of retirement came up. My mom is a nurse and has been for about a million years. I asked when she was going to stop sticking folks with needles and call it quits and she was all, "but if I didn't go to work, what would I do?" 

Like, whut?!  

Growing up an only child for the first 10 years of my life, I've always been super good at entertaining myself. I mean, I could craft, sew, color, paint and glue for dayz on end cuz my mental makerin' to-do list is so stinkin' long. For zample, this here color wheel clock idea is one I've been kicking around for-stinkin-everz. If I had endless amounts of time on my hands, I foresee that I'd spend weeks, neigh, months in my pajamas surrounded by empty coffee cups, dark chocolate wrappers and mountains of crafting mayhem. It sounds both glorious and horror film-esque all at once. So I suppose it's best I stick with the art teacherin'. 

But I suppose you didn't pop by here to hear all about my questionable dream-life, did you? Let's get to the craft at hand, ermkay? I thrifted this clock well over a year ago simply to take it apart and revamp in this colorful way. Only when I started redoing my art room, did I decide to buckle down and bust this bad boy out. I started by taking the clock apart and sliding the mountain of paint chip swatches I picked up at Home Depot under the hands of the clock. YES, I got permission to pinch all of those paint chips. And YES, I only asked permission after the suspicious sales person was all, "Um, can I help you?!" 

(By the way, if you follow me on Instagram-crackers, you've seen most of these snaps. If you don't follow me on insta, like, whuh? You totally should.)

Once I figured out how I wanted to lay out the colors, I created a template with one of the paint chips. This template was used to help me cut each chip to the correct size and slid it under the frame of the clock as you see here.

Good ole Aleene's Fast Drying Tacky Glue was used to adhere these into place. I opted out of using a hot glue gun. I thought that might make the paper chips stand up too much and prevent the hands of the clock from ticking. 

Bam, done. No time flat, really. And it looked pretty snappy with just the color on the inside, says moi.

But why stop there when you still have all of those pinched paint chips?! So I started to play with the idea of extending the rainbow of fruit flavor beyond the confines of the clock. 

 So I set my clock on some white matte board and proceeded to glue the rest of the chips with hot glue around the edge. I did have to cut a hole out of the center that was the size of the clock so that I could both hang the clock and change the battery when needed. So, without the clock, the background looks like a color wheel donut. Which, you gotta admit, sounds yummers. 

And, yay! The clock now hangs proudly in the art room. It makes me so happy every time I see it. Y'all best give a color wheel clock a go and lemme know how it works for you. And tell the kind folks at Home Depot I said, "haaaaayyy!"

What the Art Teacher Wore #146

 Always Been a Poor Listener Monday: So, we're doing our annual dress-a-color-a-day at our school, coordinated by our fab kindergarten teachers. On Monday, I was to wear red. I HAD ONE JOB. And I prolly didn't read the email/prolly read the email and still forgot. If it's not written on my hand in Sharpie, it ain't gonna happen, people. To my credit, there was a smidge of red in the skirt, y'all! top: garage sale; skirt: OMG, I love this thing! Just bought it from H&M; belt: Amazon; shoes: Shoe Carnival; hot pink polymer necklace: purchased from an artist in Charleston; palette hair clip: made by moi

Greetings, good buddies! I hope y'all have had the most fabulous week everrzz and are relaxed, rested and ready for another round o' fun-ness! This coming week involves a half day Friday and a lovely day off on Monday which, not gonna lie, I'm totes looking forward to. 

My email inbox has been bursting with the most amazing art teacherin' outfits from y'all and for that, I thank you! It makes me so happy every time I see one of y'all lookin' your artfully best. AND I know your students love you for it! If you'd like to submit to the What the Art Teacher Wore/Back to Art Teacherin' Contest (with the grand prize being a feature here, a photo in SchoolArts Magazine and a free yearly subscription), just shoot me an email of your beautiful self at cassieart75@gmail.com. I can't wait to see more snaps!

Also...thank you kindly for your positive response to my video clips! I'm glad you are enjoying them and finding them (um, somewhat) helpful. Due to your encouragement, I'll be sharing more (including one in this post!). I'd also love to hear what you might be interested in seeing/learning about. So just lemme know in el comment-os, kids! 

This week, aside from What I Wore I thought I'd throw another video into the mix. This one is about a lil technique I use every now and then called palming. It's a great way to calm and center the kids (think mindfulness) after a little bit of excitement. I learned this from one of my first and fave books on art teacherin' Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks. Hope y'all enjoy and I'll be back with you soon! 

Easy, right? I used it on Friday with a couple of my kindergarten classes and it worked like a charm. 

 Yellow Tuesday: Yellow has become my new fave color. The brighter, the better. I have yellow all over my house along with sky blue and vintage Caddy pink. My spirit colors, y'all. dress: vintage Swirl dress found in St. Louis; shoes: old, Target

 Blue Wednesday: One of my first grade students excitedly told me, "You have Pete the Cat on your shirt! Where's his school shoes?!" I love this outfit so stinkin' much I wore it on Saturday just so's I could call it my Caturday ensemble. Judge if you wanna. cat print top: H&M; skirt: Anthro label, purchased at a resale shop; belt: Pin Up Girl Clothing; head scarf: Vera! My fave! found at the thrift shop; shoes: my new Minnetonkas, I'm in lurve, y'all!

 Green Thursday: I finally finished my window! And got a new stand for my clean up gong! AND got these fab-o faux trees from a super artistic coworker. I'm so excited about the art room's new Jungle Lounge. dress: vintage; shoes: Jeffery Campbell

Orange You Glad It's Friday?!: I know I was...mostly because my mama came to visit! We had a crazy fun time hitting the local Franklin Farmer's Market, shopping at Bella Vintage Marketplace, dining on pizza, visiting family and shopping some more. It was a perfectly great weekend and with the temperatures cooling, I am so looking forward to many more. dress: The Limited from a coupla years ago; shoes: Clarks; bubble necklace: Porter Flea Craft Fair; disney pin: Um, Disneyland

In the Art Room: Dot Day Ideas!

Hey, kids! September 15th-ish is International Dot Day in the art teacherin' world. In case you aren't familiar, Dot Day is a super fab-o artsy holiday based on the book The Dot by author/illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. My young artists have celebrated Dot Day for the last couple of years and I thought I'd share their projects with you in one big ole fat blog post! It's always been a big hit with the kids and a great way to talk about what it means to be an artist. So, without further ado, let's get down to this Dot-making business! 

A new video created to show y'all how I teach line sculpture to kindergarten! 

Last year, each grade level created a different type of dot. For my kindergarten friends, I stuck with my unit on line (because I love this unit so!) but added a dot-tastic twist: the base for our paper sculpture was a dot! 

My first grade friends created this lovely dot-inspired landscape that still hangs outside of my art room (it's about to be replaced by our current jungle-themed masterpieces...I can't wait to share that with y'all!). Each child created a dot-flower and worked on the patterned papers seen in the background.  

At the start of the school year, our vocabulary words were: unique, unusual, creative, artistic and fun! I think these flowers definitely qualify, don't you?

Second grade artists learned all about Kandinsky who's work was on display at our local art museum. The kids created a reversible line painting on pizza rounds that I purchased via Amazon. 

I love hanging the kids' work in this large bank of windows we have in the hall. Do you guys do window displays? I'm always looking for more ideas so if you have any, please drop 'em in the comments!

Third grade was all about the metal relief sculptures with these styro plate/aluminum foil/Sharpie numbers. They were so pretty and reflective that they seemed to catch everyone's eye. 

 What a fun way to introduce line, shape, pattern, repetition, you name it!, to these young artists. 

But the biggest hit among the kids: these string stitched dots, y'all. Oh my. I can't wait to do this project again. All the kids loved it and were successful. Art teacher win!

For that, watching this video and sharing it with your students might make understanding the process a lil easier. 

I did string art in 5th grade and I loved every minute! I was so excited to share such a fun project with my students. 

 My first year hosting a Dot Day event, I had each child do the same project. We each created a coffee filter dot... 

 That were both displayed in windows and in the halls. 

Not only that, but students created large dot collaboratives on black paper in oil pastel that served as the backdrop to the words of the book. This was a great way for me to ease back into the school year: same project, each grade level and yet a powerful effect. AND ready for open house! 

So! How about you? Are you celebrating Dot Day this year? I'd love to hear about what your students are creating!

DIY: Printmaking Made Easy

I mightah told y'all that when I was a kid, I was addicted to attending Vacation Bible Schools. I didn't care what the denomination, all I needed to know was: Will there be Barrel Drink and will there be Macaroni Art? 

The school I attended didn't have art class so my only experience in arts -n- craftin' came in the form of a lil Bible learning and a whole lotta popsicle stick art (you shoulda seen my popsicle stick Noah's Arc, y'all. Best o' Show.) As an adult (if that's what you wanna call me), this translates into me being addicted to taking art classes around town. Luckily for me, our local art museum The Frist always has the best of offerings...even if they forgot to serve Barrel Drank. 

The Frist doesn't have a permanent collection and I think that's pure genius because it means no stale art that's been hanging for years. It's an ever-changing canvas of art history, culture and contemporary art that keeps locals like me coming back. One exhibit they currently have is the work of Jaume Plensa (that's his surreal sculpture there) whose work is phe-nom-in-alll. 

The last class I took at The Frist was the awesome hat making workshop where I made my donut hat! And I'm excited that I'll be leading a workshop at The Frist on needle felting soon. But enough about that, let's talk about these two wild -n- crazy guyzzz: 

Meet Nieves Uhl and Chris Cheney, owners of the letterpress and design studio Sawtooth Print Shop! Both met at Hatch Print Show and opened their place about three years ago. Not only do they offer their design services and prints but they also offer classes (guess who is dying to sign up for that?! GUESS). Sadly, as you can tell by the photo above, they are both entirely too serious to be any ounce of fun. 

Bwaha, I kid! I loved 'em so! I mean, how could I not when what comes out of their studio are masterpieces like this: 

You better believe I whipped out my credit card and purchased this beauty. It now hangs proudly in the Masterpiece Gallery in the art room!

 So Chris and Nieves carve on linoleum blocks. Which is pretty hard to do for us newbies. So we worked on Softoleum which was like carving in butter. We began by copying our design onto our blocks. 

Graphite paper worked well for this but several attendants found that simply rubbing the back of our pencil design very firmly easily copied the design onto our surface. Who knew? Well, apparently several folks did. One of them NOT being me. 

I didn't take printmaking in college (a regret. One of the many.) so my only experience was a woodblock carving print-stint in high school. Which sucked. Wood carving is for beavers, y'all. But this stuff I loved because of the easy which you could carve into it. Not to mention that if you don't carve too deep can you flip it over and carve on the backside! So filling up my virtual shopping cart with these bad boys. 

I'm on this Tiki kick. So that was my inspo. I'm dying to print these Tiki blocks onto the bottom of a dress or a skirt kinda like I did here one million years ago. 

Tho, I gotta tell ya, I'm not as in love with this block. Hence the reason my virtual shopping cart is loaded down with s'more blocks. 

I did treat my paper before printing. Instead of using white paper, I rolled a lil gold and a lil blue onto several sheets before printing my blocks. 
I wanna host a Tiki Party just so's I can send these out as invites! But what does one DO at a Tiki Party? Aside from drink fancy barrel drinks with umbrellas? 

I attended this class with a coupla art teacherin' buddies who made the cutest of prints! Check out my friend Virginia's portrait of her dog and my buddy David's Mickey-inspired print as well as his sailor-themed print of his last name. I have smart artsy friends, y'all. 

But, seriously, what made the class so special was our awesome host Rosemary Brunton and our instructors Nieves and Chris! Can't wait til the next class, I'm already signed up (um. Actually, I think it's my class. So, never mind)!