Doodle 4 Google

It's time to Doodle 4 Google! This year's theme is "Your Best Day Ever!" Application forms are in the Fine Arts Studio, and include the Google template. Submissions can be turned in to Mrs. Melvin by March 5th or mailed directly (with the parent permission form) to Doodle 4 Google. Take a look at this video for more information!

Historical Connections

Texas has a rich history. This state, overwhich six different flags have flown, has been home to many people, the first being our native tribes. The Spaniards came across the ocean and tried to settle the land and its people. As they did, they constructed beautiful missions throughout the Central Texas region. Fourth graders study these missions in Social Studies, and we created collagraph printing plates as we did further research in the Fine Arts Studio. The photo above shows The Alamo, famous for the battle, and also known as Mission San Antonio de Valero. The collagraph is layers of cardboard from which rubbings and prints can be made. Here is a collagraph of San Juan de Capistrano by another 4th grader:

We have work on display at the local post office for the month of January! Congratulations, artists, on your historical connections through art!

Service-Learning in the Studio

How exciting it was to share what we do in the classroom with so many others! Our 2012 Empty Bowls Project did just that: we learned, we created and we gave, either by contributing our own work, or by donating funds so others could benefit. RJ Richey Elementary 4th and 5th grade artists, along with RJR teachers, staff, friends and siblings, created approximately 400 bowls for our first-ever, Empty Bowls event, held on December 18th. Our focus was on service-learning, learning how to do something new that is a benefit to others. We collaborated with Shells for NJ Shores to create work with a sea-shell theme to benefit our local food bank as well as serving those in need in NJ, impacted by Hurricane Sandy. We held a faculty meeting in the Fine Arts Studio, where all who attended learned how to create a bowl. Using Pinterest as inspiration, we viewed Mrs. Melvin's Sea-shells board as well as the Clay board. Take a look at the works of art in this video, all created by our fabulous faculty and staff! With our art work, we raised $2265.50! We sent $890 to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, and donated $1,375.50 to La Care, the food bank in Burnet. Congratulations and thanks, artists, big and small!

A Flag for Art Advocacy

I needed to find a way to grab art colleagues' attention for the upcoming deadline for the TAEA Youth Art Month Flag Design contest. One entry per school per TAEA member, with art work focused on Texas/art education themes. I look forward to all the great ideas from art students in Kindergarten through 12th grade!

Creating with iMotion HD for iPad

Arts 2012 from Samantha Melvin on Vimeo.

In class today, I needed a sample video to demonstrate how iMotion HD works, so I created this short. I have students who are working on a claymation project and I think this tool will work really well! It is a free app, and I was able to export to Vimeo, as you can see. How will you use iMotion HD with your art students?

Learning through Art with Jacob Lawrence

Our art classroom discussions since the start of school have been about art, how we all interact, and how artists represent the variety of relationships we have through art. As part of the focus, we used Jacob Lawrence's piece, The Builders, as a springboard for conversation about collaboration.

In a press release issued for an art exhibition of the Builders series in 2011, DC Moore Gallery wrote: "Jacob Lawrence: Builders features paintings, drawings, and prints that communicate the artist’s belief in the possibility of building a better world through skill, ingenuity, hard work, and collaboration. For the last three decades of his life, Lawrence (1917-2000) consistently pursued the Builders theme, creating a sequence of vibrant modernist images that highlight his pervasive humanist vision. The Builders concept first appeared in Lawrence’s work in the mid-1940s, but assumed greater importance in the late 1960s and soon became a major focus. His subjects were carpenters, cabinetmakers, bricklayers, and construction workers in a variety of workaday and family situations. Overall, they came to symbolize some of his larger ideas about American culture, hope, persistence, and the shared responsibility for transforming society, inspired, as he once said, by his 'own observations of the human condition.'"

Jacob Lawrence wrote: "I like the symbolism. … I think of it as man’s aspiration, as a constructive tool— man building. "

We, in turn, think about his work and discuss what it means to build a collaborative environment where we are safe to create and exchange ideas. That is what the Fine Arts Studio aims to be.

As an extension of the conversation, and to learn more about Jacob Lawrence and his work, take a look at this Artsology online art game, comparing two images of Lawrence's Builders. The website is a great resource about art history, as well. Click here: Artsology Jacob Lawrence art game

Image source: http://www.harding.edu/gclayton/2DDesign/Crits/Crit004_LawrenceBuilders.html

A New Tool for Advocacy

I recently discovered a new tool for sharing information on the web. It is from Smore which allows us to create online flyers which can be embedded into blogs and websites, shared via Facebook and Twitter, and emailed to a distribution list. I created one to share with members of the Texas Art Education Association as a reminder of our TASA/TASB convention art exhibit. I love how easy it was to create. I see lots of possibilities for sharing news and announcements with parents and colleagues, as well as publicizing art events and opportunities for the art education association. In case you were wondering, the TASA/TASB convention is for Texas superintendents and school board members to learn more about best practices, new ideas in education and participate in workshops and presentations. TAEA participates annually through an art exhibit of K-12 student work from across the state. This is a great advocacy opportunity for schools and districts around the state as board members and superintendents search high and low for their district's art work. They want their district represented! And we, in turn, are there to advocate for art education. The new deadline is September 15th! If you are a TAEA member, be sure to register online and mail your students' work to me directly. There is information in the TAEA YAM booklet on the TAEA website. If you would like to become a member of TAEA, you can join online at http://taea.org.