Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The Petri Dish of Mt. Bethel


It's that time of year where the germs are plentiful and the art room becomes the petri dish of Mt. Bethel! With over 1,000 kiddos circulating through my room every 7 days, you can imagine the germs that get left behind. In an effort to keep us all healthy,  I do my best to sanitize my tables and supplies. Donations of Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer would help my battle against these nasty bugs. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Reflections Submissions

I am proud to post this year's Reflection's Visual Arts submissions:
Owen Smith, Kindergarten, 1st place


Ryan Cloninger, 5th Grade, 1st place
Maryn Rhea, 5th grade, 1st place

Ryann Jacobson, 5th grade, 2nd place

Angelina Jacobs, 4th grade, 1st place, Photography

Chloe Middleton, 3rd grade, 1st place

Claire Jiang, 2nd grade, 2nd place

Olivia Culbertson, 2nd grade, 1st place

Elana McMasters, 1st grade, 1st place

Emma Graham, 4th grade, 1st place

Denmark Hodges, 4th grade, 1st place, Photography

Megan Tate, 3rd grade, 2nd place

Ava McMasters, 3rd grade, Honorable Mention


Lauren Kenerly, 2nd grade, 3rd place

Sowmya Muppalla, 5th grade, Honorable Mention

Jenna Bonds, 5th grade, Honorable Mention

Lauren Kenerly, 2nd place, Honorable Mention

Camy Teichman, 5th grade, Honorable Mention

Artsonia Gifts

As many of you know, I have started an Artsonia Gallery this year. The purpose of Artsonia is to share with you what your children are creating in art. Since I am not sending artwork home until the end of the year, Artsonia allows you to get a glimpse of the artwork your child has created so far. Thanks to some wonderful parent volunteers, I was able to expand the online gallery to include K, 2nd and 4th grade.  If your child has a piece of art uploaded, you should have received a slip of paper with a code to access your child's account.  When you sign up for an account, you will receive a notification every time a new piece of your child's art is uploaded.  If you have misplaced that slip of paper, please email me and I can email you a new code.

An added bonus to Artsonia is that you can also purchase an array of wonderful gifts with your child's artwork printed on it.  Mugs, ornaments, iPhone cases, and cards are just an example of the great gifts that are perfect for grandparents and family! Artsonia is offering 30% off mugs and 25% off ornaments.  20% of all purchases made come right back to Mt. Bethel! My goal is to purchase a mini iPad for the art room for students to use to upload their own artwork and record artists statements.  An iPad would also be a great tool to assist with assessment.

Order before December 15th for guaranteed Christmas delivery!


Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Weaving and Sculpting

Elvis, Leif Erikson, Walt Disney, Cleopatra, Shakespeare.....these are just a few characters you will see in the front display case right now. The 5th graders have had so much fun creating historical figure clay busts. After studying the Greek orders of architecture, they chose a column to construct from clay.  They had to chose a figure of importance to sculpt and place on top of the column.  After an initial bisque firing, the figures were painted with acrylic and metallic paints.






Weaving is one of my favorite skills to teach in art. Right now 1st graders are learning how to weave with paper, and 2nd and 3rd grade are weaving with yarn.  Paper plates make great looms, as the 3rd graders are discovering. After painting colorful concentric circles, they decorated them with oil pastels and "dressed" them with the warp this week. Look for those weavings hanging in the halls after Thanksgiving.







Sunday, October 12, 2014

Where are the pumpkins?

October is upon us and the 1st nine weeks is coming to an end. You won't be seeing any pumpkin art this year because we are busy exploring people and architecture.

3rd graders are designing tree houses.  This multi-media project has been so much fun. I think every kid dreams of a fantasy treehouse!




2nd graders are exploring castle architecture along with printmaking.  They had fun stamping a brick pattern using sponges and paint and then collaged details with paper. 






Look for these amazing 1st grade painted self-portraits in the main hallway.  I love how each one has personality!




Saturday, October 11, 2014

Introducing Artsonia!


Something new this year in the Mt. Bethel Art Room is the use of portfolios.  Every student has a portfolio to hold finished work, sketches and works-in-progress.  Managing over 1,000 student's artwork is quite a challenge and portfolios serve to help as an assessment tool.  It will also help when we prepare for the April art show because students will have an assortment of completed artworks to choose from.

Because I am not sending work home on a regular basis anymore, you may be wondering what your child is creating in art.  For 1st, 3rd and 5th grade I have started an Artsonia gallery.  Artsonia is the largest online student art gallery. When your child's art is uploaded, you will receive a code to log on to the website to access your child's art work. Many of the 3rd grade classes have already received these notes going home in backpacks.

It is a tedious job to catalog art, and I am always looking for volunteers to help.  Please email me if you are interested.

The link to Artsonia is:
Artsonia

Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

PTA Reflections Contest

The deadline to the PTA Reflections is right around the corner.  October 13th the last day to turn in all entries for the contest.  Students may drop work off at the art room any time before school. A signed Student Entry Form must accompany all entries.  Below is a link to the form.


I encourage all students or parents with any questions about Reflections to stop by my art room or email me at:

Good luck to all artists, writers, photographers, dancers and musicians!

Monday, September 8, 2014

Portraits of all kinds

I have started the 5th graders off with the challenging task of drawing a self-portrait from life, using only a pencil, paper and a mirror.  It's easy to draw what you think a face looks like, but it's a greater challenge to really study your face for it's shapes and shadows.  I think they are doing a fantastic job!



2nd Grade is beginning to paint their wonderful family portraits. Learning to overlap figures was a tough concept for these young artists, but with a little guidance during the early stages of drawing, they mastered the concept pretty well. I can't wait to see these beautiful paintings when they are finished.