May/June Charter Chat

Expressions Charter Chat: May/June 2016 from Jenell Novello and Emily Shane

Interactive Chalk Murals

Our awesome administrator Ms. Goldman even played with the kids and their artwork!

WOW! The last project of the Street Art Unit ended with a bang! The original plan was for the last project to be a Digital Inkless Tattoos, but about a week before we started I was intrigued, once again, by Ian Sands and the interactive murals he had posted on Twitter. At the time the weather was starting to warm up, portfolios and SBAC testing was over and the kids were startin' to get a little squirrely. Even though digital art tends to keep everyone tamped down and focused, I liked the idea of them getting outside, collaborating, and creating more public art that was PLAYFUL! So, with the approval of my awesome facilities director and a couple tubs of sidewalk chalk I developed the lesson plan is this is what happened!

I had groups plan out their design on large paper using "dolls" as the interactive subject. 

I love using objects that are playful and seeing how middle school kids interact with them. I really feel like this scaffolding activity allowed them to be "kids" in the classroom and that energy definitely translated into their artwork.

On paper the sidewalk chalk worked, but on stucco it is not quite bold enough. I would definitely use the sidewalk chalk as a base because it's cheap in bulk, but next year I am going to invest $ to buy loads of this chalk.

This scaffolding activity took about 40 minutes. I will definitely add a peer assessment and "viewing circle" and discuss how the composition evokes a public response.

For incentive, I offered a bit o' extra credit for those students who dressed up for the part after their mural was completed. See above

7th grade Art Nouveau meets Pop Culture

The Scratch Art Unit is the final unit for the 7th grade class. The first project we do in in the style of Gustav Klimt on gold scratch board. In the past we have taken photos of each student to use for this project. This year we opened it up for students to choose their subject and bring their own image. This element of choice created a level of pride and ownership in the artwork, not to mention an authentic mesh of Art Nouveau with Pop Culture. Check out these babies!

Rockin' the end of year with a new Street Art Unit

Street Art, Urban Art- whatever you want to call it, has been on my radar and has been adding to my Pinterest board for over a year now. It was after bringing Graffiti into the mix a couple years ago and seeing the level of student engagement that I realized it was one movement I could not ignore.! So, I decided to create a Street Art Unit this year and introduced it the first week of May. Man- what a GREAT unit to keep the 8th grade class engaged towards the end of the year!
Prior to our first project, the students learned about the history of graffiti and engaged in open discussion whether or not graffiti was art or vandalism. The essential questions that were used to guide that discussion have been interwoven within every project of this unit for depth. I feel like during this unit students have a general respect for Street Art but also understand the controversy that results from these kind of artwork.

The first project we completed was the graffiti word project shown below. This process emphasized blending and gradient techniques with paint and graphic design.

Simultaneously, under the guidance of a PFAA Senior, the 8th grade class painted a graffiti mural reflecting their individual culture for their Legacy Project. This project is at the end of our hallway and will remain on the wall for the next 4 years. It looks pretty amazing! This project and process was such a success that we will continue creating graffiti murals during this unit for future Legacy Projects on the surrounding walls.

The next project, Skateboard Stencil Deck Design, explored the artist Banksy and the manner in which his stencil graffiti evokes public response. The students then made stencils and temporarily tagged the campus using baby powder. This is an idea I gleaned from Ian Sands, an art teacher I admire and follow closely.

After tagging the campus and testing stencils, students practiced spray painted their stencil on a collaborative paper "wall" to gain a better understanding for spray paint application.

The last step of this project was designing and stenciling their skateboard deck. For a start up project, I think this went REALLY well and I already have plans to develop more graphic deck designs next year!

The last project we will try this year is the Collaborative Interactive Mural. I personally like to end a unit with a collaborative piece so that students can come together and share their learning. This is another project I borrowed from Ian Sands and will be starting this Monday. Like all new projects I feel nervousness and anxiety, but I  strongly believe the kids will LOVE this art form and once again, be super engaged with the learning. Here is an example of what they will do. Wish me luck!

Oh! most of these projects were successful because we got to be in the sunny, outdoors. However, I did develop a "Rainy Day" tech Street Art Project borrowed by another rock star art teacher named Adam Schwaninger at Schoo Middle School. This project is called "Inkless Tattoos" and although Adam uses GIMP, I adapted the project so that it could be performed with an iPad. My lesson is linked here if you would like to try it out!

Street Fair Success

Full disclosure, I'm a precrastinator. I am one of those people who plans WAY in advance. I am sure this trait can be VERY annoying to some but so far this part of my personality has served me well.

So, now you will better understand why in January I started thinking about Open House- HA! In my defense, I only started thinking about it because it hadn't been scheduled yet! So, I needed to know WHEN it was so that I could, of course, PLAN! However, I couldn't ignore the fact that having it not scheduled was like having a blank canvas needing some paint. Open House has always been a little bittersweet for me because it feels like an end of the year showcase with VERY little turn out, especially from the 8th grade class. So it got me thinking about ways to make Open House appealing to all students and families. That' s when I thought of a Street Fair.

Just the title "Street Fair" sounds exciting and interesting. When I think of a Street Fair I think of food trucks, street performers, vendors, music and art. So with that vision in mind I pitched the idea to my administer and she said YES! LOVE her! With the support of admin, Teachers, Parent group and students we ran with the plan.

Our Street Fair took place on May 4th from 5:30-7:00. Food was sold by Panda Express, Mountain Mike's Pizza and Leatherby's. Students artists and performers were in action along the "Street" in the form of poets, scientists, artists, athletes, technology wizards and mathematicians. Each classroom had interactive booths (like vendors) outside of their classroom along with their doors wide open inviting people in. We had a student DJ perform music and a raffle with some amazing baskets at the end.
The Street Fair was PACKED with families- but most of all, students- especially the 8th grade students which I feel was attributed  in having performing roles. The Open House of old was no longer. There seemed to be a paradigm shift within the energy of the night from Teacher Showcase to Student Showcase. Street Fair was an amazing to watch unfold and I hope to continue to this theme in the future!

Pillow Pride and Pets!

It's been a while since I've posted from the 7th grade class simply because we have been sewing practice projects leading up the their Pillow Project. Sewing will weave it's way into the 8th grade curriculum so having a strong foundation from 7th grade will really support the learning goals for next year. Here are some cute pics of students and their pets showing off their pillow pride!