Tuesday
Let me Introduce you....(ongoing series)
Please welcome Ms. Lawlor to Walt Whitman Middle School! Ms. Lawlor is an avid potter and looks forward to sharing her mad skills with her students!
Her art classroom is a bustling hub of creativity! She has some great ideas for organizing her materials and making sure supplies are all put away!
Just a quick glance will allow her to easily see what is missing or out of place!
Wednesday
Let me Introduce you...the first in a series
It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see...
Thoreau
Visiting schools is such a joy! It is amazing to see the studio spaces and the way they are organized. It is equally stunning to see the keeper of the space...the teacher that that creates the tone of the room. Over the coming weeks I will be introducing you to some amazing new faces and their spaces!
Allow me to introduce you to Ms. Chung, the newest member of the Langley art department. She is teaching 3-D design as well as Digital Art and Design this year. Her school was recently renovated. 
She has cleverly created an efficient organization of her clay tools with a nice catch all parts bin. This allows for easy access for the students and they can easily see what is available to use.
While I was there I also noticed that she had a clever way to reuse all the cardboard that was in her storage room. Instead of ordering sketchbooks this year, she is having the students make their own!
The first week of school the students are personalizing the covers with mixed media. They will be adding paper and rings to hold it together. This allows for flexibility in adding more paper later or removing it to matte or mount for exhibition.
(It is awesome to pick up helpful hints on organization and clever lessons when visiting schools!)
Monday
Girlie Gotta New Gig!
Teaching is a craft that I have been working to master for over two decades...knowing there is always something new to learn and and a new problem to solve the day to day is never the same. It is a thrill and a pleasure to get to know students, and continuously grapple with creative curiosities. Art education is my jam.
This year my role has changed, and I will be supporting my peers. I am tickled to now be the secondary art resource teacher for my district. This is my opportunity to support art teachers in their daily routines, offer mentorship, professional development and just generally be there to support them as they work with students! The above video is what I made to announce the change at our welcome back fall in-service. The adventure begins again...wish me luck!
Wednesday
Back from the desert inspired and ready to rumble!
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| Neon Boneyard 2019 |
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| Seven Magic Mountains Ugo Rondinone |
In the summertime, I go to the desert. It is my special place. The heat is dry and welcoming, it envelopes me and redirects my energy . The skies are simultaneously pink, blue and proud. The desert holds secret nuggets of brilliant curiosity and creativity. It whispers to my psyche and encourages, actually pushes me to get outside the box.
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| Recycled Propaganda |
Recycled Propaganda has a gallery downtown on Charleston and Main Street. He adorns the surrounding walls with his visual thoughts, often calling out social issues that are not easy to reconcile. His artwork is provocative and smart. Recycled Propaganda makes you stop and think.
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| Indigenous Extinction Recycled Propaganda |
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| Perceptual Consumption Clayton Baker |
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| Spirit Sisters |
Just outside of the city, over the border into California sleeps a tiny little town called Nipton. Nipton is the proud keeper of stunning artwork. For example, Clayton Baker's Perceptual Consumption that was a center piece at Burning Man the year before. It is quite the statement piece resting near the train tracks...it is not alone there are other large scale artworks that define the once ghostly space. You can also sleep in a solar powered teepee !
These are just a few of my favorite finds from this years exploration of the vast space that is the desert. The visit never seems long enough, but I carefully craft the time to leave me inspired and ready to rumble as the new school year knocks! This year is destined to be different, it will be amazing. I hope to be a source of sun to the teachers I meet! To read more on my thoughts about beginning the school year please visit NAEA Monthly Mentor Blog! I am so tickled to be blogging for them the month of August.
Tuesday
Sunday
Chelsea.Whitney.Andy.Morgan.Frida.
This past week was our annual New York trip! The students were up close with some pretty incredible art. We toured the Chelsea galleries first and that always challenges our thinking and instigates excellent conversations around process, meaning and product.
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| Laura, Kelly, Susan & Heather |
The Whitney was lively with Andy Warhol's prolific and exuberant documentation of celebrity and history in saturated color and energy.
The Morgan Library was a new destination and it did not disappoint! Illuminated manuscripts, incredible photography,
mesmerizing architectural spaces.
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| When the gang is all here.... |
The culmination of our journey was experiencing the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art! Serendipitously it was International Women's Day!
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| Fierce Women |
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| Frida & the Bull |
It was an outstanding experience!
The students were awesome. My colleagues were outstanding. Each venue we experienced gave us so much to think about...we continuously move forward.
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