Art Showcase

The digital and fine art showcase ended up being a huge success. We had over five hundred students and parents attend. It was wonderful having the two departments come together and put this on to demonstrate what students are learning in art classes. Several parents thanked me for helping their child learn to love and appreciate the arts. This was a tremendous feeling and a great compliment. I try to teach my students a balance between art history, technical skills, and art technology, while creating student led projects that they want to invest in.

Illustrator Graphic Design Library Sign Project

This project was created by our schools librarian, she wanted more students to use the non-fiction section of the library, and asked me to write a grant with her to fund the project. We collaborated together and ended up creating a design competition where students each had to come up with their own sign using Adobe Illustrator, and then pitch their design to the librarian. She  met with my class in advance and gave them clear direction and guidance for what she was looking for. In the end she narrowed it down to her top 6 favorites, we then had the other art classes vote to decide on the winner. It was a challenging and rewarding process for my students. In the end a very clean, simple, modern design won. We had the posters printed at a local copy house and ordered the acrylic cases online. I am very proud how well it turned out in the end.

Group Project Mobiles

  These photos don't give justice to how cool these mobiles ended up looking in our cafeteria, each one was about 6 feet long. This was a group instillation project where students designed collectively what they wanted their projects to look like. Students also had to learn how to mix tints and shades of paint within an agreed upon color palette. The class drew inspiration from geometric or organic shapes. This project taught students how to envision a project and see it from start to finish, as well as teach perseverance when working with others.

Students began learning about the color wheel for this project and learning the vocabulary needed to discuss it. Students practiced mixing analogous, and complimentary colors as a quick one day exercise. Then each student created two full sheets of a specific tint and shade as a group. These exercise worksheets were cut up to make up the pieces of each groups mobile. Students designed the shapes and the arrangement of the pieces to reflect the feeling of the color that they where working with.

Basic Art Final Surrealism Project

This final Surrealism project led to amazingly strong personal work from my freshman and sophomore students. I began the project by teaching students about the 1920's art movement and the philosophies and the influence of Freudian psychology within the symbolism of the artwork. Students then began keeping track of their dreams in the morning, and writing about their subconscious fears and internal struggles. The writing influenced students imagery and gave them direction in their piece. My students had already studied still life drawing, color theory, and color mixing. With these skills students could focus on content and design, releasing themselves from their fears of expression. Students worked with tempera and acrylic paint as well as mixed media. I am incredibly proud of their work and the deep meaning that it had. Each student wrote an artist statement explaining the meaning of their work. Many parents and teachers came up to me and expressed how this project was therapeutic for their students, and provided them with an outlet to express their feelings of anxiety, pain, and the process of growing up as a teen.