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.

Spring Art Showcase

Here is the flier for our Albany High School art showcase. One of our Senior art students in Connect Academy designed it. We are doing a scavenger hunt map for parents, students, and teachers to explore the different art classes offered and display the work that students have produced. When they get all the stamps from 12 mini galleries they get appetizers and refreshments.

More pictures of the event to come....

Students Drawing After Mindfulness Exercise

This was an amazing experience demonstrating the power of mindfulness relaxation practices. I lead my mostly freshman and sophomore basic art class in a 10 minute breathing exercise. This class is generally very well behaved, but I do have a few talkers in it. After the breathing exercise for the rest of the period the students where focused and invested in their art practice. The music you hear is what we were listening to, it was not added afterwords. That's how quite they where being, this was a profound experience for me as a teacher.

Elementary Students Ceramic Self Portraits

These are ceramic self portraits that were done by elementary school students at Hesperian Elementary School. We took their pieces and had them fired at a Berkeley ceramic studio so kids could keep these pieces forever.

Calder Mobile Instilation at Albany Middle School

I completed this project in 2009 with a class of 7th graders my first semester of student teaching. These mobiles where inspired by Alexander Calder. Each student created a design within their group of 5. Then the students chose which design to create together. Using foam core, exacto knives, tempera paint, wood dowels, and fishing line my class installed 8 mobiles in the schools atrium and library.