We're back! It was with great anticipation and enthusiasm that I finally met my new students at New Buffalo this year. The students have been doing a great job trying to abide by the COVID-19 guidelines for their return to the school. We're all still getting used to wearing masks all day inside the school building and it's often hard for students to recognize when they are not six feet apart from each other because they're just excited to see their friends and be together.
Art class is committed to outdoor classes as often as possible for a welcome reprieve in the fresh air. We practice standing on the blue X's in the room and walking into the courtyard while keeping our distance until we do the wingspan check for social distance before removing our masks.
Our mask breaks outside have been a chance to see our faces, hear our voices, and check in with each other for our much needed social, emotional connections. With today being September 11th, my middle school students wanted me to tell the story of what I was doing on that day and my 6th graders had lots of follow up questions for me. I was impressed with their level of curiosity and maturity to want to understand their history and listen to my personal experience of when I was in middle school on 9/11/2001.
The first assignment in all classes has been to design the name tags that label their personal art supply bags and art portfolios. Since we are eliminating the use of shared equipment, each student was asked to bring their own plastic bag so that their art supplies can be dropped off to the “Teacher Zone” on their way back to their tables at the end of class, where I then store them in the cabinets behind my desk. Much like the reverse process of a “carry out” restaurant order! Students designed the name tags for their bags and art portfolios so that I can easily locate them for each class.
Classes in Action!
6th Grade Art:
7th Grade Art:
8th Grade Art:
In the ART I class, students began their first day mark-making on the mixed media project “Is this Good Art?” We began with a group critique on the non-objective paintings of American artist, Cy Twombly, and discussed the value of artwork that is open to interpretation with no recognizable subject from realistic life. The students voiced their opinions and then typed their personal reflections in short answer format on Schoology.
While many students were confused by what appears to be randomness in Twombly’s work, they surprised themselves with the experimental process of mark-making when filling the paper with their own colors, lines, patterns, and textures using charcoal, tempera paint, watercolor, and color sticks. It made me smile to see high school students so playful and living in the moment with their art-making.
Art III is a small group of students who are very passionate about art! Their first unit is inspired by the Cubist period of Abstract artists who distorted their subjects through multiple views and fragmented planes. The unit, “Fragmented Portraits,” includes developing observational drawing skills from life and abstracting the composition with overlapping sketches. The students volunteered to take turns as models while the class filled sheets of newsprint with charcoal gesture figure drawings.
It’s been a whirlwind of new routines for me as the art teacher with assembling individual art packs, sanitizing art clipboards and tables, and reminding students to keep their distance during art class. As I was prepping paint cups before school, the blue pump squirted all over my staff shirt and I was able to use this embarrassing moment as a funny story in my art classes to remind students to laugh off the little things and be flexible with the changes. It was also a good reminder that tempera paint is washable and my blue smear should come out just fine in the wash later tonight. Happy Friday!
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