Self Portraits: 3rd Grade

        

I have a theory about self portraits...you can appreciate them if you do not know the person represented, but you are not impacted by them unless you do!  I hope you appreciate my 3rd graders self portraits. I can't begin to tell you how these truly reflect the artist...and how some of the quirky ways they drew actually are dead on representations/characteristics!!!!  Oh these make me smile!!!!  I love my job...and I love kid artists!!!!!

        

        

Sunday Devotional With Mr. E: Frida's Focus

(This is a new feature on Art With Mr. E!  I am a Christian, and have often seen illustrations of my faith through art.  So I thought I'd share some of these thoughts with you.  If you are not a Christian & don't care to read about such things...then just skip my posts that are titled "Sunday Devotional".  If you are not a Christian & curious about faith...feel free to e-mail me.  I'm not here to convert or preach at ya...just sharing this aspect of my life with you!  No need to be offended.)  

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."  John 16:33

Frida Kahlo had a difficult life.  The pain & suffering from a horrible accident, the resulting inability to have children, a tumultuous marriage....all reflected in her art for the world to see.  As artists, we have the opportunity to channel our life experiences, emotions, joys, sorrows, beliefs, and questions into our work.  This connection to the human condition often draws people to art.  Frida truly focused much of her work on the pain she experienced physically & emotionally.  I applaud the beauty & skill of her work.  However, my heart hurts for the life she lived.

What could Frida's work have looked like if she had been able to ascertain the truth of John 16:33.  

In this section of scripture, Jesus is speaking to the disciples.  I love the disciples.  They truly represent all of us...our lack of skill, knowledge, and understanding.  Yet God still chose to use them!!  They don't get what Jesus is about to go through...or what they themselves will soon experience/endure.  The Lord is giving them a "pep talk" of sorts. He knows the trials they will face, the suffering in His name they will go through, and for most of them....the death they will share in because of their faith.  He knows this life they have chosen will not be an easy one.  He reminds them..."In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!  I have overcome the world"

None of us has been promised an easy life.  Pain is a part of living.  Hardships are a fact of life.  But the Lord has reminded us to TAKE HEART!  Why?  Does it make it all go away?  No.  Because HE HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD!  The One who we put our faith in knows our pain.  He knows our suffering.  He wants us to look to Him to find our peace in the midst of trials. In our pain, He wants us to call out to Him for our hope.  When this world doesn't make sense & we are struggling to find our way...HE IS THERE!!!

Frida's focus on the pain & struggles of her life yielded amazing and moving work, but the absence of hope within many of her pieces painted a bleak existence.  I want my life & my art to reflect truth!  In the joy & rejoicing and in the sorrow & pain....there is a peace that passes all understanding.  It is what grounds me.  It is what allows me to carry on when I feel I can not.  When this world tries to steal that peace...I must remember, "HE HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD!"



PRAYER
Dear Lord, You are worthy of all praise.  No matter what I am going through, may my life reflect the peace & hope You have given.  May my life paint a picture of Your love that is real/true. Amen

Chirpin': 1st Grade

         

As you may have read...I'M SO READY FOR SPRING!  Nashville is warming up...so my projects are taking on a much springier feel!!!! ha ha  I LOVE THESE 1st GRADE BIRDS!!!  I told the students we were going to create fun, colorful, springy birds.......and man did they deliver!! After drawing their picture with pencils...I had the students trace their pictures with black crayon to form a bit of a resist. We used markers to outline/color their picture next.  Lastly, I sprayed their work with water.  I love the look...and the kids were so excited when the colors started moving.  The resist does create a small wall between colors so they don't get totally mixed up.  

CHIRP ON FRIENDS...CHIRP ON!!!

Monet's Bridge: 4th Grade

So here are the mostly finished works that I posted about a week or so ago.  Over all I am happy with them, but part of me wonders if I should have let the students switch over to tempera paint for the second day details.  Over all successful lesson....and I know when I teach it again...I'll tweak a few things next time to hopefully allow for more individuality.

TAEA TUESDAY: Summer Conference/Workshop

SUMMER WORKSHOP!!!!!

HEY TnAEA FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!  The summer workshop information has been released!  Now the workshop is in Middle TN...but if anyone else wants to come...we're not going to turn you away.  (KY peeps...easy drive to Nashville!!)  It will be held at beautiful CHEEKWOOD.  How fun is that?!?!!!!!!!!!!  I'm going to be leading a workshop on Mixed Media Collage, called LAYERS OF MEANING!!  I'd love for you to come.  It will be a great day of creating our own work...thinking of how it could apply to our students...and just enjoying each other's company!!(how fun to hang out with art teachers makin' art!!!)  If you want to attend...the information is below!!!

Emotion Monsters: Kindergarten

I was teaching my kindergarten students about "expression" in art.  We talked about this in relation to mood/emotion.  The students enjoyed making faces at each other...attempting to show MAD/HAPPY/SAD/ANGRY/SCARED.  We discussed what the face "did" to express emotion.  We also discussed colors and how they related to mood/emotion.  

Each student was given a 12x12 piece of white paper & a diffuser circle.  They were instructed to trace the circle onto the white paper.  They then placed the circle out of the way & created an emotion monster.  Students then took their circle and drew lines of color on the diffuser circle using water based markers.  I then sprayed their papers with water.  The following week they got both the paper and the circle back.  We created a second monster with the diffuser circle itself on black paper.  Students used construction paper crayons to finish the monster from the previous week....and they used construction paper crayons & collage to finish the new one.  

DENIAL PROJECT

So I've been in denial....denial that winter is going to rob me of time with my students.   I've missed 10 days of class time over the past 3 weeks.  BOOOO!!!!  I hate missing school...I really do.  So this past week I started doing these rain collages (because I want it to be spring...NOW!!!).  Well..it didn't work...because we missed Thurs. & Friday.  However...I'm loving these pieces.  We talked about composition, contrast, and reviewed the elements & principles.  I also tried out a class set of "glue sponges".  The kids loved the glue sponges...I'm a bit mixed on my feelings toward them.  Maybe I'll do a post on that later.

WKU Art Ed PD Continued

Ok, I'm a hot mess or something....

I never posted the rest of the pictures from the Professional Development I did up at 

Western Kentucky University?!?!?!  

Here is the short of it...

I assigned the groups an artist.  They had to use that artist as inspiration to create a unit.  The unit had to be made of several projects...using several different media.  They also had to create one RAZZLE DAZZLE project that was using multiple sources to create(more than one grade level...whole school..parents...teachers...etc).

This is "kind of" the process we use when we're creating our ARTOBER lessons...or other district art projects.  I think planning with other teachers is such a beautiful way to create deep & meaningful units/lessons!!!  They are able to encourage, challenge, and bring their experiences to the table. That keeps things fresh.

Hands Across Time & Place: 3rd Grade

My third graders have been looking at cultural connections world wide.  We've tried to find themes, similarities, and shared experiences.  We've really enjoyed looking at "HANDS" through out history...and through out the world! Here is a great website if you are interesting in doing a project such as this ....... CLICK!!! -WEBSITE ON HANDS-CLICK!!!

::QUESTIONS::

"WHY WOULD HANDS BE A COMMON/SHARED THEME AROUND THE WORLD & THROUGHOUT TIME?"

"WHY ARE HANDS STILL IMPORTANT TO US TODAY?"

"HOW CAN WE MAKE HANDS PERSONAL?"

Students started by tracing & cutting out their hand.  On their first day they selected their color palette & used color pencils to go around their hands. On the second day they used oil pastels, watercolor, construction paper, and construction paper crayons.  The oil pastels & watercolor had to be within the color palette the selected before...and the construction paper had to be a contrasting color.  I loved the results, but do think we could spend another class time adding a bit more to them.

Focal Point Paintings: 2nd Grade

        

My second graders were looking at focal point in art.  We discussed different ways artists create this, and did some practice drawings before moving on with our final piece.  I limited their color palette(each class was given a different set of three!) trying to simplify the design & push the idea of creating focal points.  I really like the variety I saw coming from my students in this project!!