Parents and Artists Talk at the Holmes

The basketball court is showing off its new bright (complimentary!) colors, the after school program is displaying a science and art fest to share with the parents and students...our challenge is how to display the artwork without interfering with the recently painted walls. Uff!

 

 Ms Bridget is already in the farm but the kids share their classroom experience by displaying and discussing their artwork. Ice cream, fresh strawberries and granola followed the presentations...Well Done! Ms Dey and Ms Bridget will certainly miss you!!!

Ms. Bridget's Last Day

Hi my name is mason.

today we painted with scrap-paper and paint,paintbrushes.

it was so fun! try it!!!!

"Full Circle"... back to one of our first projects, painting with Primary Colors. Both groups remembered everything they'd learned way back in November - a couple even made their own Color Wheels! My favorite part was that every artist used the paints very differently from their friends, without my even mentioning it - true artists!

Watching "The Marker Song" video one more time!

Group photo, everyone!!!

and our last "chill" painting session with Ms. Courtney's Crew...

A Card signed by everyone! What a cool surprise! 

Holmes Elementary pride! Me, new official Holmes t-shirt, and two great artist-buddies.

Well my friends, it has been quite a year. I'm sad to say goodbye to so many creative people with so much potential - I'm so curious about where their lives will take them, and what they will create for themselves. Being a kid in school is so much harder now than it was when I was young - I can't believe how much homework these kids have, all of the testing they survive, and how long their days are. Being an afterschool teacher is really touch because part of you wants to just let the kids blow off steam, while the other has to keep everyone safe and sane, and make their time worthwhile. It's a difficult balance and I'm sure art time was a real drag sometimes when the moon was full and I was insisting everyone stay seated to contain the chaos. But over the year I saw very stressed out, anxious, and emotionally exhausted kids become able to soften and settle for 40 minutes with the help of some quiet music, art supplies, and permission to do what works for them without ever being corrected or criticized. I hope that their teachers and parents provide them with the same space to "just be" - and that these students know and value "what works for them" enough to ask for it and create it!


Thank you to the Eliot School of Fine and Applied Arts for hiring me to teach as part of their school partnership program, and thanks to the amazing teachers and administrators at the Lee, Academy, and Holmes for making the whole thing work "on the ground"!

And now, off to the farm to live with goats.
Take it, Ms. Dey! Enjoy the last art sessions of the year everyone!

Mixing at Lee

HI MY NAME IS LUIS. TODAY WE PAINTED AND MADE NEW COLORS. I MADE A THOUSAND HUGE NEW COLORS. I USED PRIMARY COLORS.

Painting Outside at Holmes

Above is Mr. Wega's crew. Below is Ms. Brown's group, with some thoughtful interviews...

videos coming soon.

Mrs. Beautiful's good blogs LOL.

Hi my name is Tanzania and i am 9 years old. Today what we did is collage. Today what i made is a flower, a train, a t shirt, a leg and a N for my nickname. It is fun to do art in Ms.Bridget's class because we get to do fun things that she teaches us. She is soooooooo fun to do art with. SHE ROCKS THE ART ROOM. She is the best art teacher ever in the hole wide world. That is all about my art making. LOL.

My crew once again stayed for art for over an hour (*instead of going outside*) to finish their work. I kind of refused to let them make stuff that wasn't particularly creative, since we only have another week or so left - I wanted to see how far they've come. At the start of class, they noticed the scrap copier paper I put out had a coloring page on the back of it. If I'd had markers in the room, we'd have had 15 lion-masks. Everyone said they wanted to color it, and promised to cut it out and glue it to a piece of construction paper "so it's a collage." I know whining is not supposed to work - I say so every week - but I whined a lot and, well, it worked. I finally know these artists enough to be able to push them without angering or hurting their feelings. Today I saw the kind of self-fulfillment every teacher hopes for - the kids could not look around the room and not be impressed. It was quiet and focused, and boy, were they thinking out of the box! Weaving, folding, pop-ups, cards, cut-outs... a proud day.

 I will miss these guys!!!

Glad I had some post-it notes in my bag...

 

I wish Nelson had more time today - he worked for quite some time on this cool collage and insisted that tape was necessary for his vision... glad I gave in and let him get some! I hope he finishes this - Sounds awesome!

Cutting Colors for Collage at Lee Academy

 These collage sessions have started by looking at and enjoying the full spectrum of colors of construction paper I bought from the art store. We look at the many shades of our favorite colors, and talk about warm and cool colors. We even talk about adding a little bit of the opposite kind of color to your composition - so if you love warm colors, you can use them most, then add a splash of a cool color. 

A princess in her castle, which is getting a bridge.

Awesome use of scraps!

"This is about my asthma. It feels like my heart is breaking when I have an asthma attack"

collage at Lee

 
Today we did collage it was fun . We cut paper and we did abstract work and we did a lot of work.I used glue scissors and paper.This is what we did today. - steven

Several artists were so inspired by the colors of the paper and the freedom of abstraction they created 4 pieces of art during our short session!

Colors and Collage

The "dot dot dot" method. 

hello my name is mason.

today we did collages with construction paper and school glue.

Most of us decorated envelopes.

We had calming music and it helped me concentrate.

Now i am just concentrated on eating that starburst! 

(sincere smile) (it was the end of the session and in order to keep the boys from distracting Mason, I was playing a math quiz game with Starburst as the grand prize. I think my strategy backfired!)

Freeform collage with glue nostrils.

This artist was sliding around another rectangle underneath the house, deciding on the perfect composition.

This artist requested a Critique so he could share his work. He explained the symbolism of some of the shapes in his abstract collage, in response to a question. The relaxing music inspired use of cool muted colors and wavy shapes. He announced his intention to donate the piece to kids at the Children's Hospital. We're mailing it this week.

Weavin' & Sewin'.

"Today I learned how to weave with yarn, a needle, and a piece of cardboard. It was fun." -Nailah 

By Taria, the human loom.

Feelin' her custom-sewn hat. ShaZAM!

Mad color coordination.

more more more.

Our names are Mikaela and Kayla we are working on puppets in our art class.The puppets were made by the original class by Ms.Bridget.The puppets were cool,funny,and us and our puppets had some very funny moments. We made a puppet show and all the puppets were unique in their own special way.The puppet show made us laugh out loud a lot .The puppets were made by hand by each special person and their puppets were also special like all of the students.The puppets had very very cool features like adding cool clothes, the cool hair, and even cool facial features.You think you heard everything but you haven't heard anything yet. Some of the puppets were even pirates and even one of a kind. All the art I have been learning about in art was amazing sooooo! I made the most amazing cool funny fun happy puppets in art class with all of my friends.

Bye thankz you for reading!!!!!!!!

back by popular demand...Lee Puppetshows!

First Stitches! Freestyle Embroidery

Ms. Martine's group at Lee Academy learned to measure yarn, thread a yarn needle, and stitch today. They got the hang of it right away and were changing colors, creating designs, and even sewing sculptures in no time! Nathan commented on how quiet everyone was. They were so into sewing, Ms. Bridget left the class some yarn and needles to continue their work when they needed some relaxing activity!

You Can't Get Enough PUPPETS?

What a day. Very sad that some artists who worked extra hard on their puppets had to go home before they got to put on a show, but everyone was happy to take home their creations.

 and the video is being posted on Vimeo because this website is still being weird with videos. So just CLICK HERE and check out today's thrilling drama, breaking the record for most references to ANGUS (beef) and NORWHALS in a puppet show. Ever.