Fun at Artsplosure!!!

Ms. Garvey and Ms. Bethel checkin out the sculpture garden.

I hope you were able to make it out to Moore Square this weekend to check out Artsplosure. I visited the festival on Sunday with Ms. Garvey and Ms. Bethel, two of our wonderful first grade teachers. We checked out the Impressionist sculpture garden. It was cool to see these figures that were originally part of impressionist paintings turned into 3D, lifesize sculptures.

Me with Logan, the designer of the necklace.

There were lots of tents filled with artwork for sale. We looked at photography, paintings, wood carvings, pottery, and so much more! One of my favorite things to look at is the jewelry. There are so many different ways to make jewelry. Some people make it with beads that they've created themselves with glass, some people use found objects or metal that they cut and bend and hammer to create interesting and original designs. I bought a necklace that was actually designed by the artist's daughter, Logan, when she was only 5 years old! She drew out the design and picked out the words and her mother made it using metal. It just goes to show that you don't have to be a grown up to create wonderful artwork.

We also saw an awesome sand sculpture and watched as people worked together to help create a community art installation. Installation art is a genre of art that is created for a specific area and is often meant to change the way you see and understand the space that it is created in. Sometimes art installations are permanent and sometimes they are only meant to stay for a short amount of time.

Thanks for all the "Thank You's"

A big THANK YOU to all of the wonderful students, parents and PTA members at Banks Road. You all made me feel so wonderful with all of your cards, gifts, and flowers during teacher appreciation week! I am truly blessed to work at this school!

Artsplosure This Weekend!!!

What an exciting weekend we have coming up!!! We'll kick it off Friday night with the Banks Road Spring Carnival! I hope to see you there! I'll be in the dunking booth from 8-8:25pm, so come and see if you can knock me into the water!!

Artsplosure the Raleigh Arts Festival will be going on all weekend in downtown Raleigh at Moore's Square. This free festival includes artists selling their work from booths that surround the square. You will see painters, ceramic artists, potters, sculptors, jewelry makers, wood carvers, and much more. Even if you don't plan on buying anything from these artists you can still enjoy looking at their work. Take advantage of the opportunity to ask the artists questions about their work. Try asking them how they created it or why they created it. Ask them how they come up their ideas and what inspires them.

Throughout both Saturday and Sunday there will also be performers creating music of a variety of genres for you to enjoy. In the surrounding area you will also find art displays, an Impressionist Garden with life size sculptures and a sand sculptor. There will even be a stage completely dedicated to activities for kids! Click here to check out the Kidsplsure schedule.

I hope you will take advantage of this wonderful festival that we have right here in our city! Its fun for the whole family and has so much art to look at, listen to and enjoy. I hope to run into you there!

Second Grade Pinch Pot Creatures

Hallway display

Second Grade students learned about pinch pots, their history and how to make them. Pinch pots are created by inserting your thumb into a ball of clay and pinching the walls a little at a time as you turn the clay. We learned that pinching clay was a method of creating pottery before the invention of the potter's wheel but people still create pinch pots today. Just because pinch pots are simple and easy to make, it doesn't mean they have to be boring.

 We took our clay pots to the next level by turning them to create the mouths of our creatures. Students used their imaginations and creativity to create a monster or creature of their choosing. We had a range of creatures from silly to scary, alien to gremlin. To create the additions for making the arms, legs, eyes, etc students practiced rolling coils and pinching and pulling to manipulate the clay to make the forms they envisioned. They then learned to secure the additions by slipping and scoring the clay. After the creatures emerged from the kiln the students used acrylic paint to add color. To display them in the hallway the students created a background that they thought best illustrated where their creature would live.

I was very impressed by our second grade artists and the variety of creatures they created. Each creature had its own personality just like the wonderful second graders of Banks Road Elementary School.

Click here for ideas about creating pinch pots at home.