Free Choice Art Days and Recycled Materials

In the art classroom, students are expected to listen to the lesson and demonstration at the beginning of class, talk quietly at their tables during independent work, remain on task by working on their projects or finding an art related activity, and, finally, they are expected to clean up properly at the end of class. When the class works together to fulfill all of these expectations, they earn a ticket. After a class earns 10 tickets, they have earned what we like to call a "Free Choice Art Day". This is a day where the students are allowed to choose what they want to create, and we get out a variety of materials that they have shown me they can use properly. These are often the days when all of those wonderful materials you all send in get used the most. The students love to build sculptures and other artwork with the paper towel rolls, empty bottles and containers, scrap fabric and other items that families have donated.

Many artists use recycled materials and found objects in their creations. Allowing the students to use these materials lets them be creative, and take full ownership of their project. They are the designer, the builder, and the problem-solver. They figure out what they want to create and what materials would be the best for their project, and since many of these materials are free, it allows them to experiment with their solutions, make mistakes, and learn from them without worrying about wasting expensive supplies. These are also things that they can collect and use at home.

Today, Mrs.Halsey's fourth grade class had earned a Free Choice Art Day and got really creative with some biodegradable packaging peanuts. In an effort to be more green, or environmentally friendly, many companies have started to use these packaging peanuts instead of the old Styrofoam ones. Since they are made of starch, they will dissolve completely in water which cuts down on waste and all of those peanuts sitting in a landfill or spilling into our oceans.

Joker and Batman

They are a great material for creating sculptures. By touching the peanut to a wet sponge or paper towel, you can easily attach them together without using glue or tape. This led to endless possibilities for our young artists. It didn't take long before they also figured out that once they had created the form of their sculpture, they could add color simply by using markers. Before we knew it, we had cartoon characters and figurines, "brick walls" and bracelets and even a Batmobile.

Great job getting creative Mrs. Halsey's class!!!

Next time you get a package in the mail, check to see if those peanuts will dissolve. Have fun watching them disappear in the bathtub, make some interesting sculptures or send them on in to the art room. We'll definitely put them to use!!

SPARKcon and Street Painting This Weekend!!

On nice sunny days, like the days we've had this week, I like to give the kids the option of spending their free draw time (time that they receive when they complete a project early) right outside the art room door. Sometimes, students will take out a piece of paper and a clipboard to draw from their imaginations or draw what they see outside. Often, the students like to use the sidewalk chalk to create temporary art on the sidewalks outside of the art room.

This weekend, September 15-16, the Raleigh Street Painting Festival is taking place in Downtown Raleigh on Fayetteville Street. The streets will be covered with artists creating beautiful temporary works of art using chalk. While this display used to be a festival of its own, it is now a part of SPARKcon. SPARKcon is a program put on by The Visual Art Exchange to showcase and celebrate the creativity of the Triangle Area. Creativity does not just mean art. They are also celebrating design, fashion, music, film, dance, the culinary arts and so much more. 

There will be tons of activities and showcases going on in the streets and surrounding venues. Click here to find the schedule and events that you and your family might be interested in. Click here to find the schedule of events designed specifically for the kids.

I plan to visit SPARKcon and check out the Street Painting during the day on Saturday. I hope to see you there!

A New School Year!

Another year at Banks Road Elementary has begun, and I'm excited to see what all of my artists will come up with! Once again, I will be using this blog to keep you up-to-date on happenings in the art room, as well as in the community. There are also links to artists websites, art activities and community art opportunities. I hope you and your student will explore these different sites and enjoy my posts. 

I have added a new feature to the blog. If you look to the upper right corner of the webpage, you will see a place to submit your email in order to follow this blog. This means that you will get an email notification anytime I post or update the site. It should not cause you to get spam emails or to become bombarded by emails from me. I hope this feature will come in handy and make it this blog more accessible to you and your child.

I am looking forward to this new year, meeting the students that are joining us from other schools and continuing to get to know our old Trailblazers!!

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.