"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." -Winston Churchill
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Art Club Donates Art Supplies
This year, I am so proud to announce that Art Club collected over 150 art supplies to donate to the Child Life Program at St. Peter's hospital in New Brunswick. The coordinator of this program informed me that the children love to make art, however supplies are scarce and they go quickly. I am so proud of my students who helped make this possible! On Friday, December 20th, a few of the Art Club members and I brought our donations to the hospital.
String of Strength Event
On Thursday, December 19, Art Club had our first String of Strength event. We made bracelets to donate to children suffering with cancer and other serious illnesses. This event was sponsored by Beads of Courage. Our bracelets have been sent to the Beads of Courage team, who will then deliver them to children in the hospital.
The Beads of Courage program is a resilience-based intervention designed to support and strengthen children and families coping with serious illness.
Through the program children tell their story using colorful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones they have achieved along their unique treatment path.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Water Challenge: Paper Beads
Today Art Club had our first paper bead-making workshop. We are collaborating to make hand-made paper beads in order to help bring clean water to villages in Tanzania. For every 20 beads that we make, we help bring clean water to one person in a village. It's so hard to believe that water, something that so many of us take for granted, is scarce throughout our world. Nearly 800 million people in the world live without clean water.
In northern Tanzania, water and sanitation systems in schools are highly overburdened or non-existent. With the lack of clean water, hygiene and sanitation at schools, students increasingly miss class and often abandon their education altogether. Women and children spend up to four hours a day collecting water from sources likely to make them sick. About 200,000 children die each year after contracting waterborne diseases.
In order to help, Art Club is making beads that the Bezos Family Foundation through Students Rebuild will match with funding.
I am so proud of my students and how awesome our beads turned out! Here are some photos from today's meeting~
In northern Tanzania, water and sanitation systems in schools are highly overburdened or non-existent. With the lack of clean water, hygiene and sanitation at schools, students increasingly miss class and often abandon their education altogether. Women and children spend up to four hours a day collecting water from sources likely to make them sick. About 200,000 children die each year after contracting waterborne diseases.
In order to help, Art Club is making beads that the Bezos Family Foundation through Students Rebuild will match with funding.
I am so proud of my students and how awesome our beads turned out! Here are some photos from today's meeting~
Friday, November 15, 2013
Bones
Art Club, National Art Honor Society, and Interact Club joined together for our first meeting to create bones for an installation that we will be having in the spring. We will be installing over 500 bones (one for every student, staff member, and additional employees at our school) to raise awareness of ongoing genocide. We will also be partnering up with a class that is studying genocide to help provide facts and information about ongoing genocide in places like Somalia and The Democratic Republic of Congo.
This project was inspired by the One Million Bones project, which was held last year at the National Mall in Washington D.C. One Million Bones were installed there to raise awareness to ongoing genocide. For every bone donated, $1 was given to help bring relief to countries suffering from ongoing genocide. At the end of our project, we will also be donating our bones.
Art is an extremely powerful tool to raise awareness, engage a community, and mobilize action. We can't help something that we don't know about. Art Club, NAHS, Interact club, and students studying genocide at BBHS will help fight crimes against humanity by raising awareness to our school and community.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead
Here are some photos from Day 1~
First students designed a bone with newspaper and covered with masking tape~
This project was inspired by the One Million Bones project, which was held last year at the National Mall in Washington D.C. One Million Bones were installed there to raise awareness to ongoing genocide. For every bone donated, $1 was given to help bring relief to countries suffering from ongoing genocide. At the end of our project, we will also be donating our bones.
Art is an extremely powerful tool to raise awareness, engage a community, and mobilize action. We can't help something that we don't know about. Art Club, NAHS, Interact club, and students studying genocide at BBHS will help fight crimes against humanity by raising awareness to our school and community.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead
Here are some photos from Day 1~
First students designed a bone with newspaper and covered with masking tape~
Students working~
After the bones were made with newspaper and masking tape, students
used plaster gauze to mold their bones~
A few finished bones~
Sunday, November 3, 2013
The World Needs More
My next lesson with Art I is to create an Alter Ego Super Hero using a Monochromatic or Complimentary Color Scheme. I am excited to teach this lesson because it connects to the big idea of social issues and relates Art to something greater than the four walls of my classroom. However- something felt missing! After doing some research, I found an amazing cause to use as a basis for my lesson. It's called World Humanitarian Day.
Some Finished Student Projects~
What is it?
World Humanitarian Day falls on August 19th- the day in 2003 when 22 aid workers were killed in a bombing at the UN headquarters in Baghdad.
"It's a day to commemorate all people who have lost their lives in humanitarian service and to celebrate the spirit of people helping people that motivates this work."
The World Needs More campaign was launched in support of World Humanitarian Day to raise much needed funds to continue the effort to help others.
My students will be choosing one word that they feel the world needs more of. Then, they will use Facebook or twitter to submit their word and unlock a $1 donation from a sponsor.
Next, they will use their one word to design an Alter Ego Super Hero to bring more of this one word to our world.
I look forward to sharing my students Art with you!!
To learn more and to contribute to this wonderful cause, please visit~
What do you think the #worldneedsmore of?
#love
#dreams
#education
#empowerment
#healthcare
#hope
#strength
Some Finished Student Projects~
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Art Club
I am so excited to announce that Bound Brook High School will now have an ART CLUB!
Who We Are:
1. Students interested in making ART!
2. Students interested in volunteering and participating in community service.
3. Students interested in making art to help raise awareness to current social issues.
4. Students interest in painting murals at our school.
What We Do:
Here is a Sneak Preview of what we will be involved in this year~
1. Students interested in making ART!
2. Students interested in volunteering and participating in community service.
3. Students interested in making art to help raise awareness to current social issues.
4. Students interest in painting murals at our school.
What We Do:
Here is a Sneak Preview of what we will be involved in this year~
1. Students will be designing and creating at least one mural in our school. Students are currently making sketches for their design and the message they would like to send.
2. One Million Bones~ Art Club will be teaming up with Interact Club and students studying Genocide in history this year to create our own Bones Installation in the Spring 2014. Our goal is to create enough human bones to represent every person (staff, student, administrator, coach, janitor, etc,) at our school to help raise awareness to modern genocide. Students studying genocide will provide the facts about this serious problem and how we can help bring an end to it. Every bone we create will donate $1 to helping fight genocide in countries like Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
3. Students Rebuild Water Challenge- Did you know? Nearly 800 million people in the world live without clean water. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kill more people each year than all forms of violence combined, including war.
Art Club will make handmade paper beads to help bring clean water to people living in Tanzania, where water in schools is nearly nonexistent. Nearly 200,000 children die each year after contracting a waterborne disease. To learn more and how you can get involved visit
4. Beads of Courage- Art Club will make beads and bracelets to donate to children suffering with cancer throughout the United States.
Art Club Cares
"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."- Winston Churchill
Fantasy Cityscapes
Lesson Title: Fantasy Cityscape
Big Idea: Dreams
In this lesson, students learned how they could use line to manipulate a surface. Students took a look at the amazing achievements artists have made in creating the illusion of depth on a 2-d flat surface. They were exposed to a variety of images of chalk street artists who create the illusion of space on a flat road like so:
Then, students learned one-point perspective. Students created a city-scape in one-point perspective worm's eye view.
Next, students learned about two-point perspective. They designed three boxes in two-point perspective.
Finally, students used their knowledge of perspective to design a Fantasy Cityscape in their choice of one-point OR two-point perspective. Students learned all about Surrealism and how it represents the subconscious, using dreamlike imagery that isn't supposed to make sense.
Students completed a Cityscape plan in which they designed their own city. They answered questions like where will your city be located? What will be the theme of your city? How can you make your city dreamlike (surrealistic)?
Students were to add at least one building that was surrealistic such as a building made out of their favorite food item OR perhaps favorite sport such as a soccer ball or basketball building.
Finally, students learned about the Warm Colors and Cool Colors and they were to color their city using mostly their choice of a Warm Color Scheme or Cool Color Scheme.
To help students better understand how ART can be used to represent the subconscious, how art can represent our dreams, and how art doesn't always have to make sense- Students participated in Surrealistic art making activities such as an Exquisite Corpse and a Decalcomania.
An Exquisite Corpse is a surrealist technique in which a group of students create a figure one part at a time. The first student begins with the head, then passes it to the next student without revealing what their drawing looks like. The complete drawing is not exposed until the final person draws the last part of the body, the feet. In the end, a figure that resembles surrealism is created in that it is dismembered and represents an image that is not meant to make sense. The importance of the exquisite corpse is that it is a collaborative work of art and it suggests that each of its authors has something unconscious in common.
Here are some of my students Exquisite Corpses~ (coming soon)
“Decalcomania” was a techique was used by Surrealists to create impromptu paintings controlled largely by chance. Much like a Rorschach Ink-Blot test, they would search for hidden imagery and develop it into a finished painting.
Here are some of my students Decalcomania's~ (coming soon)
Finished Cityscapes~
Big Idea: Dreams
In this lesson, students learned how they could use line to manipulate a surface. Students took a look at the amazing achievements artists have made in creating the illusion of depth on a 2-d flat surface. They were exposed to a variety of images of chalk street artists who create the illusion of space on a flat road like so:
Then, students learned one-point perspective. Students created a city-scape in one-point perspective worm's eye view.
Next, students learned about two-point perspective. They designed three boxes in two-point perspective.
Finally, students used their knowledge of perspective to design a Fantasy Cityscape in their choice of one-point OR two-point perspective. Students learned all about Surrealism and how it represents the subconscious, using dreamlike imagery that isn't supposed to make sense.
Students completed a Cityscape plan in which they designed their own city. They answered questions like where will your city be located? What will be the theme of your city? How can you make your city dreamlike (surrealistic)?
Students were to add at least one building that was surrealistic such as a building made out of their favorite food item OR perhaps favorite sport such as a soccer ball or basketball building.
Finally, students learned about the Warm Colors and Cool Colors and they were to color their city using mostly their choice of a Warm Color Scheme or Cool Color Scheme.
To help students better understand how ART can be used to represent the subconscious, how art can represent our dreams, and how art doesn't always have to make sense- Students participated in Surrealistic art making activities such as an Exquisite Corpse and a Decalcomania.
An Exquisite Corpse is a surrealist technique in which a group of students create a figure one part at a time. The first student begins with the head, then passes it to the next student without revealing what their drawing looks like. The complete drawing is not exposed until the final person draws the last part of the body, the feet. In the end, a figure that resembles surrealism is created in that it is dismembered and represents an image that is not meant to make sense. The importance of the exquisite corpse is that it is a collaborative work of art and it suggests that each of its authors has something unconscious in common.
Here are some of my students Exquisite Corpses~ (coming soon)
“Decalcomania” was a techique was used by Surrealists to create impromptu paintings controlled largely by chance. Much like a Rorschach Ink-Blot test, they would search for hidden imagery and develop it into a finished painting.
Here are some of my students Decalcomania's~ (coming soon)
Finished Cityscapes~
Blind Contour Identity Collages
Lesson Title: Identity Collage
Big Idea: Identity
This lesson began as an exercise in blind contour. What is blind contour? Blind contour is a drawing exercise in which you draw an object without looking down at your surface. This is extremely important, especially at the Art II level, because it helps a student to draw what they actually see, instead of what they think they see.
After practicing several blind contour drawings of still life objects, students learned how they could create a blind contour drawing of themselves by using one hand to feel the shape of their face, eyes, nose, etc. and drawing what they feel.
Students then combined knowledge of collage and visual literacy to create an identity collage within their blind contour self-portrait by using a variety of visual symbols to represent themselves.
Examples of Work in Progress~
Big Idea: Identity
This lesson began as an exercise in blind contour. What is blind contour? Blind contour is a drawing exercise in which you draw an object without looking down at your surface. This is extremely important, especially at the Art II level, because it helps a student to draw what they actually see, instead of what they think they see.
After practicing several blind contour drawings of still life objects, students learned how they could create a blind contour drawing of themselves by using one hand to feel the shape of their face, eyes, nose, etc. and drawing what they feel.
Students then combined knowledge of collage and visual literacy to create an identity collage within their blind contour self-portrait by using a variety of visual symbols to represent themselves.
Examples of Work in Progress~
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Zentangles
Have you ever found yourself doodling away on the paper you're supposed to be taking notes on? Lost in random lines and scribbles that are maybe turning into flowers or animals etc..? Well Zentangle was created out of just this- something most of us would call a "doodle." Believe it or not, this simple repetition of lines, shapes, and patterns increases focus and to some is considered a form of meditation. The inventors of Zentangles hoped that those who experienced creating Zentangles could have such an experience. After taking a look at line, different kinds of line, shapes (geometric and organic) and pattern, Art I students got lost in their own meditation by completing a Zentangle design.
After making two thumbnail sketches (one design in a geometric shape, one design in an organic shape or animal shape) Students began to draw their design on larger paper. To draw the outline of their shape, students were allowed pencils:
The Zentangle theory is that it's easy to understand-even if you don't believe you are an artist! I found this to be a valuable beginning of the year project to help promote confidence in my students abilities. Students were challenged to create their design in sharpie marker- No erasers! Tihis is to help them see that there are no mistakes in art. Too often, we stop ourselves from drawing or creating art because we are afraid of messing up! Zentangles help us to see that there is nothing to fear.
After making two thumbnail sketches (one design in a geometric shape, one design in an organic shape or animal shape) Students began to draw their design on larger paper. To draw the outline of their shape, students were allowed pencils:
Students referenced their thumbnail sketch often as they completed their final design on large bristol paper in sharpie. They were allowed to change the pattern if there was something they did not like in their thumbnail sketch. However, the sketches were very valuable because they helped students have a choice of what shape they would like to use for their final project and they helped students understand the Zentangle process:
The Zentangle theory is that it's easy to understand-even if you don't believe you are an artist! I found this to be a valuable beginning of the year project to help promote confidence in my students abilities. Students were challenged to create their design in sharpie marker- No erasers! Tihis is to help them see that there are no mistakes in art. Too often, we stop ourselves from drawing or creating art because we are afraid of messing up! Zentangles help us to see that there is nothing to fear.
Puzzle Art Installation Project
Art I students looked at the Puzzle Art Installation Collaborative Project run by artist Tim Kelly. Then, they were asked a series of questions about their favorite things i.e. favorite food, sport, season, hobbie, etc. After this, we discussed visual literacy- how you can say something without any words. Students discovered how they could represent themselves using visual symbols of things that they like. After this, each student designed a puzzle piece that represents them. Each puzzle piece starts out blank, but in the end, each one is unique- just like each one of us. The idea is that there are no extra pieces of the universe- we were all put here for a reason. By connecting all of our puzzle pieces together in my classroom- Art I students show each and every one of us that we all fit into the jigsaw puzzle of life.
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