Here's a little shameless plugging for my friend's art show. It's seriously sooooo good.
If you are in the Eau Claire area, I HIGHLY suggest swinging by Volume One's Local Store to check out their current art exhibit. The show is by my good friend, Ashley Harrington, who does some AMAZING work. I love her blending of non-traditional art materials such as cooking spices, gunpowder, and knives. I was particularly drawn to the painting above. She starts with water media to paint the surface and then adds cooking spices to create a textured ground. What really drew me into the piece though was how she cut into the paper. You can faintly see the lines the knife left in the colored area of the painting. She used the knife to carve scenes of cities into the paper. This creates a ghost-like effect of cities and nature throughout time. It was great being able to see how her artistic talents and ideas have developed since she graduated!
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Inspired, exhausted, rejuvenated, excited. These all describe what I am feeling after attending the National Art Education Association's conference. I attended the 3 day event with Ms. Scott and Mrs. McDole, East and West's art teachers, as well as with 5,000+ other art teachers from around the world. It was amazing attending professional development sessions hosted by many of my art idols, many of whom I have mentioned on my blog before. From assessment to technology to interdisciplinary lessons, I attended some great sessions and took away many ideas that I hope to bring back to Milton. I'm already counting down the days until NAEA 2017 in New York City!
This past weekend I was lucky enough to help set-up Wisconsin's Youth Art Month show at the State Capitol! It was great being able to see the top artwork from around the state and from all different grade levels and mediums. I also had the opportunity to judge the show, something I have never done before. Talk about stressful!
Sadly, we did not have any artwork in the show this year, but I pinky promise I will be more prepared for it next year! I was lucky enough to go to Chicago over winter break for the FIRST TIME EVER!!! We visited the Chicago Art Museum for a day. It's always amazing to see the artist we have been learning about in person. As many of you know, I missed parent-teacher conference due to the WAEA fall conference in Appleton, WI. This past spring, I was elected to the WAEA board as the Membership Chair. It is important to me to build a professional learning network with other art teachers from across the state and nation. I thought I would update you on what exactly goes on at our conference. When I got to Appleton on Wednesday night, The Trout Museum of Art was hosting a reception for art teachers attending the conference the next day. The museum was showing a Norman Rockwell exhibition which was AMAZING to see. I don't think I had ever seen his work in person before. I'm sure that most of you would recognize his work. His iconic paintings were often displayed on magazine covers and depict scenes of everyday life. The museum was also having caption contests for some Norman Rockwell plates that they had. I was lucky enough to win the plate below with the caption "NASA has seen better days..." The next day I was up bright and early to help vendors set up their booths and then I helped with the conference attendees registration. I started off my day by attending a session on liquifying pencil cores so that I can paint with them. This was mind blowing to me. I had never heard of painting with lead and charcoal but I definitely want to try it out now. Next, I attended the keynote speech by Nancy Walkup. Nancy is the editor of SchoolArts and it was amazing to hear her speak. Throughout the rest of the day, I attended sessions on teaching literacy in the Fine Arts, architecture, blogging, and community engagement events. After all was said and done, we then had an awards ceremony for nominated and voted-upon art teachers. The most memorable part of the ceremony was the giving of the WAEA President's Award to Dr. Martin Rayala, Dr. Mel Pontius, and Virgi Driscoll. These three use to work as a team in the 80's and 90's in Wisconsin and are powerhouses in the art world. These three not only influenced Wisconsin art teachers, but set the bar nation-wide.They are responsible for creating the Wisconsin State Standards for Art, Visioneers, Visual Arts Classic, ARTS Propel, and much more. It was an honor to even be in the same room as them. Later that night, I met with the rest of the WAEA board to discuss our current agenda. The second day of the conference, I attended sessions on artists-in-residences, what the WAEA can do for me, the 365 Artists 365 Days Project, and a keynote speech by Dennis Inhulsen. Dennis is the previous president of the National Arts Education Association. He was really good with incorporating humor into his speech and I loved getting to listen to him. It was another successful year for the fall conference and I can't wait for the one in La Crosse next year with Cassie Stephens as the keynote speaker! Eeck! As many of you know, I lovvvvve to use Cassie's lessons and she is an idol of mine. In the middle is the president of the WAEA and my former cooperating teacher Jen Dahl. She teaches elementary school in Black River Falls and is a big reason I fell in love with the elementary level. Also pictured is another former student-teacher of Jen's, Tiffany Beltz, who is the current WAEA president-elect. It's always a blast getting to see these two! I am sorry to say that I will not be at parent-teacher conferences. I will be attending the Wisconsin Art Education Association's fall conference. If you need to talk to me, you can email me at: [email protected]
As I told the kids, "The conference will help me to become a better teacher." My heart melted when a second grader replied, "You don't need to get any better Mr. C! We think you're a great teacher just the way you are!" Seriously, can these kiddos get any cuter? I'll be sure to keep ya'll updated on what I learn at the conference! I was lucky enough to be included on the Harmony homecoming float this year. Milton played the Stoughton Vikings with the homecoming theme being: Sink the Vikings. We were lucky enough that a Harmony teacher had a boat that we could use for the float. Our float could LITERALLY float! I made four orange and white life preservers that I had each grade sign. We attached those to the side of the boat. We also had our principal, Mr. Lyon, carry a fishing pole with a viking that I made attached to it. Even though the Vikings were suppose to be our enemy that night, my little vikings was so darn cute! I was amazed by the amount of school support that was shown by the students, faculty, and community. I'm lucky to be apart of such a great atmosphere.
We started off reading my favoritttte art book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. The book tells a story of a girl who thinks she can't draw. From there she embarks on a journey of self-discovery of her own artistic abilities.
So we did something crazy in the art room. We painted on the first day of class.... In every grade... Un-heard of, I know! The kids were super excited to get to paint on their first day. For their project, I pre-cut large circles. Then I had every student in the school paint a dot. Grades 1-3 first drew designs onto their dot because good artists draw out their ideas. Then they painted with tempera paint. Each day, I limited their color palette to three colors. The first day of classes painted with yellow, green, and blue. The second day had red, orange, and yellow. And the final day of classes had blue, purple, and magenta. This helped to create the rainbow effect. The kindergarteners had a slightly different task. First they drew designs on their dot using crayons and then painted using tempera cakes instead of regular tempera paint. Tempera cakes are somewhat similar to watercolors. Students must use a wet brush to activate the dried circles of paint. Because wax and water-based paints are arch-nemesis, the crayon shows through the tempera cake paint. I began to assemble their dots into a large mural but felt that the mural still felt too individualistic. It needed something to unite all the dots. To do this, I painted a black edge around all the dots. I then assembled the dots into the mural. Lastly, I put the words "We Are Harmony" across the mural in white letters. This is the school song that Mr. Kamp has been teaching to the students the last couple weeks. I just finished hanging this piece and it can now be seen in the hallway just outside of the office at Harmony. I'm thrilled with how this turned out and can't wait to see what else my artists make this year. I got this project from "Art with Mr. E." He's like the Lebron James of art teachers. Seriously, check out his blog. You won't be disappointed. Over the last two weeks, I have been working tirelessly to get my two classrooms ready for the kiddos. I can FINALLY say that my rooms are done and just in the knick of time!
I am pleased to announce that I have received a grant from the Handweavers Guild. This grant was distributed by the Wisconsin Art Education Association. I am so thankful for their generosity. The grant will be used to fund a fibers project for my new kiddos!
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Devon CalvertHarmony and Consolidated Elementary Art Teacher in Milton, WI. UW-Eau Claire graduate. WAEA President. Apple Teacher. Archives
March 2019
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