Winter Quarter Continued....

This quarter, which focused on printmaking and collage, has been going wonderfully! This past week, elementary aged artists also worked with clay and created "grab bag" collages. Grab bag collages challenged students to work with a few specific materials (in the bag) and add their own elements. One class made story tiles out of clay (pictured above). The middle school students have continued collage and have also added still life drawings to create in interesting mixture of drawing and collage. I have a few more block prints to add as well. Jeannette continues to teach her drawing class, while Ron continues his Graphic Novel class. I will try to get a few pictures from those classes as well. This coming week is our final week of Winter! I will be posting finished projects and preparing to launch into the spring quarter!

Collage Adventure..

This past week, students in studio art classes have created monochromatic collages. This has been a fun exercise in composition and layering. The alphabet collage was next: students picked a letter and had to find images and colors that related. This was a challenging project with wonderful results.

I have included a few block prints by my middle school students.

The adult clay class has been making some incredible ceramic pieces. The vase above is high fired coil built.

Last Week of Printmaking...

Preschool painting

Preschoolers love to create houses!

Collograph print

Robot Collograph

Collograph print

Monotype with stenciles

Monotype print with stencils

Monotype with stencils

Puppet created during Arts Wave Sampler weekend

And then on to collage... I have been so impressed with the prints from this quarter. As you can see, students were really exploring the art form and creating some amazing works of art!

We also had the Arts Wave sampler weekend so the art room was full of families making puppets and valentines. It was so much fun, I love to see what is created.

Winter Printing

Relief print in styrofoam

Collagraph Print

Stencils for Monotype prints

Stencil for monotype print

Stencil Monotype print

Collagraph print

Monotype print with stencil

Preschoolers with crazy hats

This class took a break from printmaking to work on a complex origami project, as taught by one of the students

Students are continuing to finish and print their collagraphs, some of the prints are posted above. I have really been impressed by the beautiful textures created through this process. This week we will be concentrating on printing monotypes with hand cut stencils. Elementary age students will also use pre-cut paper for a variety of prints. This process is so much fun!

The preschool class has been learning about patterns and last week made crazy hats. Finished ceramic projects from my adult Handbuilding class coming soon. My students are working on a traditional table setting which can end up being sculptural or function with a variety of surface treatments. Very exciting to watch the project taking shape!

Printing away!

Collograph with rice

Preschool art

We have had an excellent beginning to our winter art quarter! With a focus on printmaking and collage, our first projects are on their way. Students have been learning about collographs and monotype as well as printing with found objects to create texture. The middle school Homeschool class has just completed paper houses that will be in an upcoming show at Prairie Gallery. The show opens on the 11th of February. This was a project my students did with local artist Tony Becker. More details to come.

Fall Art Classes

Preschool painting

Contour leaf drawings

Contour leaf drawings

First day self-portraits

I have been behind on my blogging, to say the least! This fall quarter has been so busy, I have neglected this blog. With a focus on drawing, students are learning to see the world around them in a new way! We have also been working in clay: students had to create a story about the clay objects they created. In the Middle School classes students are in the midst of a stop animation project using drawing or clay. Preschoolers have been busy exploring art materials. More pictures to be posted soon!

Piano Instillation and Camps

In the beginning.. was a crusty ol' piano...















Until one day, it was painted a beautiful, sunshine yellow!

(pictured, Miranda Borack drawing the design in chalk)

















Piano Camp students begin to transform the piano
















Miranda placing the finishing touches

















People stop to play ...



















Piano Camps students created collages while listening to music!













More amazing 3d collages


The Center for the Arts is excited to have one of the pianos from the city-wide exhibition: Play Me I'm Yours. The piano is located in front of the Center. This past week, local high school artist, Miranda Borack created a design for the piano and worked with another local artist, Kelly Langdon and the Piano Camp students to fulfill Miranda's design! Here are a few pictures of the process. When the final sign is in place, I will have a finished image. Stop by the Center and try out the piano, whether you are a musician or not! Also check out the website for the instillation:
http://www.streetpianos.com