MUNNY DAY!

Mrs. Mullaney's fifth grade class spent the last few art classes of the semester designing their own 'toy figures', purchasing the class pack of Munny Kid Robot figures.  How did they purchase them?  Well...over the course of the year, all classes earn "Weller Bux!" with the opportunity to spend them from time to time on a variety of things.  Mrs. Mullaney's class has been closely monitoring how many "Weller Bux!" they had in their account, and strategically bought they Kid Robot project with $175 Weller Bux!  The kids loved it, and I think there are now a large number of other fifth grade classes a little upset that they didn't earn their "Bux" as quickly as Mrs. Mullaney's class did.

GIACOMETTI FOIL FIGURES

"Rapper" by Mason Larimore

Inspired by the distorted, slender figure sculptures of Alberto Giacometti, the fifth graders on the green and yellow team are finishing up their semester of art making these fantastic foil figures.  We are finishing up the figures this week, and I'm very impressed with the kids' creativity, especially when using the colored wire.  Truly some great projects are being created and I can't wait to pack the showcases with them.

Giacometti Foil Figures created by Mrs. Coppler's class

Yes..."Art to Remember" orders are here!!!  I am trying my best to get all students their orders by the end of this week.  There have been a few minor issues with a few orders, and I will contact you directly if it pertains to you.  I'm sorry...there's just not enough time in my day to get all orders out in one day.  Again...your child should be bringing their orders in by week's end.  Thanks so much for your patience!  I do greatly appreciate it!

6th Grade Comics

"Cheese-Burger" by Chloe Springston

The 6th grade classes are putting the finishing touches on their comic strip projects.  Earlier this nine weeks we dissected comic strips to discover the best way to create them.  All students created their own characters, wrote their own stories, and then created story boards to best help them draw and ink their final drafts.  As an added bonus, the Marysville Journal Tribune has offered to print some in the paper sometime in early 2014!  WHOOHOO!!!  How exciting!!!

WOW!

I showed you a small sampling of these last week...but don't they look amazing on the display board in the commons?  So proud and impressed with the kids' work!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!  

FINALLY!!!

The fifth grade classes have FINALLY begun painting their ceramic projects this past week!!!  It's been a long process, and the kids have been so patient about waiting.  Once they're finished, I'll stick a bunch of them in the front showcase to show them off!!!

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!!!

"SHOW ME THE MUNNY!"

Hmmm...what two classes are going to earn enough Weller Bux to purchase the "Kid Robot Action Figure" art project?!?  It's going to be a right race...

MONOCHROMATIC PAINTINGS

Artworks created by Clark Hamilton (Batman), Evan Brown (Hulk), Gavin Cosette (Luke), Piper Cooper (Iron Man)

Check out a small sampling of the fifth grade monochromatic paintings!!!  I modified a project that I have done in the past, and turned them into a great still life project focusing on color theory.  All students painting a black and white photograph of a still life object using three tints of one color (color with the addition of white), the pure color itself, and two shades of a color (color with the addition of black).  These great projects will be making their way to the showcase and one of the display boards sometime next week, so next time you're in the building, be sure to check them out!

INTRODUCING "BUSTIN JIEBER"

...you never know what's going to happen in the Creekview Art Room!!!  

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER!!!

You can now follow my Creekview Art Room on Twitter!!!  This is not a personal account, and should not be used as such.  I'll occasionally 'tweet' information and news from the art room as well as cool and interesting things about art that I happen to come across.  Feel free to check it out!

Follow me @WellerArt

"YAY!"

One of my favorite things is when students draw pictures for me for no apparent reason.  I just love student art, especially when it is art that they create and that they decide to make.  That's really one of the big goals I have for my students as they take my art classes here at Creekview; for them to become independent art makers; for them to recognize the type of art that they like to create, and create it.  Not only do I display this work given to me proudly...but I actually even keep it after the kids are gone.  I am in my 13th year of teaching, and have gladly 'collected' student art given to me for at least the past 10.  It makes for great memories!!!

Everyone have a GREAT weekend!!!

MAGIC AND MUSIC

The cast of Magic and Music

I captured this picture today at rehearsal for our Creekview musical, "Magic and Music", and it was just too cute to not share!!!  One month away and still LOTS to do, but the kids are doing great and having a wonderful time!  Mrs. DelaHostria and I love working with them!

DRYING TIME...

5th Grade Ceramic Pinch Pot/Coil Abstracts
Over the past few weeks, the fifth grade green and yellow team students created an abstract sculpture combining two ceramic techniques; pinch pots and coiling.  In my mind I had pictured sometime a little more 'organic', but given the time frame that the kids had to work with, I think they did a marvelous job!!!  These projects are currently in the drying process, and it will probably take a full two weeks for all the water to completely evaporate from them.  Once completely dried, I'll fire them in the kiln at a toasty 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit; students will then paint them in late November/early December prior to their semester of art coming to a close.

What's in a Word?

Check out these awesome "Word Art" paintings recently completed by my sixth grade students!!!

"ART TO REMEMBER"

By now you SHOULD have received your Art to Remember envelopes with your student's artwork inside.  Please look them over and return them to me as soon as possible.

If you are ordering, the envelope is the order form.  Fill it out and return your artwork AND payment to me by Friday, October 25th!  (I'd like to have sixth grade orders by the 18th if possible...but if you need more time, sixth grade parents, just make sure I get them by the 25th!!!).  Please remember, if you are paying with check, to make your checks out to "Creekview Intermediate".  I cannot accept any check written to anything other than this.

If you are NOT ordering, that is okay.  However, I would still like envelopes and artworks returned to me.  I would like to have the artworks back so that sixth graders have them for their end of the year portfolio review, and fifth graders have another artwork to select of the end of the year art show.

That's that!  I appreciate everyone take the time to look over the Art to Remember program!  And thanks in advance to anyone who orders.  Your help to make the visual art program here at Creekview more exciting is certainly appreciated!!!

  

"IDENTITY SHIELDS"

"Identity Shields" created by Ellie C., David M., Jennifer M., and Evan B.

To start the school year, my first semester fifth graders created an "Identity Shield".  Each shield represents the student's individuality and personality in some artistic form.  The projects took a little longer than I had expected, but they are finally done (with a few exceptions...).  You should see these projects coming home this week and next as this project is also the fifth graders' "Art to Remember" project!!!  And...whether you order anything from "A2R' or not...I'd still like to get these projects back so that i can display them around the school AND have them for the end of the year art show.

Oh...and if your student brings their project home, and it isn't finished...don't fret!  I will find some time for them to finish it before sending it off to Art to Remember!!!

As always...if you ever have any questions, feel free to kick me an e-mail!  Thanks!!!  Happy Thursday!

Let's Talk Art Grades...

As the first projects of the year are being completed, I find that now is a great time to explain the grading scale for the Art room.  So...let's begin with a general breakdown of the art grades, and what each mean.

"O" (Outstanding) - 97-100% - Student works at a superior level based on the expectation; Student goes above and beyond what is expected and demonstrates independent thinking during the creation process of art making; Student shows mastery of materials, skills, and techniques taught and introduced for projects.

"O-" - 94-96% - Student is beginning to work at a superior level and/or beginning to demonstrate independent thinking;  Student shows near-mastery of materials, skills, and/or techniques taught for projects.

"S+" - 90-93% - Student demonstrates an above average understanding and implementation of materials, skills, and techniques taught and introduced during projects; Student shows signs of beginning independent thinking process.

"S" (Satisfactory) - 73-89% - Student demonstrates expected understanding and implementation of materials, skills, and techniques taught and introduced during projects; This is the expected benchmark for students with each project.

"S-" - 70-72% - Student demonstrates below-expected understanding and/or implementation of materials, skills, and/or techniques taught and introduced during projects; Classroom behavior and/or missing work may also play a part in a student earning an S-.

"W" (Weak) - 63-69% - Student demonstrates little understanding and/or implementation of materials, skills, and/or techniques taught and introduced during projects; Classroom behavior and/or missing homework may also play a part in a student earning a W.

"U" (Unsatisfactory) - 0-62% - Student demonstrates little to no understanding and implementation of materials, skills and techniques taught and introduced during projects; Classroom behavior and/or missing homework may also play a part in a student earning a U.

I think the biggest misconception is that, based on this scale, an "S" is equivalent to a "C" on the core subject grading scale, and this is simply not true.  You cannot assign 'core grades' to this type of scale, because art is very objective and open to interpretation.  The benchmark for ALL of my students is to earn a Satisfactory mark for each of the projects taught.  Some students will certainly earn above that, while a few others will dip below it from time to time, but again...that "S" is their learning target.  I mention this because if your student is receives a 74% on a project, for example, that's okay!!!  That is a satisfactory, and is the benchmark to what I'm teaching.

So...I know that the art scale can seem a little 'tricky', but please try to focus on the actual letter grade rather than the percentages.  And...as always...if you see something that seems out of place, please just let me know, and I'll try to contact you as soon as I can.  Grades for this first project will be added into Power School shortly...so I just want you all to be aware of how the grades work.

Happy Thursday!

PRIDE FRIDAY!

COMMUNICATION IS KEY!!!

Students communicate and work together, trying to recreate an artwork through descriptive communication!

In today's Pride Friday Art Challenge, all of my classes were broken down into small teams of three with the task of recreating an artwork utilizing communication.  The drawing (we did one spaceship and one creature) was located on the white board in the Art Lab, where "The Viewers" looked at and examined the artwork.  The Viewers then communicated information about the artwork to "The Messengers".  The Messengers then took this information to "The Artists" who were to redraw the artwork based on this communication.  You'd be amazed at how close some of the teams came to matching the original artwork...and get a chuckle as to how far others were.  It was a great art activity focused on teamwork and collaboration; and that's what Pride Friday is all about!!!

Everyone have a great week!!!  I know I promised a sneak peak at the fifth grade projects nearing completion...but I'll have to hold that off until next week.  The fifth grade classes need a little extra time to get their projects finished.

"I'm a Keith Haring!"

"Dancing Figures" by Keith Haring

For our first art project of the year, the sixth graders created self-portraits in the style of Pop Artist Keith Haring!  Haring was a remarkable artist, best known for his animated graffiti-like cartoon images.  He has painted murals in a number of locations worldwide, and remains one of art history's most beloved art figures!

You might wonder how we can take something so simple and turn them into 'self-portraits'.  While Haring was our primary inspiration for this project, the students were asked to make some slight modifications to represent themselves in their work.  These modifications include uniforms, hairstyles, and having the figure actually in action, doing something that the kids would actually do.  It's a great project and we're nearing completion.  Most of the kids are finishing this week, but some students just need another half of an art class to finish up.

"I'm a Keith Haring artworks created by Lauren B., Skyler L., Sparsh K., and Karleigh S.

These projects are also the sixth graders' "Art to Remember" projects, so in just a few weeks you'll get the chance to order your child's artwork on a wide selection of 'stuff'.  :)  Be on the lookout for Art to Remember envelopes coming home soon... beginning with our next "A" day in the Unified Arts rotation, which will be next Wednesday.

Once ALL fifth and sixth grade envelopes are sent home, I'll post something on the blog about how to order, when orders are due, etc...so be on the lookout for those!

Everyone have a great Thursday!!!  I'll be back again tomorrow with a sneak peek at the fifth graders Art to Remember projects; "Identity Shields"!!!

Unfortunately...it begins again...

Last year, I unfortunately had a VERY bad problem in my room...stealing.  If you've ever stepped foot in my classroom, you know that my room is just filled with 'stuff', all of which fits the thematic focus of my art room, which is the inclusion of visual culture into the art world.  Toys, books, lunch boxes, posters, Legos, art works...all of these things adorn my classroom, and I'd like to think that it's one of the most colorful classrooms maybe anywhere.  It's probably the ONLY classroom with a golden toilet.  But...unfortunately, there are those that take advantage of the 'coolness' of my classroom and take things from it.  As I said, it was a huge problem last year, and despite talking to all of my classes at the beginning of the year, it's unfortunately begun again.

The Blue Beetle, one of my personal all time favorite super heroes, has gone missing.  He sits, or rather he sat, right on my desk with his partner in crime, Booster Gold.  They were gifts to me from my daughters, and being kind of small, they were great 'desk decoration' for my art room, and have been so for a number of years.  But alas...no more.

Now, I'm not looking to hire out anyone as detectives to search any book bags or lockers, nor am I looking for sympathy.  However, given that there were a large number of items stolen from my room last year, I just wanted to bring it to your attention.  It's extremely disheartening that it's happening again this year.  I'm going to be talking to all of my classes AGAIN about how we should be respectful of items in the art room, and hope that it stops any further stealing.  I'd hate to take my art room apart and have a boring old white walled classroom...but I've decided to do that to prove my point if needed.  Personally, while I don't think I'll ever see the 'ol Blue Beetle again, I just want the stealing to stop and for the kids to understand that it's just not right.  So, hopefully this is the first and last time you have to hear about the art room stealing saga.  I certainly hope it's the last time I have to discuss it...it's becoming highly frustrating to discuss.  I hope everyone is having a great week!

MAGIC AND MUSIC AUDITIONS THIS WEEK!!!

In addition to teaching art here at Creekview, I also co-direct the CIS musical with Mrs. DelaHostria, one of our sixth grade math teachers.  Together we have done a number of fantastic musicals such as The Jungle Book, Aladdin and Winnie the Pooh...just to name a few.  Three years ago, we put together a show called "Magic and Music" which was more of a 'show choir' type production, with sixty cast members singing and dancing to a number of Disney classics.  And...we decided to revisit this concept for this year's show with a new selection of Disney songs; so in essence this is really "Magic and Music 2"!!!

We've taken a new approach to this year's show, selecting songs from Disney on Broadway, some recent Disney/Pixar songs, and a rather lengthy mash-up Medley of some Disney classics.  So, this year's show is heavy on the singing and dancing.  Last year's show, Winnie the Pooh, was very heavy on the acting (with a lot of singing still, of course), so we felt it would be nice to change it up this year, hence "M&M2"!  

So...with that...auditions for this year's show are THIS WEEK!!!  Fifth graders can audition after school on Wednesday, September 11th, and sixth graders can audition after school on Thursday, September 12th.  However...ALL students who audition MUST have a parent-signed audition form that can be picked up from the front office OR from my art room.  Any student without this form...will not be able to audition.  

If you have any questions regarding this year's show you can contact either myself or Mrs. DelaHostria at your convenience.  We are really looking forward to auditions and to getting the show up and running.  It's going to be a great experience for the kids!!!  

You can contact me at: drweller@marysville.k12.oh.us

You can contact Mrs. DelaHostria at: jldelaho@marysville.k12.oh.us

SO...THIS HAPPENED TODAY...

Working collaboratively, ALL of my Pride Friday classes created this wonderful color wheel out of pictures found in magazines.  What a fantastic group project...and something I've always wanted to do.  It'll dry over the weekend, and then we'll display it with pride on the display board in the commons!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

ART STUDENT OF THE DAY

Next week I will begin handing out my "Art Student of the Day" awards!!!  At the conclusion of each art class, I'll select one student who I felt not only did a remarkable job working on their project for the day, but also showed initiative in being either Respectful, Responsible, or Ready to learn...one of Creekview's "Three R's".  Towards the end of the year, I'll have some extra initiatives for students who have earned a small collection of awards...but that's WAY down the line.  I'm still concentrating on August and September...no need to start thinking about May yet.  :)

Hope you've enjoyed the daily updates this week on the 'ol Art Blog!!!  I'll be updating at least once a week starting next week, with an occasional extra post here and there.  Everyone have a great Labor Day Weekend!!!  See ya next week!

WHAT IS ART?

ART IS VISUAL CULTURE

WHAT IS VISUAL CULTURE?

On the first day of my art classes, each class explored the question "What is Art?", and more importantly "What is Visual Culture?"  The art world is MUCH different than it was even just ten years ago, and as our world continues to be more integrated into digital technologies, how we perceive art and the idea of 'what is art' is rapidly changing.

Examples of Visual Culture: Museum Art

For years to be an 'artist', one must have studied fine art at some prestigious art school, working towards showcasing their work within the walls of art galleries.  This "traditional" style of art has been the foundation of the art world for years, and many other 'art forms' were quickly reduced to categories of 'not-art'.  However, the world around us is a visual place.  And what better way to learn about ALL things visual than the 'visual arts classroom'.  Because of this ever-expanding idea that art is everything visual, the term Visual Culture was coined.

Examples of Visual Culture: Visual Imagery

Art is no longer pictures seen in a museum.  Kids see art on a daily basis in the form of t-shirts, video games, cartoons, comics, advertisements, smart phone apps, tattoos, logos, package design, architecture, landscaping...and the list goes on and on.  So, in an effort to help kids come to grasp with this idea that art IS in fact all around them, over the course of the year we will be exploring the idea of Visual Culture and how it revolves around our lives.

Examples of Visual Imagery: Constructed Space