Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

This is one of the most wonderful things I have ever done! This will be my third year to go! If you are an art teacher not only will you love it, but it will seriously affect your pedagogy! There are still a few spots left! Sign up now!

http://www.schoolartsroom.com/2014/03/join-us-for-folk-art-extravaganza-in.html?m=1

African Collaborative Safari

I really loved the Art Inspired by Africa Unit that I planned for my students.  I had gone to Africa on a short term mission trip and taught school at the Nakateete Childcare Center in Uganda. After we were finished at the school  we went to Kenya and went on a safari. The safari trip was one of those breathtaking memories you never forget!  While my students completed many projects, and I'll share them on this Blog in several posts, one of my favorite parts of the unit were the collaborative safari animals we did! Lions, giraffes, elephants, and rhinos, oh my! They were huge and filled the school lobby. Everyone loved them and it really gave you the feeling you were driving around the Masa Mara or the Serengeti in a Land Rover! They were made using giant sheets of kraft paper. All throughout the day differing ages of students painted, colored, and glittered. Tables were pushed back everywhere in the art room, making enough room on the floor to bring our safari animals to life.  Large mammals were everywhere! Each day we finished a few animals.  Finally the day came to have the giant safari of animals march through the school lobby, adhered to the walls with 3M double sticky tape.  Students just loved it! (So did I!) I also placed informational posters all around the artwork so that when students walked through the school they learned about the ecosystem of the Masa Mara! One of my favorite collaborative projects of all time! 

162 Views Today!

Thanks global friends! 162 of you viewed this Blog today! Happy to share this global experience with you! Be sure to see the flag map towards the bottom of the Blog to see viewer's home countries!

Ceramic Tile Mosaic in Switzerland by Alice Gori, Italy

With the Istanbul trip coming up soon, I have been thinking a good bit about mosaics and ceramics. Last summer I had a great opportunity to teach an art workshop at The American School in Switzerland at Lugano.  The summer prior to that I had taken a couple of grad school courses in Italy, oil painting and art history.  We had a special guest artist, Alice Gori (pronounced Aleeshay), during the oil painting course.  Alice is a gifted ceramist who is often called upon by the Italian government to repair beautiful centuries old Italian ceramics pieces in historical building and collections.  She made this mosaic of ceramic tiles which is on one of the walls at TASIS.

    

               

These photos are from the summer before (2012) of Alice working with us in our Boston University art studio at Borgo San Lorenzo. Her ceramic work is brilliant! I was particularly CRAZY about the gorgeous headboard she made, inserting her ceramics flowers into a natural crack in the wood. Stunning! While she makes many, many pieces that she sells in as tourist souvenirs, these photos represent the artistic talent she has and uses for custom orders, to sell in her studio and elsewhere, and really show the unique quality of her work. Just brilliant!

The photos, above and below, are of Alice's studio. Really enjoyed going to see this! And her family hosted us to some wonderful bruschetta and wine out on their patio. 

Cut Paper People of the World& A Literacy Connection

A few years ago a I attended a professional development workshop led by a brilliant art educator. The focus was what could be made on the inside of a folded cut paper, three-sided box. Animal habitats for a science integration is one great use of these paper boxes or "backdrops."  During the workshop, however, I was intrigued by the outside of the cut paper backdrop or stand.  I actually made a peacock with the cut paper stand serving as the base of support for the large cut paper bird.  That evolved into the paper stand or backdrop being used for other things. It is a great base for a study involving the traditional dress of the world's countries.  In one of the photos below you see cut paper women from Japan wearing traditional kimonos.  What a great literacy connection can be made with this art project and Suki's Kimono, written by Chieri Uegaki and Stephane Jorisch! You also see traditional cut paper men in traditional costume from Mexico that would be a great literacy integration with The Pot that Juan Built, written by Nancy Andrews-Goebel and illustrated by David Diaz, a delightful book about the making of clay pottery in Mexico. These would also be good for a unique study in self portraits, also with a literacy integration.