I Love My Job

I love my job as an art teacher.
I don't like it every single day. The stained clothing, the clogged sinks, the thirty students all wielding saws and knives at the same time... but those days are usually few and far between.
It's weeks like this where I walk into my classroom and smile- how could I not when my students decided to brighten up the room by painting the tables with giant happy faces? Or designing art cakes to celebrate their successes?
Thank you all for a really great semester!

AVI3M/ AVI3O Grade 11 Sketchbooks

As I wrote at the beginning of the semester, this year's group of grade 11 art students are really driven to create excellent pieces of art. Sometimes it's difficult to get them to put down their materials to clean up.
Besides the hard work that they completed in class, they were also expected to work on a Visual Journal at home. The Visual Journal is a collection of works in different medium, thoughts, designs, plans, and reflections. There were no formal guidelines for subject matter, students could create whatever they chose. I always loved to see what would be handed in and I'm sure you will like getting a sneak peek too.

AVI1O/AVI2O (Grade 9-10) Art Summatives

Our school board requires students to complete a project either throughout the semester or at the end of the semester. This project is called a "Summative", and asks that students show a variety of skills learned throughout the year. To help ensure that students would give their best work to me, I gave each one a choice of three projects. In project one they could use plasticine in order to replicate part of a painting. In project two, they could create a 3D wire sculpture based on a piece of art. Finally, students could create a drawing with a variety of changing patterns. Students also showed how they would look for an area of focus in their art, and created written reflections on their choice of materials, subject matter, and the elements of art. These pictures show works in progress. Click on each image to make it larger. Congratulations to everybody, we're almost done the semester!

AVI1O/1VI2O Lino-block Printmaking

For this assignment, the grade 9-10 students carved pieces of linoleum and turned them into stamps to make prints. The students learned how to compose an image by creating a collage and then selecting what they felt was the most interesting section of their collage- this is a great way to come up with a scene when you're in a creative rut.

AVI1O/AVI2O Plaster Masks

For this sculpture assignment students in Grade 9 and 10 created plaster masks of their faces. After studying the elements of African masks, they were asked to build upon their masks by showing an area of emphasis, use a variety of materials, and show areas of pattern. Not all of the masks ended up in the African style, and I found it interesting how many also chose elements from Mayan and Venitian art.

AVI3M- Grade 11 Artist Chairs

This semester our grade 11 students were asked to research an artist and design a chair as if they were that artist. They were challenged to go beyond simply painting the seat and consider the entire chair as a canvas for design. Here you can see the results- check out the details by clicking on each picture.

http://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AV3J-0pSpTadZGR0aHp0cmNfMWhuenM5ZmN6&hl=en

AVI10 & AVI20 Stipple Art

Stipple (or pointillism) is a technique where drawings are shaded with hundreds or even thousands of little dots. This year, our students were asked to create a picture of a vehicle using this technique. It's amazing what kind of three-dimensionality we can achieve with just a bunch of dots! Click on the photos for a closer look.
I would like to note that not all of the assignments are here- unfortunetly it seems I need to replace my camera, as it didn't save many of the pictures that I took :(
Miss G.

AVI1O and AVI2O Drawing

It's a school favourite- the faces drawn by the grade 9/10 visual arts class. Sometimes I want to move onto a different subject for this assignment, but the results always captivate...

AVI30 & AVI3M Drawing (Grade 11)

This year's grade 11 students are talented, motivated, and creative. The results of their formal subject/informal background assignment are as unique as each of the students themselves. Stay tuned for many more to be posted.