Category:

Artists in Education Grant Award

7/19/2016

At the end of May I received the much anticipated news from the Ontario Arts Council that I received the Artists in Education Grant! I've been working on applying for this for close to two years... by building rapport with the local Public School, and gaining experience. Last Fall was intense as I worked on the actual application form. Anyone who is familiar with this application would understand the intensity of this process! It was a great challenge, and it forced me to grow as an artist in so many ways. As a result of this grant I have been approved, and will be funded, to spend approximately 8 hours of class teaching time with each of the 11 classes in the Port Rowan Public School.

The title of my project is "The Field, the Woods, the Wetlands, and the Town". My goal is for the students to take notice of their unique environment, and to reflect that appreciation and observation in the visual arts. I have four mixed media art projects planned. I'm excited for this opportunity! And I'm so grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for this opportunity.

Completed Artwork by Students in My Studio

2/22/2016

Last week four of my students completed their art projects:

This one was done by a new student (acrylic). She took the photo while on a trip:

This acrylic painting was done also by a new student. This is the very first painting she has ever done! (She found the photo online - @ visitamazingplaces.ca - the photo was provided by Long Point Provincial Park)

This acrylic painting was done by one of my grade 9 students. She took the photo herself while on a trip up North.

Lastly, this paper mache sculpture was made by another Grade 9 student:

Paper Mache with Zach

1/12/2016

My Grade 10 student, Zach, working on this paper mache sculpture throughout November and part of December. It is his representation of the character 'Flash'. He did a great job!

Art Camp Week One

7/8/2015

Today was week one of the art camp I am holding at my studio for children. I have 11 children involved, between the ages of 7-9. Today we talked about colour - and painted a group colour wheel to go along with that. We began a mixed media project, one that we will be further working on over the next couple weeks (today they glued ripped up pages from an old book onto a masonite board). We also did a little drawing study. And I also taught them about 'non-representational art', or 'non-objective art'. I played four very different sounding songs, and had the children paint whatever colour in whatever non-objective form they felt led to paint based on the way the music made them feel. Lastly, the afternoon class had a few spare minutes, so they created a shadow image of a city-line. One of the boys had fun making a ufo shadow overtop :)

Grade 3/4 Point of View

4/30/2015

Yesterday I joined the Grade 3/4 class so they could finish their artwork from the week before. Their drawings were based on a bug's perspective. They had to employ their imagination!

Grade One Self-Portraits

4/29/2015

The question that prompted this self-portrait project for the Grade One Class was: "When I grow up, I want to be a ...":

Spring Bunnies with the Grade One Class

4/2/2015

Yesterday I joined the Grade One class again for a simple art lesson utilizing drawing skills, and watercolour painting skills. I drew a simple bunny based on the idea from http://www.thebeeskneescousin.com/blog/watercolor-value-study-for-spring. I had the children draw a bunny based on this idea; then I had them draw with white crayon wherever they wanted white to show on their picture.

Next the kids all used watercolour paint to paint their bunny. I gave them the choice of what colours to use. They had fun experimenting with mixing colours.

I love how different each painting turned out! I love them all so much, I wanted to share images of all of them with you:

Collaborative Art with The Gr. 3 and Kindergartens PART 1

3/6/2015

I spent the morning at the public school in town and had two fun art classes with the Grade 3 class and the Kindergarten Class. I taught them about what 'Collaborative' Artwork means. I explained how when more than one artist work together to create art, that is collaborative art. I gave the example of a photographer taking a photo; then another artist using that photo to create a painting.
I also talked to the kids about 'community', what that looks like what buildings might be a part of a community. With these two concepts in mind, I invited the kids to be a part of a collaborative artwork between the two different classes. Their project was to design their own houses/buildings, including trees etc., in order to piece them all together in a collaborative way, creating their own community.

I asked two girls in the grade three class to paint the background for their community onto a canvas. Before long their was a small crowd of 8 kids or so trying to get in there to help out! I love the effect that the water colour paint had on the canvas; I encouraged them to let it drip and get messy.

The Kindergarten class also had fun designing their own houses - many of which ended up with a fun, whimsical look.

Stay tuned for part two of this project, where I will show you the final product! Its going to be both fun and challenging to piece all of the images together to make one large artwork.

Dr. Seuss Inspiration with the Grade One Class

2/25/2015

March 2 is the birthday of Dr. Seuss; and so with that in mind, since the class will be celebrating his birthday for the month of March, I chose a Dr. Seuss themed art lesson for the Grade One's today. I also wanted to mix in some colour theory. With a review of the colour wheel, I introduced them to the idea of opposite colours. Then I had them draw out their own fish.

Once they had finished their fish and cut them out, they drew a line design of their choice on the paper. And then I had them choose two opposite colours of their choice; blue/orange, red/green, or yellow/purple. They painted their background with these two colours:

The last step was to glue on their fish drawing. They look great!

Grade Four Art Class

2/5/2015

Just this morning I joined the Grade Four class to share an art lesson with them. I introduced the colour wheel to them; Primary, Secondary, and Opposite colours. Then they got to work creating a winter scene. After they drew the horizon line, I had them put down masking tape wherever they wanted their 'birch' trees to be. Then, they were to pick a colour and using that colour and its opposite colour on the colour wheel, paint in the sky:

The kids were excited when I asked them if they were ready for the 'grand reveal'; to take off the masking tape. Unfortunately the tape was extra sticky and took some of the paper with it. It actually created a nice effect; looked like bark was literally peeling off the trees! :)