Julian Beever Chalk Drawings

Students will view this artist's work today and determine the necessary art skills needed to create such work.
Additional websites related to Julian Beever:
http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Beever

Akiane Kramarik - Spiritual Young Artist

Students will view and respond to this amazing young artist today.
Additional information regarding Akiane Kramarik is available at:
http://www.artakiane.com/home.htm

pottery fish

I am introducing my 7th grade art students to a ceramic slab fish unit. This video showcases the opportunity to make a living creating fish art!

Body Worlds 2

I had an opportunity to chaperone a trip to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry to view Body Worlds 2 with a high school biology group. What a wonderful experience to truly understand the structure and detail of the human body. If you have not had a chance to see this exhibit, you are missing out! The exhibit will be in Chicago until April 29th and is open 24 hours beginning next Friday.

Packaging Tape Sculptures

Inspired by the marvelous works of Mark Jenkins and suggested as a lesson plan on The Incredible Art Department site, high school students wrapped each other in plastic wrap and packaging tape to create life-size sculptures. The project took approximately 2 weeks to complete and surprisingly, the noise of the "wrapping" was deafening! Originally, each student was to create a sculpture, but next time I would have a group of two to three students be responsible for one quality figure. The key to a solid figure was to really layer the tape. The project was relatively inexpensive and made quite an impact at the annual art show. Examples of additional sculptures.

The Window Project

Over 50 old windows were donated to our high school art department by a local festival committee. Students were asked to paint local scenes or imagery connected with our area with the understanding that the artwork would be auctioned off this summer as a fundraiser. A local historian shared old photographs, postcards and stories with the class as inspiration. My student teacher, who is a landscape artist, introduced and emphasized color theory, composition and brush techniques. I believe the results were amazing and the process of "giving back" to the community through art is a powerful message for students!

Le Dilettante 2007

We publish a k-12 art and literature magazine which accompanies the opening of our art show. Using Picture This Yearbooks, we create a glossy, 56 page publication with eight pages in color, and sell the product for $15.00. Approximately 6 high school students oversee the entire production including advertising, layout and design. The pages are all created in Adobe Photoshop and sent on a CD to the company. The company is pleasure to work with and has helped us to produce a quality product which has been recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English. As a small rural school, this project has allowed us to promote art and writing throughout the community. If you are interested in starting a similar project, feel free to contact me at lruggles@cms.maisd.com.

The Art Show

Just wrapped up our district's art 9th annual k-12 art show, which is a part of an evening that showcases student academic and fine art accomplishments. We professionally mat and display over 1000 two-dimensional and three-dimensional student works and over 3,000 people attend. Keep in mind, we are a very small rural community. If your district does not offer a similar opportunity to promote your program, you need to consider creating one!