NAEA Seattle and the Chihuly Boathouse Studio!

Some teachers go to Florida on spring break, seeking out warm weather, beaches, and relaxation. Next year the NAEA convention won't overlap with my spring break so perhaps I will have the chance to do the same... For this year though, I packed my bags, plus an extra empty one for supplies, and headed to Seattle Washington!
I have been here since Tuesday, saw the market, and several of the sites. Even had lunch at the space needle on Wednesday! Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity to visit Dale Chihuly's boathouse studio here in Seattle, and it was even more awesome than I imagined!
I watched gaffers' blow glass, got to gawk at Chihuly's many extensive collections of all kinds of things, and awe over his amazing glass creations. Below are just a few photos of what I was able to experience!

Indoor pool, with clear glass bottom- housing his sculptures in the bottom!

A Sneak Peak from CHEEKwood!

This past Saturday I went to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens for the first time since Chihuly's exhibition has opened up and OH MY GOODNESS!!! The show is absolutely breath taking! This week for the first week of "Summer School" the students field trips are to the zoo- and the week is "Nature Week." For nature week I'm going to teach the students about Chihuly's artworks at Cheekwood and a little bit about man made versus nature made objects and how they interact with one another. I'm so excited! Then the last week in July I'm taking a group of students to Cheekwood one day and to the Frist the next couple of days following. The students are going to be so psyched as well!

Check out this lesson from Dick Blick on Dale Chihuly I haven't tried it yet but am looking forward to doing it later on in the summer with my Kiddos!

http://www.dickblick.com/lesson-plans/classroom-chihuly/

Ms. Malone's Art Room has already tried it! Check out her results here

Nashville News- The good the bad and the hopeful!

Fellow Art teachers and bloggers!

As many of you may already know, last week Nashville and many other Tennessee counties found themselves underwater from the storms that passed through us. Some folks had minor damages and others lost everything. I myself wasn't affected directly but know many friends that were. This week I did what I could by cleaning out my closet and took about 4 garbage bags full of clothes to a community/ donation center.

Many of you may know of the Houses for Haiti project and how it has raised lots of money for those affected by the earthquake down in Haiti. Now those same teachers in Florida who started that project have renamed the project Volunteer Village Houses, as TN is the volunteer state- http://www.volunteervillages.org/ 

If you have the resources and the opportunity to do this project with your students please help Nashville! Send your contributions to the Red Cross's Nashville Chapter.

On a completely different topic- Dale Chihuly will still be showcasing his works in Nashville beginning today at the Frist Center, later on in the month at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, and on the 21st the show that was going to be set up at the Symphony is now going to go on over at TPAC- including his lecture! I hope those of you locally will try and make it out to see these amazing works of art! Check out 

http://chihulyinnashville.com/

Chihuly Sea Blue and Green Tower now @ the Frist!