Shaving Cream Paper Marbling

 

Paper Marbling using Shaving Cream and Liquid Watercolors (or food coloring)

After smoothing the shaving cream over a lunch tray we dribbled a few splashes of liquid water color on top (limiting the students to two colors!) The students then used the back end of paint brushes to make their line marbling patterns. A comb would also work for this step.

A piece of white drawing paper is laid over the shaving cream and gently massaged. When the paper is pulled off the pattern isn't visible yet.

Using Popsicle sticks we scrapped the shaving cream off the paper immediately after pulling the print and the design is magically revealed!

The completely scrapped paper!

The results were amazing!

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

Some days you just want to SCREAM!

Recently I saw this lesson on Artsonia. I used the Scream by Edvard Munch to demonstrate a taste of perspective to some of my students- and others just had fun making the face and exploring expression in their versions of the painting. When working with students with special needs, the most basic level of perspective that you can teach them is the idea that when things are closer to you that they are larger then when they are farther way. This is illustrated by the fence that runs diagonally through Munch's painting. I will be posting most of these artworks by the students as it is Artsonia's rule to not post student artwork that depicts a photograph of the students themselves in it... for security purposes.

                                              

Super Sunflowers!

Inspired by Vincent VanGogh's Sunflowers, the students of KDS create their own versions of sunflowers for the classroom bulletin board. This lesson is an altered version of Nasco's Lesson that I got the plan for from their booth at the convention this year. My students colored using oil pastels and glued beans in the centers to mimic sunflowers' seeds. This lesson is particularly good for students with special needs because it helps them work on their fine motor skills when handling the beans! They turned out wicked cute!

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!

Tammy Vice comes to visit KDS!

Friday afternoon April 23, 2010 to bring the students and I a copy of her CD and play some of her songs for us. The students loved the experience and the CD cover came out beautiful!!! Thank you so much Tammy for sharing your music with us!!!

NAEA Convention 2010 Presentation Success!

Today was a long, eventful, and very positive energy day here in Baltimore. So far it has been so wonderful to reconnect with my peers and connect with some for the first time. I have been here since Tuesday and it has been such a fulfilling experience already- and I still have 2 more days left...

But today was very special to me. It was the very first time that I gave a presentation here at the national level. I was nervous at first but it is somewhat comfortable being in the front of the room and sharing ideas and experiences with others because that is what teachers do on a regular day to day basis. Being in front felt natural. I received many compliments on my performance if you will and ability to conduct discussion as well that followed. Needless to say I seemed to spark the fire about IEP's in the art room. The most heated debate was over the issue of whether or not I'm doing the job of the OT through the writing of my goals. I had one audience member that continued to challenge me and I was told I handled myself well.

I feel very accomplished to be a second/ third year teacher that has already presented both at the state and national levels of our professional organization. Now I'm sure as many of my peers have said, I will be hooked and I am already thinking of potential topics that I can present on for next year in Seattle!

(Peter has a question for me!)

A very special friend of mine did a very fabulous job presenting for the first time as well yesterday. Mary Silvestri from the Learning Center in Framingham MA a school for the deaf presenting on being a deaf teacher and teaching students who are deaf with multiple disabilities. WOW! Mary you ROCK!!!

Mary @ her Presentation                        Us @ Inner Harbor

Also I wanted to mention to that tonight I officially was appointed the membership chair for the Special Needs in Art Education Group (SNAE). I knew it was only a matter of time- especially when Peter Geisser had e-mailed me a couple weeks ago asking for me to take on some job for the group involving technology. Boy am I in trouble...

Finally to conclude today I want to congratulate the SNAE group for their fantastic super session and latest Publication on Autism and Art! Sue Losel and Beverly Gerber are truly my heros and do such a fabulous job. A special thanks to Sue for coming to my presentation today- it made my day and meant a lot to see everyone there that showed up!

Beverly, Sue, Julie, and Judith

Some of the finest of SNAE!

Stay tuned! More to come from Baltimore!