Trimester II Art Show

Trimester II has come and gone. The weather is getting warmer (thank goodness) and we are off to a great Trimester III. I didn't want too much time getting away without posting a few of our Trimester II Art Show photos. Enjoy!

8th Grade Surreal Drawings

Some students chose to draw cartoons for this project



7th Grade Self Portraits 

Sample of one-point perspective rooms

8th Grade Art Students Create Special Effects

You might wonder what special effects has to do with art? Our MMS 8th grade art students are experiencing a different type of artistic application: special effects makeup.

In prelude to our latex mask series I thought it would be helpful for the students to understand form, specifically how light and shadow affect the illusion of depth. With a purchase of scar wax, fake blood, and a bag of makeup artillery, the students were able to experience making realistic facial scars.

Here are a few photos of their spectacular work. Viewer discretion is advised.

 

Mrs. Lyman has Worms!

It's true, our red worms have arrived, and thanks to Capital Educators and their grant for $581.25 we were able to purchase 6,000 of them!

Our worm towers arrived just after Christmas break and the live worms followed a few days later. My students helped to prepare the towers with moistened peat moss and shredded paper. Once the worms arrived we divided three pouches into the six towers and gave them a light feeding of non-protein lunchroom scraps.

This all might sound easy, but just like any new endeavor there were a few learning curves along the way. I had a red worm dress rehearsal last summer when I purchased one tower and 1000 worms of my own. When the instructions said "don't over feed your worms" I should have listened as 75% of my worms escaped the overly-moist environment and fled to their dried-up death. So, good thing I learned a few things with my home trial.

Sophia, my high school aide babysat the worms the first few hours after they were placed in their towers. Those little rascals tried to escape and she had a challenge keeping the residence at bay.
After our three day weekend, I only found five shriveled carcases on the counter, so out of 6000 worms the life/death expectancy is going exceedingly well.  

As the worms get acquainted in their new home we anticipate a vermi-compost harvest in just a few short months, just in time for spring planting!

More updates to follow!

MMS 8th Grade Art Students make Tile Mosaic Murals

It may sound like a BIG project for 8th grade students but more in the sense of scale. Each of my two 8th grade classes made a 5'x3' mural to be displayed in the MMS Sculpture Garden this coming spring. Here is how we did it:

Phase I: The Design
I tried to make sure every student had a voice in this project and the design process gave each student that opportunity. They began working with two basic ideas: geometric and organic. I had the students create a positive/negative design using Notan, a Japanese design concept. The first day they worked on geometric, the next day they completed their organic designs.

When students were finished the class chose the top two designs in each category. I photocopied the designs and gave copies to each student to color. Again, another class discussion and design eliminations and finally, as a class, the favorite design was chosen for each mural. This process was very interesting to me as I saw strong maturity and democracy within the students; I was very impressed.

Phase II- Enlarging the Design

Home Depot was kind enough to donate cement board for our tile project; they even cut it for us which  was a HUGE time saver. Each 5'x3' board was cut into 1'x3' pieces. I divided each class into five teams. Each team was responsible for 1/5 of the tile mural.

We initially transferred the design onto a transparency, projected the image onto a large piece of paper, and transferred the image using a charcoal transferring method. It was a bit tricky dividing the design, enlarging it and transferring each section onto the cement board. We had some fine-tuning to do after each piece was transferred but all in all we made it work.

Once the designs were on the cement board the students began applying the tile. The Masonry Center donated some tile (thank you Masonry Center!) several of which were a variety of different color glass tiles both  cool and warm. We made a group decision that one class would use cool, and the other class use warm.

Phase III: Applying the Tile

The students cut their own tile pieces using a stationary tile cutter and various hand nippers. Each team was responsible for cutting their own tile pieces. The students took turns so everyone could learn the process. It was amusing how the students became excited when they came up with a "more efficient" method of cutting. Accolades were frequent as each student learned from the other.

Students are using the stationary tile cutter to cut various sizes of tiles.

 Student are applying cool color tile pieces to the cement board using Mastic.

The black areas you see have been darkened with charcoal to help students see their design;

this was wiped off before applying the black tile.

 

This tile board has warm-color tile pieces.

The large orange dot is one of the areas that a screw will be inserted for later installation.

The students have been briefed to leave these areas free of any tile. We planned on six for each board.

Here, the students have completed applying the cool-color pieces 

and have made good progress applying the black tile in the larger areas.

After the black areas are filled in, the students will begin to apply the white areas.

Phase IV: Grouting the Mosaic

It was a huge goal for the students to complete their mosaic project before they left for Christmas break, and they were able to do it just in the knick of time. For your entertainment I  put together a little video which shows footage of the students throughout this project.

MMS Art Program Wins Cap Ed Grant

Today while teaching my 8th period class, I was surprised by: my principal, Molly Burger, our vice-principal Stoney Winston and two representatives from  Capital Educators who came to present me with a HUGE check (you know the kind you see on TV) for $581.00!

Earlier this month I applied for a Cap Ed Grant to purchase red worms and worm factory towers. With this money I plan to raise red worms by feeding them lunchroom scraps (vegetables and fruit) and paper trash we accumulate from our school. Students and I will  feed and care for the worms and the worms will produce vermicompost which is a fabulous garden fertilizer. Since red worms double in population every three months, we plan to sell worms for profit as well. The money we make from the vermicompost will help to purchase much needed art supplies. This project is self sustainable and should help supplement our art supply budget each year.

I want to publicly thank Capital Educators for providing the Cap Ed Grant program and for choosing our school as the recipients for this month! I couldn't be more excited.

So, with this said, be thinking of us here at the MMS Art Alley come spring time, I know of a great place you can purchase some amazing vermicompost for your garden!

Trimester I Art Highlights

Where did the trimester go? It is hard to believe we are already into the second trimester of the 2012-2013 school year. You know the saying, "time flys when you are having fun," well, art at MMS is FUN!

Here are a few of the project highlights from the Trimester 1 Art Show; enjoy!

7th Grade Self-Portrait Drawings

8th Grade Lichtenstein-Inspired Self-Portraits

T

6th Grade Paper Masks