Drawing Rendering: 7th Graders Learn to See

It is always exciting for me to teach a student to draw. Many come into my class with the preconceived idea that they are doomed to a life of poor drawing skills. But I know, through 30 years of teaching art that anyone who follows my direction can indeed learn to draw. Betty Edwards knows the secret, and thousands of others. But you see, being able to draw isn't an exclusive birth right. Anyone can learn. Anyone can learn to draw.

I begin talking to my students about how our brains function, and the duties of the left and right hemispheres. The left brain is vitally important in our day-to-day function however when it comes to rendering (drawing what you see), it really  is more of a hindrance than an asset.

The left hemisphere is our logical, sequential side of our brain. It functions linearly, it memorizes, it sorts, it has order. Our right brain is our creative side. It lives in the moment. It is spontaneous, free, expressive. I call it the "fun" side of our brain but that's just me. I like to have fun.

All of us (unless somehow impaired) have the function of both the left and the right brain, but for most individuals, one side seems to be more dominant than the other. There are uber gifted individuals who are strong  in both hemispheres. Spontaneous order, how awesome would that be?

As a child we were taught how to draw certain things: a tree, a sun, a house, an eye. These images get stored in our left brain, much like a computer hard drive. One of our left brain's function is storing information. These images act like clip art.

The left brain can be very dominant. It is nurtured more than our right  through the natural activities of our day. At this point in my "You Can Learn to Draw" lesson  I draw an illustration of a stick man with bulging muscles (left brain) and a meek, more weaker stick man (right brain). Notice how they are both smiling, that's because they are both happy.

Because of it's dominance, the left brain seems to want to do everything. So, when you sit down to try to draw something you are looking at, the left brain seems to take over. The more passive right brain allows this to occur. Since the left brain functions by things it has "learned" it will rely on information that is stored rather than what it sees. This is where the conflict happens. So, the task at hand is to quiet the left brain while we are doing right brain stuff, so the right brain can do what it does best, without having the left brain interfere. When it comes to rendering, we definitely want the right brain doing the work.

 

I know this is all a bit of a tease, but our 7th grade students just spent the last few weeks working on rendering. They learned to let the right brain draw, and they quieted their left brain so the right brain could do what it does best. Just look at the results! Please note: most of the examples are done by students who believed they couldn't draw. Pretty exciting isn't it?

           

    

MMS FaceOff 2-D Special Effects: Old-Age and Animals

It's MMS FaceOff Season 2 and we are well into the project! We had such success with our project last year we just had to do it again! This year we have an added bonus!

Jenette Noe, student teacher extraordinaire from the College of Idaho, has come with her own arsenal. While as an undergrad she took a very extensive stage makeup class. She has been teaching the students
 2-D makeup effects as I add the 3-D latex prosthetics to the mix.

The students began their first facial schematics by searching for old-age imagery on the internet.

We took photos of each student and they used their photo to outline their face onto tracing paper.These are examples of old-age facial schematics completed on the tracing paper. The students used color pencil to simulate stage-makeup.

Next we had the students get into partners while they practiced the old-age effect. We had them use acrylic paint (white, gray, and black) for this first exposure; it was available and much cheaper than our more expensive Ben Nye makeup. 

Next the students researched animals, prepared their facial schematics of their chosen animal and practiced applying paint/makeup to their own faces. They used a hand mirror for the application.

 

Stay tuned for the final 2-D animal looks and for the upcoming 3-D prosthetic phase.  Meanwhile, check out the weekly FaceOff series on the Syfy channel.

8th Grade Surreal Projects using Photoshop

sur·re·al səˈrēəl 

Having the qualities of surrealism; bizarre. A surreal mix of fact and fantasy.

The 8th grade art students had the opportunity to work with Photoshop to create a surreal composition. MMS is so fortunate to have one lab licensed with Photoshop Elements which is something I have been literally begging for the last three or four years. Photoshop allows our students the opportunity to expand their exposure to alternative mediums. I am ecstatic with the outcome and even more excited about being able to offer this platform to our students here at Middleton Middle School. Below are just a few of the fantastic surreal work created this past trimester.

Art Yard: Middle School Artists Continue to Transform Walls

I was browsing through some old photos today and came across one from 2007, the year we started painting murals on the Art Yard, a former visually neglected court yard at Middleton Middle School.

I will never forget how James, a very enthusiastic 8th grade student would arrive eager to paint murals dressed in his one piece khaki coveralls. He was 100% committed to the project. James contributed to the large black painted circle, the beginning of our Art Yard vision.

Now several years later, the Art Yard continues to be transformed into an ever changing work of art. Each year new students add their own mark to the walls. The following photos documents the work done this past Sept/Oct of 2013.

 The students working on the Burger shop added western-style elements to the facade.

The Candy Land saw an enormous face lift after students added purple shading to the letters, two cats, and some condiment containers.

Students working on Retro Reels added a theatre entrance and a popcorn machine.

The Flower Shop was adorned with pots of flowers, birds, and a multitude of flower decorations in the window and on the door.

MMS art students have been working on the Art Yard mural for almost seven years now. It will be exciting to see what transformation will occur in the years to come.

If you are ever in the area, stop by and see the Art Yard in person. It is located on the West side of Annex A.

Artist Mary Ellen Croteau: Making Art with Plastic Bottle Caps

I get excited when I discover artists who create amazing art using unconventional materials.

Chicago, Illinois artist Mary Ellen Croteau is an artist with a cause. She uses plastic materials such as plastic bottle caps and plastic bags to create her work, demonstrating the vast amount of plastic waste that is polluting our environment.

Croteau recently constructed a self-portrait using a multitude of bottle caps to create a Chuck Close inspired work. She implements smaller bottle caps set inside larger ones to create the Chuck Close affect. Her piece is titled Close. All I can say is WOW!

I am always thinking of new projects for my middle school students. Croteau has inspired an idea I have for a school-wide project for Middleton Middle School. As many of my projects this will be vast and very involved. I will be asking the Middleton community to help me in collecting the massive amount of bottle caps needed for my vision. I can hardly wait to get started.

So the next time you are about to throw away the cap to a container, please think about our upcoming project. You will be contributing to a worthy cause, helping the environment, and being a part of art in the making. I appreciate your support!

She currently works with non-recycled plastic waste, in an effort to demonstrate the huge amounts of  trash we are consuming and sending into the environment.

Mary Ellen Croteau is an artist whose work directly addresses the absurdities of social norms, and lays bare the underlying bias and sexist assumptions on which our culture is constructed. She currently works with non-recycled plastic waste, in an effort to demonstrate the huge amounts of  trash we are consuming and sending into the environment.She currently works with non-recycled plastic waste, in an effort to demonstrate the huge amounts of  trash we are consuming and sending into the environment.

Idaho Teachers: Setting the Record Straight

Recently I was seated between two friendly women, each of us Southwest bound to Oakland, California. I was traveling to see my two year old granddaughter. My seat mates: Peggy, 55, a longtime employee of Kellogg, and Marieda, 75, who for years worked in the olive industry, mostly as a sorter. Within the first ten minutes of our flight I had already inquired about what the other two ladies did as an occupation. One would think this would lead into the segue of "so what do you do?" but it didn't so I left it at that.

Most of the trip was consumed with giggles and preoccupation with the male flight attendant. We all agreed he was a plant for the show Punked, however Ashton Kutcher never showed. Sitting in the front row of the plane does have its perks. All was going well until dear Marieda brought up the subject of Idaho teachers.

"Did you know that Idaho is 49th as the worst schools? Idaho teachers are awful, they aren't teaching our children anything." You would think this was the perfect opportunity to defend my 30 year experience as an Idaho teacher. There was just a handful of minutes left in my flight so I decided to just listen.  After several minutes of what seemed to be a clip from the Charlie Brown comic, Marieda's voice morphed into "wah, wah, wah. . . " If this had been a longer flight, I swear I would have revealed my occupational identity and set the record straight.

I would have told Marieda how we "teachers" stay after contract hours to prepare riveting bell ringers and presentations, how we rack our brains to come up with innovative incentives to reward our students for their efforts, and shed tears of frustration for those students who interrupt this amazingly choreographed dance we spent hours to prepare. The staggering amount of money we spend out of our own pockets to make our bulletin boards pleasing, supplies for special projects, and to supplement those students who don't bring pencils to class.

Does Marieda think we are sitting behind our desks eating bon-bons while our classes' run amuck? Seriously. Fortunately the conversation diverted with Marieda's complaint about how the government is trying to run everybody's lives. "Can you believe it? The government is telling us we can't eat French fries cooked in trans fats!" Oh Marieda. Dear, dear Marieda.

Education is a partnership. A partnership between parents, students, teachers, the administration and the government. If any entity of this partnership isn't giving its all, it will not be successful. So my question is: What are you doing to contribute to the success of Idaho education?

Pablo Picasso: An Innovative way to Create a Report

As I sit at my school computer on this crisp Friday afternoon, I breath in a huge sigh. I did it. I successfully made it through another trimester here at MMS.

I recently have asked myself what drives me to continue teaching. I have done it for over 30 years. With all the budget cuts, and new changes in the district, new discipline procedures, and curriculum protocols sometimes it can feel quite overwhelming. Sometimes I have to give myself pep-talks throughout the day. I have to remind myself of the "why."

Teaching art is more than just a paycheck. It's seeing  the pride of my students after they realize I wasn't kidding when I told them they would learn to draw. They struggled, and sometimes they didn't like me that much. I pulled and pushed them along until they started to believe it. As a teacher there is no greater feeling than to know that your students' are actually learning. I am not just teaching, my students are learning.

This trimester my 8th grade students explored a different way of writing reports by creating a Pablo Picasso "report" using Bitstrips for Schools. Bitstrips is a really cool program that provides the user with tools to create avatars that can be used in a comic strip. The program provides backgrounds of different scenes, and ways you can move your avatar around, creating various facial expressions, hand movements and postures. If you haven't heard of Bitstrips check it out.

I thought I would showcase one of my students' Picasso projects. This student incorporated her comic strip into a movie with narration, music, and sound effects. What can I say, she is a delightful overachiever!
So, sit back, grab yourself a bowl of popcorn and take a tour of Pablo Picasso.

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