A visit to EPIC-- Part One

This week, I went on a field trip with some 7th graders at our school.  We toured the EPIC company which makes medical software for hospitals and clinics.  The company has three different locations in the Madison, WI area.  The campus we visited had about 13 different buildings.  Each building has a decorative theme.  There was TONS of artwork from local artists around the buildings.  It was amazing!  There was so much to take pictures of, that I only took pictures of my favorites.   I will tell you about the tour in two blog posts.

Here's me next to a Dr. Suess style sculpture.

This was a sculpture attached to a picture frame.  The guy is super realistic looking and it kind of creeped me out when I looked at it up close.

Here's part of the outside courtyard.  The 13 buildings are connected by indoor walkways.

Look at the paintings on the wall.. this was a New York themed area.

more NY themed decor

the campus

Look at this set-up in the hallway!

Greek Vase Chalk Drawings-- 4th/5th Grade

The fourth/fifth graders have been working on some lovely Greek vase chalk drawings.  We learned about overlap, proportion and shadows, as well as how to use and blend chalk pastels.  This class studies Greek history in their social studies class.  The students also had the chance to make little pots out of clay or sculpey.  Sculpey does not work so well for coiled pots.  Have you found that?

Blog Directory

Do you know that there are over 200 art education blogs on my art teacher directory?  Have you added your blog? 

Have you made art today?

Have you found a way to spark your creativity?

Architecture Collages-- Kindergarten

This was a project the kindergarteners did last week.  They first glued down popsicle sticks onto tagboard.  Then they added paint to color!  I let them use markers in places if they wanted. 

We read this book:

3rd/4th grade Clay Projects

My 3rd/4th grade class made clay pots.  We looked at the Mimbres pottery of the Southwest Native Americans, but I did not require them to use any of the imagery in their pottery.  They could choose to add glaze designs however they wished.   These are all coil built pots and glazed with Amaco Stroke and Coat glaze.

My trip to the NAEA conference!

Here is a slideshow about my trip to the NAEA conference in New York!

NAEA No Video



I also submitted a student artwork to the Artsonia Big Screen Plaza exhibit, which is shown in the video below.

Inside-Out Designs-- First Grade

This is a favorite project of mine, because I love how the designs look!
I have written about this project before and you can see the tutorial HERE.

Sculptural Dolls-- 1st Grade

The first graders made these lovely sculptural dolls!  You can see the tutorial here. Some of the pieces were attached with hot glue.  I have an older student who is my helper during that class.

Update from New York

Wow, I have been non-stop busy!  I try to pack in as much as possible at the convention, because I figure I can sleep when I get home.  Some of the highlights so far are hearing Peter Max speak, meeting Barney Saltzberg who wrote Beautiful OOps, hearing an awesome presentation about a year of kindergarten lessons, meeting art teachers from all over the US and Canada, catching up with many old friends from college, trying out lots of new art supplies and perusing books from the vendors, buying things from the artisans, walking around and avoiding getting hit by taxis and so forth. 

I have not been able to update about my days as much as I'd like, because the internet connection in our room is ridiculous and basically every 2 minutes the screen will freeze up.  So I've just been quickly checking my email in those 2 minute spans and then having to log off and restart.  I figure when I get home I will do some picture-heavy posts and explain everything in more detail. 

Last night I was able to meet Phyl from There's a Dragon in My Art Room.  That was a great time!  We went out to dinner and walked around to souvenir shops.  I also got to "meet"  Mr. E from Art with Mr. E! 

Today I am going to hear Chuck Close talk, Olivia Gude, get a Journal Junkies book signed by the authors, pop on over to the MOMA for a bit, visit more sessions... then we have an Illinois State Art alumni meetup at the bar...

I am here!

I'm in New York!  I made it to the National Art Education conference! 

Proof:

I already went to a bunch of sessions and am thoroughly exhausted.  More updates and pics to come!