Finished Recycled Projects

We finally finished our wonderful recycled art projects. This is my second year teaching this unit and it was so wonderful to see what a variety of results we got just this year alone. To learn more about this project you can take a look back at what some of my artists did last year... Continue Reading →

Back to Recycling!

Just like last year, my Foundations of Studio Art classes are saving the planet with recycled art projects! Here you can see what we have begun calling our "trash island". It is an ever-growing pile of stuff that has potential as art supplies. However it kind of explodes each class, and has to be re-sorted... Continue Reading →

Deco vs. Nouveau

What is the difference between Art Nouveau and Art Deco you ask? Think Titanic vs. Gatsby. (The Leonardo DiCaprio movies obviously.) This was the aim of our ceramics jewelry unit. I wanted all of my students to know the difference between Deco and Nouveau. As we travel back in time through the movements I want my... Continue Reading →

Many Perspectives

This Year Interior design projects have become a somewhat permanent addition to my curriculum. While I am always tweaking and changing my lesson plans each year, this one feels fully developed and I think it's here to stay. What I might change next year would be small things like what artists I introduced during this unit,... Continue Reading →

Getting Wavy

I became fascinated (briefly) with movie making in college after documenting a trip that my friend Katelyn and I took from Brooklyn, New York down to DC. During this trip I took my good friend to see the National Gallery, the newly completed National Museum of the American Indian, and the Hirshhorn. While at the Hirshhorn, I think... Continue Reading →

Bookmaking with Studio II

"For our last unit, Ms. Cowan introduced our Studio Art II class to the craft of bookmaking. Not only were we creating books to physically use, but our creations were something I had never associated with books before: sculptural works of art. Well-crafted books serve their practical purposes well, but in this unit, we stressed... Continue Reading →

Studio Two: Student Perspective

In Studio II students have been diving deeper into the elements and principles of art and design. For the first semester there is a specific focus on line and value as well as craftsmanship. We started the year with contour line drawing. This included studies of landscapes, still lifes and the human figure. Here is... Continue Reading →

Getting STEAMy

So, STEAM. It's my cross-curricular curriculum of choice. I’m doing it now, as we speak, I even presented with my colleague down in Richmond this summer at the NCGS convention, but I haven’t mentioned much about it this past year. It was my, or I should say our, first year last year. So, STEAM, who,... Continue Reading →

And So It Begins…

I know, I know, it's October, but September is a busy month for teachers, especially this one. I have been very busy adjusting for the exciting new changes that came with this year. To begin with, we have two new teachers in our upper school visual  art department. That makes four of us. We have... Continue Reading →

Up ↑