Teaching

It was exciting to be able to teach an art lesson in the class I observe in at Rose Park Elementary.  I taught a lesson on Monet that took 2 days.  The first day we learned about Claude Monet, what inspired him, what techniques he used & read a story about a girl who met him.  The second day, the students created a string pull painting, which created beautiful flower-like designs.  It was neat because the students were able to learn that you can use unconcentional tools, like string, to create art and it's ok to do things different, like Monet!  The flowers turned out great & my mentor teacher laminated them to be used in a calendar that they will each take home as a Christmas gift. 

2 hrs.



Misc Art Opportunities

ArT iS EveRYwHeRe!!!

 Some friends & I went to the "Tilly & the Wall" concert a few weeks ago & the 3 of us who are in Creative Arts Methods noticed how cool it was that they use a tap dancer as an instrument in their band.  We knew that, but none of us had seen them live before & it was awesome to witness how in sync she was with the drummer & how her tapping really added to the music.  Abby & I are learning some tap moves for our final presentation!

 

 I have been lucky to be able to teach Meet the Masters in the 5th & 2nd grades this year at Ridgecrest Elementary.  It's a different artist every month & so far we've done DaVinci & Chagall.  The kids love learning about the artists & doing the art project at the end.  It's a great program & I'm glad to be part of it. 

 

 I take my little girl to story time every week at the Murray Library & they often include movement & art with the story.  It's given me some great ideas how to integrate art into some fun kids' stories.

I took Noah to see the broadway production of "The Addams Family" at Capitol Theater.  It was really fun!  I loved seeing one of my favorite shows turned into a musical.   

 

 

Week 7: Flowers

 This week a friend & I took a flower arranging class from Tri-Fec-Ta in Sugarhouse.  My friend signed us up for the class because we do a wedding business together & everytime we have to put together flower arrngements it takes us forever!  We both struggle with getting them blanaced & being creative with non-traditional arrangements.  This class was perfect, because the instructor taught us alot about the basics of arranging, about types of flowers and the visual affects of color & texture.  Then, we created our first arrangements (below), which was a more traditional look.  It was really interesting and fun to know how to start with the bulkier flower in 3's or 5's, then add from there always next to the big flowers.  Finally, we added some greenery & sprigs.  Everybody in the class had a totally different look, even though we followed the pattern.  It was amazing how you can really put your personal artistic touch on a flower arrangement.  The arrangement above was a non-traditional one & I loved it.  These all really turned out different, but they were so fun to make.  It was a great example of simplicity being beautiful. 

 

2 hrs. http://www.gatheringguide.com/vp/trifecta-design-salt-lake-city

 

 An example of a wedding we did this summer. 

 

 Notice the flower arrangement?!  :)

Week 6: Pottery

 This week I did my first hours of the "Learn Something" portion of the observations!  I chose to take a pottery class because in college, as an art major, I did all sorts of art genres & pottery was the only one I ended up dropping out of complete frustration!  I could not get how to center the clay on the pottery wheel & in a big class the help was limited.  This time around, I went to the Red Kiln & had a private lesson.  My instructor was amazingly patient & very great at explaining things.  I got the centering down within the first half-hour and created my first vase!  Thenm as I was thinning out the sides, I hit it wrong & it collapsed :(  It was still really fun!

  

 Second try went much better (actually I felt like an expert)!  It was so much fun being in the pottery studio, hands on spinning clay, music playing & creating with other artists.  I was in heaven!  My vase went really well & I can't wait to go back & do more!  There are lots of people who rent out space at the Red Kiln & come in and create pottery daily.  It's amazing to watch them & see all their different styles.  They also have a small gallery for the artists to display & sell their pieces.  It was neat to know that you can keep up with your art, without having to have your own studio space.  I definetely plan on renting space there someday & taking more classes to gain a greater knowledge of pottery.  I loved it!  I even ended up doing my science fair project for Science Methods on pottery, with the help of the Red Kiln :)

 

 

 

My finished vase, that I'm going to use as a pencil holder on my teacher desk!

 

2 hrs.  www.redkiln.org  Dave

Week 5: Scottsdale

My husband & I visited Scottsdale, AZ this week for my dreaded 20 year high school reunion!  Luckily, we were able to spend a whole day roaming around the art museums and local art shops in Old Town Scottsdale.  I used to volunteer at the Scottsdale Arts Museum & was selected as a Youth Member of the Youth Arts Council back in high school.  I spent lots of time at the Museum and it was fun to see what had changed & what stayed the same.  My favorite is the LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana, in the civic center plaza.   

 The museum itself has a new building & is very contemporary & beautiful.  It was fun to see the changes!  http://www.smoca.org/home

 

There was a big display on what youth of today would say about our generation to people from another planet.  It was very raw & real.  I loved the videos and the opportunity for observers to participate in the display by writing their own memories of our generation.  It was several artists, but I can't remember their names.  I also got to see art by Sherin Guirguis and Carrie Marill, which I really liked.  It was very southwestern, but not in a traditional way. 

 

After the museum, we walked through Old Towne & did the Art Walk.  There are tons of great museums & an art bar.  The Art Bar was awesome because it's a studio where you can invite friends, book clubs, office groups & take an art class together while sampling wine.  It sounded like such a fun idea!  I enjoyed seeing another town where art is valued & displayed proudly around every corner.

2 hrs.



Week4: Studio Kids

This week I observed a Studio Kids rehersal at my kids' school, Ridgecrest Elementary.  My little boy, Sam, was in Studio Kids last year & loved performing in the "Toy Story" play.  This year, he is constantly complaining about going to rehersal & crying that he doesn't want to do it anymore.  This is a totally different reaction than he had last year, so I wanted to see what was going on.  When I first began observing the rehersal, I immediately noted that the drama instructor this year was different & she didn't seem to be enjoying herself.  Last year's instructor was upbeat, fun & very happy to be around.  The rehersal had about 20 kids ranging in age from k-6th grade & the instructor focused almost solely on the older kids.  The younger kids were shuffled off with a parent volunteer to wait for their turn to practice.  Sam complained that he had gotten yelled at for mis-behaving & I could see why.  All the younger kids were bored out of their minds!  It was a disasterous teaching experience & I ended up taking Sam out of Studio Kids.  I felt bad for him & all the kids in that play who were excited to be there, but had to sit around for hours bored & then get yelled at for acting like a kid!  I was not at all impressed with the instructor's approach to teaching drama. 

1 hr.  http://studiokidsmusic.com/resources

Week 4: Hip Hop Science

A few of us MATer's attended an amazing event called "Hip Hop Science" with Dr. Christopher Edmund at the SL Center for Science Education.  It was about Dr. Edmin's experience, as a scientist & teacher, that integrating Hip Hop with science can teach students in a fun way & still fulfill all the core requirements.  It was a blast to watch him interact with the students at the school & see how much fun they were having learning from him.  He had one of the students, who loves to breakdance, participate in the presentation.  He showed us how he dances and what it means to him. It seemed like it was supposed to be part of the show!  I learned that you can integrate Hip Hop with any subject & make it fun.   

 

1 hr.