The Dusty Art Room

Halfway through the National Art Education Association Conference and I am LOVING every minute!  It is great when the teacher is also a learner.   Here's a few highlights:   Gordon Parks Today: Social Justice Image Making Across Grade Levels  First we toured the AMAZING brand new Gordon Parks Art Hall.  Next we learned a little history about Gordon Parks - here's my favorite quote from Gordon:  "I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty.  I could have just as easily picked up a knife or a gun, like many of my childhood friends did... most of whom were murdered or put in prison... but I chose not to go that way.  I felt that I could somehow subdue these evils by doing something beautiful that people recognize me by, and thus make a whole different life for myself, which has proved to be so. "       - Gordon Parks After previewing...

I'm a little late updating the blog, but I couldn't pass up sharing this super special day in art class!   The first week of January brought two cold weather days home for Hester.  The Friday we returned  to school there was a sizable group of students who were still home staying out of the freezing cold temperatures, so I decided it was a perfect opportunity for a little spontaneity!  Paper pulp sculptures to the rescue! I used some powdered art paste to mix up a couple large batches of ooey gluey paste.  Then I used my blender and mixed the paste, some additional water and newspaper to make a nice mushy pulp. Students were instructed to get a bowl (I keep a large stock of bowls for mixing, making molds, etc) and I gave them about a 1/2 cup of the pulp mixture.  Next, students tore up some additional newspaper and then hand mixed it all together to get a sculpt-able pulp. (The blender can't get a thick enough pulp on it's own)  I gave the ...