The Dusty Art Room

Hester art club students were stretching their global awareness by creating portraits for children in Colombia who are living in orphanages.  The students wanted to use their artwork to bring a smile to other's who are living in difficult circumstances.  It is important to note that these children are well cared for. The Memory Project has been around since 2004 and has delivered 90,000 portraits to children in 42 countries!  The wonderful team at the Memory Project makes the process easy for teachers and students.  In a few weeks we will receive a video that captures the delivery of the portraits - it always brings tears to my eyes the joy we are able to help create!  Check out this wonderful organization HERE . Art club students also worked to create portraits for Syrian refugees - and I will share those once they are completed - the deadline isn't until January.  Here are some of the portraits we created and some of the work in progress.  As you...

Artist Trading Cards are small pieces of artwork meant to be traded with other artists, just as baseball or Pokemon cards are traded.  Hester artists from first trimester were lucky enough to participate in an international trading card exchanged hosted by the amazing Nic Hahn, aka Mini Matisse, from Hassan Elementary in Minnesota. Check out her blog HERE.  There are schools from around the United States and also several countries from around the world participating!  Students used a variety of techniques from Mixed Media Collage and painting to drawing.  Some students did not complete their cards (some good learning for next time on scheduling), but those who sent a card will get one back in return - can't wait! We will get our cards back in January, but here is a sampling of the cards we were able to send:

On Friday, November 18th the 6th grade students travelled to the Field Museum to see the Terra Cotta Warriors and explore some natural history.  It was a great day filled with lots of enthusiasm and learning!  Students were curious explorers and observers of the Field Museum's vast collections.   We were complimented by museum visitors and staff on the engagement and excitement of our students.  I had a blast leading my group around one of my favorite Chicago museums!  Here's some of the pictures that I took.  Be on the lookout for some of the podcast presentations from the 6th graders!  The 6th graders did a wonderful job staying flexible as our bus ride home took over two hours due to some heavy unforeseen traffic on the rainy Friday afternoon.  I hope the 6th grade students enjoyed the day as much as I did!   Enjoy these photos from the day:  ...