A proud teacher moment…

In the midst of the craziness of preparing an Art & Music Festival (and having things go wrong at the last minute even though you prepared WAY ahead of time), I wanted to share an artist statement one of my 7th graders wrote on behalf of her class’ Art Show project. The 7th graders were given Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot cameras and asked to go around campus to take pictures that captured the abstractions in life. Here is what Deniz C., an aspiring young photographer, had to say about the meaning of photography as an art form:

“Seeing and looking are two completely different things. So are living and feeling. You can’t just see it when you look and you can’t just feel it when you live. Photography isn’t a simple noun. Taking a photograph isn’t a simple verb. It’s feeling, living the moment by just looking and seeing the image. A camera is like a diary that keeps all the special moments, instead of all the mysterious secrets. I don’t have a diary. I don’t write the moments that I enjoy. Instead, I capture them. I capture them so not only me but others can enjoy them too. It might be a picture of a cute baby I saw, a cat sleeping on a rug or even maybe a delicious meal I ate that day. Photography takes detail. Basically what the 7th graders tried to do here was to capture the details in an ordinary day to show you how “extraordinary” living can get.”

With love,
Deniz C., an aspiring photographer

Please enjoy these two photos by this talented young artist:

Gorgeous spring blossoms!

Ahhh, food photography! A girl after my own heart…

Art Show Preparations…

A behind the scenes look at what happens when creative young minds come together to create order out of chaos! This video, featuring footage from our 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 8th graders, as well as our K-3rd grade art club, was created by 8th Grade student Huseyin P.

Can’t wait to see the outcome of these projects… on display at our exhibition on Friday, May 25th!

Art & Music Festival Preparations are underway…

Less than two weeks until our grand finale of the school year, the 1st – 8th Grade Art & Music Festival on Friday, May 25, 2012! The 8th Grade planning team and I are hard at work to make this event a huge success. We have been designing t-shirts for the festival staff as well…

To get you excited about the event, here are some projects you can expect to see: fun fur Hawaiian leis, mosaic, a magical candy tree house, Surrealistic paintings and collages and abstract digital photography! The best artwork will be hand-picked by the 8th Grade to be included in the Young Artists Marketplace. Also, we will have award ribbons for the following categories: 1st – 3rd, 4th – 6th and 6th – 7th as well as overall category awards. Please remember to join us on the 25th to hear some wonderful musical performances and see how we can take something ordinary and turn it into an extraordinary work of art.

NGA Field Trip: 5th – 7th Graders

We had a great trip to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC on Friday, March 16, 2012. Students in 5th – 7th grade split up into 3 groups for this trip, each group with a different docent (tour guide) who explained the significance of each work of art and art movement. We decided to focus on French Art from Baroque to Neo-impressionism because students could very easily relate to those pieces and enjoyed the varied styles of French art from PA’s first field trip to the National Gallery of Art in December 2009.

Our docent, Nancy, was an excellent guide and really engaged the students in the artwork. She gave ample time for students to sketch and study the pieces… (in front of  “Soap Bubbles” by JEAN SIMÉON CHARDIN, 1733/1734, click and scroll down to watch the video about the painting)

Students also wrote an acrostic poem in front of Georges Seurat’s “The Lighthouse at Honfleur” (1886) which was one of the more inspiring pieces.

And enjoyed comparing and contrasting two paintings (placed side by side) of the Rouen Cathedral, created at different times of day, by the Impressionist painted Claude Monet.

Doesn’t this painting make you want to plan a vacation to the French countryside this summer? I sure think so!

Here is a snapshot of one of the other groups, in front of Mary Cassatt’s version of “The Boating Party”.

After our tour of the galleries, we had lunch (either pre-packed or purchased) at the NGA Cascade Cafeteria and also enjoyed gelato for dessert. Our favorite flavors were raspberry. mango and chocolate chip (stracciatella).

And, we decided to do an infamous *jump* in front of the cascading waterfalls in the walkway between the West and East Buildings.

“Now THIS is what I call art!” – Esref P. (pictured here, in response to his experience riding the moving walkway tunnel of light, which is always a nice photo-op and appropriate transition between the West (old) and East (new) buildings.

Sadly, our time at the museum was far too short and after lunch/free time and the gift shop, we had to head back to the bus. Before leaving, we stopped to take pictures in front of I.M. Pei’s “Glass Pyramids” en route to the front of the museum.

Goodbye, Washington DC! See you again soon…

Back in Northern VA, we are all smiles…

Thanks to Ms. Cohen, Ms. Baker and the other parent chaperons who made this trip a huge success!

We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and will continue to visit art museums in the future! My favorite overheard quote of the field trip:

“Whoa, everything is gia-normous in DC!”

Arte per Vernazza Winners & Update!

The winners for the Arte per Vernazza drawing contest (from January 2012) have been announced and awarded professional art supplies from the NAEA conference in New York City!

For those who are not familiar with the Cinque Terre flooding, on October 25, 2011, the town of Vernazza, Italy was hit by massive flooding and buried under loads of mud and debris. For days, nobody knew what had happened. Thanks to the help of Michele Sherman, Michele Lilley e Ruth Manfredi of Save Vernazza ONLUS, Vernazza is being rebuilt as we speak.

These drawings were made by my middle school students in response to the tragic flood that affected Vernazza. We looked at the slideshow of images from the wall murals that were painted along Via Roma and talked about how public art can be used as an instrument to instill hope in a hopeless situation.

Congratulations to the following students for the most striking designs:

Huseyin P. 8th Grade

Merve D. 8th Grade

Erkan K. 7th Grade

Summeye C. 7th Grade

Jasmine E. 7th Grade

And, congratulations also to our finalists:

Nihal G. 7th Grade

Esref P. 7th Grade

Also, a heartfelt thanks for featuring these drawings on the official Save Vernazza Facebook page. Art is powerful and can make a difference!

************

Italian translation:  Ciao a tutti! Sono Laura, un insegnante d’arte per la scuola privata ad Oakton, Virginia (Stati Uniti). Questo brano mostra i vincitori del nostro concorso artistico si chiama “Arte per Vernazza”, che ha avuto luogo nel gennaio 2012. Per coloro che non lo sapeva, la città di Vernazza nelle Cinque Terre è stata devastata dai alluvione che è accaduto il 25 ottobre 2011. Per giorni, nessuno sapeva cosa era successo. Grazie all’aiuto di Michele Sherman, Michele Lilley e Ruth Manfredi di Save Vernaza ONLUS, Vernazza si viene ricostruito come si parla.

Questi disegni sono fatti dai miei studenti delle scuole medie (7th e 8th grades) in risposta alla tragica alluvione che ha colpito Vernazza. Abbiamo guardato la presentazione delle immagini dei murales su l’Internet che sono state dipinte lungo Via Roma e ha parlato come l’arte pubblica può essere utilizzata come strumento per infondere speranza in una situazione disperata.

Inoltre, un sincero ringraziamento per mettere questi disegni sulla pagina ufficiale di Facebook Salva Vernazza. L’arte è potente e può fare la differenza!

As one Vernazza resident so aptly stated:

“Thank you Laurentina !!!! I live in Vernazza, And thise wounderfull pictures has been pulling me up. Thanks to all the artists !!!”

— Lisa Bertram

Highlights from NAEA Convention in NYC!

I am back from the National Art Education Association’s convention and had a blast in the Big Apple! It was an enjoyable 4 days (3 for me) of non-stop professional development, workshops, seminars, artist talks, free museum visits and receiving free art supplies! There is so much to sum up that I can’t possibly do it all in one sitting. Instead, I will provide you with some photo highlights from my trip:

Attended a Lei Making workshop with representatives from Kamehameha Schools on the Big Island of Hawai’i

Enjoyed a seminar and reunion with Summer Vision DC friends and posed (with my sketchbook) next to famous movers and shakers in the art education world (L to R: Carole Henry, me, Renee Sandell and Paul Ruther of the Phillips Collection)

Hopped over to the Museum of Art and Design in Columbus Circle to see exquisitely beautiful glass work, jewelry, photography and other forms of forward thinking contemporary art…

Paid a visit to the MoMA to see some of my favorite works of art from modern times and today (contemporary!)

Checked out some beautiful examples for fun art projects at the NAEA Exhibition Hall

Listened to the dynamic duo Sandy and Adrienne talk about aesthetics and perception across cultures…

Froze for 1.5 hours at the Big Screen Plaza in Chelsea, waiting for Miktad’s artwork to appear on the screen…

*Look* There it is! Congratulations, Miktad!

Up close and zoomed in… I was so excited to see the artwork live, hence the camera shake!

Created an artist trading card in exchange for some cool art supplies and samples…

Practiced being a henna artist using the innovative project materials from DickBlick.com

Took pictures at Oliver Herring’s TASK Party, sponsored by Art21 and NAEA…

And finally, enjoyed some time at the Whitney Biennial in uptown NYC!

But wait… and last… but certainly not least… stood in the same room and heard world renown artist CHUCK CLOSE speak about his life, art and career! Chuck Close has been a favorite artist of mine since I first learned about him in high school, and I’m so glad to have caught part of the talk during the conference.

Thanks to everyone who supported me to attend this spectacular event. My creative batteries have definitely been recharged and I am looking forward to incorporating the new things I learned into my art curriculum. I am hoping to post video slide shows of the TASK! Party and Big Screen Plaza art show in the next few weeks.

Students: Get excited about this spring! We have several art field trips coming up for 1st – 8th grade, as well as 2 art shows from now until the end of the year…

NAEA TASK! Party Poster Prep

This week, in preparation for NYC-based artist Oliver Herring’s TASK! Party at NAEA on Saturday, March 3, 2012, students in 3rd, 4th and 8th Grade will be making TASK! posters and signage for this extraordinary event.

It was a sunny and unseasonably warm afternoon in Oakton, VA today, and my 3rd grade students were more than eager to participate in this free flowing, improv-style poster making art class

The black top outside of our Art portable definitely got its share of Pollock-esque paint splatters, but the kids had a great time and I can’t wait to see more creativity as the {short} week goes on.

I leave for NAEA NYC on Thursday, March 1, 2012 and can’t wait to share my experience at the conference with you all.

**If you are in NYC and want to stop by for the party, head on over to the Sheraton Hotel, New York Ballroom East, 3rd Floor. 53rd Street at 7th Avenue.

The TASK! Party hours are between 11am to 4pm that day.

Stay tuned for blogs and updates from the conference and beyond!

Buon Carnevale!

(Decked out for Carnevale in Venice, Italy – site of the most famous Carnival parties)

Ciao a tutti! Today, also known as Fat Tuesday (or Mardi Gras), is the last day of Carnevale and the season of masks, parties and sweets before the season of Lent begins. Our 5th and 6th grade students (aka. our young mascherari – or mask makers) are currently working on Carnevale masks in Art Class, and will postpone the actual celebration to the beginning of March. Stay tuned to see the mask making progress and their final creations!

Art Teacher Portfolio – 2012

Ever wondered what Ms. Laura does over the summer? How about during the school year? Wanna know about her teaching philosophy and her favorite art projects? Check out this video slideshow below:

 

More information about Ms. Laura (along with the same video) can be found in the ABOUT section of this blog.

January Art Projects Recap

Pastel drawing on black paper – 2nd Grade

January has been a busy month for all our young artists. The unseasonably warm weather has allowed some classes to go outside and draw from nature. We have also been doing a variety of art projects using drawing, painting and mixed media skills. Here are some of my favorites from PreS to 5th grade. Hope you enjoy the creativity of our students!

Metallic Crayons on black paper – PreSchool

Snowflake sculpture with feathers, sequins, styrofoam ball and glitter – 3rd Grade

Abstract “Marking and Mapping” with markers and tracing paper – 5th Grade

“Finish that Picture” symmetry drawing – 2nd Grade

Blobs of Symmetry – 2nd Grade