Showing posts with label The Grace Museum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Grace Museum. Show all posts
Friday, June 22, 2012
Grace Camp Times Two
Last week and the week before were devoted to one of my favorite summertime activities- Grace Academy Art Camp at The Grace Museum in Abilene. I taught a weeklong camp for first and second graders that coincided with the Dr. Seuss festival going on downtown, and so we enjoyed a week of very silly Seuss-inspired art projects including a silly sentence book, Lorax masterpieces and mustaches, Cat in the Hat hats, balloon cars, relief prints, Samburu necklaces and other things. I also taught a two day camp for wee ones going into kindergarten, and we somehow managed to finish fish sculptures, bird watercolors, owl weavings, One Fish Two Fish paintings, and giant sombrero hats. Here are some iPhone shots from the two camps.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Oh, Those Orange Days
I had a couple of really busy weeks... and then this past week, during which I did essentially nothing. Koby and I have been laying low in Colorado City, 'nesting' (mostly reacting to the level of filth in which we found ourselves living) and getting various things a little more ready for the impending arrival of our son. Today I really set to work on getting lessons squared away for next year, but after getting Art I and Art II laid out until Christmas, I decided I was being much too productive and needed to address another thing I had neglected: this blog. (Next on the list? Thank you notes WAYYY over due for two fabulous baby showers, one thrown in Graham and one in Abilene.)
As you know, June 13-17 I taught Grace Academy's 'Daring Drawings and Curious Colors'. It was an exhausting blast. I enjoy having little kids after teaching big kids all year - little kids still 'ooooh' and 'ahhhhh' over artwork. High schoolers have seen it all.
Here's some of the artwork we completed near the end of the DDCC camp.
Campers show off their 'Many Colored Days' books. They were SO insightful about colors and emotions - they caught on to Color Psychology wayyyyyyyy faster than my high school students! We read the Dr. Seuss book 'My Many Colored Days' at the beginning of the week and worked on these books every morning.
Something else I love about little kids? Their parents! They are so thoughtful as well. On Friday two campers brought me little 'thank you gifts'... It's not about thanks at all, but when it happens it feels really good. I'm going to remember that as a parent.
These self portraits are the end result after a two-day look at the artwork of Henri Matisse, namely his painting The Purple Coat. I think the campers were very astute in their observations!
Ok, now some of my favorite pictures. The students LOVED sharing their Many Colored Days books with the class, and I loved taking pictures of the hilarious things they wrote in their books. My favorites include "On yellow days I feel brave" and "On orange days I feel like an adventure" or "On purple days I feel like running" (not pictured, also, I never have purple days).
I am so mad at myself for not putting this up in honor of Father's Day, like I had planned. This is probably my favorite one. The little girl who did this did it so nonchalantly, like 'of course every one has orange days when they feel like putting ice down their dad's pants'. Duh.
This kid wrote "(Insert color here) days make me feel happy" on every page. I can appreciate that.
Coming soon? Pictures of baby showers, photo sessions, and THE BLOB! I am not at all opposed to his arrival before his scheduled appearance, which is the 21st of next month. In fact, I am even willing to indefinitely postpone my viewing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two if he decides to come before the 15th. That, my friends, is a mother's love.
As you know, June 13-17 I taught Grace Academy's 'Daring Drawings and Curious Colors'. It was an exhausting blast. I enjoy having little kids after teaching big kids all year - little kids still 'ooooh' and 'ahhhhh' over artwork. High schoolers have seen it all.
Here's some of the artwork we completed near the end of the DDCC camp.
Campers show off their 'Many Colored Days' books. They were SO insightful about colors and emotions - they caught on to Color Psychology wayyyyyyyy faster than my high school students! We read the Dr. Seuss book 'My Many Colored Days' at the beginning of the week and worked on these books every morning.
Dr. Seuss' My Many Colored Days
Something else I love about little kids? Their parents! They are so thoughtful as well. On Friday two campers brought me little 'thank you gifts'... It's not about thanks at all, but when it happens it feels really good. I'm going to remember that as a parent.
These self portraits are the end result after a two-day look at the artwork of Henri Matisse, namely his painting The Purple Coat. I think the campers were very astute in their observations!
Henri Matisse, The Purple Coat
Ok, now some of my favorite pictures. The students LOVED sharing their Many Colored Days books with the class, and I loved taking pictures of the hilarious things they wrote in their books. My favorites include "On yellow days I feel brave" and "On orange days I feel like an adventure" or "On purple days I feel like running" (not pictured, also, I never have purple days).
I am so mad at myself for not putting this up in honor of Father's Day, like I had planned. This is probably my favorite one. The little girl who did this did it so nonchalantly, like 'of course every one has orange days when they feel like putting ice down their dad's pants'. Duh.
This kid wrote "(Insert color here) days make me feel happy" on every page. I can appreciate that.
Coming soon? Pictures of baby showers, photo sessions, and THE BLOB! I am not at all opposed to his arrival before his scheduled appearance, which is the 21st of next month. In fact, I am even willing to indefinitely postpone my viewing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two if he decides to come before the 15th. That, my friends, is a mother's love.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
OUTrageous
I am more than a little irritated with who ever decided to invent this whole 'conflicting Google accounts' thing. I have three e-mail addresses, none of which wanted to sign me onto my blog just now.
And this is me:
Next time I'm pregnant, remind me not to schedule six billion and one things to do as the ninth month of the pregnancy approaches. Mmmkay?
Since school has been out I've collected more than 40 professional development hours, driven out of town at least seven times (more than 50 miles each time), gone to two doctors' appointments, been in a wedding, planned for a week of camp with 21 six and seven year olds, taken and edited hundreds of pictures, neglected obligatory thank-you-note-writing, and in the mix somewhere, hurt my back so badly that I'm hobbling around like an eighty year old instead of an expectant mother. It's a little bit concerning. But I wouldn't trade any of these things for a day in bed because they're all FUN (and some mandatory if I want to keep teaching) but I am looking forward to a breather before the baby comes. Also, the nursery (and house) looks like we're moving in/out because Koby and I have both been gypsies for the past two weeks. And gypsy does not mix with nesting.
Today was the second day of Grace Art Camp (Daring Drawings and Curious Colors) and I have the kids going into 1st and 2nd grade, just like last year. And just like last year, it seems like the bulk of the kids are fresh out of kindergarten. Which I really like. Part of me hopes we never move too far away from Abilene, so I'll never not be able to do summer camps at the Grace. They're so fun!
We've been learning about COLOR (we read Dr. Seuss's 'My Many Colored Days' on the first day of camp) and TEXTURE and tomorrow we'll talk about Henri Matisse. And Oaxacan Folk Art, which I will inevitably misprounounce.
Here are some of our artists and creations from Day 2:
And this is me:
Next time I'm pregnant, remind me not to schedule six billion and one things to do as the ninth month of the pregnancy approaches. Mmmkay?
Since school has been out I've collected more than 40 professional development hours, driven out of town at least seven times (more than 50 miles each time), gone to two doctors' appointments, been in a wedding, planned for a week of camp with 21 six and seven year olds, taken and edited hundreds of pictures, neglected obligatory thank-you-note-writing, and in the mix somewhere, hurt my back so badly that I'm hobbling around like an eighty year old instead of an expectant mother. It's a little bit concerning. But I wouldn't trade any of these things for a day in bed because they're all FUN (and some mandatory if I want to keep teaching) but I am looking forward to a breather before the baby comes. Also, the nursery (and house) looks like we're moving in/out because Koby and I have both been gypsies for the past two weeks. And gypsy does not mix with nesting.
Today was the second day of Grace Art Camp (Daring Drawings and Curious Colors) and I have the kids going into 1st and 2nd grade, just like last year. And just like last year, it seems like the bulk of the kids are fresh out of kindergarten. Which I really like. Part of me hopes we never move too far away from Abilene, so I'll never not be able to do summer camps at the Grace. They're so fun!
We've been learning about COLOR (we read Dr. Seuss's 'My Many Colored Days' on the first day of camp) and TEXTURE and tomorrow we'll talk about Henri Matisse. And Oaxacan Folk Art, which I will inevitably misprounounce.
Here are some of our artists and creations from Day 2:
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Rolly Poly, Daddy's Little Fatty
Here is the Blob in all its Bumpy glory. Since I'm wearing a dark shirt, I don't look as ginormous as I really am/feel. Believe it, I'm huge. This picture was taken yesterday, on Wednesday the 2nd. Today I am officially 20 weeks along, which means HALFWAY DONE Y'ALL! Or, as I tell my students, my baby is half-baked. One week from yesterday we'll have our gender-revealing sonogram... I can't wait to find out what the Blob is. Time is really flying.
Oh, and it's kicking! I think. The Blob is definitely doing something. I keep telling Koby "I think it's kicking! I think it's kicking!" and he has yet to rush over to see if he can feel it too. I asked him about this last night (I always imagined fathers-to-be are really enthused by this) and he confessed, "I think you just have gas or something." But I promise, people, it is NOT gas. The baby is moving.
Things have been really busy lately - one great thing that's happened is the Grace Museum's Youth Art Month show, which opened on the 1st and will hang until the 31st of this month. Twelve of my students have pieces in the show and they are EXCITED about it. Other students are very jealous and I have been receiving the 'cold shoulder' from a few whose pieces weren't selected (by me) to go to Abilene. The students have already been interviewed by a reporter from the local paper and we're hoping to take a trip to The Grace sometime this month to see their work while it's still up. I took some pictures of the opening - I think there were over 700 people there! And the band that played, comprised of AHS and CHS students, was awesome. Definitely something I wish my students could have all attended, but as we live about an hour away it just wasn't feasible.
This last picture shows a man looking at our school's artwork - you can't read the sign at the top but it says "COLORADO CITY HIGH SCHOOL" or something like that. A proud moment for a first-year teacher!
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