Ceramics Fired!

Thanks to Mr. Hall from Grand Prairie High for loading the kiln so I could fire it on Friday! Time has been a precious commodity lately and I was running low (thus the 8 blog posts in one hour!) Well, the firing was successful and I'm happy to report pieces will be available to take home today for the holiday break! This was our first clay project and I cannot wait to see how next semester's clay work goes now that we have gotten our feet wet.

Jeff Rogers FaceTime

Last Wednesday we had the honor of having a FaceTime lecture/interview with NYC illustrator, letterist, and designer Jeff Rogers.  Jeff has an impressive list of clients as well as a striking portfolio of work, many of which can be seen at his website here. You can also find a link to other interviews and bio information on his website (www.howdyjeff.com) You may remember him from a McDonald's commercial that aired over the Summer during the Olympics promoting their new Spicy Chicken McBites. Jeff painted a mural during the commercial which was then used in parts for their print campaign and signage. You can view an extended version of this at: https://vimeo.com/55461045. Students were able to ask questions relevant to his current and past experiences as an artist as well as information that may help our students begin their journey in an art career. After the talk, Jeff then assigned our students with their next major project involving lettering.

Here are some of the key points I noted from the talk:

You must establish and build relationships.

When you love something devote yourself entirely to it, indulging in something else will take time away from the thing you love.

Practice equals improvement.

Keep getting better. 

Do what you truly want to do until someone starts paying you to do it. 

Sometimes work will be free.

Be nice, no one wants to work with a jerk. 

Sketch several ideas.

Start with a pencil.

Thank you Jeff for taking the time to talk to us and share your experiences with us!

Fort Worth Museums!

Yay! It took awhile but we were able to finally get our young academy artists out to look at some more work. The students and teachers from Grand Prairie High were able to join us and it wouldn't have quite been the same without them. We toured The Modern as well as the Kimbell and had lunch on the lawn where some students played games and others socialized. Students viewed works from Picasso, Matisse, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Cezanne and Courbet just to name a few. It was a great time and I cannot wait for our next adventure out next semester.

Empty Bowls

Empty Bowls this year was a great success! Although this year none of the middle schools were actively involved there are hopes that we will be next year! I invited my art students to check out the art sale as well as test out a potters wheel for the first time. They had a great time and the students and teachers from Grand Prairie High were so helpful and friendly.

PBK Calendar Competition Results

Congrats to 6th graders Serena and Clarissa on their recent wins with the PBK Calendar Competition! Both pieces were feature on the outside and Clarissa's oil pastel drawing was featured inside. The students were to draw their favorite part of our beautiful campus designed by the PBK company. You make us proud girls! Great job!

MLK & Surfaces

The students have begun their district MLK art competition, heres a peek of what the 6th graders are doing!

Students started by listening to the speech and highlighting the visual imagery and character qualities.

MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech can be found online with transcript 

We have also began our workshops on the various art media and surfaces. Students have learned the differences between hot and cold press papers as well as what they are all best used for. Next we'll learn about pencils and various dry media as well as the different types of paint. Of course most of the students have already worked with these materials but this gives them an opportunity to dig deeper into their capabilities and their history

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Still Life, Complete!

The student drawings from our still life project are on display in the library. All academy and non academy drew the still life over a period of a week and a half and also wrote an explanatory piece on the steps of creating and drawing a still life.

TAEA 2012 - San Antonio

I hate leaving my students but a good teacher continues to learn and develop as an educator and the Texas Art Educators Association annual conference is a great opportunity to do so. This year Mary Cavazos from the Fine Arts Academy at Grand Prairie High School and I presented a workshop on the tortilla paintings of Joe Bravo. Art teachers from across Texas learned about Joe Bravo, the tortilla painting techniques, as well as created their own tortilla paintings. As an added bonus, I gave a demonstration on making homemade tortillas. Teachers not only painted, but kneaded, rolled and cooked their very own, hot and fresh tortillas. You can find the PowerPoint from the presentation on the right link that says "Project PowerPoints." You can also find it for download on SlideShare under RodriguezArt. 

Thank you to the teachers who attended and participated!

"Imagine Peace"

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Academy received three sponsorships from the Lion's Club International for their annual "Imagine Peace" competition. Out of 15 pieces we narrowed it down to 8, then 5, then the final three which will be submitted to compete. It wasn't easy as so many of the pieces were great representations of our student talent. The criteria to make it to the final three focused on the following:

Concept
What is the message? Are the elements used relevant to the idea? Is it clear?

Skill
Did he/she utilize the medium efficiently? Were the choices for medium suited to the students skill and ability? Were the medium choices complimentary of the concept?

Craftsmanship
Was it neat and clean of random and unintentional marks? Were the pencil, pastel, etc strokes controlled?

The pieces that met all three criteria at a high level were selected, and here they are! Congrats to Alex, Rosa and Giorgi for their entry into this competition. Thank you to all of the students who worked hard to complete their pieces, there were many stellar pieces to chose from!

Veteran's Day

The academy students completed their Veteran's Day service project pieces and the response from the faculty, staff, administration and guests was overwhelming. The Veteran's who won the 7/8 Academy Studio pieces were thrilled to have a piece of art of their own. The 6th Academy linocuts are currently on display in the library.

Art is a process of sharing. As artists we have the opportunity to share our ideas, our dreams, and our talent. It can show many things. I hope this gesture shows our appreciation not only to the men and women who have given so much, but to their families who had to sacrifice as well. The token may be small, but the gratitude from each individual student who created the works was great.

Thank you to all of the Veterans and families who have, and continue to sacrifice.