Paper Mache

There are so many possibilities with paper mache! In the past my students have created oversized pencils, apples, and lipstick. This year we kept it simple and the Art 1 & 2 students created simple letters while Art 3 students had the choice to create a word.

Students begin by creating a 3 dimensional form of their letter/word with poster board and masking tape. 

We used a liquid starch and water mix to paper mache three layers of newspaper on the form. Students then used bleeding tissue paper as the top layer to provide color unless they created a word, then they had the option paint it.

It can make quite the mess.

Completed word by Alyssa A. She even received a medal for it at the Junior Vase Scholastic Event.

Another medal winner but by Blake B. The craftsmanship on this is impeccable, difficult to do with paper mache.

The Beauty of Fruit, Complete!

These pieces turned out STUNNING! Check the prior entry here to see the first steps of the project.

Cinco Winners

Congrats to the Academy artists on their recent wins for the district annual Cinco de Mayo Art Competition. Reagan Academy students took first, second and third place! The pieces are shown below the photo of our first place winner, 6th grader Serena!

1st Place: Serena R., 2nd Place: Rosa. B,  3rd Place: Donovan C. 

Our 18 Cinco De Mayo Entries

Currently some of the pieces are being featured at the district Education Center

Junior VASE Results

Now that Junior VASE is OVER and was a great SUCCESS I can get back to posting on a regular basis. There's A LOT to post, but for now (as promised) here are the results.

We took home a total of 43 division medals. More than half of the artwork we presented medaled. From those medaled pieces the top 10% is selected for an additional medal, a silver. The silver medal is the highest honor at Junior VASE, it's the equivalent of the gold medal at the high school VASE event where they would then advance to State. We received TWO of these medals! Noah L. received a medal for his Alice in Wonderland inspired teapot, pics to come soon. Lexus L also received a silver for her oil pastel drawing of a kiwi!

The following artists received a medal in their division. A "2" indicates they medaled for more than one piece.

Anna L (2)
Alexandria W (2)
Grace T (2)
Mariah W
Michael H
Blake R
Savannah W
Rosa B (2)
Paislee Y (2)
Paola R
Adrianna V (2)
Clarissa B
Donovan C (2)
Alyssa A
Marissa G (2)
Faith L (2)
Nancy A
Terra C (2)
Serena R
Salma O
Lexus (PLUS SILVER)
Serena M (2)
Karen H
Ashton C (2)
Mark L
Jessica N
Tyler J
Noah (2) PLUS SILVER
Ulyana V (2)
Alli O

Congrats to everyone who participated and for those that medaled! I was told our work was wonderful and that we are doing great things at Reagan! Thank you for giving up your Saturday morning to represent your school. I am proud of you! Come by before first period to get your medal(s) if you received one!

Dinosaur Tracks

And a word from our student teacher...

Our Reagan Art Students completed clay tile “Dinosaur Foot Prints”. This activity introduced the students to clay as a medium and furthered their understanding of the use of texture in art. The students were introduced to the history of ceramics in a short PowerPoint then they were given a PowerPoint and a worksheet detailing the major genera of dinosaurs. From this information, they were given the choice to choose any type of dinosaur they wished.

Using rolling pins and other supplies, they learned how to work with clay. Their task was to make slabs that they then cut into individual four inch squared tiles. The next step was to have the students create a relief sculpture that looked like a “Dinosaur foot print” and apply a glaze of their choice that mimicked stone.

The final product was a marvelous variety of work that came out quite well.

-Jon Matney, student teacher, UTA

In cased you missed it...

The GPHS art teachers spent time talking to our art students about the wonderful opportunities at the Grand Prairie High School Fine Arts Academy...

Of course a month later we find out after this year there is no longer a Grand Prairie High School Fine Arts Academy but will now be a 6-12 Grand Prairie Fine Arts Academy magnet school! We will open August 2013 and we are THRILLED. Here's a pic of the day we presented it to the middle school academy students! 

We went to Seussical at GPHS and were amazed not only with the performance but the incredible set by Jordan Fetter and his technical theatre students! Art is everywhere!

Last but not least, I finally put up my WORD WALL! Thanks to Mr. Whitaker, my awesome assistant principal and evaluator who encouraged me to do it. I also learned that I have a panoramic option on my iPhone camera, oooooh :)

Teapots

The 7/8 Academy Students are working on Alice in Wonderland inspired teapots. It's been a challenge to say the least but so far so good! Thank goodness for the clay experience of our wonderful student teacher Mr. Matney. We sure will miss him when he's gone!