Week 15 April 27th - May 1st

Pinewood Elementary / Monica Derby - 2.5 Hours

It was my last day at Pinewood Elementary. We completed my lesson by painting our moons. The moons dryer completely over the weekend and were ready to be painted. We began the lesson by reviewing primary colors and how to make secondary colors. The students were very bright and knew the fundamentals of the color wheel. The children grabbed their moons and we handed out the paint. We reminded the students to remember from their previous drawings what they decided what color their moons will be. Most students followed suit with their worksheet, but some students changed their minds and thought of new ideas along the way. As I went around to check in with students, they experienced some difficulty with mixing the paint. This is where I wish I would of done a small demonstration on how to mix the paint to get the color you are looking for. Over All I believe the students had a wonderful time painting their moons and using their imagination overall to create a moon for earth. I hope to get invited back sometime in the near future. They were wonderful kids to work with and to see them expand their creative skills. 

Week 14 April 20th - 24th

Pinewood Elementary School / Monica Derby - 9 hours

This week I started my lesson at Pinewood Elementary school. We started with the first day talking about what we could find on a moon. Then what could be on a moon, with no limits. The children gave numerous great ideas that related to a moon that we know, as well as a moon that we would like to know, or have. The students then proceeded to fill out a worksheet that organized their thoughts on their ideal moon. The front had space for a drawing of their moon, and colored with colored pencil. Then the back was to write a paragraph describing their moon, using adjectives. The students came up with many different ideas, but some ideas bounced off of others and had similar ones as well, but had their own twist. The second day they had the opportunity to sculpt their moon out of clay. I demonstrated first what other moons look like from a spacial view, and emphasized that not much is seen from space. I showed pictures of different moons from different planets, such as four of Jupiter's moons and Titan, Saturn's moon. The students were fascinated by the different moons, and they were not aware that some planets had more than one moon. After the presentation and displaying the size comparisons to the students. I handed out the clay and let them sculpt the clay to display their moon that they designed the day before. I gave them plastic eating utensils and popsicle sticks to help make textures. After they sculpted their moons, we pushed paper clips in each moon to help hang from the ceiling when they are done drying. Then on monday we will paint the moons and let them dry, if they dry fast enough we should be able to hang them up later that day. The children were very excited to make their own version of the moon for earth. 

Week 13 March 23rd - 27th

Pinewood Elementary / Monica Derby - 11.5 hours

This week I started at my residency at Pinewood Elementary in Monticello, Minnesota. I am doing a residency for Monica Derby, who teaches 2nd grade. I started out by helping the students with learning how to read, they have new words every week that they continuous study throughout the duration of one week. I would take each student aside and have them read their words to me and if some were having a tough time with a word, or two, I would stop and help them remember how to sound out that word. This helped me too, by helping me connect with each student and learn their names. Every morning they have a morning meeting where they check in and read the board. Great their neighbors in a different way every day such as: greeting the person with a wink then asking them what their plans were for spring break. This also helped me get to know the students. This week the students were to define their “Dream Job.” Each student filled out a project sheet where they had to talk about their dream job as well as draw an illustration of them participating in that job. The students were very creative and had a wide variety of careers that they wanted to do when they grow up. 

Monica and I started discussing the lesson that I would perform would consist of. And the students are going to start reading some interesting stories within the next couple of weeks and she thought I could base my lesson off of one of those. They have one story that is about the planets and the solar system. I am thinking of making a lesson based off of the planets. But I am still pandering what I want to do. There are many different options, and I want to chose the right one that will benefit them the most. 

Week 12 April 13th - 17th

Pinewood Elementary - Monica Derby - 10 hours

This week at my residency I prepared for my lesson that I will be giving later the following week. I bought supplies and gathered information that will take my lesson to the level that is needed. I am super excited to see what the children imagine the Earth's "new moon" to be. Earlier in the week I helped students with math problems and reading. I helped the students grasp math concepts such as subtraction with three diget numbers. And for reading we went through homonyms ( multiply words that sound the same, but have different spelling.) Some students were having a hard time with some words, so I took them aside and helped them identify the words in their right context. 

I was given the opportunity to teach a workshop at Perpich Center for the Arts  for the Scholastic Art Show. The students demonstrated great skill and seemed to enjoy the letraset that I provided them with to create. From there I was asked to be apart of a panel, to answer questions regarding school after high school. That will be held at Perpich as well in about a month. I believe this will be exciting and beneficial to help me with my speaking skills. 

Week 11 April 6th - 10th

Pinewood Elementary / Monica Derby - 12 hours

This week I have came to a conclusion on my lesson that I will teach to Mrs. Derby's second grade class. I will demonstrate a lesson where they will create a moon for earth. Whether it may be a new moon, or another moon. They will be reading a short story called, "The Moon." I will start by talking about how other planets have multiply moons and the features of those moons. Then they will make the decision if they want to create a new moon, or another moon for Earth. From there they will start with a worksheet, where they will illustrate their moon and write a paragraph describing the landscape, climate, size, shape, can people live on it, or what can? Basically answering some of these questions. The next day, they will be able to create a 3D model of their moon that they have imagined out of clay and are going to be able to sculpt and paint the landscape. I am still working out the details and filling out the planning backwards sheet, but I believe I have a good basic understanding of what I want them to learn. This will be exciting to see what they come up with. 

During the planning of this I am still at my internship at the Walker Arts Center, learning in the family programs and education. Mostly so far I have learned about the actions of people that involve themselves in the arts. There is a lot to be aware of when organizing events revolving around the people that attend. Everything needs to be considered. I am super excited to move forward in this opportunity. 

For my lesson at Perpich, for the workshop I will be giving a lesson revolving around self portraits. The self-portraits will be created using lectraset, using letters and numbers. I have came to an idea that they could create emotive self portraits, but I am unsure if that is too much for the lesson, or if it adds an extra "zing" to the lesson that will get the children's creative minds going. 

Week 10 March 30th - April 3rd

 

This week was my spring break as well as Pinewood's spring break. In a result of that I was not able to complete hours, but instead I started to work on the workshop for Perpich. I came across an idea to use Letraset. Letraset is sheets of typefaces and other artwork elements which can be transferred to artwork being prepare by rubbing. The different elements can be used to create a self-portrait, or an animal out of letters and numbers. This project was presented at the Walker Arts Center for their free first saturday event, instructed and created by Kindra Murphy, a professor at MCAD. I would like to incorporate the letraset into my workshop. I enjoy that it is fully hands on and encourages creativity. 

During this week was also my first day as an intern for family programs at the Walker Arts Center. I was there on free first saturday helping with each of the activities and overlooking the creativity that was happening. It was a great experience to see children and adults find joy in making art. In the picture below was when I was binding journals for people utilizing a three hole stitch method that was simple yet elegant. The children were creating journals based upon one picture that they chose from a box and then decorated their book with rubber stamps that were supplied for use. 

Week 9 March 9th - 13th

This week I was not located at a residency. Next week I start at Pinewood Elementary in a 2nd grade classroom. Since I was not in the classroom, I've been working on a project for my screen printing class. This project is typographic based poster that utilizes color. I hand drew the type and used a variety of line variation throughout the quote that I chose. The quote that I chose, is one of my favorite quotes, “ The pain you feel today, will be the strength you feel tomorrow.” I wanted this poster to not rely on the computer, since much of my previous work is. This is the first time that I have screen printed, beyond two other previous projects. I found that screen printing is a short process and has a high color quality. I plan to utilize the knowledge that iv learned in screen printing to future projects.

Week 10 March 16th - 20th

Pinewood Elementary / Monica Derby - 1 hour

This week I was introduced to the second graders that I will be with during my residency at Pinewood Elementary in Monticello, Minnesota. Monica Derby and I discussed the residency and the days I would be attending her class. At the end when the class got into the classroom and did their morning duties. She introduced me to the class and explained what I would be doing there with them. Next week we planned to start and the first day I plan to bring in some of my smaller books that I have designed based on colors and photos that I have taken, to show what I do and the stuff that I make. I am excited to start working with the second graders in her classroom, they are very bright and happy children. 

Besides my residency, I have been preparing for a workshop that I have been asked to do at Perpich. I am having a difficult time deciding what I want to teach the students in the workshop. I am contemplating if I want to teach a graphic design lesson or a photo based lesson. I have until the middle of April to come up with a lesson, but I want to start putting my thoughts together now to get the ball rolling.

Week 8 March 2nd - 6th

This week I am still waiting to start my last residency at Pinewood Elementary on March 17th.

Week 6 February 16th - 20th

Walker Arts Center - Ilene Mojsilov | Education Department - 5.5 Hours

This week was my final week shadowing Ilene at the Walker Arts Center. At the beginning of the week they had a group of thirty Chinese Exchange students from Minnetonka join us for a day to discover the museum. They experienced the gallery then made their way to the art lab. At the art lab they were told to design “A Museum in the Future.” They only had thirty minutes to complete their model. The students were from the ages 15 to 16 years old. Some had a hard time ideating a concept for their museum, and one student asked me my opinion on “what is art?” I expressed my opinion to him and then I asked him for his. He stated that he is not sure about contemporary art, but enjoys traditional. From there he discovered that he should make a traditional museum. One group created a museum that was known for how tall it was (made out of foam core), the museum displayed traditional media. Another group focused on environmentally friendly atmosphere. 

Later that week,  went back to the Walker Arts Center and had the chance to experience sixty students grade seventh and eighth from an all girls school. The first group was the eighth grade ladies. Their task was to create a gallery space that was designed to their liking. They split up the roles as two curators and two artists. Two groups decided that everyone in their group would help in each area. The second group was the seventh graders. Each group expressed great concepts and layouts for their galleries. One group built a museum that was split in half with two different personalities; one side was endearing and simplistic, the other half was luminated with colors. Another group created a gallery that was just for teens that displayed a movie theatre like atmosphere with a upstairs balcony. 

I hope I have a chance to experience and volunteer at the Walker Arts Center in the near future.

Week 5 - February 9th - 13th

Anoka High School - Kevan Nitsberg | Art Teacher - 10 Hours

This week was my final week at Anoka High School. I got to see the start to some amazing concepts to the students emotive self-portraits. One girl had the idea of showing her feelings toward her twin sister, and portrayed this concept into the card of a queen. She would be connected to her sister and coloring it with colored pencil. I also had a conversation with two other girls in the classroom that wanted to use color to express different emotions. I told them my knowledge of ‘colorology’ and the different emotions each color can portray. I hope to go back and visit when they finish their emotive self-portraits to see the final outcome. 

    On Friday the thirteenth the Anoka High School had planned a field trip to the Walker Art Center. I was one of the chaperons and in addition I have been working with the Walker as a teaching artist student. Kevan has a student teacher, so her and I paired up with group four. The students were active in answering the questions on the tour and showed their knowledge about art history. After the tour, the students had time of their own to walk around and look at the rest of the museum. I had a conversation with an advanced level student who expressed to me their interest in Art History. I was surprised to hear that someone was interested in that area of study, I don’t hear it too often from high school students. I explained to her the program of the Art History minor at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Then I told her my story of how struggled with history classes in high school and and found that as they incorporated art into an history aspect, It clicked right away. She agreed with me. I asked them if they knew Hitler was an artist and they replied with a no. I advised them to watch “The rape of Europa.” Its a great documentary explaining World War two and its involvement with art. 

My experience at Anoka was great, I hope I have more opportunities to go back. 

Week 4 - February 2nd - 6th

Anoka High School - Kevan Nitzberg | Art Teacher - 10 Hours

This week I was dedicated to Anoka High School with Kevan Nitzberg. This week I over saw the persistent effort that went into starting the student’s emotive self-portraits. Many students have started their emotive self-portrait and putting deep thought into their decision making on the project. I observed that some students were struggling to start their portrait. One girl in particular was having a difficult time, we conversed and she shared that she enjoyed flowers. Her portrait that she started of her self, had flowers around the eyes. To me it portrayed Greek Goddess Artemis. I gave her a couple of Ancient goddess names that related to her interests and thither strengths in personality. The next day when I approached her in class and asked if she had made any break throughs with her idea. And the Greek Goddess, Artemis helped her thought process on the emotion she wanted to portray. 

I’v learned that any ideas help create more ideas and possibilities for a concept for a project. For the students, I can see that they are realizing that conversing with your peers and bouncing ideas off of one another can help generate more ideas that potentially point in the irection of your end goal.

Here are the pictures from my last week lesson with Kevan Nitzbergs class that I was not able to post last week. 

Week 3 - January 26th - 30th

Anoka High School – Kevan Nitzberg | Art Teacher – 12 Hours

This week I concentrated on my residency at Anoka High School with Kevan Nitzberg. At the beginning of the week I presented my lesson to his first hour Drawing 1 class. The lesson consisted of 'ideating' their emotive self-portraits. First, I presented a slideshow that displayed examples of famous artists and their self-portraits. We discussed the emotions the artists were portraying and some stories behind the artwork. At the end of the discussion I explained the assignment. They were to take an 18” x 24” sheet of paper and divide it in four sections. In each section they would sketch a self-portrait portraying different emotions in a variety of media. The students worked for the entire class period., though many students did not finish by the time the class ended. The sketches were handed  in through the next couple of days. 

I believe the students learned that the ideation process to a successful piece of art takes time and patience. They also learned to experiment with many possibilities before coming to a final conclusion. 

Some of the students thought the lesson was optional and did not finish the project and continued to work on homework that they currently had due for the class. This could of been prevented by my being more clear about the directions, expectations and the final goal to the project. Overall the students ideated through many emotions and are ready to start thinking about their emotive self-portrait assignment for Kevan’s class. 

I was not able to take pictures of the project at this time, but will have followup pictures on my next Journal.

Week 2 – January 19 - 23

Unfortunately, this week I was not be able make it to my residencies due to being sick.  I contacted my instructors and set up plans for making up the dates and planned presentation. Mr. Nitzberg was understanding and gracious and is allowing me to present my planned drawing lesson next Monday.

Week 1 – January 12 - 16

Anoka High School Residency – Kevan Nitzberg – 8 hours

Walker Art Center Shadowing - Ilene Mojsilov - 6.5 hours

This week I started my residency at Anoka High School with Kevan Nitzberg. I observed Kevan’s drawing classes such as his Drawing 1 and Drawing 2. We have found that Drawing 1  is a the better opportunity for teaching for me. They are in the process of completing their gridded self-portraits and then will be transitioning into emotive self-portraits. The day I was there, some of the students were working to complete their portraits  were still in the process of taking a picture of themselves to draw from. 

This week at the Walker Art Center I shadowed Ilene Mojsilov in the Art Lab. We were working with 3-5 years old children on creatures and habitat with the theme of chance. They spun a wheel to determined what the characteristics their creature would have as well as what color it would be. After they created their creature they would either put them in a creative minimal habitat that we created at the beginning of the session or they could create their own, by building a home for them. The children enjoyed talking about their creatures and the characteristics that they imagined for them. It was wonderful to see some children think of different characteristics such as: superpowers, or an over abundance or limbs. 

The second day I attended the Walker Art Center they had a St. Paul High School attend to create a "Future Museum." Ilene gave them the opportunity to imagine a future museum. The students had to think about curating, architecture, events, and theme and then work as a four person team to create their own future museum.