Blog becomes Vlog?

Last week at our Holiday Staff Lunch I had a long conversation with photography teacher, Keven Peck, about the blogging he has implemented in his class.  We have some overlapping students, and in conversation with some of them I discovered how their perception is that blogging in Drawing&Painting is more complicated than in Photography.  What?!?  Why is this I ask?  In photo, they write a longer reflection piece, but they only post one picture - the picture they have created to call their artwork.  In D/P, they post 4 pictures - sketch, 2 from the process, and finished art.  If these pictures are more complicated, would it, could it be more fun to create a video of the piece at its' various stages and verbally give a reflection rather than writing it???  We must try this!  And so the blog beat goes on....

Class Critique for Dec. 8th

I can't believe it!!!  This will be our last class critique for 1st semester!  Unless the class wants to be sneaky and do another one after winter break.  I will ask... we will see.

Herman

Clara

Ischel

Amanda

Clayton

Dominic

Mariah

Mariam

What is our next step to blogging?

We have a blog.
We have a structure.
Every blog post has one picture.
Every blog post has one response one reflection question.
Every work day has chrome books reserved.
Today we agreed that setting up a bin to 'turn in' the grading rubric prior to grading would be helpful.  This will act as a signal that a project is ready to grade.

Class critique for Nov. 8th

Whoa! I tried to use the Blogger app, and lost my photos into the internet black hole!  In an attempt to pick up the pieces, here are 3 of the 7 artworks that were up for our class critique.  Thanks goes to Curtis!

Clara

Trisha

Dominic

Class Critique for Oct. 27th

So, we planned to have a class critique today, and I need to change it to Thursday.  Sometimes life happens and we have to roll with it, right?  This is one of those times.  New date for the class critique: Thurs. Oct. 27th.  Other than that, isn't the work fantastic!?!

Curtis

Evan

Sonja

Spencer

Clayton

Mariah

Amanda

Blogging Tune-Up

After much preparation, and then not being completely prepared, we embarked on our first Blogging Tune-Up.  Students created blog posts based on a new '4 post per project' format.  We looked through the new HOW TO page, located under Student Blogs>Class name (such as Drawing and Painting)>HOW TO BLOG...
Simply, what I have been working to create is an answer sheet to the continuous string of questions on how to blog, which turns out to not be so simple.  Amazingly, today we arrived at a new place in our blogging.  That bright, shiny face that students have when they suddenly understand - was happening all over the place all day long!

The post-ART Conference exhilaration

      This past weekend was jam-packed with so much GOOD ART STUFF.  I attended five different workshops at WWU in Bellingham: Figure Drawing, Breakfast & Blogs, Urban Sketching, Discussion with keynote speakers Juliette Aristides and Ian Sands, and Gelli Arts Printing.  I learned new techniques to share with students and collected some inspiring ideas on how to structure my TAB instruction.  You might notice the changes to the Wa-Hi Art Room blog that I made - notably the addition of a STUDENT BLOGS tab where you will find links to separate blogs for each class.  We will be restructuring the blog posts, and next semester adding in a Breakfast Round Table once a week.  Also, I will be building a HOW TO BLOG blog to help us all learn the process.  Other than the power outage at the hotel and the tropical storm that missed its target, it was a lovely rainy weekend on the west side.

October 12th Class Critique

Wow! Amazing how our Class Critiques are becoming more familiar and routine for us.  4th time is a charm.  And another great change to our process - we had a different student share for each critique question.   Lighten the load and share the leadership. Thank Evan for the great suggestion!  

 

Mariah

Cecilia

Amanda

Herman

Spencer

Trisha

Class Critique tomorrow!

Works in progress....

 Clayton

Curtis

 Spencer

 Ischel

 Mariam

 Jennifer

 Skyler

Jessica

AP/Advanced Studio Class Critique

Tuesdays are Class Critique days!
I am very excited to present our first 6 inspiring pieces artwork for tomorrow's discussion.
We have made some helpful changes to our critique process: writing the critique sheet the day before, setting ground rules, focusing on open-ended questions, and choosing the pieces to write about (rather than randomly assigning).

Nature painting with Joyce Anderson

For only $10.00 you can work on watercolor painting with one of the best!
Joyce Anderson will be leading this class at the shelter at Rooks Park on Saturday, September 17th from 10-12pm.  What a great opportunity to paint and learn outside!

Follow the link for more info:
http://www.union-bulletin.com/calendar/classes_lectures_workshops_and_public_meetings/nature-painting-with-joyce-anderson/event_54138780-4dfb-11e6-8250-375061974446.html

Beautiful Blog 101

Here are some steps to build your Blog...

Click on NEW BLOG

Title your new blog for your artwork
If you need to change the name of your artwork blog, look on the tools listed on the left column, select Layout.  Scroll down to the Header box.  Click on edit. Type in the new name of your Blog.  Scroll down to SAVE.  Now that it is saved, then go back up to the top and click on SAVE ARRANGEMENT.

Choose an address.
Go with one that is free.  If you add 'wahi' to it, I guarantee it will be free.  You can also change the address if necessary.  Be sure to give me the new address so that all the links are current.

Choose a template

A Google Domains window will open, CLOSE IT.  Just continue on...

New Post (AKA add a new piece of artwork)
When you finish your artwork you will make a new post for it on your blog.
To make a new post, press the new post button.  A new document will come up.  First add a title at the top bar, such as a description of your project "Beautiful Blog".

Add Pictures and other stuff
Next you will add pictures of your sketch, process, and finished artwork.
You will need to save sketch pictures, process pictures, or time lapse videos to your school Google Drive, if the From Your Phone option doesn't work.

To Add a picture, click on the picture icon next to the word Link on the toolbar.
There are some choices listed across the top of the new window on where you can pull the pictures from: Upload, From Google Album Archive, From Your Phone.  I chose this photo of my dog, Tug,  From Google Album Archive.  

I am not sure if the Archived Photo Album is a special folder or something so I am going to have to look into that.

You can also click on the picture and choose what size you want it to be.  This picture of Tug is Medium size.  If you have artwork with a lot of detail you may want to choose a bigger size so the detail will show.  

The picture below was Uploaded.  I pressed the upload option and it took me to my Drive folders.  With this picture of Blossom, I changed the size to XLarge, because it was taken further away.  Now that it's bigger, you can see Blossom's face better.

As a non-cell phone owner, you will need to try the From Your Phone option, and then share with me any tricks or details that everyone will need to know as that will be the most common source for posting your pictures.
To add a video, click on the icon that looks like a "Directors Action board." From there you again will chose the source of the video.  In this video we see Knutles showing Blossom how to get the job done.

Artist Habit: Understand Art World
To show that you learned something about an artist or the art world in general, you will need to include the website or video that inspired you or provided the information.  To do this, type the title of the website, article, or video on your blog.  Go to the website, and copy the URL.  Go back to your blog and paste that URL under the title.  Once pasted, then click on the Link button up in the toolbar.  

Week of August 29

Monday
Oh, Art Vocabulary!  How we love thee.  Words were logged onto a graphic organizer and rated on how well you know the word and what the word is and how it might be created or used.  Demo on Contour Line and Line Quality performed in under 10 min.  Everyone gets a new 2H pencil and eraser.  Students chose a photo reference of their choice and began creating a contour line drawing of it.  After five minutes, stop, take out your phone, what!?!  Take out your phone and take a picture of your drawing so far.  This is your first ever PROCESS PICTURE!!   Now, put your phone down and continue drawing.  Exit card: Do you have daily access to a camera?  What do you like to do in your free time?
Tuesday
Today was your lucky day... you got your very own HB (No. 2) and 6B pencils.  Then you got to use those pencils to create a 7 part value scale and a gradation scale in the sketchbook. Students will Everyone continued working with their photo reference, finishing the contour line and adding shading with a full range of values.  I wanted students to take process pictures at 10 min intervals, but by golly, everyone was so into the "Zone" I couldn't stand to interrupt the magic.
Wednesday
Intro to Google Classroom 101.  Being the non-cell phone owner that I am, I love it when I get to show students new things about technology.  Today was that day!  We joined Classroom, created a doc to respond to 4 reflection questions about our drawings, created another doc to upload process pictures, and took an Art Interest survey.  Art loves Technology.  They should get married some day and have some children named New Media.  Oh, what?!  They did that already...
Thursday
Today, quick demo on grey ground and using the eraser as a drawing tool.  Students created a drawing of a black and white high contrast photo reference on the grey ground.  Some love it and some hate it.  Such is life.
Friday
Did you say no school?  What?!?  Here in Walla Walla we celebrate the Fair like a holy holiday, and Kid's Day is today.  So, git on goin' down to da fair y'all. And love yourself an extra day off.

First week back to school...

The week started with "Back to School Night" on Monday. This is a big change for our school to have the open house before school starts. I loved the energy in the air, although I only got to meet a few parents. What needs to be different so that I can meet more parents?

Tuesday! Our first day back we make sketchbooks, talked my students through the syllabus and the Teaching for Artistic Behavior (Choice-based Art/TAB) format of the Drawing & Painting class. I wonder if they realize the amazing experience they are in for?? In 3rd period, Advanced and AP, we started on our first project - Art Re-do. This art piece starts with a piece of work left on the drying rack from last school year. Recycle, Reuse, Re-do! We will use these pieces to practice our first class critique next week.

2nd day of school (Wednesday) means TAAASSSKKK PAAARRRTTTYYY!!!!! Wow! What a success! Everyone was engaged! So many laughs and smiles! So many waffles! So much spontaneous art created! Right in line with the spirit of TAB.

Thursday was "Input Day." This is almost like the NFL draft when the kids give input on what they want to work on and accomplish this first semester. I collected some long lists of ideas from all classes, so now we are in business. By Thursday, lots of schedules were still being changed, but everyone so far was set with storage folder, storage drawer, grade sheets, and many turned in parent syllabi.

Friday we watched a video on Oliver Herring, the artist that created Task Party, followed by a short debrief of our Task Party focusing on what we did well and what we need to change. Should we have another Task Party? YES, of course! Friday we got arting on our first round of observational sketches. Sketch for practice. Sketch for ideas. Sketch for fun.

Was I tired by the end of the week? No way! I am pumped for all the fun that will happen next week!