visit Ortist

smArt History was just suggested to me this evening, and I can’t believe that I hadn’t seen or heard about this amazingly rich and wonderful resource!

It has a wealth of art images, links, blog commentary, videos, podcasts and lessons. The site is navigated in an incredibly user-friendly way. Even their “about us” page is fabulous, and describes this tool in a way that I am loath to paraphrase:

In smARThistory, we have aimed for reliable content and a delivery model that is entertaining and occasionally even playful. Our podcasts and screen-casts are spontaneous conversations about works of art where we are not afraid to disagree with each other or art history orthodoxy. We have found that the unpredictable nature of discussion is far more compelling to our students (and the public) than a monologue. When students listen to shifts of meaning as we seek to understand each other, we model the experience we want our students to have—a willingness to encounter the unfamiliar and transform it in ways that make it meaningful to them. We believe that smARThistory is broadly applicable to our discipline and is a first step toward understanding how art history can fit into the new collaborative culture created by web 2.0 technologies.

I hope that you will share this with your family, colleagues and classrooms, it is as entertaining as it is insightful and educational.

I love wire!

Wire is a great choice for elementary age artists, as the wire represents line, which makes a familiar link from two-dimensional drawing to three-dimensional sculpture. Students can clearly visualize how a drawing can become a wire sculpture by following the contours of their drawn lines.

There are many varieties of wire, ranging from thick aluminum to fine copper wire, and also colorful plastic coated wire more suited to younger artists, as it dulls any sharp wire ends.
Wire is also forgiving of mistakes and changing ideas, allowing for untwisting and re-twisting many times before the wire becomes too tangled to use again.

Below is a video tutorial demonstrating how to make a wire figure sculpture. You can create this and display as-is, or glue it to a base, add clay, aluminum foil or plaster to create a realistic figure with more volume. Try it at home with your family!

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One fabulous part of this school year is the opportunity to reach the community with classroom blogs through my school’s website. I can finally share all the work we’re doing in art class with parents, hurrah!  So, without further ado, here’s my first post for parent viewing:

Welcome to a new and exciting way to communicate about the Visual Arts program at Kingsley Montessori School. This page is intended to give parents a better understanding of what goes on in the art room, show concepts behind skills and techniques, shed light on the “Big Picture,” and share artwork as well as digital media, such as audio and video, more frequently. This will also be the place to find links and resources to help continue learning together at home.

Due to the overwhelming popularity and success of our Drawing-A-Day Challenge and exhibit this past February, we will have another similar challenge during the month of October, with a corresponding celebratory exhibition to share our work in November.  Details will be posted very soon!

This animation is just so clever. I’ve just received an awesome gift that should make creating projects like this a snap- a flip mino camera. I’ll post some samples of the video soon- so far I’m finding that it’s a great little tool that my students will love using.

I was lucky enough to attend a day of the November Learning Conference yesterday, which was an inspiring experience.  After hearing some of the fabulous ideas at BLC08 today, I’m impatient to start planning for this coming school year.  Unsurprisingly, one presentation that made me wiggle in my seat thinking about new possibilities was Joyce Valenza’s allegory of Pandora- where she challenged her audience to open their boxes, to ensure that all of these new tools are available to learners, that we invite our students into the teaching process, and do it all while practicing ethical use of information and media.  It’s funny, I must have had what was similar to parental pride while watching my mom present, observing the excitement and admiration of the crowd. She was fabulous.

One issue I’m expecting to encounter is the wait, however.  It seems that sharing our work is a “no no” in my school right now, while we decide as a school community what our policies are for online media.  I find myself trying to think of ways to get around parental and administrative concerns through things like audio podcasting, which was beautifully illustrated in Bob Sprankle’s Room 208 Podcasts. How do you skip around the safety and anonymity concerns in your school while still sharing and collaborating with these wonderful new tools and strategies?

I’m trying to stick to this one, because I actually enjoy practicing. Hopefully my roommates and neighbors can say the same for my practice sessions- thankfully the ukulele is a fairly quiet instrument.

Here’s the latest installment:

A music teacher and friend, Anne Sheridan, created this unit as part of her master’s thesis, and I love the intersections of dance, music, art and history. While her unit is geared towards middle school or high school aged students, the themes transfer easily to any age level.

This is a great example of how teachers can use voicethread to make a beautiful presentation, collaborate with colleagues, and organize lessons.

I am ecstatic with the range of ideas being expressed, and the thought process students are using! There will be exciting surprises once students bring in their additional materials from home to add texture and meaning.

Check out all of the masks here!

I’ve also set up a new ArtEdDigested wiki to collaborate on lesson planning with my colleagues here at Kingsley Montessori School, and hopefully my new educator friends that I am meeting here on Edublogs and in the Twitterverse. Ah, technology, I love you.

One of my favorite shows of all time is Sifl and Olly, a short-lived sock puppet show on MTV made by Liam Lynch. Sifl and Olly, though socks, have distinct personalities, mannerisms and even singing styles. There are also a cavalcade of peripheral characters that make appearances such as Chester the intern, and Precious Roy, home shopping network host.

I’d love to make music videos using sock puppets with the music teacher at my school, who also happens to be a fan of Sifl and Olly. For those uninitiated into the world of sock puppet, here are a couple example videos: