Did someone say Sunshine?!

I would simply revel in the unexpected recognition but... I enjoy writing too much and admire too many others for the work they put in to their blogs to not say Thank You and share what they have taught me.

TonnstodinArt is currently a 'work in progress' as I have transitioned to elementary art.
Previously, this blog fulfilled my daily communication with students at the secondary level and allowed me to outline their curriculum and projects for the semester.
It was also a place for us to showcase their work.
Right now, I am working to outline my grade level projects and create a platform for the Howe ArtRoom to communicate & connect with others... hence the 'work in progress' and a bit disorganized, which will hopefully get a better look as we roll into 2nd semester.

In the Sunshine Award tradition:
1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger : (end of post)
2. 11 random facts shared about myself
3. List 11 bloggers that deserve the blogging good juju
4. Post 11 questions for the bloggers.

To address the 11 questions and add my 2cents:

1. Music I am listening to..
FUN. Jack Johnson. and then we can go to Katy Perry. Eminem.
It truly depends on where I am & what we are doing-

2. The Book~ Stephen Covey: The 3rd Alternative ~ synergy.  digital/paper
3. Apple/Microsoft:  Apple. but yet I have some attachments with Microsoft.. a lot of attachments.
4. If I could live in any other country than our own... I like ours too much to live elsewhere.  BUT vacation- we will!

5. When I am not thinking about school.... I am thinking about athletics & coaching, working out, then the classes I am taking, then maybe coffee, food, the possibility of getting a LIFE.
After that, I am realizing what meetings I missed and that is always a bit of a downer.

6. The one person in my life:  Ethan, is the absolute.  He is the one that keeps everything together, the glue.  He is so smart, and for some reason- puts up with my gifts of never hearing the dog at night, forgetting to put gas in the car, losing my (fill in the blank), and my need to be social and surrounded yet independent by making my own decisions- like to sell the motorcycle or keep it for just 1 more year.  I am a roller coaster and he keeps me on track.

7. If I could meet anyone... honestly.  It is the people that I get to connect with in my life right now that matter to me.  They are who I admire and who I can learn from.  It would be great to sit down with Ellen, (yeah, she is the greatest (famous) person, ever) but that would be a minimal amount of time with a LOT of laughing......  & I have a lot to learn from those around me, those that may see things as I do and those that do not.  Relationships make the ride so much sweeter & I cherish everything I learn from those around me!!

8. During the holidays.... I clean & do laundry!  Right now: load #6 & shampooed the carpet
I also get to spend time with my favorite people & their families : our group of friends is truly a little family.

9. My 2014 resolution... work hard, be strong, optimistic, and open to new opportunities.

10. If I wasn't an educator, I would... open a Crossfit Gym with a close friend & help/teach others to find the joy in fitness & the value in trying ANYthing Once or work in HR or think about photography & being more involved with the community... actually, when this issue is truly at stake I kind of have a melt down about not having a teaching job: I love what I do!

11. On Fridays, I like wearing... jeans.  Lets face it- elementary art is messy and sometimes you need to get to the little people's level so Friday is the day that doesn't make me feel bad about wearing jeans!

Blogs  (10) (i love and am inspired by...):

ANYthing Once - #aowr / depending on the day- it is our workout times and weights, but it also holds some great thoughts throughout the seasons, inspiration and reflection from the WR AM family : it isn't just what we do but what we have gained from each other that makes this a place for us.
TechToolsforTeaching - #tt4t
OneCrayolaShort - J.Youngman
theAppliciousTeacher - L.Langton
bitsotruth - a good phrase can go a long way
the art pound - S.Wegenast
Adventure of an Art Teacher - K.Morris
Becker Middle School 7th & 8th Grade Art Classes
Wonder Brooks - S.Dewitt Brooks
Mrs.Taylor's Artopolis - L.Taylor


Thanks Matt for the recommendation....

Mr. Renwick (@readingbyexample) and my current Administrator has, without even knowing I'm sure, taught me much since the beginning of this school year.  He is efficient and strives to empower those around him to be reflective and responsive in their practice... he is very good at seeing the strengths in himself and others yet to always keep in mind what we can improve in him/ourselves.
Something we all can do and acknowledge in each other.  Thanks Matt.
I feel lucky to have ended up at Howe and absolutely adore our staff and our students : Howe is a great school! 
#rapidspride

11 questions:
1.  Favorite book or Books you would recommend.
2.  Best mentor/experience to date & what did they/it do that moved you.
3.  There are 7 days in a week: which one is 'your day'.
4.  What is #1 on your bucketlist : If you have no bucketlist; what is the absolute 'I need to do this at some point' kind of thing.
5.  What makes you smile?
6.  Snow or Sunshine?
7.  If you weren't doing what you are doing right now... what would you choose to do?
8.  Favorite Gadget that you CAN'T live without?
9.  Best app you can think of?
10.  Inland adventures or the Shores of the salt water?
11.  Absolute favorite person in your life - why? (if you can't choose, 2 will do)

December in the ART ROOM

Kinder- Winter Hats and Mittens

1st Grade- Snowflakes and Arial Snowmen
The watercolor resist sky will be created for their background and then we will move into sizes of small, medium, and large for the snowman.  Students will use a template to assist them in drawing but will cut free-hand.  We will put it all together and finalize the snowman with some details of scarves, carrot noses, and sticks for arms.

2nd Grade- Starry Night and Winter Trees
A foreground, middleground, background project with a twist.
Van Gogh's starry night will be a fun twist on a sky and the gray, black silhouette of the grounds will help create a good contrast.

3rd Grade- Clay Picasso Portraits
Slabs cut for the size of their Picasso masks.  Profile line will begin the separation and we will use additive and subtractive methods to complete the project.

4th Grade- Clay Slices of Cake
Slab & Coil techniques are being combined to create these awesome pieces of cake.  They are going to finalize their piece by the details on the lid/top of their piece of cake.


Sub Projects:
 Wreath of hands for grades 3-4.
All students will trace their hands, cut them out & glue them in a pattern to the cardboard bases.

 Snowmen catching Snowflakes
All students will cut a circle and a half circle out to create a snowman.  This snowman can be seen from the side, looking up, or in any which direction the prefer.
Students will use the scrap paper to create a scarf and cut out eyes, mouth, a nose.
IF there is time students will use the marshmallows and the trays to print with white paint- in the background or they can use crayons to make snowflakes.

Picasso, Clay, and 3rd Grade.

3rd graders are going to be learning about
Pablo Picasso Spanish Artist, Painter , Sculptor, Printmaker 1881 - 1973
The Imagination!  Fearless combinations of such random pieces that are simply interesting to admire!
Video 1. Transformations.
Cubism & Portraiture - beginning sketches.. Cubism in 2minutes
Then a move into Clay with our Picasso inspired Faces / Final Examples

What is clay made of:

FooD as Art?!

Meet Wayne Thiebaud - Video 1
1st Grade
Ice Cream Cones

4th Grade Cakes

Drawings First... 

Then creating pieces of cake out of Clay!

Week In Action:

Literally! 2nd grade is now moving into Keith Haring!
A wild guy that began a movement of motion based on simple lines and solid shapes.
2nd grade is going to be awesome at this:
We begin with some intro to the man of the hour:
Haring moved to New York City in 1980 when he was just 20 years old to attend college at the School of Visual Arts. This was an exciting time to live in New York City because a lot of exciting things were happening in the art world. Haring was excited to be a part of it all, but because he didn't have a lot of money, he could not go see artwork he loved in the big museums and galleries. Haring thought this was unfair and believed that art should belong to everyone and that it should be free to the public. This inspired Haring to begin creating his artwork places where everyone could see, like the subway and on sides of building. Soon, people began to take notice of his fun, cartoony style and he became one of the most famous artists of his time!
Then we work in some practice.
Actions & Emotion & Movement with the body.
Check these out... Video 1 / Video 2

Followed with a Team Activity.
We begin by choosing a team member to be the model.  They will hold the pose.  They must be VERY STILL as we draw around them.  Ms. Tonn will highlight the countour line in black marker.  THEN, we choose a color from the back counter to fill them in. Silhouette will be our word: a dark shape and outline of someone visible on a lighter background.
Fill the object in with that color, entirely.
Last, we will need to have a steady hand to outline the solid figure.
A great site is the Keith Haring Take Over.

K-1 Clay Birds - Slab work.
3- Landscapes - oil pastels / collage paper
4- Portrait Completions and 1pt Perspective & 3D Lettering Practice but will be moving into
Totem Pole Creations (flickr - Pinterest G4)

What? Approximate representation on a flat surface... huh?

Perspective is exactly what we are talking about....
And 4th grade is gaining some Perspective
A simply travel with our pencil to create depth in our drawing on a flat sheet of paper.
The beginning will be simple... a hallway.  Our name/letters.
And then... A LANDSCAPE. Inspired by Mr. VanGogh & his artwork

3rd- 2 are experimenting with oil pastel landscapes & 2 are experimenting with collage landscapes

2nd- Dale Chihuly is our guy for a few more classes (ArtRageous)

K-1- Some work in our Art-Sketchbooks & some finishings to our Piet Mondrian Inspired Works!
With Primary Color Spiders for our Webs


Class Pics & Finds for our Artists:

Keep'n it Real...

.. or at least we are always trying to.

Updating is a continual for blogging and it helps keep the order of things together and the work for the week at a 1-stop shop for class use.

I am always amazed at how much can be accomplished in the matter of an hour with K-2 vs 3-4!

Keeps me on my toes and gives me absolutely no time to allow myself to wander to another project without breaking it down... 

My experiments with each class had led to some awesome findings, keeps things interesting and allows the projects we do to continue to evolve.  

The only hard part: remembering as I look through their projects just where we left off and what they were doing that the others weren't...

BUT- art is nothing without some experimenting.. so experiment we will.

K- Monsters (book in class) and Mondrian

1- Piet Mondrian work with geometric shapes & Primary colors
Mondrian Video of stop motion & another video of Mondrian's Painting progression

2- Dale Chihuly 'Persian' Series : Through the Looking Glass

Chihuly- In Action  They are amazed at the transformation of Glass.

Students will be designing a pattern addressing color and watch the transformation of the plastic as the heat gun begins to mold the plastic; a correlation to glass as it is heated.

3- Landscapes - Foreground, Middle Ground, Background / Large, Medium, Small / Details & Distance

4- Portrait Completions and Creating Fonts Completion / We will then be doing a quick lesson on lettering and one-point perspective / Video

Composition of Red, Yellow, and Blue by P.Mondrian

 Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue (1921), a painting composed of primary colored rectangles on a grid of black lines. In the years that followed, he continued to eliminate "non-essentials", limiting his works to these "basic forms of beauty."

Round II

1st grade has now joined the portrait bandwagon.  The beginning project got them reminded and accustomed with the art room.  Now we are working on a watercolor portrait with Kandinsky inspired circles in our background.

2nd grade is jumping into clay....
An underwater theme of fish and turtles will get them going.  Two classes will be doing textured fish and two will be doing texture turtles!  Our focus will be to apply texture to the slabs and then score & slip their fins or legs on.
We are going to learn about the parts of the fish & turtle we need to have in order to make them look as they should.  But the texture- that is all up to the student!

3rd grade has ventured into landscapes with a focus on foreground, middle-ground, and background.  We are viewing many famous works of art and acknowledging their composition.
We will be working on creating our own landscapes together, they will sketch their own, and then we will be enlarging the image.  How this will all come together is still up in the air... the mystery behind the project.

4th grade- finishing their portraits: there are 3 levels to their portraits and this should be the end.  We will be moving into an abstract experience with music and color after!  (excited!)
The global read aloud is going on right now at HOWE and our 4th grade is reading:
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
Our focus is Chapter 2 when the main character describes how she can 'almost hear the colors and smell the images' when music is being played.

First Projects...

...of the year have been completed and we are OFF.
Getting the first portraits completed was a huge success for the kids.
It is pretty awesome to see the way they start analyzing their work and their portraits.
Portraits : Modigliani : Eric Carle : and some Contour Lines so far...

"There is something special about a Circle.  

It gives a sense of completeness, safety, & belonging.  

When I sit in a circle no one is 1st and no one is last.  And no one is left out.  

That is the work I want to do.  I want to help complete the circle."

Howe Elementary Art. Great 'Artists-in-Training'.

Getting the 'GooD StufF' going on.

Portrait projects are on the way... with a little Eric Carle fun for 1st

4th Graders are stepping up to the plate with Warm/Cool or Complimentary Color Scheme Half-Portraits

3rd Graders are getting to know Mr. Modigliani & his portrait style and also how to test, work, and blend their soft pastels.
And they are lookin great!

2nd Graders are experimenting with contour line and pattern backgrounds.

1st Grade is working on the Caterpillar Collages:

Eric Carle 'The Very Hungy Caterpillar' 

Portraiture Projects BEGIN

2nd-
Warm and Cool Color schemes and the feelings behind colors.
Creating Warm & Cool Paint Papers with tempera cakes
Learning about contour lines (a continued outline with no shading) and using photographs of themselves to create a contour line drawing.
Their portraits will be on one paint paper so the black 'pops' off the paper.
The opposing paint paper will be used for their names on their projects.

3rd-
Abstract Portraits with Modigliani Inspiration
Black paper and Elmers glue will start this project off.  Our drawing will be worked out onto a long black paper that we will then be using our glue bottles to help us go over the lines.  The glue will dry and we will fill in the image with soft pastels.

Modigliani (Amedeo Modigliani) was famous for his elongated and elegant portraits, painted in Paris back in the early 1900s. Heads and necks were long and narrow, giving his subjects a very graceful look.

fixed the dripping glue... but eliminating the eyes for the modigliani hollow look

4th-
1/2 portraits & lots of color.  Guidelines help us work this portrait out.  Focusing on shapes and lines and all the good stuff that makes us- US!
Warm & Cool color schemes or Complimentary color pairs will be used for our defining of the hair / skin.  Oil Pastels will be the go-to in this project!  Our faces will be cut out and applied to a black / white or black & white background.  (Variety people!!! Everyone loves VarIety)
We will also be working on Block Lettering.  This we will begin working on to then find some details to add to our work!!!

Kathy Barbro rocks!

Lets Be Awesome.

The Howe Elementary Art Room

WELCOME TO HOWE!

Home of the Bulldogs.

First year at Elementary.... since I graduated from college and taught for a year and here I am trying to get back in the saddle with the youngsters.

Will admit: I had no idea what having an 'art room' would be like.  I have been Art-On-A-Cart down south and then when I came back to Wisco I have been in shared areas ever since.... So set-up, bulletin boards, organization, and truly making a room as functional-as-possible was the absolute goal.

So this is as far as we have gotten.... still clean but that will be changing soon!

Themed it with 'COLOR'.  Primary, Secondary, and Complimentary.  Worked in a Word Wall & the Elements n Principles.
This year our PBIS is 'Howe to be a Top Dog' so we are working on being 'Top Dog Classes' in Art.
Our Artists will be 'Top Dog Artistis'.....

Kudos to pinterest and the amazing people out there showing their galleries off of student work, bulletin boards, projects, and all that greatness.  It has been so helpful and inspiring!!  BIG thank you!

Will be honest.. I love spray paint... so the chinese lanterns, cds, planters, and containers were all sprayed to add some color- everywhere!

Magnets are super nice on the dry-erase boards also!!

This room is shared by two teachers... and space is always the issue... so working to make it as functional as possible so we don't pull our hair out with the craziness that can become an art room.
Lets face it.... Art really isn't all that funny if we don't get messy..
So the ultimate Goal will be 'Controlled Chaos'.

WE BEGIN!

Projects to get us going... Color and Portraiture.
K-1 we are working on paste paper and texture creations!
     Color! Primary Colors & what they create!
2- contour line portraits + warm and cool colors + FONTs - tissue paper, transperancy, lettering
3- modigliani inspired portraits with a twist of pattern - glue, pastels, blending
4- portraiture and lettering - measuring, marker and colored pencil
Found this idea online from a couple great examples HERE & HERE.
This is an awesome beginning- portraiture: and we are all about it.

Welcome 2 Art!

Rules.
Expectations.  What it takes to be a 'Top Dog' Artist and a 'Top Dog' Class in Art.
Sketchbook.
'Toss A Round' ~Getting to know Ms. Tonn & our class together.

The 'Dot' Project.

onecrayolashort

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Sept. 15th is International Dot Day.

The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds

K-1  we will work on lines and color families.
2-4   we will work on line color shape and patterns.

Lots of great stuff will come from this awesome school project.  Working together and combining our quarter circles to be complete will be an awesome vision:
We will help each other to complete the circle...

The end...

.. of the 2012- 2013 school year.

Congrats to ALL... great digital work and great videos!

Have a safe and happy summer!!

Simple/Complex highlights/shadows

Video- work away.... the good stuff will be enjoyed on Friday... Videos to watch Thurs/Fri

Scratch art ex) + some discussion

Some help plz...

I have a task to accomplish and I am in need of some help....

Everyone is able to work on finishing whatever needs to get done, do some experimenting with tutorials, and get some more footage if necessary ....
But.. I am hoping you could help me today.

Thursday... THE LAST DAY with Seniors