My First Artistic Influence

For my graduate class I am finishing up my final project.
It is called a prezi, similar to a power point, but a little bit more exciting (I hope).
If you are interested, copy and past the following link:
http://prezi.com/cxr9thzetfgz/my-artistic-influence/

This project is about my first artistic influence, who happens to be my aunt!

Saudi Arabia Map

This assignment was made for my grad class. We had to create something that had to do with our adolescent years. I actually picked pre-adolescent for mine. It was the time I lived overseas in Saudi Arabia. I chose to paint sandals, a soccer ball, and a camel in the frame. Then in the center I included a picture of our landrover from our desert camping trips. We also celebrated Thanksgiving in the desert! One of my fondest memories of my time in Arabia.

November News

October was Mill Pond's month for artwork to be hung on the Forbes building. I hope those students who had work up had a chance to see it on the third floor.
November is a shorter month, but a time for clay work at Armstrong. The Kindergarten, First, and third grades will all be working three-dimensionally with stoneware or model magic clays.
Stay tuned for photos of the kid's clay pinch pots, animals, and coil containers!

Arts in Common

Congratulations to all of our Armstrong and Mill Pond artists who had artwork hanging in the Arts in Common show! I hope you all had a chance to see the artwork, listen to the music and watch the performances on Saturday.

Open House

Open House for Armstrong Elementary is September 14, and September 28-30 for Mill Pond.
I will not be able to attend Armstrong's, yet there will be plenty of artwork hanging in the hallways for you to enjoy! I will be at Boston University for my art education grad school class that evening.
I will be attending Mill Pond's open house on September 29th, I hope to see you then.
We also have Arts in Common on October 2nd. There will be music, artwork for viewing and for sale. So come join the fun, located at the Baystate Commons in Westborough.

Welcome 2010-2011

Welcome back Westborough students!

School officially starts September 1st, 2010.

Open House for Armstrong Elementary is September 14th and Mill Pond is September 28th-30th. I hope to see you at one or both nights this fall. I can't wait to meet and talk about our art curriculum with parents and students on those evenings.

There will be more artwork to come once school is back in session.... See you soon!

Newport, RI

July 2010

Summer 2010

Today is the last day before summer break. I hope all of you artists out there continue making art and enjoying the warm weather! Stay tuned for more work from my students and myself.
See you all in September!

Spring is here!

Spring has arrived at Armstrong Elementary! The kindergarten classes have just finished up creating lily pads after studying Claude Monet and his lily pad ponds. The students used cool color paint to make the lily, then cut and glued a warm color flower in the center. Next, they glued the lily to the center of the class 'pond'. There are 5 ponds currently hanging all around school.

Art show taken down

Today we took down the spring art show for 2010. June will be Mill Pond's month for displaying artwork on the 3rd floor of the Forbes Building.
In the meantime, 6th grade has been printing shell images cut from linoleum, 5th grade is drawing the interior of the art room, the 4th grade has been finishing up some Australian Aborigine bark paintings, 3rd grade has finished their landscape paintings, 2nd grade made clay pizza (to be displayed in the glass case at Armstrong), 1st grade is currently finishing their self portraits, and Kindergarten has been making Claude Monet water lily ponds.
It has been a busy spring, next week will be some images of these new projects!

Armstrong Elementary's Fine Arts Night

Armstrong's Fine Arts Night was April 13th, 2010. Here is one of our budding artists standing in front of her artwork at the show.

Thank you to all who came by and looked at the work on display, it was a great night because of you.

Mill Pond Spring Arts Night at the Forbes Building

Mill Pond Spring Arts Night, April 6, 2010, was a success! Many of our students and their families came through the show to see their work, to take photos, and to watch the bands perform.

Thank you Westborough families for a wonderful evening!

Spring Art Show at the Forbes

The Spring Art Show has been hung! The opening nights for Mill Pond is April 6th, Armstrong Elementary is April 13th, 6-8 pm. Come join us for an evening of art, music, and family fun!

Westborough's Annual Spring Art Show

Come see Westborough's finest artwork from Kindergarten through 12th grade during the month of April! Mill Pond's Fine Arts night is April 6th, 6-8pm,
Armstrong Elementary's Fine Arts night is April 13th, 6-8pm.
The Forbes building is housing this event and is open during business hours, so stop by when you get a chance!

Kandinsky at WAM

This painting was made by a first grader from Armstrong Elementary. It is currently hanging at the Worcester Art Museum for the month of March as a part of the Youth Art Month display. The artist, Kandinsky, was the influence for this piece. The students studied his work and how to mix warm colors, then cool colors.

2nd Grade Field Trip to WAM

On March 10, 2010 a second grade class from Armstrong Elementary took a field trip to the Worcester Art Museum. During the trip the kids had the opportunity to tour the museum, participate in a hands-on clay workshop, and view the Youth Art Month entries from Massachusetts.

Youth Art Month at WAM

This clay pomegranate and 4 other pieces are on display at the Worcester Art Museum during the month of March, 2010. Youth Art Month is an annual art show that happens throughout the United States.

This year I picked 3 pieces from Armstrong Elementary and 2 pieces from Mill Pond School. The opening celebration is Sunday, March 14th 1-4pm. These pieces along with many more will be at WAM. All grades from Kindergarten through 12th grade will be on display!

6th Grade Clay Shoes

These shoes were made by students in Mrs. Barca's 6th grade class!

6th Grade Clay Shoe

This video is a demonstration for a clay shoe project I have my 6th grade students create. I will post some pictures of their finished work later this week!

Alien bust

I made this in college with clay and colored it with shoe polish. I used an armature of wood and newspaper before wrapping clay slabs around it. Then I purposely left the head open so I could add hair with the leaves of a plant. This is one of my favorites and a lesson I taught in high school with the older kids.

4th grade wire people

This piece is from a project where the students learn of proportion in the human form. Then they apply what they learn from drawing the body to creating a wire sculpture of it.

February Forbes Show-Armstrong Elementary

This month the artwork hung on the 3rd floor of the Forbes building belongs to Armstrong's young artists. This is just one of many on display now!

My Work

This drawing was made during a portraiture class I took fall 2009 at the WAM. I enjoyed trying different pencil hardness and softnesses, along with using graphite sticks.

1st Grade Clay Animal

The students in first grade each made a four legged animal with a long neck and a tail. They followed step by step directions when working with the clay. The kids could make any animal that fit this description. These are now on display by the front office in Armstrong!

6th grade Sand Art

The students studied the artist, Andy Goldsworthy and his found object sculptures in nature. They noticed how his work becomes eroded or wiped away by the elements, which was something that the students also realized about their sand sculptures. The only memory left of these is the photo I took or what they recall from art class!

Stone carving

I created this piece last summer while taking a class at the Worcester Art Museum. It was rather fun using the power tools and chisels to carve an image or idea from the alabaster stone.

First Grade Kandinsky Circles

This first grade painting was made after the artist, Kandinsky. The students first learned of the Russian artist and his concentric circle painting, along with his love for abstract art. On day 1, they painted only using yellow and red, yet made all the warm colors. Then, on day 2 the students painted the cool colors. On the third day, the kids used oil pastels to fill in any negative spaces.

This puzzle picture is from 5th grade. It was taken from Picasso's Madame HP painting. Each student was given a smaller piece of the picture, then asked to copy it onto a larger piece of paper. Once they finished the pieces, we assembled it together to make up what you see here!

My work

This is a photo I took on a trip to Key West. My friend and I took pictures of ourselves underwater, then several years later I went to a workshop and changed the image. I also learned the cyanotype photo developing process.

Westborough Public Schools

My student's art work, K-6th grade, can be seen here.

Armstrong Elementary's latest art show will be housed in the Forbes Building for the month of February, 2010.

This piece was shown at the Arts in Common back in October, 2009.