A Bright Space

Our school is creating a "Bright Space" within an already exsisting non-profit organization to sponsor. It's a place where teenage moms can live for awhile while they get help with job/school and childcare. Aubree, a fellow teacher at my school,(above in the pic next to me) was the coordinator of this fabulous project. She and my administrators asked me to come paint a tree mural Mon/Tues of this past week(while my school got a sub for me-whahooo!!!). The circles on the tree will later have families/students names who contribute to the "Bright Space." Thank you to all of the wonderful ladies who helped paint the wooden circles!

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chalk Board Video

I love this video-Thank you Grace at Design Sponge for posting this amazing video!!! I'm going to show it to my fourth graders next week who are finishing up a chalk drawing unit.

“Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable.” -George Bernard Shaw

Mother's Day Weekend 09

Sunshine and family this past weekend. We enjoyed hanging out in West Seattle for some yard sales and a nice picnic on Alki Beach.

Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. ~Meryl Streep

Some more Lisa Hannigan

Lisa Hannigan - Lille from ATO Records on Vimeo.


I love Lisa Hannigan's new album! ....and this video reminds me of art 101 with Professor Helmer at Greenville. We spent ages on our pop-up books.
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -Albert Einstein

Bed Slats Turned Art

I was going to throw out these annoying Ikea bed slats-but then thought they would make a nice art piece.
A joke is a very serious thing. -Winston Churchill

In the art room

"Louise Nevelson Wood Assemblages." This was a fun after school workshop. I had all my students create an abstract Nevelson piece that we painted red. After they created their Nevelson, they went crazy creating all kinds of other cool wood sculptures.

The ladies in the office asked if I could put something together for the front entrance/office at school. I hung three separate pieces of Plexiglas and painted a chestnut tree onto the glass. It's still not finished. More pics to come of this one....

Third Grade-Oil Pastel flower still life

First Grade-Charcoal drawings of dogs!! Our wonderful Librarian/creative writing teacher had the author of "Rembrandt and boy who drew dogs." come and speak to our students. So I had the younger grades work on these drawings while looking at some of Rembrandt's work.

Fourth Grade-The first set of prints were study prints of Wayne Thiebaud's work. Next, I had the students make prints of something that represents them as a person.

The Sushi print is one of my favorites.

Second Grade- Watercolor boats

Thursday After School Workshop-There were about ten students who created a one of a kind flower garden in our little cubbie whole in the stairwell. These students really brightened up our stairwell!

Fifth/Sixth Grade Ice Cream Cones-2nd Trimester.

Third Grade: Clay Australian Boomerangs

I put a whole bin of extra wood at the art center for students to work with when they are done with their project. The boys took to pulling in chairs to hold up their roadways.

Fifth/Sixth Grade scratch art-Tropical scenes. We spent one period coloring our paper with solid color. I covered each piece with black paint and students began their masterpieces the next art period.

“It gave me great pleasure to think that I could take wood, make it good, and make people like Rockefeller buy it with paper money.”-Louise Nevelson

Lisa Hannigan

I Don't Know from ATO Records on Vimeo.


I saw this video on design sponge and played it repeatedly while setting up for classes today. An excellent feel good song.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”-Albert Einstein

Fremont Troll

The kiddos and I checked out the Fremont troll under the bridge on Sat. The poor troll needs some tlc......and a manicure.
“To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.”

Michelle Beschen - Some Fun Home Improvement

a few art lessons from school

This is my "Art History Mystery" board. Every month I display an unknown artist's work and ask several questions. When students are finished with their art work they can use the computer or take home the questions I have posted to find out the mystery-"who is this artist?"...and of course whichever little detectives figure out the mystery recieve a little treat at the end of the month.

This is my little piece I created along side my students in an after school workshop. Its the space needle made from "Found Objects." (cd/cone thingee...and the inside parts of an old clock)

2nd grade winter scenes.

Jackson Pollock after school workshop.

5/6th grade "Celtic Alphabet" project for our Festival of Peace and Light.

3rd Grade-Complimentary Colored Numbers! We studied the art of Jasper John's for this project.

2nd Grade-Abstract German Castles. Students created these in December for our festival of peace and light. Students used building blocks to construct a castle onto their paper. This project was one of my favorites-lots of color!!

4th Grade-Stained Glass Art Design on the back of cd's.

5/6th graders made paper mache guitars of their own design. I had several students in this class who play the guitar so I thought it would be fun to study the history of the guitar .(Dangerous Curves-The art of the Guitar from the Museum of Fine Art in Boston).

Hey Franki-I'm finally getting up some pics of some art lessons. I've got some more to post...I'm also going to try and get some of my favorite art teacher links up on "my favorites."

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

-Dr. Seuss