Showing STEAM with Frank Stella...

Celebrating a lifetime of work
with a little bit of STEAM

Frank Stella, 1964, photo by Ugo Mulas

It is an exciting time to visit the Whitney Museum in New York City.  To begin with, the Whitney opened its doors in a new location and an amazing new building this year, bringing along the lifelong, trans-formative work of Frank Stella.

In my art class, I found this the perfect opportunity to inspire my students with Stella's early work, emphasizing a steady hand and protractors.

Along with my student teacher, we developed a lesson that challenged the students to transform a familiar analytical tool in their artwork, referencing the ideas and work of Stella.

The Venn Diagram

Frank Stella, Firuzabad, 1970 https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2002.9

I use Venn diagrams a lot in art class as tools for my students to organize their thoughts when analyzing artworks throughout our learning process.  These simple interconnected circles became the center of attention but in a different way.  

Along with the Retrospective of Frank Stella, November 19th, 2015 marked an incredible day for Arts Education:

In the midst of the biggest shakeup of federal education law in over a decade, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici 

(D-OR) successfully added an amendment today to the rewrite of the nation’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) legislation that will integrate the arts into STEM education (science, technology, engineering and math).

http://www.artsactionfund.org/news/entry/huge-arts-education-win-in-congress-today

What does this mean:

Art is CORE:)

"Frank Stella's 'Harran II', 1967". Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia 

Art is a CORE subject in developing our young peoples into creative and innovative problem solvers, bringing new perspectives, ideas and solutions to, what used to be, the fundamentals of education.

It is about time.

This art unit, not only studied the work of Frank Stella, but demonstrated to my students that fine artists, like architects, designers and....doctors, all use tools to achieve the best outcome and precision, steady hands and accuracy are important attributes.

The instructional sequence was developed within a three week time frame for 4th grade (seeing the students once a week for one hour).

DAY ONE:  Investigate Frank Stella's "Protractor Series", focusing on the elements, techniques and attributes that made Stella's work special. (Shape, color, line, overlapping, precision, big)  Allow the students a little bit of "play time".  Although the students may be familiar with using a protractor, anticipate their challenges:  moving the protractor, making lines to dark, moving the protractor too little...  This time, also, helps the students evaluate their own skills and what to do to achieve their best outcome.

DAY TWO:  Designate the second day for a quick review of the day before.  My students were given a homework assignment, in which they were to compare and contrast Firuzabad with a work by Kandinsky using a Venn Diagram.  After a group discussion, I demonstrated a process of transforming the Venn Diagram into something extraordinary.  I emphasized the process of overlapping to be simple and visually to appear consistent.  Erasing the overlapping shapes demonstrated to be a consistent challenge, but students found their way to working through the problem.

DAY THREE:  The last day focused on choosing a color scheme and piecing together our drawings with color.  I took the time to demonstrate using our color choices to complete our designs, emphasizing overlapping by deciding whether colors will "go over, or under" each other.  There was sense of hesitation at this stage in the project because the students expressed their confusion amongst all the intersecting lines.  BUT...it, really, all came together for them when they were filling in their colors.

The results were fantastic!  Most importantly, the students felt proud about what they accomplished.

These are just a couple of examples.  More of my students work (and works in progress) can be seen at

https://instagram.com/p/-R0d57O2HR/?taken-by=sanborn_smockroom

The resources and complete lesson is available HERE :)

xoxo, Smock you.

IAEA Conference 2015

Professional Development 

at its 

Best

Every year I attend and present at the annual Illinois Arts Education Association Conference.  And every year, I am revived and recharged by the amazing two days.

This year, I shared a lesson I created for my 5th grade students using styrofoam cups:
http://smockroom.blogspot.com/2015/05/ordinary-to-extraordinary.html

Here are some snapshots from the workshop.

This engaging art unit incorporated drawing, painting, sculpting and photography!

Thank you to all the participants for their energy and enthusiasm.

xoxo, Smock you.

First Grade and Ellsworth Kelly

Exploring Shapes and Colors 

with 

Ellsworth Kelly

in First Grade

First grade brings a wonderful sense of exploration and play to the art room.  These young students are eager to manipulate materials and seek out answers.  They bring a great energy to the room every week.  An on going theme throughout the year, is exploring various artists by following the story of Anna's Art Adventure.  

With adventure books in hand, we start with the work of contemporary artist Ellsworth Kelly with his simple, yet grand shapes and colors.  

The instructional sequence allows the students to play and explore geometric shapes and primary colors, using few methods of learning.  The year long goal for these young students is them to develop the initial skills and vocabulary in their art-learning and art-making.
For this particular lesson, the goal was for students to demonstrate their understanding of these simple shapes through identification, description and production.

The process was, also, my way of learning more about these students individual needs, their individual skills and their level of development in regards to introductory skills, such as, tracing, cutting, 

coloring, and painting.  

(After all, they are 6 years old and this is their first formal art education class.)
These snapshots illustrate the instructional sequence.  The sequence offered my students opportunities to explore, play and create, while building analytical skills, fine motor skills and art vocabulary.

Thanks for dropping by.

For the lesson click here:)

xoxo, Smock Room

Cheers....

to the Good Days....

As teachers, we are on constant roller coasters that wind, whip, creep, climb, drop and loop throughout the years. 

 Some years never seem to end, while some years in a blink, they are done.

Some years are one challenge after the other, while other years are full of sense of achievement.

Some days you wonder if you did anything that mattered to any student, while other days you receive a glimpse of something that mattered.  

Today was one of those days.

While shuttling off students, after school, to their various modes of transportation, one student came up to me and asked me why I did not teach his class this year, "I miss you", he said. 

Due to our school's growing population, their is another art teacher that instructs 2 classes. 

 I explained to him the reason and then asked him "why"?

"She doesn't teach like you do", he said with a subtle whine.

:)

There hasn't been a smile on my face the entire time of my teaching career but I can say that today,

"I'm still smiling".

xoxo, Smock You.

modern twists....

Looking at the Art of Suzan Shutan....

in second grade

A component to the second grade curriculum engages my students in the theme of community.  Much needed, this theme builds on several important and vital skills in today's world:  cooperation and collaboration.

All that is great but we are dealing with 8 year olds.  Engagement and interest are key elements for creating an environment for 2nd graders to build and grow these skills.  They also need to feel like it is fun.

As their art teacher, I search out new  and exciting artists that will capture the attention of these wonderful students, while "teaching them a lesson".  I came across Suzan Shutan in my search (I can't remember if it was on Pinterest or just a Google search-but I found her).  She is an installation artist!  How often do you use one of those in your classroom?

I was inspired to by her Tar Roofing Paper installations in which thousands of paper are looped to created wonderful undulating designs across walls, floors and ceilings.

I thought to myself, "Well, isn't this just perfect".
"What if all 2nd grade students worked collaboratively towards creating large hanging paper installations in the style/work of Suzan Shutan?"

And that is what we did.



Along the way we had to learn something and along the way we had to use some critical thinking skills.  I created a "sub-lesson" (meaning a lesson within a lesson) for my students to look beyond just rolling paper and explore these installations with an imaginative, exploratory eye (or eyes).

In connection with Suzan Shutan's modern work, I introduced my students to the folk art of quilling.  We looked at the process of quilling in comparison to the process of Suzan Shutan.  With many different examples, we focus on a more contemporary approach to the folk art and reflected on different ways to combine the two.



The results were magical.

Groups of students worked very diligently for an hour, rolling a gluing strips of pre-cut, colorful construction paper.  Everybody had a role, and everybody lent a hand.

These wonderful installations were hung in our school's hallways, receiving amazing reviews by staff, parents and students.

Find the lesson here:)

xoxo, Smock Room

Waking up in Paris

I write this a day late but, really, it is just in time when you are in Paris!  And in all honesty, we are not entirely fast moving.  Our plans of being at the Louvre at 9 am have changed.

The started with some coffee and doodling on the balcony, while listening to our neighbor practice her octaves.  We are after all in the Opera district.

To see the city in its entirety, and to understand where in the world we are, we jumped on a Big Bus Tour.  It was actually a really great way to jump on and off at all the sites.  And- it was a gloriously sunny warm day, making the adventure even better.

I have to admit, I held back a few tears... More like Niagra Falls.  I'm not sure how today will be....

Best part of day one....waking up in Paris.

But hearing the bells toll at Notre Dame du Paris wasn't so bad either.  It was 3 o'clock:)

It was time to see the city from a different perspective.  The bus arrived at Arch de Triomphe and it was enormous.  I remember sitting in art history seminars and surveys, learning about such monuments but pictures do not capture their true essence.  Big.

And we walked all the way to the top of this big monume, something unexpected and....well, we lost our breathe.  The view was worth every 200th step.

We saw a familiar site...and wanted ice cream!

We also sat along the Siene and listened to The Goldies, a rock cover band.  There is nothing better than knocking on heaven's door with a French accent.

Alas, it was time to head back home and grab some dinner.  Our little neighborhood has wonderful charming modern restaurants, even a barbecue joint, but we settled for something across the street.

And ate well.

Until the next post....

I, also, realized that I am posting this on the wrong blog...what can you do when you are writing this from your phone.

xo, an art teacher in paris