Week Four Falk Laboratory School Nov 11-14

Week Four Falk Middle School November 11-14th, 2019

Monday November 11, 2019

8th Grade Visual Arts

• Self Proposed Project 
• Started this lesson by asking students "What is one thing that you love or that inspires you"
• Students gave simple answers like volleyball, my cat, ice cream
• Then I demonstrated to students the process of creating a free flowing brainstorm of all that things that inspire me
• I broke it down into things that I love, things that make me smile, things that remind me of home, and art materials that I love
• Yoga
• Dance
• Family and friends 
• Nature
• Laughter
• Traveling
• Meeting new people
• Health
• Fitness
• Screen printing 
• Painting photography
• Mixed Media
• Then we had students create their own brainstorm in their journals
• We gave students a very large amount of time to fill this out 
• When students were finished we brought them back to the circle to show them all of the mini artworks that we created that focused on yoga
• I explained how I made each mini artwork and how it represented yoga
• Then students went back to their journals to begin sketching what they will want to communicate and with what material

Art Lab 7.3 and 7.1

• Students got right to work and had a full period to just work on their stop motion paintings 
• Students are getting to different points in the process, but they are aware that they will all keep painting until they are told to finish
• So we will just have to make sure the slower-paced students are able to finish the four elements of their identity in the next 2-3 classes

Tuesday November 12, 2019

Visual Arts 8.2

• Same as the above
• Students are sketching out ideas that include making a bust out of clay, making a creepy doll, making a gazebo,  creating a drawing for dungeons and dragons, painting on cloth to make a dress, creating glass mosaic tiles, creating clay slabs 

Art Lab 7.2

• Same as the above 
• When asked if the students think they can finish the 4 elements of their identities in their paintings in 2 more class periods there were 50% yes and 50% no/maybe

5th grade push-in

• On November 19th a famous shadow puppeteer will be coming to the school to perform and also work with the students in fifth grade and puppet club to put on a shadow puppet performance
• He is from Turkey and uses animal hides to create his puppets
• His stories include an underdog and an oppressor, so students created miniature sketches of characters that could be in a puppet show 

Wednesday November 13th, 2019

Visual Arts 6th grade

• Palette Knife lesson
• Hung up all the students' portraits to fill the middle school walls 
• Wrote about the lesson and Salman Khoshroo

Art Lab 7.3, 7.1, and 7.2

• Same as the above Art Labs 
• Students are starting to finish all four elements of their identity in their paintings

Thursday November 14th, 2019

Visual Arts 7th grade

• Students have only 30 minutes to work on the holiday card for Pitt's school of education
• Draw a festive glove or mitten
• Include at least 2 special details 
• Full color using paint pens 
• The designs will be sent to hundreds of people who receive the Pitt school of education Holiday Card
• Then we heard a special guest at Falk tell stories for the remainder of class

Art Lab

• Students work to complete their stop motion painting
• Today they will focus on completing the 4 elements of their identity
• They should strive to make the final canvas a "Finale" for the project and a canvas painting that they 

Artist in Residence Rob Long

• A famous artist in Pittsburgh, known for his work with light and photography is working with the Eighth graders on their Legacy Artwork
• Every year students in Eighth grade create a Legacy Artwork that is installed in the school forever
• It is a way to send the students off and to keep their memory alive in the school for years to come
• This year students are working with the artist in residence, Rob Long
• Rob Long is currently the most famous for being the man who has control of the lighting effects that illuminate the Hymark Building in the city every night
• We sorted all the photos that students took (the students each chose their top 5) into categories such as the playground, windows, hallways, sky, nature, the cathedral of learning, falk architecture, and more
• Then we discussed options for what medium to showcase the photos: collage, abstract representational drawings or paintings, and stained glass
• The project will last the entire school year so these are just the beginning stages to plan out the logistics and decide what the next steps will be

Friday November 15th

I am traveling to Denver, Colorado for my designs and clothes to be showcased in a fashion show and brand launch event. It is being held at Red Line Denver a contemporary art center that houses exhibitions and artistic events.