Save the Dry Erase Markers!

At my school, we don't have blackboards and instead we have white/dry-erase boards. When I first came to this school over five years ago I was really excited about this fact because in public school I had blackboards that I had a real love-hate feeling toward for all of the reasons you might imagine if you have any experience dealing with blackboards. Still, having white/dry-erase boards wasn't nearly as awesome as I thought it would be. They soon became just as annoying to me as the blackboards were but just in different ways.

(Now, I understand this is totally a "first world problem" that I am referencing but just please bear with me.)

One of my biggest issues with having a whiteboard in class is the marker issue. Markers go missing all the time but if they aren't missing, we have issues with them because the ink seems to run out very quickly. For this reason, I barely use my whiteboard and I'm almost always fussing about not being able to actually use it.

All of this in mind, a week or so ago, I started noticing that even though I wasn't using my board, the markers would always be arranged and positioned the way they are pictured above. While it seemed a little strange that they were like that (and seemed to always be put back to be like that), I didn't think much of it and I wouldn't disturb them either. Then the other day, I found the individual who was putting them like that! It was a STUDENT ARTIST!!! And almost every day, if the markers weren't like that, he would arrange and position them like that. While in the midst of him doing it, I commented and laughed and said, "Oh YOU'RE the one who is doing that! I was wondering what was going on!" The student artist, who is actually also one of our star football players and who is a really big and burly guy and sits very close to my teaching station in the front of the room, smiled sheepishly and said, "Yeah... it's me." And then I asked him why he was doing it and he said, "Well... Mr. *so-and-so* does it all the time and it makes a big difference and makes it so the markers always have ink. It really does make a difference so I was trying to help you to have markers that wouldn't be so hard to use."

I gotta tell you - when he said this and said why he was doing it? It just about made my whole month and I feel like it's one of the nicest things any student has ever done for me - however small it might seem because it makes such a big difference. And OF COURSE it works, y'know? Because it helps to keep the ink flowing toward the writing tip vs. having it settle in the middle of the marker. Why didn't I think of that?

Anyway, surely you all have been doing this and I am the only one not doing this but I just wanted to share this little "feel good" anecdote because this kind of stuff is always nice to hear about in my book.

The All-You-Can-Color Bar :: Student-centered Art Education

Don't forget to enter the "Giving YOU the good stuff" (from Prang) fine-line marker giveaway by this coming Thursday, October 31st, at midnight HERE in the comments section. This isn't sponsored by Prang and is something that I just wanted to do because I like the Prang products so much after using them.

Remember: You don't have to tweet anything or follow me on any social networking conduits. 

Just answer the question in the blog posting HERE in the corresponding comments section and I will pick a winner randomly and announce it on Friday, November 1st! Good luck to you in winning it the prize!

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I teach all of the foundational level studio art courses at my school and I also serve as the department head of the visual arts and in my time leading to me taking the leadership role I now have, I have found that the best way to facilitate the foundational level art courses is by allowing them to be exploratory in nature.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard the student artists that come through my class ask things like, "Can I use *insert any color here*?" or (during a mixed media project) "Am I allowed to use *insert any dry medium here*?" While it might seem exasperating for me to field these questions, I actually don't get exasperated. More than anything, it breaks my heart to hear the student artists ask these things in their obviously timid ways.

I always start the year with a pre-assessment assignment that allows me to see how much they might already know/can do as well as gauge how confident (or not usually) they are starting out. My favorite type or pre-assessment is one that employs mixed-media approaches. This year I took some brilliant notes from a fellow art education blogger and made oversized foldables telling and and showing the elements of art. (I will be sharing these with you hopefully soon even though they are weeks overdue for this.) The endeavor worked out really well because it allowed me to preview some curriculum I would be instructing upon for this whole semester and it also allowed me to do one of my favorite things which was to set up a "color bar" for them to just dig right into.

Too Good to Keep to Myself :: Prang Ticonderoga Product Review

Disclosure: Compensation was provided Dixon Ticonderoga company. 

Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative 

of the opinions or positions of Dixon Ticonderoga.

Dixon Ticonderoga sent me the Prang Marker set alongside a competing set by Crayola.

One thing I noticed almost immediately was the fact that the Prang set included (2) more colors beyond what could be a standard 10-color set in addition to the fact that the Prang set had both French and Spanish translations on their packaging. Crayola's only notes that they are preferred by teachers which I cannot lie that I know quite a few art teachers (me included) who swear by Crayola brand anything.

Here Comes the "Good Stuff" you didn't even know you were waiting for...

 Over the summer, I was contacted by Dixon Ticonderoga to review some of their products for their "Get the Good Stuff" campaign. I happily agreed to review some of their products because I am already quite a fan of their pencils so the rest of the stuff? It's gotta be pretty good too, right? And I'm always open to changing my mind if it means that my student artists will have better tools to use for their amazing works of art.

Dixon Ticonderoga very kindly and swiftly delivered a lovely selection of their products along with some that were of competing brands. Because I was finishing out graduate school though? I had to take that lovely selection and put it aside until I finished my last two classes that included some of what I have already shown you as well as some major curriculum development work that was a whole year's worth of scope and 18 weeks of sequence. *sigh*

I'm happy to report that I am finally done with my graduate degree work and while I don't have my degree in-hand just yet, in a month or so it will be conferred and I WILL have it. And this means? I can finally do the reviews I have been wanting to do rather than sitting the box of all of the "good stuff" in my home studio (also where I was finishing all of my graduate coursework) and looking at it longingly for the day when my degree would finally be done.

So... this is the official announcement that next week will be a FULL WEEK of not only product reviews of what the Prang Dixon Ticonderoga company sent me but also an opportunity to a sampling of what I have been trying out and loving since they sent everything to me over the summer. Sorry it's taken me so long to get this going but, well... "good stuff" comes to those who wait. Thankfully you don't have to wait too much longer.

See you Monday when all of the reviews are kicked off!

Disclosure: Compensation was provided Dixon Ticonderoga company. 

Opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative 

of the opinions or positions of Dixon Ticonderoga.

New and sale products too good not to tell you about

I don't order supplies until summer (about July - it's just how it goes around here) but it's my understanding that a lot of you all submitting your supply orders now. I've noticed a spike in my blog stats/readership that specifically hits pages and sections of my blogsite looking at lesson ideas as well as the materials page - both links to page can always be found across the top header of my site.

That being said, I am getting bombarded with sale catalogs and emails from supply companies and thought I would alert you all to some of the neat things that I will either be ordering in small amounts (to try out for the classroom) OR ordering in order to replenish because it's such an amazing deal and I know that it will used well.

Note: I am not being compensated in any wayby any of these suppliers OR product makers and I am plugging all of this purely of my own volition. That being said? If you are  interested in me reviewing your product/service that is visual art related, I might be open to such an opportunity and please don't hesitate to contact me directly for me to consider it. Thank you!

SKETCHBOX TABLE EASEL - originally $150, NOW => $35

image snagged from Dick Blick's product listing

Right now Dick Blick has dropped the supply on this amazing tabletop sketchbox easel (see left) that we use in the advanced studio classes at my school year after year. We have 18 of them and they are so great for the students to use because they are solidly built of wood AND they have built in storage. They can also accommodate canvas sized of up to 32"!!!!

The are originally priced at around $150 but they are on sale right now for about $35 (and they have limited quantities on hand, of course). Can you believe that price?!!! That is SUCH A DEAL!!!!! And if you want a class set or even just want one for yourself? I can vouch for the fact that one would have been a real deal even at $50 per piece. Don't delay and pick up one of these before they sell out. Seriously. I can't imagine they will last and I don't understand why they are getting rid of them OR how they are lasting this long at that price anyway. Buy it from Blick HERE.

Playcolor brand Water-Soluble Solid Tempera Sticks - on sale!

Are you a fan of Tempera paints? I am very much so. I use the tempera cakes at home with my

daughter and I use jugs of tempera at school for projects that I know cannot risk sun bleached color work - sadly, something that frequently happens in the student art gallery. The only thing I don't like about it is how it can be so dry and flaky after it dries. I like it so much though that I just ignore that part.

Anyway, I have just stumbled upon some tempera paint that is in solid state form! It is by a brand called Playcolor and it is reminiscent of oil pastels a little in that you can blend it, layer it, and it stays highly saturated in color presentation. Something else though? Unlike painted tempera it apparently doesn't crack!!! I LOVE THAT. I mean, I don't know if it actually works like that but it appears that it does. Here is a promo video for it that (of course) presents it in the most positive way possible but I feel like it's at least worth a trial run for me at home with my almost kindergartener daughter...

I have never used this brand and/or product before but right now School Specialty has it on sale in their print catalog that I just received. For whatever reason it's not on the website but Dick Blick does have a listing for it but they aren't on sale like they are in the Sax Arts printed catalog. Sax's sale price is a little less than $2 off the listed price on Blick and regularly in the printed catalog. My plan is to get a 12 count of the standard palette and I will (of course) let you know how it goes once I get them and put them through some trials. 

The ROYGBIV Project :: Making it happen :: Pt. 2 of 5

This stage was the absolute messiest of all of the stages but it also was the one that the students really enjoyed because it allowed them to really explore and experiment with the creative process and truly give life to the ideas that they were tasked with. Here is a little of what each of the groups were attempting to work with...

Sun group

Idea was pretty close to THIS idea that I had originally shown them

• Wanted to paper mache in order to sculpt a single extra-large spherical structure
• Needed an exercise/yoga ball for their form
• Wanted to pull in some texture by adhering muffin/cupcake paper cups to the outside of the structure after it was completely sculpted
• Wanted to use lighting in order to illuminate the structure from the inside out

Clouds group

Idea derived from THIS I found and showed them during the lesson intro

•  Required them to do paper mache to sculpt multiple different but similar structures
• Needed lots of balloons for the form of each structure
• Required cotton batting/stuffing for the texture of the clouds
• Wanted to do at least seven clouds in order to fill out the gallery hallway space

Rainbow group

Idea was inspired by THIS that I found and showed them during the lesson intro

• Required them to use watered down glue mixture to soak string so that it could adhere to individual forms
• Needed lots of balloons for what would be over 100 individual forms suspended from the ceiling
• Required paint in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Violet

We spent at least a week and a half total of class time doing just the fabrication/sculpting of all of the different elements of the total installation. It was definitely messy and that's not something that all of the students were keen on but with lots of encouragement and redirection from me that this was a GROUP effort and we needed to be unified in order for it to really be successful, it became a rare thing for any of them to sit and be idle for too long. Most all of the students wanted to play an active role because they fully understood that the effort we had to put forth was major and collective. They truly started understanding that if one person didn't invest themselves, the whole of the project would ultimately suffer.

Two groups needed newspaper for papier mache so they banded together to create triangles - because that's the best shape for seamless and smooth coverage - in order to prep the paper.

The sun group gets started on the first of many layers!

The clouds group also got to work but they had an easier time than the sun because there were multiple cloud clusters to work on.

The rainbow group had perhaps the most challenging of all of the elements of the installation to work on both because of the sheer number of items that needed to be sculpted - they were shooting for about 100 total to fill the space we have - and because working with string coated in glue mixture? Well... it's just way messier than papier mache. Surprising that anything could be that way compared to papier mache but it was true! Also, wrapping and layering the string had to be done a little more strategically (read: it was less forgiving than papier mache) so there was a bit of a learning curve for everyone in the sun group.

The sun group discovered it required at least two people to coat the string and then wrap a balloon with the glue coated string. They tried to have at least two stations of this going at once.

One of the balloons that they did as a "prototype" to figure out if it would work, how long it would take to dry, etc.

One of the major challenges from this stage (as with almost every project endeavor I do) is dealing with how to store things when they are in the WiP (work-in-progress) phase. I share the studio art classroom with a part-time faculty member and while it might sometimes seem like I have a pretty cushy set-up (based on what I share on the blog) the room I share with the other teacher is about 2/3 the size of what I know most art classrooms are that are not shared. This always creates problems when it comes to storing supplies or student works on top of the fact that I know my colleague is not usually thrilled with some of my zany endeavors. (They are much more neat and tidy than I am.)

For this project I solved some of the project by storing some of the bags of balloons behind this huge canvas that another student has been trying to work on when they can...

Far from ideal but making the best of what I have is all I can do

Tomorrow I will show you the next phase of the project when we were getting to the stage of finishing up the sculpting and fabrication of the different elements and starting to install it all in the student gallery hallway.

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This installation art study was student-centered and collaboratively designed and constructed (across two classes). It utilized paper sculpting and papier mache, string wrapping, spray painting and brush painting, fiber application in order to create a sun, clouds, and rainbow display suspended from the ceiling of the student art gallery hallway. It was originally presented in a week long series that showed the planning and creative processing, the beginning part of the sculpting/working stage, the point just about when everything was done being sculpted, and then some notes about when things went awry and how those things were dealt with. The final view of it can be found HERE. This project was meant to be a re-imagining of The Ombre Experience project idea.

YouTube is the BEST :: Drawing with Anna

How often do you use this youtube? Never? Well... allow me to possibly change you mind about that!

Back up a little bit: Do you ever remember your days in school when you would walk into class and standing at the front of the class where the teacher would be was the coveted and adored A/V cart? (A/V=Audio Visual). You know what I'm talking about, right? The tall metal cart that had a television and VCR (and later DVD/VCR combo) secured to it that basically meant one thing - VIDEO DAY IN CLASS!!!!!!!!!

Well, using Youtube videos are just about the equivalent to having a video day in class for any kid. Seriously. They almost don't even care if the youtube clip is hokey or not. Most of them will watch just about anything you present to them AND enjoy it AND remember it. Which is the BIG kicker!)

For the purposes of visual art instruction, I am a hardcore believer in the power of demonstrations. I mean, what better way to explain something than to SHOW them how and what to do, right? But in all honesty, demos kind of drive me crazy sometimes. For whatever reason, they require an immense amount for me to set up for both my classes and myself to experience together. I mean, I suppose I could just set up the demo and do it and have the kids do nothing but sit and watch but I have found that to be unproductive to a point because they will get side tracked and just generally do their own thing and waste materials. Also, if they need/want me to repeat a certain step after I have gone beyond it? Well... most demos that I do are very prohibitive of that being able to happen.

Enter the Youtube's Drawing with Anna!!!!!

Perhaps you already know Anna very well and I am behind the times but if that's not the case, join me and get with it!!! Drawing with Anna is AWESOME!!!!! She has only a handful of instructional videos but they are very useful and I have recently used two - the Continuous Line Drawing video and the Blind Contour video:

I used both of these videos in the 2D Design class that I am currently teaching and while Anna can be a little hokey for high schoolers - she is honestly pretty sweet, an awful lot like someone's really nice mom, and she does a pretty decent job at teaching the general jist of both Continuous Line drawing and the Blind Contour drawing. It was also nice to be able to have a video that I could stop and start and back up as I needed to in order to specifically speak about different things that are relevant to what I am doing with my students and their project work currently.

So there you have it! I am a fan of Drawing with Anna. And now you can be too!

The Interactive Notebook :: Creation beyond the Art classroom

Did you know that before I become the private high school art teacher and blogger that I am I was a 6th grade core subjects in the public schools? Indeed I was! I spent two years at a public middle school teaching Reading/Language Arts and then Social Studies and then - praise be to GOD(!!!!!!) - I was given the opportunity to be where I am doing what I am now. And while I love what I am doing now and wouldn't ever want to go back, I still remember all of the ways and days spent getting bit by the bug that helped me to find my heart for teaching and then follow it to where I am now.

Last week I really got to reminisce and revisit that time when I started teaching by facilitating a professional development workshop at an inservice event done by my school every year. I don't know when this inservice event started but in the four years I have been here it has been formally named "Brainfest" and we have invited other local area private schools to join in the day that includes at least two teacher-led workshop sessions for professional development purposes and then a wonderful catered lunch. Just about anybody who is in attendance can jump on the side of being a facilitator and you're allowed to instruct/speak on just about anything you want to. Last year I paired up with a colleague and did a workshop focusing on the Millenial generation in the classroom. This year I single-handedly tackled the AVID Curriculum's brilliant idea of the Interactive Notebook that I used to use and LOVE daily in my early teaching career days of the core subjects. Ever heard of it? Well! Let me just tell you about one of the most awesome ways to teach AND learn on any content area and grade level EVER.

In a nutshell, the Interactive Notebook is multi-dimensional vessel for a student to collect knowledge every day and then be able to take and CREATE something with what they have learned. Every page of a student's notebook becomes completely unique and is created to have a specific purpose for something else to springboard off. Also, many of the pages require action in order to access the material/information on them. Students have to lift, fold, tuck, adhere, or color just about every page of the book so that their notebook becomes (for lack of any other way to put it) a POP-up version of what was once a boring school notebook easily lost, forgotten, or despised because of what it contained. Each project or double-page spread is a mini-project unto itself that only serves as encouragement to keep doing more and more and MORE pages and spreads. You want to talk about good return on investment? The Interactive Notebook is absolutely worth it's weight in Ticonderoga pencil leads!

[via] This person can't get enough of the Interactive Notebook either and I don't blame them.

I LOVE the Interactive Notebook and before I was able to be in a classroom that allowed me to create without bounds, the Interactive Notebook mostly satiate the unquenchable thirst I have to be creative AND create. And because I can't help but remember where I came from, I fully acknowledge that were it not for the Interactive Notebook, I probably would have quit teaching forever and maybe even never made it to where I am now.

As a visual art educator I feel like I am always having to "fight" for and assert my position that I am a "REAL" teacher. So sad that I even have to acknowledge such a thing but it's the truth. *Shrug* Doing this session for my colleagues last week at the Brainfest was a great way for me to really prove and SHOW that cutting, pasting, coloring, and CREATING has a place not only in the art classroom but also in EVERY classroom and content area. It also showed - without a shadow of a doubt - that I am not simply "hanging out" with my students everyday "making stuff." It was a blessing to be given the opportunity to share what I love with everyone I work with and help them to see that what I love aligns and scaffolds beautifully the things they do in their classrooms.

I don't have the full presentation to show you about how/what I did at my session because it was a very hands-on step-by-step process that I did alongside them where I helped each of the attendees make their own "take-away" notebook page-by-page by way of showing them demonstrations with a document camera. Every attendee was from a different subject area - core subjects and electives alike(!) on ALL grade levels - and not one of them had ever tried something like this before in any of their classrooms. By the end of the session each of them was very SOLD on incorporating it into their classroom goings-on and they were very excited to do so even despite their hesitation just because this was something different than what they have ever done.

I am a visual art teacher but I also know I am so much more than that and that goes the same for YOU. We as art teachers know we are something special (seriously - it's OK if we toot our own horns to others and not just sit in our art rooms being misunderstood!) but nobody will know that if we don't show them. I mean, we teach our student artists everyday the importance of SHOWING over telling. So, I implore you all to do something similar as what I did - you don't even need a special event to do it - and teach one of your colleagues how powerful folding, cutting, pasting, and coloring can be. And if you need any help? Here are some awesome links for you to help be a better teacher of teachers yourself...

• An entire book in PDF version of Foldables from the awesome Dinah Zyke who is the pioneer of foldables
• Foldables just for Mathematics in PDF form
• Another PDF link for Foldables for Social Studies
• Foldables for Language Arts on a teacher's wikispaces site
• A whole site just for Science Foldables 

I shared the above links with the attendees of my workshop and I hope they are useful to you or a colleague you might know. Here's to spreading the LOVE for CREATING a type of learning that will only greatly expand upon itself. 

We are HERE.

Both the 2D & 3D Design classes have been working on long-term projects that took almost twice the time I normally schedule for a project (about 2-3) weeks. I already shared the painting project called "a place of Grace" with you and I will be showing you the Op-Art project that 3D did called "Extra dimensional" once I get the work hung/installed in the student gallery.

In the meanwhile, 2D & 3D Design have both been working on new unit projects!

For 2D, they are working on combining what they have learned from color theory to create and assemble interesting pattern combinations that will eventually be used in a poster picture of an animal in order to show how the design principle of variety works. Each them is allowed to pick out whatever animal(s) that will be focused on for their final piece but their biggest challenge is trying to select, draw, color, and then pull together as many patterns with as much diversity as possible.

So far they are being both challenged and a little bit frustrated because they love working with all of the patterns but they are dealing with either indecision within themselves OR annoyance because they are realizing that maybe they don't have as many patterns as would lend themselves to a completed project of this type. (One of the major standards of the project is that ever space of the whole 11x14 surface needs to be covered in pattern and color!)

 The 3D class is loving their new unit of sculpting in the round. (Well, for the most part. You won't be able to walk underneath of the sculptures so it's not totally in the round, I guess.) They are working with clay in this unit and doing the ever popular clay cartoon bust project! Each of them gets to pick their own subject matter (so long as it isn't offensive either obviously or questionable) and then they take it from 2D plans and drafts to 3D form in clay and eventually they will detail and articulate it with acrylic paint. We are using air-dry Boneware clay and something new that I am both permitting and maybe even requiring this year - they have to make wire armatures to help ensure that their finished pieces will be that much more structurally sound.

I'm honestly kind of excited about the armatures since it draws in wire sculpting (that I would have ended up running out of time for) and also shows them a little more about the whole business of the art of gestural sculpting. As 3D is getting started they are required to get pictures of their sculpture ideas and then draw/sketch AT LEAST a front view and then side view of each idea.

Both of these projects might easily carry us through to the very end of the semester and that makes me kind of sad because I never like saying goodbye to a semester with any of my student artists but I'm also realizing that doing the kind of work I have been/can now do with all of the classes only means that they have come so far and learned so much! That's never a bad thing, right?

Book Review: Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun [Kindle edition]

When it comes to art books - instructional, reference, etc. - I have an abundance of them but don't exactly like all of them all that much. The majority of them are even mediocre (to me) at best and I reserve them for cross-referencing things for lesson planning OR to bring them in for my students to look at. To date I have probably spent well over $500 on all of those books. What a waste! I am almost embarrassed at the hoard of books I have but don't really ever use.

Well, I'm learning from my mistakes. I have been looking at the book Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun for a little while and I finally decided to get it (well, the Kindle version because for whatever reason digital books work better for me *shrug*) and I am LOVING it!!!! 

Because I am such a junkie for reviews of any sort, I pored through the amazon ones and now that I am halfway through the book (reading it only, I am going to use it to inform some creative exercises soon enough with my new iPad art apps), I am thoroughly convinced that I might even want to buy the physical version of the book and take it into school because it might actually be one that would do more than just take up space and collect dust!

The book is written very matter of factly (something that I LOVE so much) and it really points out not only very good instructional pointers and clarifications about certain techniques and creative processes but it also has a few personal anecdotes from the artist herself. 


The drawing and inspirational exercises are VERY approachable without being dumbed down to something that could/would bore a more advanced artist/illustrator (that which I am not!) and I especially like a number of the approaches that are suggested that really spin old ideas for lessons/projects in new ways. As an art teacher and working visual artist, my battle is always trying to figure out how to reinvent and refresh things to keep things interesting but it gets hard! I can't lie about that. 


One of my favorite things about the book is the insistence within each exercise to do repetitive exercises and to NOT erase things. The author fully encourages you to not be afraid to make little mistakes but if you do? There are suggestions of how to work it into the design/drawing itself. She also talks about different ways to do mastercopy and master inspired type works. I LOVE looking at masterworks! I honestly feel like it's an essential part of being able to become a successful visual artist. 


Something else that is so great about the book is that it definitely starts you from a good square one type place but builds and scaffolds to things that are definitely more challenging and complex within the design ideas themselves. In this way, it is really possible to look at your linear progression with every inspiration prompt to see that you are actually accomplishing things and the stuff looks pretty good! Seriously. I am convinced all of the creative prompts could inspire, instruct, and support most any level artist and even any age artist though there would definitely be some that would have to be modified for ability level in terms of fine motor skills/dexterity and abstract/non-objective understanding and vision. 


All in all though? If I were rating this book with the five star system of Amazon, I might even venture to give it 5.5 stars or even six stars. Seriously. I think it's a pretty solid book and like I said, I might seriously order the paper version of it.

WiPs: Think outside the stamp - Commemorating Black History month

In case you need reminding: I am all about projects that can be appropriately timed with holidays!!

Last year we did an idea that was awesome in theory but completely underwhelming when we attempted to pull it together for Black History month. *sigh* I still cringe at the thought that we didn't even finish the work until long after Black History month was OVER and then I had such disdain for the whole experience that I didn't actually hang them in the student gallery for another month and a half. *whatev*

Since I'm constantly trying to improve the curriculum and not be boring with the project work (by doing the same thing over and OVER again), I changed it up this year after seeing the work of Molly Rausch in my Google reader the one day by way of This is Collossal.

Here are some pictures of what the students have been working diligently on. Since it is a seriously foundational course and I don't have a lot of advanced art students, I allow and very much encourage "crutches" in their learning for this (their first project) especially. They are allowed to use the quad light box set-up I got from a local hospital's X-ray department last year and they are working with mixed dry media.

It's been a very fun project so far and I am very anxious as I anticipate how each of their pieces starts to come together, take shape, and then get refined and polished up. I will (of course) try and show you that work when it happens.