Student Portfolios with “Creative” Names

Portfolios are one of our first projects every year, and this year the assignment called for an extra dose of creativity. After brainstorming activities, objects, ideas, etc. that represented them, students came up with an idea for the letters of their name that involved using something other than the actual “letters” of their name. Although some names might be a bit difficult to decipher, their creativity was spectacular! I included a sampling below….enjoy 🙂

 

In the art room

This is a lovely piece Jessica Vincent did on an approximate 8 ft. panel the year before she graduated (2011).
Ashley Smith painted this delightful celestial scene on a large wooden sign before she graduated this past May (2012).
I had a tri-panel screen that I needed to liven up; Ashley Barrios painted this cute scene from Nightmare Before Christmas!

Pinwheels for peace

Yesterday being “International Peace Day,” as it were, we, along with some of the other art classes in our district, made pinwheels for an installation in front of the Fly Arts Center here in town. Who doesn’t love a pinwheel? The templates were available on the organization’s website. Enjoy the pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

By Day and By Night illustration

2012 illustration by Santha Cartwright — “By Day and By Night”

I sat down with my Drawing class last year during sketchbook time and sketched too; I wanted to sort of set the tone. I think the sun came first. This year I started laying in color and this illustration is the result…it’s the first finished piece I’ve completed in years, really, since life is so busy. It was so incredibly cathartic and enjoyable just working on it. It’s reminiscent of Psalm 121, one of my favorites, so I included the first two lines. I didn’t include, but wanted to, “The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” So poetic, and true.

Picassohead

 

I’ve added this Picassohead link to the Fun Stuff page. It’s great fun; there’s also a cool gallery of picassoheads with creative and maybe not so creative names by other people. Anyhoo, something else to fritter away the one valuable thing we have…right? time. Of course, too, being creative is never wasted. :D.

Mona Lisa…still smiling

Poor Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci brought her to life about 507 years ago, and she will not be left alone. She is the most viewed painting, the most talked about, the most parodied. Here are a few spin-offs that I liked…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still life with skull…

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In Drawing class we build up our skills; I like to start the year with all of my students coming in every period doing a really focused, sort of centering exercise so we’ve been doing a lot of blind contour line drawing. It’s pretty silly feeling at first but they have gotten really good. We’re about to move on from there. I found a few photos hanging around from last year from my drawing class of still lifes we had done after we got into value and started shading techniques. I believe these just show shading and stippling, but no crosshatching. This year I should have examples of all three. Getting excited about putting together some autumnal still lifes! I think. I’m also really thinking trees right now too. I want to get that in. Hmm. Branches in the still life? Well, here’s the photos, just a few…I remember being so excited because Mrs. Price, our other art teacher, let me use a skull she had in this still life (cow?), and bones make very nice shading and such. Hope you enjoy, and I’ll be posting more soon!