I DID IT! One Artwork a Day Challenge

I know I said I was done blogging for the school year, but I just had to share this...I DID IT!  With the encouragement and interest of my awesome students, I created one new artwork per school day for the whole school year (as referenced here and here.)  Some of them are not great...and others have inspired me to create a larger piece exploring an idea further. 

The kids and I had some awesome discussions centered around this endeavor and if nothing else, showing them how to set a goal and work to achieve it, even when inconvenient and difficult, was a good thing. I also learned, for myself, that you have to create through the good ideas and the bad ones. If you just keep going, your voice, your muse, your inspiration comes through; definitely a message for me to remember! 
Once again...Happy Summer!

Update: One artwork a day

This week I'm just sharing a quick update of the "one artwork a day" challenge I gave myself at the start of the year.  We are almost halfway through our second term and so far I have completed 58 small pieces.  Some of them are true little works of art where I've found a new way to do something or made a little personal breakthrough...and others...are NOT and I think "UGH - I don't even want to put this up here!"                                                                                                          

But we take the good with the bad and honor the process. The thought goes through my head, "How am I going to come up with 180 of these?" but I try not to listen too closely. One day at a time.  

Happy creating!

Challenge: An Artwork a Day

I am fascinated with the idea of a challenge where you have to do something every day, whether its try a new recipe or run 5 miles or write so many pages of that book you want to finish.  There is something inspiring about setting some parameters for yourself and then trying to meet those…NO MATTER WHAT!  

I’ve been thinking about doing some sort of Art challenge along these lines for a while now.  As happens with most Art teachers, the majority of my creative juices get spent in the classroom.  I’m very happy to spend them there, but those efforts sometimes leave the time and energy for my own work in the dust.  

So this fall I decided I wanted to challenge myself artistically and that an “artwork a day” might be the way to go.  Our school year is 180 days long…what if I created one small (4”x 4”) artwork each school day from the beginning to the end of the year?  Think about it!  That’s 180 ideas that could be catapulted to larger, more extensive works!  If only a small number of those really turned out to be good ideas, I’d still be miles ahead of where I am now in terms of inspiration!

AND I always feel that walking the talk is great for the kids to see.  They know I’m an artist, but how often do they get to see my work?  I told them about my project on the first day of school and encouraged any of them to join me in the challenge, for any length of time. The artworks are posted on the bulletin board behind my desk.  My students of all ages are having a fun time watching the display grow day by day.  I can’t imagine what it will look like in May!

I’ll revisit this post then and tell you how I did.  

Happy Creating!

A Glimpse into the Art Room

I try to embrace a little chaos in my life without letting it take me over the edge.  Its part of the everyday world of the Art room.  Because we are a small school, we don't have to struggle too much with large class sizes and our students get great individual attention.  But we do have scheduling challenges and with those challenges and trying to accommodate as many students as possible, most of my 80 minute blocks (block scheduling) have more than one class going at a time. One morning a few days ago, I looked out over my room and just had to smile. 

Here is what I saw:

* Freshmen in Art 1 working on the beginnings of a collage  (a tribute to Wayne Thiebaud)

* Juniors in Art 3 experimenting with abstract and nonobjective painting

 * A student throwing pottery on the wheel

While this sometimes leaves my head spinning, it also can have a great effect on my students. In this case, freshmen get to see what the more advanced work of a junior looks like and juniors often offer advice and help to their younger counterparts.  Fun, inclusive relationships are often developed in the Art room, as you can’t help but share more of yourself when you are being creative and expressive.  Is it perfect?  No.  There are days when no one stays focused and I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall.  But most of the time, its pretty cool and I feel lucky to share such a creatively juicy atmosphere with my students.  Happy Chaos!

Lucky Iowa Woman

I am a very lucky woman.  I am reminded of this every day as I drive to school, watching the seasons change through my windshield.  I have been enjoying the views of this gorgeous western Iowa countryside for 22 years as I drive from the small Iowa town where I live to the smaller Iowa town where I teach.    For those of you who might wonder where exactly Iowa (NOT Idaho, NOT Ohio!) is on a map...we are what some call a “flyover state” in the middle of the country. 

(From Wikipedia Commons)

We have some lovely cities, but where we really shine is in our small towns.  Iowa towns are full of kind, creative, hardworking, achieving, interesting people raising families and enjoying friends as they live their lives. I have the privilege of teaching the children of these families.

 Here is the early September view out my window as I drive. The sun hovers over the rolling fields, burning the morning mist away. I have never been able to capture it the way I see it each day - perhaps because I would need a panoramic run of photos to really do it justice and photography is not my strongest skill.  This view makes me feel blessed in the morning and nourishes my tired mind and body on the drive home.  

Two of my three children are on the cusp of creating their own lives as they graduate and begin college.  If I could give them only one piece of advice (and I’ve given them many, many unsolicited pieces, believe me!) it would be to follow your joy.  The joy of this place, this career, these students, this staff that have become friends and family is amazing...and getting to help students nourish their brains, their creativity and their true selves is a gift to me.  I am a very lucky woman.