Sunday, December 13, 2009

Love to Blog

Blogging can be very useful. Depending on time constraints, it would be a great classroom communication tool. This would be a great place to post artwork from the students. A legal disclaimer may need to be signed.

I’m very glad that AED 398 introduced me to blogging. On a personal note, I would love to use this a communication tool between family members. My sister and I would like to write a book about my mother. This would be a good place to communicate and have other family member weigh in.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Adobe Videos You Should Check Out

Master Pages:

By using the template in my newsletter I was able to work with master pages. I can see why this will be important when building my portfolio.

Managing Pages:

This video was helpful with things such as palette setup, adding additional pages and removing them. It also discussed the ability to copy a style from one page to another. I a large publication the ability to move pages around is very helpful.

Video Training

Using Layers:

The use of layers would be helpful for a number of reasons. If the text was all on one layer, styles could be changed quickly by applying changes to the entire layer. This video also discussed stacking order, navigating layers and moving objects, text or grids to separate layers. This is incredibly helpful for creating our portfolios.

Master Pages Rocks!

I think that the master pages could be the most helpful. If the foundation of a house is built well, the house will stand a much better chance of being built well. Layers are also important. I didn’t realize that all text could be put on one layer and how easy it is to create layers from an existing project.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

iChat. Be there for your students. Without being there.

Learn about Ichat

Ichat can be a fun tool to use with your students. If students are working on projects outside of class and you are willing to be on line at a certain time daily or over the weekend. Your students could sign up for Ichat and have access to you for questions. A teacher can build a certain time into their schedule for planning and keep their Ichat active during that time. With I chat you can send photos and site links too!

Remember to Document Your Teaching

Click to hear from a teacher with experience.

If you are a new teacher. Keep a portfolio of your lessons and the work of your students. You may need this for tenure. It is also a good idea to check your progress and the progress of your students. New electronic tools allow us to achieve this easily. Acrobat 8, Photoshop and Indesign can be used build a great teaching portfolio.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Blog of the week

Aziza's blog appealed to me because she always has interesting things to say in our classes. Her blog is no exception. She is fun and creative and incredibly directed. I commented on her self-portrait images. They are not your average images - outside the box and I like that.


The other blog that I commented on was Sara's. She makes fabulous jewelry and I hoped she had some on her blog. I comment on her logo design. I would love to know how it came out.

Blogs could easily be used in the classroom. Artwork that you would like the students could be posted here. Assignments could also be posted. There could be classroom discussions. I wonder if you could have a facebook page link for the art class?

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Parents Can Be Part of Art!

Ten Simple ways parents can get more art into their kids' lives.

Integrating the arts at home

It is very important that parents be part of the education process. Above are 2 links that help parents can help art become an educational tool at home.

As an educator it is important to provide the tools for parents to become part of the process. Homework assignments can involve portraits of parents and interviews that accompany them.

The what, why, where and when of communication between parents and educators is important.
Progress is one of the items that all parents want to hear about. It is important to let the parents know when their child is doing well. Teachers should also find ways to help students interact with their parents. It is important for parents to feel that the teacher is available and easily approached. School should be the setting for all interaction. It is a professional atmosphere and should be treated as such.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

A quick review of three videos from the Adobe Video Wor

A quick review of three videos from the Adobe Video Workshop

Making Selections Video:

The presenter was fun, well spoken and easy to understand. This video covers the following:

Double clicking will toggle between the direct select and select

Apple click will help you traverse layers that you are working on.

The Selection tool lets you select graphics and text and work with an object using its bounding box.

If you want to move a picture with the box that contains it, you would select the object with the selection tool and drag your picture around your page.

The Direct Selection tool lets you work with the content of a text or graphics frame.

If you wanted to move the picture inside the box, or frame, that contains it, but you want to leave the box itself where it is, you select the object with the Direct Selection Tool.

Working With Text

This presenter was enthusiastic and easy to understand. This video covers the following:

How to apply simple styles such as fonts, sizes, kerning, tracking, and so on.

Using character mode to make changes to the font and adding foreign language to a word to allow proper spell check and hyphenation.

Paragraph formatting – add drop caps, indents, space above and below. Optical margin alignment and style changes.

Working With Text Styles

This presenter was a little boring, but the video was short. This video covers the following:

This video discusses style sheets.

Character style sheets and Paragraph style sheets. Automated formatting tool that simplifies repetitive formatting text, frames and paragraphs. Put simply if you use the same type of formatting on a regular basis, rather than recreate it each time you can set up the equivalent to a macro in Word.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Ideas for a self portrait



This first self-portrait contains multiple images unified by the monochromatic element of black and white. Simple, but useful.













What better illustration of yourself than your shoes. You could repeat this process by photographing a view of your shoes and a book on the floor. The image on a book could be you. The title of the book could relate back to you. The floor could be another photographic element of your life.


Take a famous painting and morph yourself into it! Parts of your life could be design elements.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Self Portraits for All Ages

This lesson discusses creating a self-portrait from natural materials. This would be fun to do as an adult. Take a walk through the woods, gathering pieces and parts of nature. Dump the bag out on the table and create you! Look at this lesson plan for children for inspiration. Lesson Idea!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Photobucket thoughts

I'm not sold on it. Maybe my images where too large, but it seemed to take way to long to edit a photo. It also wasn't very user friendly. I think that I would like to research other options for photo sharing.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Logo Design Love

Another cool tool for logo design

105 + Logo Design Tuts and Resources

Logo Help!

This site is a fabulous resource to delve into what makes a great logo. It also contains many links to other sites for inspiration.

Why does a logo cost so much! Find out here.

Click away!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A Resume for Teachers

How To Write A Successful Teaching Resume

Click here for tips!

This site is great for tips on writing a resume. It gives examples of may types of resumes including "Art Instructor" resume.

It contains great tips and lists of items not to forget such as:
  • continuing education
  • certifications
  • areas of skill
Check it out!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Power Point Help!

Apply or draw a motion path

This link will illustrate how to apply motion, and create the path that you wish the object or words to take in a Powerpoint presentation.

The technique would be useful in a classroom presentation, to capture the attention of the students. If you have an image that you want to move around the page and land in a certain spot, you can! The giant paintbrush can fly in and land on top of a jar of paint or under important information.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

After visiting the Albright-Knox, I found 5 artists that fulfilled each of the categories below. Sometimes the same artist fit into more than one.

1. I felt personal a connection with the art and why.

2. Made an impact on me and why.

3. I would like to know more about the artist and why.

Milton Avery – Bucolic Landscape – 1945 (Oil on Canvas) 1.) This image struck me by the solitude of a single subject, enjoying the day. 2.) It reminded me of a fall day. The connection for me is a walk on a warm fall day in the country. This feels like a bright and sunny day, but I can hear my mother saying “if the cows are laying down, it’s gonna rain.” 3.) I’m really not familiar with Milton Avery, but would like to know why the cow was the subject matter. Is it a symbol of something greater?

Jorge Pardo – Untitled – 2008 (Silkscreen and MDF) 3.) The parts of this work fit together like a puzzle. Each section is a mini work of art. When we step back it becomes a larger part of the whole

Amedeo Modigliani - The Servant girl – 1918 (Oil on Canvas) 1.) The sullen look and the painterly approach drew me to it.

Frederick Childe Hassam – Church at Old Lyme, Connecticut 1905 (Oil on Canvas) 1.) The dabs of paint dancing on the canvas spoke to me. The isolation of any square inch reveals a composition by itself. 2.) If I’m going to look at a painting, I like to see the paint. The style the sound of the leaves in the wind all captured from the days of Sunday school.

James Esber - Toledo Blend, - 2003 (Plasticine) 1.) The impact in this case was solely due to the medium. The way in which the various colors are blended together is impressive.

Robert Therrien – Untitled - Folding Table and Chairs, beige 2006 (Paint, metal, fabric) 1.) Walking under the table affects spatial perception. 2.) I was 5 again running around the living/dinning room. The card table came out for the kids to sit at when we had the whole family over. The only thing missing was gum stuck to the underside of the table. 3.) Does he have a connection to Claes Oldenburg?

Jackson Pollock – Convergence 1952 (Oil on Canvas) 1.) I’ve seen this in books and in the museum before, but never really looked at it. I could hear jazz playing!

Jasper Johns – Numbers in Color 1958-1959 (Encaustic and Newsprint on Canvas) 2.) The layers are fascinating! When ever I work on flat surfaces such as canvas or paper, I always want to add something to it, another layer.

Marisol Escobar – Baby Girl – 1963 (Wood, paint) 2.) I looked at this work before and passed it easily. This trip I spent more time thinking about the construction and meaning. It did provoke questions and I became connected to it by curiosity. 3.) Why this medium? What does it say?

Norman Lewis – Street Music 1950 (Oil on canvas) 3.) The sweet lines tinkled around the canvas. Why is he at the Albright Knox? What should I know about him?

Tattoo Art

Tattoo Ideas: Famous Works of Art

This an interesting site. I enjoyed seeing famous works of art molded onto the human body.

A tattoo is very personal and very permanent. Tattoos symbolize different things to different cultures and can be traced back 5000 years. They symbolized social status, religious and magical powers and spiritual well being.

In today’s culture, it serves many of the same distinctions. Gangs use tattoos to signify acceptance and belong. Our culture also uses them as a personal symbol to the world and the individual wearing it.

Questions to think about.

  • How do you feel about tattoos?
  • What do they mean to you?
  • When you see someone who has several of them, what does it say about that person?
  • Would it affect their ability to get a job?
  • Could you be president and have a full body tattoo?

Duct Tape Art

Duct Tape Sculptures

This site is fun! Amazing things done with simple Duct Tape. This a great sculptural tool. There are so many possible things to do. One idea would be to create a sculpture that best embodies their favorite book.
Some Questions to ask might be:

  • What does this medium say about the work they created?
  • Does Duck tape belong in a gallery?
  • Does this change the way they look at a roll of duct tape?

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Welcome to the world of ART EDUCATION!