Gifted & Talented

These images are of completed projects from an 8-week gifted and talented program I taught in Maine. I was hired by the city of Brunswick to teach 15 gifted and talented students from area high schools. At the end of the program my students and I presented thier work and talked about the program at the "Evening in the Arts" and a reception held in their honor. I know that several of these students went on to study in art schools across the country. Would have loved to stay in touch and see where they are at today.

Milk Jug Masks

This is a project that I did with one of the elementary schools I taught at. I always start my lesson out with a power point that talks about the environment in some way just to make them think more about the materials they are using and the fun things they can create with recycled materials. The great part is the no cost supplies, I just had the kids bring in their empty milk jugs, newspapers, and paper towel and toilet paper rolls from home. It didn't take long to get what we needed for each student. We did paper mache over them with flour and water, yet another inexpensive material to use for teaching. Once the paper mache was dry the kids painted their masks with tempera. This was a 6th, 7th and 8th grade project.

Tape Sculpture

These are images of a tape sculpture that

I did for one of my foundations classes. With this project we had to create a tape sculpture, then place the sculptures out in public places and take pictures of the publics reactions. My camera wouldn't work fast enough and although I didn't get very many reactive photo's I most definately got some reactions. I really enjoyed this project and while driving around town found many of my classmates tape sculptures in odd places. Some even made the newspaper.

Robot Assemblage

These pieces were done by Idaho Art teachers at the 2009 Idaho Art Education Association Conference in Haliey, Idaho.

This lesson plan was developed as part of my Elemtary School Art Methods class. and it involved environmental issues worldwide and the effects of e-waste (electronic waste). Since the development of this lesson plan, I have had the opportunity to teach it to severals groups including the Meridian Library's after school art program, Gateway School of Language and Culture's Environmental group.

Graphite

These are just a few drawings I have done. The first one with the pot and onions was an assignment for my first drawing class. The second drawing, the tree with fruit, I did at home for fun and for practice. I enjoyed my drawing class, but I really enjoy 3-D art more than 2-D art. Perhaps because I am not very confident in my drawing . . . that usually means I need to draw more.

Beginning Ceramics

These are just a few of my pieces that I created in my beginning ceramics class. This class was challenging to me because most of my classmates, who were fresh out of high school had already had two or three years of ceramics and could throw on the wheel with no problem. This was the very first time I had work with clay. I am looking forward to taking some additional ceramics classes outside of the university setting because of the lower costs and a more relaxed environment.

Encaustic Painting /Cube Project

These are images of some more work from students that I taught at Compass Public Charter School. The first image is an encaustic painting done on a board (used cardboard as well). I had the high school kids draw still life first onto their boards, then I melted crayons in muffin tins on top of a griddle and they used patinbrushes to apply the melted crayon to the cardboard. The second image is of a cube project I did with 7th graders at Compass. I had them create their cube story based on a story that they were reading in their language arts class, they were to pick out a scene or event in the book and depict it on the cube. The challenge for them was to draw large enough so the images overflowed into the other quadrants of the cube. They were not allowed to draw one picture on each side. This was really challenging for them. Once their drawing was done, they painted their cubes in tempera. Both projects were a big hit with the kids.