ITALY: 4th Grade Introduction to Plein Air Painting

4th Graders Learn About Plein Air Painting

     As part of the Art Inspired by Italy Unit, my 4th graders completed a very exciting and lengthy project. They did a "deconstructed landscape painting" which is detailed in one of Kevin McPherson's books about Plein Air Painting. Plein Air painting, a French term,  is simply painting in the out of doors. Although my students painted "inside," they used a landscape photograph for the project. I provided each student with an 8x10 color image of the painting studio at Capitignano where I went to school this past summer in Italy. Using Sharpies, they outlined the main sections-essentially dividing the photo into smooth puzzle-type pieces. They then cut out the shapes and numbered them. Then they traced each piece onto a nice quality white paper and painted it with acrylic paint while looking at the cut-out photo image of the same portion of the painting at the same time. We then glued the pieces on a painted piece of canvas, added a quote about Italy, and Modge Podged the entire collage. This was one of my favorite projects in the unit. It was quite challenging for 4th graders and it was the first time my 4th graders had used acrylic paint in class, other than on clay projects. The whole purpose of the project was to teach them to "see" the individual parts, the lights and darks, of the subject, and not be overwhelmed by attempting to view the entire image to be painted. By deconstructing a subject it becomes much easier to construct it. We also talked about how this same concept is cross-curricular and helps in writing, learning information, test taking, and other subjects. 

Above: I took the above photo one day from the open doors of the room I stayed in while in Italy. This is the view I saw each and every morning. It's the painting studio at Capitignano, formerly a hay barn. This view and the photo take my breath away and this is the photo I copied for the students to use for this project. 

"Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life." 

 -Anna Akhmatova

ITALY: Overview of unit and staff open house!

Art Inspired by Italy Unit Livens Up My Art Room and School!

So after spending the summer in Italy I came back to the art room in Texas ready to do a unit on art inspired by Italy. I actually wrote the unit during the evening hours at Capitignano, an estate outside of Borgo San Lorenzo, Italy (near Florence) where I went to school. I saved it for the last nine weeks of the school year so I could plan it well. Each grade level, K-4 completed 2-3 projects which will eventually all end up on this Blog! Bringing more of the Italian culture to the art room was part of the unit as well. Students watched videos I made for them while I was in Italy and I made quite a few where I was speaking directly to my students. Ok, they just thought that was completely COOL! We listened to Italian music, learned some Italian words, tasted gelato and spaghetti and learned some basic information about the beautiful country of Italy. It tickled me to hear students saying "ciao" all over the building. I'm pretty sure that word will continue to be heard at my school.  To culminate the unit I hosted an after school open house for the staff at my school. I hid some small images of cappuccino on the bulletin boards and tucked them into the artwork spread out all over the building-anywhere that art was displayed-and that, if found, could be redeemed for small prizes I actually brought back from Italy. Italian refreshments were served including the traditional tomato bruschetta, my own version of blueberry and goat cheese bruschetta, an artichoke Asiago spread from Italy on toasts, and a delicious Italian soda which I am now quite fond of, Sanpellegrino, which comes in a variety of flavors and can be purchased in the Dallas area where I live and teach.  I also made some homemade Italian Creme Sodas (Ok! They are DELICIOUS! Google it and you'll find lots of wonderful recipes.) and served some bite size Italian cookies. The staff got to take a minute to look at the artwork, enjoy some refreshments and camaraderie, and get a glimpse into the artroom and our school art program. It was also my way of thanking the teachers for the many times they help me communicate information to their classroom families or hand out artwork to take home. Advocacy is always important! A good time was had by all!

ITALY: 3rd and 4th Grade Italian Hoopoe Birds

Italian Hoopoe Bird

As a part of a recent Art Inspired by Italy Unit, my 3rd and 4th grade students made air dried clay Crazy Hoopoe Birds. The Hoopoe Bird is Italy's most flamboyant bird and students enjoyed making their own version of the bird. After using a wonderful air dry clay product from Texas, where I teach, students painted the birds with acrylic paint and added feathers, glitter, tissue paper, fabric, and ribbons to put their own spin on their CRAZY birds! The project was a big hit with the students and provided a pretty in-depth way for 3rd and 4th graders to learn to score and slip. 

ITALY: Ceramics lesson from Alice Gori.

This past summer while attending school in Italy as part of Boston University's Master's in Art Education Degree Program, we had a guest teacher, Alice Gori. She is a brilliant ceramist who is often asked by the Italian government and churches, etc. to restore the ages old ceramics inside of important buildings. We had some fun going to her studio, having her come to our studio, and we all enjoyed making a few ceramics pieces under her supervision. This really got me interested in learning more about ceramics and I'm thinking that maybe I'll find a local college course to attend. Never too old to learn!

Here is some of Alice (pronounced Aleeshay) Gori's work:

Above: Close up of headboard. Below: headboard for bed. 

Above: Sign for her studio. Below: Studio.

Above and Below: Two very unusual wall plagues. BEAUTIFUL!

ITALY: Paint pigments at infamous Zecchi Art Store.

One of my favorite pictures! These are dried paint pigments from Zecchi Art Store in Florence, Italy. I can still remember standing at the counter this past summer marveling at the many hues and asking what each one was made from. From herbs, to minerals, to berries, and much more...adding these powdered pigments to oil creates oil paint and is the way great Master's used to make their paint! Legend says that Michelangelo bought some of his art supplies from the Zecchi family.

PROSPER ISD: Folsom Elementary Teacher of the Year and PISD Elementary Teacher of the Year

     I started teaching in 1992 and have enjoyed the journey so much. Teaching, to me, is helping my students use their capabilities to find their abilities.  Recently I received the Teacher of the Year Award for my campus, and then the Elementary Teacher of the Year for my school district. I share this because it meant to very much to me; not to be recognized by my peers and the selection committee, but because I have dedicated myself to my profession and students since the day I stepped foot in the classroom.  I see this award as verification that I'm on the right track and it gives me inspiration for the future. I'm at a point in my career where I'm not only teaching children and young people, but also teachers. My desire is to have my art teaching transcend the four walls of the art room and leave a legacy for the future.

MY SCHOOL: My fashion designer friend!

Every morning I stand outside, rain...sleet....shine....freezing temperatures....., and do 30 minutes of car line.  Every morning my little 2nd grade friend walks across the street from her home looking like a fashion model. She wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up and I tell her stories of when I was a fashion designer.  She brought me this with a big smile right after the Christmas break! It's six pages, stapled together into a card, but these are the two most special pages...aside, of course, from the wonderful peacock she drew on the centerfold. But anyway....I have a treasure box full of these precious notes. I save them all. I now have three huge tubs of notes and artwork students have made for me. I make a point to bend down, eye to eye, and hug them and tell them how much I love it. And, I tell them that someday when I'm an old lady I'm going to get each one out and look at them because they are priceless treasures!

GLOBAL: Friday Flower Pots!

Fridays in my art room are over the top creative and colorful! Last Friday my students made these collabortive flower pots. They are modeled after Van Gogh's famous sunflower painting, but my students added their own personality to the flowers! I took the snowmen down (thank goodness) and put up the bright, cheery flower pots! They are making our hallway at school smile. It's a simple project and one we were able to do during a quick 30 minute art class. Student use oil pastels to color their own flower. I made the pots. Then, they are assembled on the bulletin board as one complete pot of flowers. My older students drew and cut out their own flowers. I drew and cut out the flowers for Kinder and my first graders cut out the flowers that I had drawn. This allowed us to complete the project in 30 minutes. I keep a box of hand wipes by the door and every student got a hand wipe to clean up their hands while lining up. 30 minute masterpiece!

FRIENDS ARE FLOWERS IN THE GARDEN OF LIFE!

A GLOBAL YEAR: Art keeps me busy!

The last year and a half have proved to be very busy for this art teacher! I've been absorbed in my own position as an elementary art teacher in a busy school district AND attending graduate school obtaining my Masters in Art Education Degree. There hasn't been time to blink! But, there has been time to fill in the gaps with committee work and leading sessions and workshops at the Texas Art Education Association Conference and the National Art Education Convention, going to Cuba with the National Art Education Association, having my students win art contests-even international contests, and I even spent the summer in Italy in the Tuscany region for summer art studio painting outside in the Tuscan sun every day as part of Boston University's degree program I'm participating in. Aside from a couple Alleve every other day to take care of the arthritis and remind myself that my knee is not 86 years old, this 51 year old art teacher is beginning an adventure that will lead who knows where. A couple of years ago I taught school short team in Uganda and Ecuador and loved every single second of it. I'm passionate about glocalization. Yes, I spelled that right. I'm passionate about teaching my art students to learn and exist in their own culture while at the same time realizing there is a huge world out there that is getting smaller each and every day. There are a lot of "things" in the works. One of which is this Blog. Peacocks and Rainbows is getting ready to fan out and many surprises are in store. But first, I have got to finish my thesis which I'll be doing this spring, but one thing is for sure. This Blog is stepping up a notch and will become a watershed, or should I say a water tray, of information for art teachers and art enthusiasts. There is a lot of energy left in this ole' gal and a lot of painting and creating left to do. My first priority will continue to be my students and teaching art which I am passionate about and being as involved in possible in the fine arts in my school district. However, be watching this Blog because it is about to be packed full of great tips, tools, news, and information about everything ART!

"An artist is not paid for his labor, but for his vision." -James Whistler

TUSCANY (ITALY): Blueberries, Bruschetta, and Borgo San Lorenzo

      

     Life at Capitignano in a rural area near Borgo San Lorenzo is a dichotomy of the new and the old, blended together, co-existing in the 21st century.  One can use the Wi-Fi in the library, get up, walk 20 feet and take your laundry off the clothes lines, walking by the rabbit hutch where the evening meal might just possibly come from as you go.  On one hand life is very sophisticated-we’re using computers, taking graduate level courses. On the other, it is very primitive and reminds me very much of life at my granny’s house in Arkansas or my grandparent’s farm in Kansas when I was a kid. Whether I am sitting in an art history class learning about 12th-15th century Italian artwork or plein air painting outside with my easel and oil paints, this rural 13th century Italian estate (really just a working farm) has taught me many things this summer. One of these things is that life is to be lived, enjoyed, relished, and absorbed!

     Our world in the United States in 2012 is full of work, meetings, emails (home email, work email), voice mails, cell phone messages, Tweets, Facebook comments and messages, texting, laptops, desktops, and so much more. In between all those communication details that fill our day we also hop in our oversize vehicles like my Suburban (no Panda for me!) and drive hither and yon running errands, delivering things we could probably just keep, gathering things we could probably live without, and stopping for a $4.00 cup of coffee on the way. (Hey, don’t be messing with my Starbucks. Oh wait, that was me! Erase that!) But, when the suitcases are packed and we venture off to another spot on the globe we can often find a much different life. In fact, many of my ventures to places like Ecuador and Uganda, and other places, greatly (or gravely) reminds me that the American way of life is in many ways so wonderful; in other ways so excessive.

     This weekend in Italy I didn’t travel anywhere. Other weekends I have gone on great adventures riding trains, buses, boats, and with drivers to places like Seina, Arrezzo, Livorno, and Venice, Burano and Murano. But this weekend I wanted to just stay put and enjoy Capitignano and it’s simplistic beauty; knowing that our time will be ending soon. I volunteered to fix lunch for those of us who did not travel as the cook is given the weekends off.

     I moved the smaller patio table out under the giant shade trees on a ledge that overlooks the Mugello valley on both sides of where I positioned the table. The breeze was so refreshing and the view was stunning. I found a tablecloth in a drawer in the kitchen, ran down to my room and got a strawberry juice bottle I had been saving and picked some wildflowers on the way back for a centerpiece, quickly grabbed my camera so I could document our pretty lunch, and then, for a moment, I pretended I was Frances Mayes in Under the Tuscan Sun. I spent about an hour in the kitchen making a delicious salad full of local produce, a light vinegar and oil dressing, warmed up Maria’s delicious minestrone from the day before, and made my own bruschetta. I made a tomato bruschetta, the Tuscan way. The recipe is easy:

Chop tomatoes, add grated fresh Parmesan cheese, chopped fresh basil, some chopped bread crumbs from the heel and maybe another slice of a baguette, salt and pepper. Mix together well. Slice a baguette in angular pieces. Rub the bread with garlic, brush with olive oil. Place the tomato mixture on the slice, be generous, and bake in a warm oven, maybe 350, until nice and toasty.  The Italians are very frugal.  Using the heel ensures you use ALL the bread, but the bread crumbs also bind the tomatoes together so they don’t fall off the bruschetta. The other bruschetta was my own invention….quite excited about that….I used the same baguette bread, slathered it with herbed goat cheese, and placed fresh blueberries on it. Toasted it until nice an heated through; drizzled with peach honey with a bit of a pepper kick that I got at the Borgo County Fair our first weekend here.

      And, for the real treat, I gathered some tea bags kept for the morning hot tea drinkers, and made a delicious ICED TEA! Yes, first ice tea I have had since I left Texas on June 8th! We sat outside under this big, old beautiful tree, breeze blowing and keeping us cool, enjoying the view. While we didn’t say it, I think it was visible on all of our faces…we knew that moment was one to remember.  I found myself thinking I need to do this more when I get home. How can I squeeze in a lunch here and a supper there on the patio with friends who are caught up in the same life-is-too-busy-routine as I am? I don’t know, but I’m going to try. Don’t be surprised if you get an invitation! I can be pretty persistent! In Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes says, “There is no technique, there is just the way to do it. Now, are we going to measure, or are we going to cook?” Make some bruschetta today. Put your own favorite ingredients on it! Be inventive! And invite some friends over!