Tuesday, April 17, 2012

More Valley School Photos





Although my residency at Valley School is finished, I really hope to see more photos of the finished clay works as they come out of the kiln.  In our whole process, the firing of greenware to bisque and then to a glaze fire is really a tremendous amount of time.  We did however get our mosaic pieces finshed and hopefully some finish photos of those on our site would be great.  With these photos, it is easy to see the happiness and anticipation of both student and teacher.  Most of the time in a residency I get to feel like both of those roles!

Sunday, April 15, 2012

A great way to end the day


What a beautiful day it was today!  We worked until about 2 pm and then headed to the barn to brush the horses.  On our way back we picked up the dog crew and went up to the farm for a stroll.  The dogs had a blast in the dandelions and alfalfa.  It was also nice to have a rest and enjoy the afternoon sun.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Imagine their surprise

Imagine the faces of fourth graders when I asked them to face the chalk board today in art class and I told them we would be writing poetry.  They were crushed for a moment.  Then we did two poems together and they got to create their own.  Poetry is not so bad after all!  It is also an Art Form and in this case a nice reminder of some grammar skills too......sssshhhhh.....that is not something most of us like to talk about but it happened successfully today with the Fourth graders.

Cinqain poems by fourth grade


Chickens
Tan, brown
Pecking, hatching, eating
I love my chickens
Peep

 Nina


 

Cows
Black, white
Mooing, chewing, milking
Cows on the farm eating
Moo!

 Natalia



Elena
Crazy, weird
Banana-ing, singing, hoping
Elena is very random
Me

 Elena



Frogs
Slimey, green
Jumping, swimming, breathing
Frogs babies are tadpoles
Bullfrog

Skylar



Dogs
Soft, black
Running, playing, barking
Dogs can be brats
Sadie 

Brady



Yoshi
Green, tall
Running, laughing, butt-kicking
Yoshi is the best
Dinosaur

 Cole


Jane
Beautiful, blonde
Running, throwing, creating
I like being active
Sports

Jane



Katie
Weird, insane
Leaping, singing, banana-ing
Very, very, very crazy
Random

Katie



Bird
Blue, awesome
Birding, flying, pecking
Eli loves birds a lot
Golden Eagle

Eli



Sports
Play, score
Scoring, playing, winning
Sports are so awesome
Lacrosse

Christian



Cheetah
Black, yellow
Hunting, seeking, eating
Cheetahs are very fast
Africa

Kaitlyn







Turtle
Green, blue
Swimming, diving, walking
I love sea turtles
Green sea turtle



Dogs
Cute, fluffy
Running, playing, eating
Dogs are so cute
Beagles

Gabby



Snake
Sly, slick
Sliding, sneaking, slithering
Snakes are the most super
Spitting cobras

Emmett

Kitten
Meow, gray
Scratching, sleeping, walking
Kittens scratch very sharp
Mine

Shiya



Mia
Gorgeous, amazing
Painting, running, creating
Mia is amazingly perfect
Ideal

Mia

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

A Returniing Alumni heads to Valley School

It has been about 30 years since I have set foot in my grade school.  There are so many changes and yet the halls seem to hold the laughter of classmates from long ago.  Children still wear their uniforms of plaid with pushed down socks and ties slightly askew.  The smallest ones skip merrily down the halls and most will greet you with a ready smile.  I am surprised at how nice it feels to be conducting a residency here.  Flashes of my own memories inspire me to remember the art room with Barb Mannion encouraging us in our work.  That same atmosphere prevails in the art room today.

I am encouraged to find students polite and helpful and most importantly friendly and enthusiastic about our clay works.  It is rewarding to see the progress that practice in the clay brings to these students.  In just a few days ones that have been discouraged by a piece that might not be perfect to them do end showing signs of happiness and self esteem as we create our Garden Goyles.  The clay works are silly and funny and yet conduct the basic steps for any successful clay sculpture work.

10 days here will not be enough for me to see finished, glazed works.  Amongst all the grades, Mrs. Vallaly and I will bisque fire over 400 pieces in less than a week.  We will work hard to get as much accomplished as we can.  In the meantime, students are working happily alongside us to make some really amazing sculpture works!

Garden Goyles at Valley School


Imagine so much clay that it could practically fill a room.  So many little hands and hearts have been busy working on their garden goyles!  We are busy learning the wonderful world that clay can offer any aspiring artist and sculpture.  From K-9th grade, each student has been encouraged to create a fanciful and whimsical piece of garden art.  Of course, our weather conditions have been a mix of ran and snow but we really are certain it is almost garden time.

Clay, clay and more clay












We have been working very hard on our clay projects.  This is just a small sampling of the Garden Goyle's that we have been working on at this time.  The basic principle has been to start with a pinch pot using either gray or red clay and to learn the practice of attaching new clay to old clay.  Students have been encouraged to create a "creature" with some sort of facial expression.  Most of the pieces look like wonderful imaginary monsters that certainly make us smile and even giggle when we see what our neighbor has made.