I am a graduate of WOK Middle School's class of 1992 and a graduate Hillside High School's class of 1996. I attended The College of New Jersey (formerly Trenton State College) 1996-2001. After graduating I gained teaching experience at Abraham Clark High School 9/2001. I then taught at Hillside High School from 9/2002-6/2014 and WOK Middle School from 9/2014-6/2016 before coming back to the high school 9/2016.
In 2009 I received my Masters in the Art of Teaching from Marygrove College.
This year at the high school I will be teaching Art 1, Art 2, and Art 3. During class a variety of media will be introduced and developed. Students will work on not only finding and developing their creativity they will learn how to discuss art through several art criticisms throughout the course. The artist Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." As an art teacher I like to share this quote with my students to help to remind them how they felt about art in kindergarten. During their time in my class I will try to help them to get back in touch with their inner child and rediscover the excitement they once felt making art.
Many times in Art what is considered a "mistake" can easily be turned into a great project. It's learning how to turn things around and use your creativity that helps you enjoy Art. The well known Bob Ross once said, "There are no such thing as a mistake, they're just happy accidents." Make these "happy accidents" work for your art!
This Month in Art 1
September: Students will be working with being introduced to the elements of design. They will be learning about various lines that are used to create Art. As their first introductory lessons for Art 1 they will work on designing their Do Now folders and their class portfolios. Many students will use this month as a time for them to be reintroduced to bringing Art into their life.
For their project after the Do Now folders they will design a sugar skull in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. They must select a theme for their skull. We will look at the characteristics that the sugar skulls all contain and look at what makes them a sugar skull. In addition to designing their skull they will then have to select a part of their skull to make 3 dimensional. For the 3 dimensional aspect we will be using foam board to add a little bit of a "pop" to their skull. Throughout the work on their skulls they will want to make sure that they are thinking of all of the choices that they are making and the reasoning behind them. At the completion of their project they will have to provide an explanation of their work.
Here are a few of their completed sugar skulls:
October: For October students created Abstracted Names. They selected a name or word that contained at least 5 letters. Once the name is written in bubble letters they then transferred it using tracing paper to create the mirrored image. Turning their paper from landscape to portrait they then tried to see if any abstract image popped out. Some students saw insects, tiki character, faces, etc. They then used colored pencils to color in their image. They wanted to have their image take over the name so that in order to see the name you had to look closely maybe even turn the paper. Here are some examples. Can you see the name??
This month in ART 2
September: The first week of Art for an Art 2 student will usually serve as a refresher week since they may have not spent their summer drawing. But like riding a bike, they usually will not lose their creative skills. They may become a little rusty from lack of use but it should only take a few days to get comfortable again. To reintroduce themselves to being creative they, like the Art 1 students will have to design their folders for class.
For their first official project they will have to create a self portrait. Instead of being a traditional self portrait where they would draw all of their facial features and try to make sure that their image resembles them, this self portrait is more representational. They will be selecting an object that they feel represents them. The object that they select will then take the place of their face in their portrait. They will still need to include hair, but said hair will be atop the object that they have chosen. They will need to include their neck and shoulders as well making the image look as if it would be a traditional portrait minus the face.
Here are some of the completed self portraits:
This Month in Art 3
September: Students will be creating a cover for their Do Now folder. This will help them to get back into the swing of creating Art in case they did not do anything over the summer. For Art 3 students this will probably be the most relaxed assignment that they will receive. After they complete their Do Now folder they will then begin their Surrealist project. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month they will be looking at the art of Hispanic artists such as Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dali. They will be creating a surrealist self portrait in the style of on of these artists. They will be able to select the media that they use for the project.