Life Drawing

As an art teacher, most of my curriculum is founded on life drawing.  I believe it is the best way to teach perception for visual artists, and I have found that students from 7th to 12th grade respond well to the drawing sessions.  Below are some student drawings from 2010-11.  All these were drawn from observation of a live model.  Drawing time ranges from about 15 minutes to 1.25 hours.

B.B., 11th Grade

C.N., 11th Grade

A.F., 11th Grade

B.F., 7th Grade

M.D., 11th Grade

DaVinci Academy's "A Christmas Carol"

As I mentioned in my last post, we've been getting ready for DaVinci Academy's production of "A Christmas Carol."  All of our hard work culminates this weekend, and I'm pretty sure the glue burns, late nights, and brain strains will be completely worth it.  The Design Team and Theatre students had the opportunity to design and build costumes/puppets for the four ghosts (Marley, Past, Present, and Future), and they did a wonderful job.  Here are some behind-the-scenes photos.

A Christmas Carol - Update

Only two weeks until DaVinci Academy's production of "A Christmas Carol." My students and I have been working hard creating "the Ghosts" and I'm looking forward to seeing them perform.

Mr. Slee (drama teacher) and I wanted Marley and the Christmas ghosts to be different than the rest of the performers, so we decided to explore puppetry and audio effects. I think we have come up with some very creative results. Here's some photos of a couple of the ghosts in progress.

A Christmas Carol

So, while at the Shakespeare Competition in Cedar City, Utah, Adam Slee (DaVinci Academy's drama teacher) and I decided to try an interesting take on "A Christmas Carol." I will be working with my Design Team at DaVinci Academy to create four larger-than-life puppets/costumes for the ghosts in the production.  Mr. Slee is taking a fun, non-traditional approach to the sound effects and staging.  It should be a very enjoyable production.  I'll post more information soon.

Struggles

Today a student of mine was really struggling with school and life.  He came to the art studio looking to get away from things and I asked him to draw a picture of the current still-life at the front of the room.  He decided to give it a shot.  About fifteen minutes later, he was frustrated, hated the drawing, and stood holding it over the garbage can.  I told him he was giving up too soon and that he needed to keep on working.  I could tell he didn't want to bother with it any more, but he consented and returned to his drawing board.  At the end of class, he came up to me with a big smile, holding the drawing proudly.  With a little more time and effort, he was able to create a wonderful drawing.  I pointed out that it was a good thing he didn't quit earlier.  He nodded agreement.

Too often, we get frustrated and want to quit when things don't go our way, but if there is one lesson I hope my students can get from the visual arts, it will be to not give up.  In so many ways, drawing is the process of working through mistakes.  It takes persistence to succeed at drawing, painting, and life.