Sighting - Corner of Art Room

When I'm teaching my beginning 2-d students to draw, we go thru a unit on perspective, but I teach it using Dr. Betty Edward's Right Brain technique called "sighting".  It involves closing your weak eye, extending your arm out, locking your elbow and measuring distances and sighting angles.  It works really well and the kids use it to draw a corner of my room from either a one or two-point perspective place.

This top one was drawn by superstar senior Tiffany Yeh.  She went all out with her piece.  And no, this is not what my art room looks like normally  LOL.

I ask the kids to alter reality in their pieces, so that's why all this cool stuff is going on.

I believe senior Joan Kim drew the one above, and sophomore Megan Yeu created the one below.

I have several very talented sophomores coming up in the ranks, and the very expressive one above was done by Jessica Perez.

This next one was drawn by senior Archie Ravichandran who will be in the dorms next year with my daughter Dani at Cal Poly Pomona.  I've got my fingers crossed, I'm hoping they will be roommates.

Below we have another sophomore, Shiree Lee, whom I'm hoping will be coming back to me next year.

Next is very talented senior William Luo who I have enjoyed getting to know and working with very much this year.

And below his is junior Halah Elsahhar.  She has playfully turned my glass doors into candy bars for a very sweet piece.

And last but never least is senior Joseph Pang below with his adorable walrus' playing cards.

Fabulous job all of you and thank you for working so hard for me all the time.  I've really enjoyed you beginners this year.  You are a very talented bunch.

A Whole Lotta Clay Going On

Another group of pix that I'm really tardy with are these clay Abstract Family Groupings. Always a popular assignment with my second year clay kids, these were made in the First Quarter and glazed in the Second Quarter.  It was used as a review for slab and surface decorative techniques. 

The top one with the fantastic surface texture was created by senior Tiffany Liu.

The students are required to embellish these pieces after they come out of the glaze fire with beads, buttons, yarns, raffia, twigs, etc. so that it becomes a mixed media work.

This next one above was made by senior Melissa Garcia and hers has a very bas-relief feel because of the great overlapped shapes.

The very sweet piece above was done by senior Alyssa Olea.  The kids also had to think about hanging devices.  I really like how Alyssa stitched hers together.

Moonbaby - Junior Rita Labib

I don't remember if I posted Moonbabies this year, and if I did, I must have left this very special one out, maybe because it just recently got mounted (actually not so recently if you look at the date time stamped on the pix, that's how behind I am on my posts  LOL).  Anyways, this very expressive piece was done by junior Rita Labib.  It was her first clay assignment of the year and of course Rita being Rita, she had to do a little something extra to make her piece stand out of the crowd.  So she mounted it on wood with a few glass shards and nails.  Very effective and a real eye catcher.  Keep yup the great work ethic Rita!

Just a reminder that my art students here at Whitney High School will be having their very first legit gallery exhibition at The Drawing Board Gallery tonight from 7-9 p.m.

The address is 4945 Yorba Ranch Rd. in Yorba Linda, Ca. 92887.

So please join us this evening as we celebrate this very special event.

See you there!

Inglenook Fibers - Spinning Batts

Aren't these fabulous???!!!  I bought these spinning batts from this etsy site http://www.inglenookfibers.etsy.com/ after I saw them on my friend Lori Lawson's blog http://www.paintspinknit.blogspot.com/ and knew I had to spin some up. 

As soon as they arrived 2 weeks ago, I shared them with my beginning 3-d kids who I'd just taught to spin and they loved the colorway choices and the easy spinability.  The price was very reasonable for the amount that the site sends you.  The best part is that when you open up the batts there are even more glorious colors on the inside that you can't see when they are rolled up.  What a treat.

The fibers included in the batts are merino, silk, alpaca, wool, bamboo, silk noil, flax and bits of angelina for a tiny bit of sparkle.   Lovely!

Emily Felderman - Textile Artist

"Bonsai"

by

Emily Felderman

Shaker Heights, Ohio  U.S.A.

Recently when I was visiting Fiber Artist Christine Mauersberger's blobsite http://www.cmauers.blogspot.com/, she was highlighting Textile Artist Emily Felderman's work that I fell instantly in love with.  I was so moved by her work that I contacted Emily to ask if I could showcase her work on my blog for my fiber students.  She very graciously said yes.

So enjoy!

Artist's Statement

I love making stitches; they are simple and forthright. Stitching by hand does not require loud machines or protective gear, just a hand, needle, thread, and fabric. Historically, stitches have been both necessary and decorative. They can help tell a story, record important occasions, and pass guarded messages.

My work is created by making thousands of colorful stitches; it has a unique hand made quality that no machine can produce. I begin by sketching new ideas and gathering thread colors. As the piece develops, I hang it to get a feel of what it looks like on the wall and to get a new perspective. I re-evaluate and will often add new colors at this stage.

In addition to framed pieces, I have recently begun combining my textile work with vintage objects. Beginning with my Grandfather's gears and washers, I integrated portions of my stitched work within the objects. I began experimenting with vintage scissors; I like the idea of using them in new ways and wonder what they were used for before I found them? Stitching? Cutting papers? Utilitarian? Bonsai? They are now part of a complete art piece where their patina, scratches, and history are integrated and unified with my textile work.

"X"

"Prongs"

"Sunrise"

"Silver Leaf"

Emily's work is currently on display at Heights Art Gallery in Cleveland Heights, Ohio thru June 2, 2012.  If you would like to visit Emily's website http://www.emilyfelderman.com/, it's a visual delight.

Mosaic Frames - Student Work

A favorite assignment of my Beginning 3-d students are these gorgeous mosaic frames.  All are truly spectacular so I had to take a shot of the whole bunch.

But junior David Lee really outdid himself with his striking, very dangerous design above.

One of the class favorites was this exceptional work by junior Nikeeta Shah.  We loved both front and back of hers.

One of my personal favorites was this one above created by junior Julia Faith Chanco.  Before she began her design she went out to collect her own pebbles.  That makes me so happy.  I love when my students put out extra effort for their pieces.

Next we have senior Megan Machado, who worked with an amazing amount of small shards that she had to cut herself, and below is junior Sheila San Agustin who managed to work in a dragon from ceramic shards.

Junior Edgar Aguilar did this wonderful underwater scene with a special backside.

The really exciting design above was done by junior Lily Lin.  Anytime you bring in a checkerboard of any shape or color, it's bound to make your design pop.

Junior Phoebe Liu went with a Dancing Thru Life theme and if you look closely you will see several abstract dancers in her piece.

Another personal favorite was created by junior Hannah Park.  I love how she incorporated a lot of text under lots of clear glass shards.  I believe she watercolored the text before she glued the glass pieces down so that she has very subtle colors running thru her work.

Next is senior Aparna Vancheswaran who did this very delicate piece above.  Just look at all those tiny shards she had to nip plus I like that she also incorporated the pearls.  And did you see the little girl floating away with the balloons?

This last one was the most difficult as well as most outstanding of the bunch.  It was done by junior Tiffany Lee.  Tiffany always out does herself with every assignment.  She gives me everything she's got.  She actually went to the store and bought a larger frame to work on then I gave the others.  She also purchased some funky plastic torsos and painted lots and lots of faces on the underside of clear rounds of glass.  Because all the plastic pieces were hollow, she used a glue gun to fill them from the back side so she could glue them down better.  But the hardest part was the grouting.  All the others took between 1 1/2 to 2 hours to grout.  Tiffany started at 9 a.m. and finished at 3:30 in the afternoon.  Her teachers allowed her to miss all her classes so she could take the time to grout her frame properly.  Thank you Whitney teachers for your understanding!

My favorite pix is this one.  I love when the kids come in to enjoy each others work, and to take the time to critique and marvel at it.  But most of all I love how the students here at Whitney are a family and love and respect each other.  From the backside are Hannah Park, Niki Shah and Angela Wan.

I know what a lucky woman I am to teach at this very special school.

And Speaking of Guitars...

Former student, sophomore Andrew Veenstra, who I last worked with as a 7th grader, dropped by to show me his recycled guitar that he had made for a local art contest.  I was so inspired and impressed that I asked him if I could take a pix for my blog.

What a great assignment idea for next year for my 3-D students.

Thanks Andrew for stopping by!

Which Guitar is it Going to Be?

His very  hip and snazzy red one?

His old stand by that he commissioned alumni Caroline Ma to  re-designed for him with Polymer tiles and paper collage?

Or one of his gazillion guitars that he has stashed around the house?

Maybe it's gonna be his guitar that looks like a violin?

Then you never know what unsuspecting person he will cajole to get up on stage and sing with him.

It's all a BLAST!!  With lots of singing and dancing to tunes from the 50's, 60's and 70's.

Or possibly it will be this piece of crap guitar that he covered with old leather?

But more importantly, which of his many cool outfits will he wear?

And which hair style will he sport?

You just won't know till you get there, will you???  LOL

So please come join Jim and his band The Rockits tonight from 8-11 at Java Joe's in Yorba Linda, or if you can't make that  how about tomorrow night at Main Street Restaurant from 7-10 in old downtown Yorba Linda.  Or what about both??  

Hope to see you there!