2-Point Cityscapes - Student Work

In my Intermediate 2-D class I have the kids do a unit in both 1 and 2-point perspective.  This is only a quick 2 day assignment but both of these pieces turned out really well so I wanted to share them.  

Above we have senior Halah Elsahhar with this good looking city.  She took extra time to bring in some shaded detail, and below is junior Megan Yeu who off-centered her city and brought in some great linear detail.  What I love is even though they worked to the same basic requirements, each one is unique and special.  These young-uns are developing their own styles, and that's so cool!  

1st Quarter 7th Graders

Even though my 1st quarter 7th graders have moved on I still haven't posted all their work.  These are from the unit on linear pattern and texture, also known as zentangling.  They had to learn about color schemes and then pick one to watercolor in their background with.  Then I gave them a thin marker to do their zentangles with.  The results are always wonderful.

The first one above was created by Anjli Gandhi and was so amazing in detail and effort.  This little ones work o hard for me.  Below we have Tyler Aquino with the very 3-d looking space, very stately and beautifully crafted.

This colorful one above was the work of Arjan Batra and one of my favorites, and below we have a very cool, detailed piece by Mira Modha.

This fun and magical heart piece above was done by Sanjana Koushik, and the gorgeous design below was crafted by Kristina Theam who spends a lot of time on her pieces making them just right..

This next one reminds me of the 4th of July and was done by Heather Choe and shows a lot of effort, and Alex Lui made this very expressive piece below.

But my super favorite that made me LOL was this one below by Scott Lee Jr.  Scott was such a goof in class and I would always tease him and call him a 'noob sauce', an expression I picked up from my son.  So Scott used it in his artwork.  I love that Scott!

Taking a Peek Back in Time

This photo was starting to go bad, and it's one of my favorites of my daughter and I goofing around when she was 11 years old, so I thought I'd blog it to save it before it disappears. 

Claremont Village Street Art Faire

Every year on the last Saturday in the month of October the city of Claremont Ca., hosts it's street faire with an emphasis on the arts.  This year there were over 600 vendor featuring foods, arts & crafts, local businesses, and the local police and fire departments.  This was my first year to attend and I have to honestly say that I was a bit overwhelmed by the thousands of people who showed up and the huge amount of vendors to stroll past.  It took me nearly 3 hours to see everything.  And it was HOT outside!

The entire downtown area was blocked off and parking was a nightmare.  It was in the 90's that day and most of us had to hike at least a 1/2 mile to the festivities   At least I was able to burn my calories for the day.  There was a lot to see and do.  I was a bit disappointed in the arts & crafts on display, it was a bit swap meetish.  Oh well, I was able to find a few Xmas presents. 

My favorite booth was the Audubon Society.  They had several birds there with their handlers.  The sweetest was the baby owl.

And the kids were having a ball with the bubble machine, and going around to all the booths trick-o-treating for candy.  Most of the children had on their Halloween outfits.  And so did the dogs.  There were 100's of dogs dressed for the occasion.

It was also really nice listening to the Claremont Youth Orchestra under the large oak trees in front of my favorite yarn store 'Colors'.

And it was also fun to rock out to the street bands as well in front of the 'Folk Music Store'.

Will I go next year?  Naw, once was enough  :)

More Knitting Needles - Student Work

I was going thru my pix and found that I hadn't included senior Phoebe Liu's needles in my post from the other day.  Phoebe is my Art Technician for my 4th period 3-D class.  She took the class in her junior year and we saw a lot of her beautiful work on the blog last school year.  When she has down time she loves to do crafty things.  So she saw the Intermediate 3-D class making their own needles and asked if she could make some as well.  She spent a lot of time getting her clay to move smoothly thru all the rainbow colors.  Then she candy caned that coil around another coil.  Very cool needles knobs Phoebe!    

Color Theory - Student Work

I'm so excited to share the new talent that's come my way in my Beginning 2-D class.  This was their first assignment of the year where they learned all about working with color schemes and the color wheel.  How they designed the assignment was up to them.  The medium is tempera. 

The piece above was created by senior May Luong.  I felt her design was brilliant and so beautifully crafted, and the pen and ink work showed amazing effort and patience.  Junior Deena Younan made the cool piece below.  I thought her design idea was so clever, and I was impressed with how she shaded in the walls and cast shadows with the tempera paint.  Not easy for a beginner.

Senior Ashley Chowdhury made this crazy wonderful, complex work above.  Notice the visual textural elements she has brought in with the sharpie marker.  And below senior Sheila San Agustin designed and painted this lovely yet twisted work.  Impeccable craftsmanship as well Sheila.  In fact, her craftsmanship was so well done that she didn't need to bring in any marker lines at all around her edges.  Bravo Woman! 

I adore this next piece by senior Alice Zhang.  So lovely, so sensitive.  I showed off many of her works last school year in my 3-D class.  Alice is gifted in both 2 and 3-D.  Next we have senior Anne Allan who is new to me, and I'm thrilled with her original, well thought out designs.  I also like how she has incorporated visual texture with the sharpie.

And I'd like to end with another of Alice's pieces, her color wheel below.  Again her sensitive craftsmanship, her color blending with the tempera, the lid's cast shadow, how the lashes go from thick to thin, just beautiful work kiddo. 

Congrats Adam and Ashleigh

My son's best friend since kindergarten, Adam, recently wed his high school sweetheart, Ashleigh.  Adam is the first of Zach's buddies to tie the knot.  Only 24 years old, and fresh out of college, these two are in for a tough time in this economy.  But they have a strong support network of family and friends, and they are so in love, they will be fine. 

It was a lovely wedding held at the George Key Ranch in Yorba Linda, under the beautiful shade trees.  Ashleigh was the most gorgeous bride, and my son Zach, part of the wedding party, escorting Ashleigh's best friend.

Ashleigh's parents hosted the reception in their incredible home/yard in the Yorba Linda Hills.  It was such a perfect day for the young couple.

My daughter Dani, and Zach's other best friend and college roommate, Sean, were having a blast.

But all of Adam and Zach's buddies were watching over my girl to make sure she didn't have too good of a time, much to her dismay.  LOL

Ashleigh's parents provided the most clever guest gifts, succulents in a burlap wrap, bound with ribbon and sweet tags with the couple's name, housed in such a cool way.

Adam and Ashleigh, I wish you joy and happiness, and all the best in your new life together.

Love you two very much.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I am thankful for my children, their health and happiness, and the goodness in their hearts.  I am also incredibly thankful that we could all be together to celebrate this Holiday.  And I'm especially thankful that my bird turned out just right.  It was goooooooooooooood!  Pix to come of the bad boy.  LOL

A Dyer's Garden

I thought it would be fun for my students to have a garden right outside the classroom door to harvest plant matter from.  So at the beginning of this school year I brought in a pot of flowers from home and have been adding to it since.  The kids have found the trellis for the morning glories quite handy for all sorts of things, to dry their yarns and towels, to hang their tye-dye pieces from, and so forth.  So the trellis has become it's own sort of art work that changes on a daily basis.

Since the beginning of school, I 've added a few more pots, as well as a large zip lock bag which houses a spider plant with many babies hanging off.  A couple of kids have taken an interest in the tiny garden and I've been giving them marigold seeds and baby spiders to plant in their own gardens.  And then one day I noticed a new variegated spider plant in one of the pots.  I thought how cool, someone has brought me a gift.  It turns out it was one of my seniors, Kevin Tang.  Thank you Kevin for your thoughtful addition.  :)

Eco-Dyed Silk Bundles - My Students

Thanks to the great class I took this summer with India Flint, I was able to implement her silk bundle technique with my students, and they loved it.  I'm not sure what the funnest part was; the wandering around the school picking up windfall, and maybe pucking a flower or two, or the opening of the bundles at the end.  All's I know is that they turned out remarkably well for the first time teaching this unit.

I did the assignment with my Beginning 3-D students.  Here are Bhavi and Priyanka above and Alison below laying out their designs on various types of silks I got them from Dharma Trading Co.

I've been collecting twigs all summer for the kids to wrap their bundles around.  Then into the dye-baths they go.

Eucalyptus

Ornamental Plum

and Raspberries (I cheated and added just a touch of Wine Rit Dye)

The unveiling.

and some close-ups.  Aren't they gorgeous!

Here are what the bundles look like in the dye-bath, and after they come out to cool.

What was really fun was to hang them on a line outside my room for the rest of the school to see.

Below is a little dye garden I have going for the kids.

More about that tomorrow.