A QUICK LOOK BACK AT 2014-2015 - THE MIGHTY LIONS

The numerous Art Displays Alyssa Olea hung in the office to show off you work.

The Tye Dye clothesline outside the art door,

always full of color.

Senior Square at Christmas Time

Your last Open House Display and Sale

The last Glaze Firing of the year

The last time my rolling basket will be loaded for home for the 2014-2015 school year,

with all your thank you cards and gifts.

The last time you will see the Art Room tables and shelves so empty...

the potter's wheels so clean.

The last basket full of trash to be thrown out.

And all the drawers and cabinets taped shut for the summer.

Memories and friendships to last a lifetime,

Hail to Whitney High.

2014-2015 SENIOR TRIBUTE - PART V

So as you seniors get ready to line up

with the faculty by your side...

as academic super stars Mindy Kim and Andrew Perley

 give their Valedictorian speeches,

with your advisor Mrs. Perry,

 looking on with great pride...

as Pete Thiengtrong and Tiyi Christopher sang the sweet and beautiful song 

they had written for all of you...

and as you all linked arms to sing your Alma Mater 

for the very last time that all of you will ever be together again...

we watch the last streamer fall,

as the Class of 2015,

the Mighty Lions, 

after 6 long & grueling years,

graduate from Whitney High School.

Farewell my Lions,

may your road be full of exciting adventures,

true and lasting loves, 

and healthy choices.

Your real journey,

your lifes journey,

 has really just begun.

And always remember,

it's all about surface design,

using those critical thinking skills,

and safe sex,

very, very smart safe sex!!

Drink wisely my friends, 

 and with great moderation,

and don't do anything stupid.

And absolutely 

NO DRUGS ALLOWED,

EVER!!!!!!

Behave yourselves and stop by,

I'll see you on FB.

I Love You to the Moon and Back

xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxo

2014-2015 SENIOR FAREWELL - PART IV

Karisma Dev,

you have touched my heart & my life 

 like no other student in the 36 years  since I've been teaching.

You came to me as a shy 7th grader 

who stood out because of your creativity on each  and every assignment.

I definitely took notice.

Who was this youngster who was thriving,

attentive,

hardworking and respectful,

who clearly had a gift?

Little did I know at the time

 what a big part of my life you would become.

You mother,

Joodhi,

 saw it too.

She watched you blossom into a young artist in a short 8 weeks

in that 7th grade class.

You both were hooked.

So much so

 that your mother fought to have you in my classes

 all six years of your Whitney career.

You were the first!

No parent had ever convinced a counselor, 

at the # 1 Academic High School in the State of California,

# 10th in the Nation,

to allow their child to take six straight years of art & crafts.

Unheard of.

But then no one had ever come up against Joodhi Sood  :)

With your mother in our corner there was no one to stop us.

Oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

So let's list those classes shall we:

7th Grade - Art Wheel

8th Grade - Beginning 3-D Art

9th Grade - Intermediate 3-D Art

10th Grade - Special Studies 3-D Art

11th Grade - Advanced 3-D Art

12th Grade - Beginning 2-D Art

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have pushed yourself harder than any student I've ever had,

and made many of the most important art pieces to come out of Whitney High School.

We know this because when you took your Portfolio to Portfolio Days,

the colleges reps. were blown away by what you had created and built.

They told you that no other high school student

 was doing anything even remotely close to what you were pulling off. 

And in addition,

you continued to take a full academic load as well.

You are quite a woman Karisma Dev.

Your mother has instilled in you one of the best work ethics I've ever seen 

in one so young.

Not only that,

she has raised you to be one of the most disciplined, 

honest and responsible people I've ever met.

She has also taught you to be a strong and independent woman

who can take care of herself,

as you are doing now at Syracuse University in Upstate New York

where you earned yourself a full scholarship ride 

as an Architecture Major.

No easy feat!!

One of my fondest memories was made with you this year 

when you asked me to accompany you to receive your prestigious scholarship award 

given to you by the AAA& E (Asian American Architects & Engineers) 

at the Los Angeles Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

What an honor that was to accompany you on that special evening,

getting ourselves all gussied up,

 to watch you get up and give your thank you speech to over 1000 adults,

some of who will eventually be your contemporaries & mentors.

I was bursting with pride.

My second favorite memory was this summer,

 being your special guest on stage 

at your Arangetram,

your 3 hour dance performance that you've been studying for 

since you were 3 years old.

What a treat that was for me.

It showed me a whole other side to you that I couldn't even phantom.

But it also reinforced where so much of your training and discipline has come from.

Your strength of character,

your work ethic,

your intelligence,

your maturity,

and your creativity are going to take you far.

That's a given.

I'm so thrilled to have been a part of your life for so many years Karisma,

and feel so blessed to have had you pass thru my classroom doors.

I feel like my life as an art teacher is complete now,

that everything that will come after you is icing on the cake.

I could retire tomorrow knowing that I have taught the best of the best.

I love you with all my heart Karisma,

and I so look forward to what you will create from here on out.

And I also pray that I live long enough to see your work published in Architectural Digest. 

Because I know that's where your journey will take you.

Dear Friends for Life!!

2014-2015 SENIOR FAREWELL - PART III

OK,

yeah,

I know,
I play favorites.

Don't we all as human beings??

You just can't help connecting more with some people then others.

And I think it's pretty obvious I connected with these three Intermediate 3-D gals.

From left to right:

Daphne Chiang, me, Bianca Tolentino, & Kaili Hamada.

A more civilized pix  :)

I had a blast with you guys,

teaching many of my favorite art forms.

It's a wonderful feeling to be able to pass on the Fiber Arts,

a lost art/craft in America.

I'm thinking that through so many of you,

you will be able to pass it on in college,

and so forth and so on.

Bianca Tolentino,

a Renaissance woman,

talented in so many of the Fine Arts,

and academically brilliant as well.

Your gifts,

 with your sense of the Dramatic will take you far.

You are an outside of the box thinker

which led you to creative many of the most unique pieces these past two years.

It was always a wonderful surprise looking forward to

 and seeing what you where going to come up with.

Wait till those college professors get a hold of you,

they are going to love you like I do.

All three of these young women worked their fingers to the bone for me,

putting in countless extra hours to pull off their amazing creations.

Before school, snack, lunch, 7th period and after school were a daily norm for them.

It's a beautiful thing to see dedication like that in this new computer generation.

Kaili and Bianca sculpting their plaster torsos.

Some of my favorite pix this year where captured by these 3 monkeys

 as they'd grab my camera

 and start shooting pix of themselves.

And then I'd get home and find them on my disk.

I'd be laughing out loud when I saw them.

And knew they would be perfect for the Tribute.

Other times they were just so darn cute ...

.I couldn't resist taking more pix of these characters.

Or times like these when they were so deep into right brain 

that they didn't even know I was watching them.

As you can see I probably have the most shots of Kaili,

 (she has a bit of indigo dye on her cheek)

because she was in the art room ALL THE TIME the past two years.

She threw herself into so many of the art forms

 and then continued to work on them

 long after the other kids had moved onto something else.

She made use of those TYE-Dye buckets until she exhausted them.

She spun more yarn on the spinning wheel then any other student.

She was possessed  :)

As many of you have been following the blog know,

Kaili is now an Art Major at the University of Hawaii.

Her passion for learning and the arts is a beautiful thing.

And I'm so grateful to have worked with one so dedicated.

I miss you like crazy Kaili-girl.

The lei I wore around my neck during graduation

 was made for me by Kaili and her mother. 

They strung many meaningful trinkets on the lei that they knew I would enjoy.

Thank you mom and Kaili for the lovely gift.

It hangs in my studio office so that I see it everyday,

and reminds me of this wonderful young woman.

Love you Kaili!!!

My sweet, sweet Daphne.

You make my heart expand because you fill it with so much love.

We connected instantly in your 7th grade year,

and our paths came together again in your junior year

 when you were able to come back to me

for Beginning and Intermediate 3-D art.

And last year I discovered that you are just as clumsy as I am,

so we will always be connected thru that as well  LOL

You have been an absolute JOY to work with.

Your innate sense of design and impeccable craftsmanship

 sets your pieces apart from the others.

Your hard work and dedication to all your classes sets you apart as well.

You are both an academic and an artist,

the best of both worlds.

I cannot wait to see where your journey will take you.

I do know that you will touch many lives with your big heart.

Know Daphne,

that you inspire me to be a better person.

Thank you for always giving me your best,

even when it was difficult to do so.

This pix of you above is one of my favorites from this year.

Clever of you to use your sweater as a dust mask.

Like I've told you many times,

your amazing critical thinking skills will take you far  :)

Love you to the moon and back sweet girl!

2014-2015 SENIOR FAREWELL - Part II

Every year when I go to put the pictures together for this tribute,

I'm always disappointed that I didn't capture more photos of all of you.

And it happened again this year.

There are so many of you that I wanted pix of but I don't have them.

Know that it wasn't intentional. 

We had an exceptional year together in both my Beginning and Intermediate Ceramics classes.

Above are a few of my favorite students from Ceramics I.

 From left to right are 

Poonam Bhakta, Asha Bhakta, Payal Morari, Ernest Olivar and Andrew Perley.

Poonam, 

you were an amazing craftswoman,

your work stunningly beautiful.

Asha,

crazy creative,

I adored everything you made!

Payal,

you are one of my all time favorites.

Worked with you the longest and you created so many unique and extraordinary works for me. 

I will miss you a lot!

Ernest,

you and the clay struggled,

but you never gave up the fight.

You worked with it till the bitter end and I admire you a lot for that.

Andrew,

on the other hand,

the clay loved you, and visa versa.

It was a pleasure getting to know two of our finest young men here at Whitney.

And now on to my Ceramics II noobs.

Man oh man,

did we have fun.

I loved every minute of the school year with all 6 of you.

Sameera Ahmad,

you are a hard working,

 brilliant young woman,

and a superior surface designer.

I cannot wait to see where life takes you,

and looking forward to working with those twin brothers of yours  :)

Erin Hsiao,

what a sweet gal you are.

A quiet perfectionist.

A superb craftswoman,

a brilliant designer,

and man, oh man,

did you get the hang of throwing on the wheel.

A very difficult global skill to master.

I appreciated all the hard work and hours you gave me.

This is Cindy Ryoo with Erin,

and one of my all time favorite photos in the art room.

I remember that day.  

The room was super crowed and you two came in to spend extra time glazing your torsos.

The only place to work was in the back corner,

 partially under the table.

This will forever be your spot.

Look at those magnificent smiles on your faces.

Doesn't get any better then this.

Cindy Ryoo,

you are the epitome of a fine artist.

You have a critical eye with impeccable craftsmanship and innate design skills.

You also have a heart of gold.

You are beautiful on the inside and out.

No wonder you always had all those boys coming round to check out your ceramic work  LOL

Ha ha,

I know you hate this, 

you know how I love to tease...

I don't know who was more devastated for you,

me, Tim or you over all that happened this summer with your clay pieces.

Know that you will always be able to revisit them here on the blog...

to infinity and beyond

:)

Love you girl,

ohh,ohh.

by the by,

I loved the clay rolling cylinders you found for me as a good-bye gift. 

I adore them and have already used them in several demos this year.

Thank you

xoxoxoxox

Yasmeen Pardo,

I love your spunky energy,

 and your fiestiness.

I admire and respect that you take a stand against injustice,

and that you are not afraid to go up against the establishment.

Hum....lawyer, judge, senator,...President,

or you could just continue on as a tremendously gifted Ceramic artist  :)

And a huge thank you Yasmeen for being my T.A. for the beginners.

Your knowledge of glazes was a tremendous help and perk for those newbies. 

The kids,

like me,

 had much respect and admiration for you and your work.

Come see me, 

I miss you!

And Nicolas Tudor,

you are the man!

Wasn't as easy as you thought it was going to be on that potter's wheel, 

was it????

But the clay loves you too,

 always has since you first put your hands on it.

And you tamed that beast!

Speaking of hands... LOL

Never were able to resist a good looking woman, huh?

Ha ha

I've had so much fun with you over the years.

It has been a joy watching you grow up,

and I'm so very proud of the man you have become.

It's been great having you stop by for a visit this year,

and catching me up on your love life,

it's hard to keep up,

you know?

LOL

Pals for life!!

I want to end Part Two with you Tushara Govind,

 who I felt a special closeness/connection to from day one.

You were my T.A. this last year for the Intermediate and Advanced classes,

never once having had an art class with me.

Yet you jumped in with both feet,

never afraid to take on the most daunting of tasks,

and for that reason, 

I saved them all for you.  :)

Even though I never worked with you as an art student,

your attentiveness to detail,

your astute listening skills,

and your ease with which you performed any given task have impressed me to no end. 

I firmly believe that if you ever did take an art class 

we would find that you are a very Fine Artist indeed.

YOU are one of the most trustworthy,

intelligent,

responsible,

kind and gracious people I have ever know in my lifetime.

And I feel very blessed that you have touched my life and my heart.

I know you will go on to do great things for society

because that's who you are.

Thank you for everything.

I admire you greatly. 

Your parents must be so very proud!