Frontal View - Student Art

Love showing these off every year because they always turn out so well. This year I had the second year drawing students coat the entire paper with charcoal first and then erase their drawings in. Then at the end they re-draw with charcoal pencil to bring in greater detail. These pieces are stunning in person and are currently on display in the front office of our school. The second post was done 4 years ago by Rebecca Chung when she was a junior in my Intermediate 2- D class. Hers was done in graphite and was her original design where the others were done by looking at a black and white resource. From top to bottom, left to right are: seniors Mindy Cho, Michelle Bui, Tiffany Powell, Amand Garcia, Caroline Ma, 8th grader Jeremiah Kim, and 2007 Alum Rebecca Chung

Coil pots - Student Art

Students in my Beginning Ceramics class have just finished their coil pot assignment. I thought it might be fun to show their pieces in the greenware stage (formed but not fired) and then to show off their finished glazed pieces. The two finished ones on top belong to seniors Eaning Woo and Marina Woo. The greenware pieces belong to from top to bottom, right to left: senior Caroline Ma, senior Karleigh Mercado, junior Celina Chen, junior Crystal Valino and senior Cynthia Tsai. The finished glazeware belongs to: Celina, Cynthia and Caroline. Stunning work ladies!

Obsessions at Home

Several of my students know that my 14 year old daughter has been obsessed with the Jonas Brothers for the past year and a half and often question me about how many posters she has hanging in her room of the boys. So I thought maybe a picture might be better than an explanation. She's even collaged the ceiling with their faces. Pretty scary! Gee, I wonder where she gets her design ideas from. The second shot is my at home studio space. Hee! Hee!

Metal/Canvas Journals - Gail Perrone

I recently purchased this fabulous journal from fiber artist Gail Perrone (http://www.catfishfeltstudio.com/), and with her permission I'm having my Intermediate 3-D students make one for their current assignment. The kids are loving the assignment, especially working with the rebar from home depot; heating it with a torch to soften the metal so that they can then pound and flatten out the ends on an anvil for a more decorative look. In the third photo below Gail's book are a few of the pieces in progress. The close up belongs to senior Caroline Ma, and then in the 4th shot from top to bottom, left to right are: senior Joanna Han, sophmore Breeana Johng, senior Rikaya Obilo, 8th grader Emmerline Kim, senior Julie Kim, senior Annie Kim, and senior Caroline Ma. Can't wait to post the finished journals!

Beginning Wire Sculpture - Student Art

Every year in my Beginning 3-d art class I like to incorporate a wire unit. This first piece was done by Alum Jodi Chang who graduated in 2006 I believe. Her face reminds me of Alexander Calder's whimsical wire sculpture portraits. The 3 pieces below were done just this last quarter. Before attempting these sculptures the students first practiced with the wire in a pendant assignment so they got comfortable with the medium. In these works they were to form a recognizable subject that had volume so it didn't look like just a shell of the subject. I was very pleased with their results. From top to bottom, left to right are: seniors Ivy Hu, Shahnaz Khandoker, 7th grader Aman Patel, and senior Connie Pae.

Handmade Felt LIned Bags - Student Art

So excited to share these gorgeous bags off. They were made completely from scratch by my 2nd year 3-D art students. The students began by making their own felt from handdyed rovings from Joanna Gleason's sheep farm in Lyons, Colorado (http://www.gfwsheep.com/) Then they embellished them with needlefelting, beads, pearle cottons, free motion machine stitching, knit handles, gem stones and buttons. Then each designed their own pattern for their bags and learned the art of lining a bag (yuck!) and finally sewed on a closure. The results are spectacular. So much handwork involved but totally worth it. From top to bottom: senior Caroline Ma, sophmore Breeana Johng, and then from top to bottom, left to right: senior Julie Kim, 8th grader Jhonna Coronel, junior Audrey Pulido, and senior Joanna Han. Way to go ladies!

Julia Meng - Student Art

Julia is a 4th year 2-D student and has been with me since the 7th grade. Being a 4th year student enables her to work independently and set her own pace as well as pick her own projects. This is her latest piece. What's crazy about Julia is how quickly she turns out work. She whipped this up in less than a week yet it's so beautifully crafted and painted in watercolor. And the scale is huge- 22" by 30". Wow!

Color Theory - Student Art

Wanted to show off my sweet Beginning 2-D artists. They range in age from 7th through 12th grade and I work their butts off and really ask a lot of them. We start the year off with this color theory assignment. These four were so exceptional that I put them into competition for the annual talent show art judging that was held last weekend. All four of these pieces are showing impeccable craftsmanship and strong design skills. I'm a lucky woman to be able to work with students of this caliber. From top to bottom, right to left are: junior Brandon Liao, 8th grader Hannah Park, junior Shabnaz Khandoker, and junior Ashlee Chang.

Whitney Talent Show Art Winner - Student Art

Congradulations junior Jullian Kuo for winning first place in our annual talent show art competion that was held this last weekend at the La Mirada Civic Theatre. Senior Jon Paredes was our model in the Intermediate 2-D art class, and the students had to draw and ink in only the shapes of the shadows that fell on his face when I turned out the lights and set a spotlight on the side of his face. I love how Jullian brought collage and text into the work after the ink was dry. Brilliant piece! The bottom two were also quite striking and were done by seniors Amanda Garcia and Regina T. Thanks again Jon for modeling for us!

3/4 View - Student Art

Recently my 2nd year 2-D art students completed a 3/4 view portrait unit starting with graphite then moving into watercolor. They first worked in graphite and darkened in the entire piece of paper, then using their various erasers they actually drew with them to develop their portraits. Then later brought in more graphite with their drawing pencils. The results are quite striking. From top to bottom are: 2006 Alums Jaymee Ngernwichit and Jason Wang (charcoal instead of graphite), junior Jullian Kuo, senior Michelle Bui, and 8th grader Jeremiah Kim.

3/4 View Watercolors -Student Art

These watercolors were done after the 2nd year 2-D students tried a 3/4 view in graphite first. In this assignment they drew and painted each other with watercolr in 3/4 view. From left to right and top to bottom we have junior Hannah Park painting senior Mindy Cho, senior Amanda Garcia working with senior Brandon Dumais, senior Caroline Ma (who has 3 different art classes with me this year) painting junior Nicholas Francisco, and in a very experimental interpretation junior Jullian Kuo working with junior Philip Hwang . The two bottom pieces were done by alumni. 2007 grad Christie Tseng painted Rodney Uy and 2006 grad Leslie Hwang (who is at Art Center in Pasadena, so proud of you Leslie!) painted herself for our self-portrait unit that comes a little later in the year for my Intermediate 2-D kids. Christie and Leslie's portraits are two of my all time favorite watercolors that have been done for me here.

"Siren" - Student Art

The center piece was begun at the end of the last school year when senior Hannah Chung was in my Advanced 3rd year 3-D art class. It was a new mixed media assignment that I was trying out for the first time with the kids. They were required to bring together at least 4 or more mediums onto a piece of plywood. Hannah finished the center one over the summer as well as getting started on the side panels and then this year in my Special Studies class she finished up the entire work. It's one of my favorite pieces that she's produced for me in the 4 years I've been working with her.

Liberated Quiltmaking - Student Art

Several years ago I took the most wonderful workshop with nationally known quilt artist Gwen Marston and learned how to make an art quilt without any patterns and to just work spontaneously and go for it from my recycled fabric stash. It was so much fun that I teach quilt making this way to my 2nd year 3-D students. First I teach them to sew on a sewing machine then we move right into this assignment. The top piece was done by 8th grader Emmerline Kim, and the piece below was created by senior Caroline Ma who is headed off to art school in the fall. It's an exceptional design and was made with hand dyed fabric produced by world renown quilt artist Ricky Tims, along with other misc. fabrics.

Close up view of Caroline's gorgeous quilt. This shot really shows off her free motion quilting. Free Motion is when you drop the feed dogs on your machine so you can draw like an artist would with your thread. Very difficult to do but Caroline really wanted to learn. Usually I don't teach this technique until the kids come back for a third year in the 3-D class. But I made an exception because Caroline was so persuasive :)

Negative Space Plant - Student Art

Midway through the drawing unit that I put my Beginning 2-D art students through, I break things up with this fun but challenging assignment. First the students create a new, exciting format other than a simple geometric shape. In this case, junior Anne Gu chose a zebra. Then the students use their new right brain drawing skills to draw a plant in negative space within the format. The last step is to brush india ink into all parts of both plant and format. The whole process involves a lot of critical thinking as well as drawing and painting skills, so they are learning about good design as well.

This extremely creative piece was produced by junior Shabnaz Khandoker.

Instead of filling her format with a plant, junior Marisela Herrarte chose to go outside and draw a tree. Makes for a very strong and powerful visual.

Another beauty done by junior Amanda Lui.

This gorgeous plant was done by senior Jane Park.

Janitor Closet into Art Lounge

Several years ago when our school was remodeled, my principal Patricia Hager, asked if I would like to turn the old janitor closet into a storage area for art supplies. Honestly, I was not really sure because the space was pretty scary; spider webs, mold and mildew, dead rats and live cockroaches. But Patti can be pretty persuasive and I took on the task LOL. It took myself, as well as my T.A.s and detention students a half a year to scrub down the space then repaint it. But it was totally worth it. Once cleaned up there were endless possibilities for display, storage and creativity. This is the view looking into the interior from the doorway. The shower curtains hide storage for our fiber arts students. The far back brick wall was decorated and painted by 2nd year 2-D art student Alum, Luini Tan. She came back two years ago to assist me with kilns and prep work for my art classes and while here also managed to paint the fabric from her Auntie's quilt onto the brick walls. Everything in the art lounge was student made or decorated. The only thing I added was a bright red couch for the students to chill on. I hope you enjoy the next few shots of the lounge and our students art works.

One of my favorite pieces in the lounge was done by 2003 Alum Angela Su Molina. She created a whole series of these chairs, each one different, and then sold them to several of our teachers and staff at our annual Open House sale.

Door leading into the lounge painted and collaged by 1st year 2-D art student Alum Heidi Cho, clever girl! Heidi should just be finishing up at Rhode Island School of Design.

Another view of the lounge. The panel farthest away was painted by 3rd year 2-D Art Alum Ly Nguyen (who I think is an Art Center grad by now). Middle panel done by 4th year 2-D Art Alum Mark Bayaua, and panel closest was painted by both Mark Bayaua and his good buddy 2nd year 2-D Alum RayAnne DeCampo (who I know just got married this last year- congrats RayAnne!)

The old formica counter top was turned into a mosaic work of art in 2003 when Alum Angela Su along with boyfriend, Andrew Molina came back during their winter break from college to further beautify the space. If I'm remembering correctly 2004 Alum Melissa Wong did the mirror edging around the mosaic, and Alum Angela Feng did the large female ceramic bust and left it to me as her graduation thank you.

A huge paper mache' heart that 2003 Alum Rebecca Chen made in 4th year 3-D art hangs above the doorway of the lounge. And on both sides of heart on the side panels, 3rd year 2-D Alum Laura Rameriz, painted fun geometric shapes. Laura has since come back to volunteer her expertise in painting with oils to my 2-D art students every Friday at lunch this past quarter.

Rebecca collaged all 4 cabinet doors with abstract faces, then handpainted ceramic knobs to match the faces for the drawers above each face.

Back corner view. Even the flooring was laid by a student. Rebecca Chen did it when she was was my art T.A. The large oil cityscape was created for my family by dear friend, artist and teacher Rick Harsh of Huntington Beach, Ca.

Glass Artisit Katherine England - Mosaic Horse

I've really been inspired by my mosaic teacher, Katherine England, who teaches a variety of art classes to children and adults at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton. This is one of her lastest works and belongs to a series of other pieces that revolve around Shakespeare's works.