Treasures in the Garden

TREASURES IN HIS GARDEN

Over the course of this school year we are finding buried treasure's placed in senior Josh Berger's garden by the other students and faculty.

On top of the bird bath we now have a crow's feather, plastic butterfly and below, a crazy clay head.

Buried under a canopy of tall succulents one of our faculty, Donna Hall, donated a special rock from deceased teacher Gin Pooler's rock collection that she used to teach science class with.

Virgina Pooler has a very special place in my heart. 

In 1984 she talked me into getting my Master's Degree with her at USIU, so that we could rise higher on our district's pay scale.  

It was there that I meet my first husband, Inars Agrums, who I had my two beautiful children with.

So Gin, I love that your rock has ended up in our garden.

I also taught Gin's two children, Erin and Brock Pooler, in my art classes.  

Both were artistically gifted and took at least 3 classes each with me.

Both are now serving in our United States Armed Forces.

Thank you both for your service to our country, and the next time you visit Whitney you can see your mother's stone.

This last clay treasure was made by an alum and left behind when he graduated.  I stained it and placed it in the garden.

So next time you all stop by, see if you can find these hidden treasures, and hopefully more will be added each year.

Spring Update at Whitney

SPRING FLOWERS IN JOSH'S SUCCULENT GARDEN

The daffodils and anemones are bloomed out, now it's time for the real stars to shine, the succulents.

Enjoy!

Birthday Love

For my birthday this year, my son and his girlfriend bought me this amazing succulent garden.

Love red, love shutters, and love succulents.

You two nailed it!

Thank you sweet ones.

Open House Walls 2014

All my art classes and students celebrated Open House with me this last Wednesday nite.  

This is what the room looked like before the parents and students came thru.

Thank you all for your support, and know that the walls will be up for the next couple of weeks in case you weren't able to attend the other night (although we are on Spring Break this week). 

Rooting for a New Home

At the end of last summer I saw this really beautiful red-green leaf on a vine growing in our little mountain town of Crestline.  

So when no one was looking I snapped off a couple of vines and took them back to the cabin.

I housed them in this plastic glass on my windowsill all winter long, trying to talk Jim into not throwing them out.

Looks like I won!

About a month ago they started sprouting tiny green buds and within weekd they turned into the most amazing vine, growing up my window.

So last weekend I removed them from their winter quarters and planted them in their new home outside.  

The roots were impressive.  :)

All Boxed Up

MOSAIC TILED BOXES

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

wood box, polymer clay, glass shards, wood stain, gold, copper and silver leaf, india ink

Juniors Laarnie and Reis just finished up these stunning boxes in time for the Open House show.

Laarnie picked a wood box with a glass insert and filled in the glass area with polymer tiles embossed with gold, copper and silver leaf.  

Around those tiles she fit in bits of glass shards.

All pieces were glued down with tacky glue.

After staining her box she came in with india ink and dew lots of design elements to enhance her piece,

And when you open the lid you have addition mosaic surprises along with a bit of colored sand.

Tons of hard work went into getting this piece done on time.

Beautiful Laarnie!!

Reis picked out a round wooden box.

Both kids worked to a forest theme.

Reis focused on the age rings inside the tree truck for his lid design, using alternating rounds of polymer and glass.

He spent hours on the box side fitting together glass shards to ring and flow around it.

What precision!

Tremendous patience  :)

Experimentation in Clay

NAILS IN CLAY

CERAMICS I

clay, nails, oxides and glaze

Beginning clay student Priya Shah loves pushing the boundaries. 

And one of hr favorite things to do with her projects is insert various metals (findings from the hardware store) into her pieces.  

In this trail work she was experimenting with steel nails and what would happen to the clay when it was fired. 

What she found was that the clay shrinks as it dries, it shrinks more when it goes thru the first bisque firing, and then it shrinks even more as it is glaze fired.

The result was an interesting cracking of the clay reveling the metal inside.

A Taste of Paris & Barcelona

My stepdaughter Julie and her husband Mike

 recently came back from spending two weeks in Europe.

They brought us back the most beautifully made and decorated chocolates

 that I've ever seen and eaten.

And because it was my birthday they also brought me back this gorgeous handmade leather wallet.  

Julie said it reminded her of me and my love of patchwork quilting.

Do I have the best stepdaughter or what???

Extraordinary Watercolors

3/4 VIEW WATERCOLORS

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

watercolor

some pen & ink

It just blows my mind every year when the kids finish this assignment.

The pieces are so breathtaking, and I marvel at the level these kids are painting at.  

I partner them up with each other and give them each 8 days to draw then watercolor their partner.

Previously, in the Beginning level class last year, I spent 10 days teaching them several watercolor techniques.

I have them bring in a bit of watercolor to two other assignments before we do this one.   

So that's it, and they are painting like pros  :) 

In this first one senior Cathy Luo abstracted senior Justin Hwang and gave him a bit of a Jack Frost look. 

She totally nailed him in likeness to original, and his usual very thoughtful and serious expressive quality.

Senior Jasmine Zhao completely captured senior Heather Warner as well. 

 I believe Jasmine brought in a bit of pen and ink work with a very fine black marker to pull out the facial features.  

And again, super expressive.

Here is Heather's interpretation of Jasmine.  

Both Jasmine and Heather haven't been in the Beginning class since they were junior higher's. 

It's quite remarkable how they haven't lost any of their skills.

It's that right brain global learning thing.

Once you learn it you don't loose it.

Senior Alex Lee completely abstracted his watercolor of senior Anne Allan.  He was going after a recruitment poster from WWII I believe.

And then here is Anne's take on Alex. 

 Since he's so into war and guns she pulled that theme into her piece.

Both Anne and Alex also brought in some pen and ink work.

And here is a wonderful close-up of the Zombies in Anne's background.

So much fun!

An Artfull Birthday Cake

I put another candle on my birthday cake this last weekend with my children and hubbies, and one of my best presents was this amazing cake made by my son Zach and his girlfriend Nicole, mostly Nicole I think  :)  

Made completely from scratch it took them two days, but was so worth it.  

A S'mores inside with chocolate buttercream filling and frosting, then 6 egg whites whipped to perfection for the outermost layer.  

Then the best part, they torched it!

Wel-la!

Boy, oh boy, was I impressed!!!!!

BAM!!!!!!!!

STACKING PIGMENTED PORCELAIN

CERAMICS II

featuring my seniors

This was a new assignment this year for my second year clay students.  

I had them wedge oxides into pieces of porcelain, then roll each piece out into a thin slab, stack them together, roll the entire stack as one, then build anything they pleased with these very special slabs. 

They chose to make vase, mug and plate forms, then glazed them with transparent to showcase their work.

The results were spectacular as you will see.

From left to right in the arc we have James Cho, Shamara Mustafa, James again, and the cutie in the front belongs to Tahnee Thantrong.

This very complex mug above was created by Aman Patel, and below we have the subtle stylings of Aditi Ramesh.

Lovely!

Then Aman again for this highly original molded bowl.

Check out his visual flow between the three appliqued pieces on the bowls edge and the feet below.

It's all about visual flow baby!!  LOL

Extra Credit Opportunity Young Ones

For 10 Extra Credit Points click on Extra Credit tab across top of Home Page for more info. At the  AMERICAN MUSEUM OF CERAMICS ARTS  New exhibit -  AMOCA Opening Reception April 12, 2014, 6-9 pm

Kilnopening.edu 2014 California Ceramic Academia   April 12- June 1, 2014 Presented in support of ceramic education,  kilnopening.edu is a biennial exhibition that underscores the importance of college-level ceramics programs.  This Exhibition ranges from contemporary sculpture, to experimental clay, to conceptual ceramics, to traditional pottery. Everything on exhibit is for sale. Featured artist for is USC and CSUN Adjunct Professor Tanya Batura. Also on View:  Palm Prints: Jamie Bardsley "Sitting on the floor crossed legged for hours at a time, I would pound out little pieces of clay and then fold them into the palm of my hand.  These folds are made from various porcelain clay bodies, each with a slightly different hue.  The memory of the clay reveals the lines from my hand and records the making of each intimate piece. The folds became a driving force, the pieces themselves began making me; the quiet hours spent folding clay in the studio lead me to a meditative peace. " Jaimie Bardsley.   Big Fish Small Pot: Sixth International Small Teapot Competition Organized by Tony Huntley, Professor of Biology and Marine Science at Saddleback College, Big Fish Small Pot features over a 100 teapots selected by juror, Guangzhen Po Zhou. Po Zhou is a ceramic artist, writer, curator, a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. AMOCA only serves as the host venue for the exhibition. Emerging Artists: High School Exhibition In this second annual exhibition, AMOCA invited over 400 high schools in Southern California to participate.  High schools from San Diego to Santa Barbara sent ceramic pieces by their star students to be exhibited in a museum show. Emerging Artists gives high school students a rare opportunity to interact with college level artists and professors in an effort to inspire further careers in ceramics.

Open House 2014 Tease

COMING SOON

34TH ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE & ART SALE

April 16th from 5:00-6:45

room 18

See seniors Kathy Luo and Megan Yeu's finished walls, along with all the others two weeks from tomorrow.

See ya there!

Cone Heads

7TH GRADE CHARCOAL CONES

3RD QUARTER 7TH GRADERS 2013-2014

charcoal on paper

It's that time again when we switch the 7th grade wheel students and I haven't even shown you all their work yet, so I'll try to get caught up this next week.  

I had many talented, sweet kids in this group, so let me share a few.

This first cone that looks like a pro crafted it was done by Victoria Tran.  She's showing us crazy good craftsmanship and solid design skills in her work.

Daniella Cruz made this next one and put it into an interesting format along with a quote by Onassis which I felt was very creative and thoughtful of her.

Sweet and talented Michelle Son made her cone into a crayola tip.  

Clever girl!

I used to love when my crayons were that sharp  LOL

And Emily Chen gives us her interpretation of Starry Night.

Too cute!

And we finish with Joseph Song's delious looking Hersey Kiss.

Great Job young ones, going to miss you!