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!

2014-2015 SENIOR FAREWELL - PART I

So here we go my beloved seniors,

your final good-bye and send off.

Sorry it took me so long to get it up.

Who better to start with then my trusty T.A. Sean Dezfulian.

I think I made Sean work harder in my class

 then he worked his whole High School career  LOL

Thank you Sean for going back and forth constantly to my car to haul in all my shit,

for stirring those messy glazes,

for lifting all the heavy stuff, 

for running countless errands,

and all the other endless tasks that I had for you.

And then looking as cool as a cucumber like it was no big deal  LOL

You made each one of my days as a teacher so much easier.

You lightened my load.

I will miss your smart alec ways,

and the fact that you always got my snide remarks as well.

You are in my heart,

actually have been since the 7th grade  :)

Adhora Islam and Evelyn Aldana,

I  so enjoyed working with and getting to know the two of you so much.

The creative energy that came out of you both was huge!!

And you were such an inspiration to the younger kids.

Thank you for your patience with them.

I will miss you two!

Crazy talented Nathon Chong.

It was so frustrating to actually get you to work in class,

but when you did,

such a pleasure to watch you create.

Images and designs flow from your fingers to the paper,

 and I'm hoping you will be able to use this gift in your future.

And speaking of gifts,

you Micheal Cantu,

have so much artistic talent that you consistently brought to the table.

You also have been blessed with the artistic gene,

 and it was truly remarkable to watch you produce on a daily basis.

And on top of all that,

what a wonderful person you are.

It was a pleasure and a treat to be your art teacher.

Jovani Garcia,

what a blow to us all that you were't able to be with us on Graduation.

Know that you were in our hearts as we marched that day.

I'm also so very sad that I wasn't able to hug you good bye and wish you well.

So hoping one day you will be back so we can share that hug,

I'll also be able to give you back your portfolio and get back my watercolor brush  LOL

What I loved the most about you Jovani, 

was that you were always with me whenever I spoke or demoed anything.

You got all my subtle nuisances and snarky remarks,

even  when it went right over the other kids heads.

You are mature beyond your years and a fine young man.

Please stop in and see me one last time.

Anna Lee,

I waited forever for you to come back to me.

You were an awesomely talented artistic 7th grader,

 and it took you 5 years before you could fit me back into your busy schedule.

It was worth the wait!

You produced so many uniquely beautiful & sensitive art pieces in the 3-D class.

And I loved that you were brave enough to give that spinning wheel a try.  

It was like watching a bird fly home.

That spinning wheel, drum carder and you belonged together  LOL

May your next journey be as wonderful as your one thru my art classes.

Ahhhh,

Sunny Kim.

I love you.

It was such a joy for me to be your teacher.

You bring out the best in everyone and bless us with your smile everyday.

You lit up the art room with your warmth and goodness,

and your art pieces were truly wonderful,

just like you.

I feel very fortunate that I own your wooden figure.

It hangs in my art studio where I look at it everyday and think of you.

You are forever in my heart!

Reis Masaka and Laarnie Barcelon

Who knew,

 in your junior year,

that you two would become more then friends your senior year.

It was a treat for me to watch your love bloom 

as the two of you became best friends.

Reis,

I want to especially thank you,

 for you and your family's generosity and graciousness.

You continually thought of me for all the special occasions 

with your delicious gifts

you brought for my husband and  I.

And you remembered me even in your senior year 

when you didn't even have my class!!

Your thoughtfulness and kindness touched my heart.

You are a keeper!

Laarnie is very lucky to have you in her life.

She can learn a lot from you.

TINCTORY

EXTRA CREDIT FOR ALL MY 3-D STUDENTS

Tinctory,

or the art of holding together in a small form of a few centimeters,

with thread and fabric.

Tinctor,

in Latin means "dyer"

Using a small piece of leftover eco-dye fabric try a bit of Tinctory.

See Eva's handwork from the Midlands, UK under Artists I Follow

 for what to make with this very special treasure. 

INTRODUCING MY MAD SCIENTISTS

HANDMADE KNITTING NEEDLES & HAND DYED YARNS

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

wood dowels, polymer clay, food colors & wool yarn

These 2nd year young ones are having way too much fun dyeing their skeins of wool yarn

 with Wilton cake dyes.

I had them experiment first with very tiny skeins so they could adjust their colorways,

and then I gave them each a large hank of Bulky wool yarn

and away they went!  

Above we have seniors Amber Wu and Kristine Luong,

and below senior Antoniette Jabat is working with that intense dark green color.

Too yummy!

Above are seniors William Kim and Liana Chie taking the more cautious approach  :)

The kids were also required to learn to use the Umbrella Swift and Ball Winder

so that when their gorgeous yarns were dry they could turn them into center pull balls.

By the way,

 the cutie patootie on the far right is junior Shreya Sheth.

Here is the group shot below of all their hard work.

I'm so proud of them.

And what a great way to start the new school year  :)

Close-ups of ...

Antoniettes...

Williams...

and Lianas.

Wait till you see what they are making with their beautiful yarns and needles.

Stay tuned...

A LITTLE MORE ECO-DYEING

Now that my students are going thru the Eco-Dye Unit,

the temptation is too strong not to join in the fun.

So I wanted to over-dye this dingy antique pillow case

 that didn't come out too well last year.

Using coriopsis flowers,

 geraniums,

 some purple-green leaves from a bush at the cabin, 

and there is something else in there that I can't identify.

Perhaps pieces of strawberry.

A couple of folds later...

and it's bundled for its steam bath.

The unveiling is always my favorite part.

What's interesting to me is how different the color looks above under classroom lights, 

versus below,

at my studio outside on the sidewalk.

Some close-ups.

I believe these two next shots were after the first bath 

while still wet from washing machine.

Looks a heck of a lot better then it did before, 

that's for sure!

MEET MY NEW CROP OF 7TH GRADERS

VALUE SCALES

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL 1ST QUARTER 2015-2016

graphite on paper

We are starting off with a bang this year,

a lot of artistic talent coming in with the new 7th grade class.

Let's take a peek.

Daniella Vesquez starts this year off with her colorful value scale.

She has gone for the extra credit

 and put in some colored pencil  along with the graphite.

Coming in with tremendous drawing skills in place is Emma Phungraksakiat.

Boy oh boy,

 Emma Phoebe,

 is your last name a tongue twister  

LOL

Next up is Kenneth Nguyen.

Look at this young man challenge himself with this very difficult design.

Way to go Kenneth!!!!

And let me end with Ryan Tseng.

Love the scale he has drawn to,

and that he has jazzed it up with colored pencil to make it feel very complete.

An awesome job all of you!!