Fish printing supplies are here!

I'm really excited about trying out these rubber fish replicas for printmaking.  I know they won't be as slimy or stinky as the real ones.  I wonder how they will work?  The leaves are pretty cool too.

Great start to another great year!!

It's been great to see all of my returning students this school year and meet lots of new ones!  As the year progresses, I'll post pictures of all the exciting artwork going on at Sigsbee. 

First up this year is our Square 1 Art Fundraiser project.  This is the only fundraiser that I participate in and the main funding for the art program here at Sigsbee.  Square 1 Art is a great company that will print your child's artwork on all sorts of fun items.  This year, students will be completing a symbolic self portrait.  Some students have already started practicing for this with a self portrait sketch.  If you'd like a sneak peak at the items available from Square 1 Art this year, please visit www.square1art.com/shop.  I've arranged to have any items ordered delivered to us well before the holidays.  Keep an eye out for your order forms...they arrive October 26th. 

See you tomorrow!!

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at school tomorrow!  Art classes start on Tuesday and your class will attend for 50 minutes once a week.  The first time you come to art, you will get your seating assignment, create your portfolio, and complete a scavenger hunt drawing to familiarize yourself with the art room. 

Getting things ready!!

I can't believe that summer is nearly over and school begins so soon!  I've been working hard to prepare the art classroom for all of you Sigsbee Sailfish students.  I'm very excited about getting started.  We are going to start off the year with a unit of study called Methods and Materials in Art.  Students will experiment with all sorts of materials to develop a better understanding of what various media can do in a work of art.  During this time, they will complete a symbolic self-portrait for their Square 1 Art project.  See you Monday!!

The Citizen's article on Jim Toia and the Petri Island project

Click this link to read the article.  Sigsbee Charter School is mentioned and one of our students is mentioned.  Read the article to find out who!
Petri Island article from The Citizen

The Petri Island Show

Jim Toia's "Petri Island" show opened tonight at The Studios of Key West.  What a fantastic show! Lots of great work by lots of great artists, but the highlight for me was, of course, "Petri Island". Thank you, Jim, for doing such a wonderful job displaying the work of our Sigsbee artists amongst the work of so many others. I also loved the binder of collected written explanations my students wrote to accompany their work. This show was one of the proudest moments for me as an art teacher. Thank you Sigsbee students for doing such an amazing job!  Go see the show!!

"Petri Island"

Mrs. Kirk holding the binder of student explanations

Jim Toia with Mrs. Kirk...two very proud artists!

Exciting art events!

Tonight, there will be a Pop Up Gallery at Fast Buck Freddies starting at 7:15pm.  It's going to be great!  Please come!

This Thursday, July 19th, is the official opening of Jim Toia's petri dish show.  This is the one all my students made a petri dish for.  Openings are always exciting events.  I'd love to see students and parents in attendance!  The opening lasts from 6 - 9 pm at The Studios of Key West.

The Petri Dish Art Show!!! Please come!!

Hi everyone!  Happy summer!  Your petri dishes are currently being shown at the Studios of Key West.  They just opened the show today.  I'm not sure how long they will be up.  I'll check tomorrow when I go see them.  The Studios of Key West is located at

600 White Street  Key West, FL 33040 (305) 296-0458 Please take the time to go visit your beautiful work!

Petri pics

Sorry if some of your dishes appear sideways. Posting from a phone makes them rotate. I'll try to fix it from my laptop.

Dishing out the pics

More dish pics

Petri dishes

The Petri dishes have finished drying and artist Jim Toia picked them up on Friday. I can't wait to see them up in the gallery at the Studios of Key West in a couple Weeks!

The tile wall is up!

If you get by the school this summer, be sure to take a peek at your artwork. The tile wall mural looks amazing! It's outside the cafeteria.

Petri dishes galore!

Petri Dish Writing

After students completed their petri dishes, they were asked to write down an explanation.  I wanted to know how they arrived at their idea for the dish.  Here are some of their answers.

"To me a Island means a butiful sunset on the ocean water with colors by the sun." 2nd grader

"Want does an iland mean to you: the trees the relaxation and the ocean blue.  I like the shells, the crabs and the sand."  2nd grader

"On my petery dish I put gillter paint and beads I love it!"

"The reef is what an island means to me." 2nd grader

"fishing that's what an island means to me" 2nd grader

"The reson I did a pomtree was because it was the very first thing for an island that poped into my head." 2nd grader

"Scarde because I do not like jelly fish because of a bad expierens." 2nd grader

"What is the meaning of my patri dish? The meaning of my patri dish is the colorful beads and they stand out to me because I love rainbows, so I thought of rainbow beads.  You may also wonder what the sand and sea shells mean.  Well, the sand and sea shells mean to me is that I love the beach and love to find sea shells and collect them from the beach.  The sand and sea shells also mean to me paradise in Key West!" 6th grader

"My petri dish is about how an island forms.  Mangroves and limestone."  6th grader

"Mosaic Island Dish An island can be barren, represented by rocks, or lush with mountains and farms, represented by the colorful tiles.  It can be full of wildlife and beaches, represented by shells, or it can be densly populated, represented by black and white beads as city buildings.  An island could be any type of land at all, as long as it's surrounded by water." 6th grader

"Coonti Seed Dish  An island could be natural or man-made.  These are native plants that were planted intentionally.  It could be large or small.  The seeds are little but the bushes are big.  The truth is, an island can be anything at all.  It's only affected by how you see the world."  6th grader

"My petri dish meaning is to some people just an island with sand, shells, ocean and a fun vacation.  To me its amazing and home."

"An island to me is an underwater seahorse because it makes me calm." 5th grader

"My petri dish is the love of sun and turquiose water after living somewhere cold and more cold."

"My petri dish island is about the mysterious shore because usually you don't know what is in the water."

"My petri dish is representing the polution in the ocean and the waste of plastic water bottles."  6th grader

"An iland is a place where you get stuck on but you like it." 2nd grader

"An island means home to me."  3rd grader

"Ying and Yang is peace to the eath and that's wat an island mean to me."  3rd grader

"I sang a song to my dish"

"I island is a lisurded island."  3rd grader

"Mine is: Key West is a place where you find neat things." 6th grader

"Island means to me PARTY" 4th grader

"An island means to me happy people whats happier then a happy face"

Petri Dish Project Results

The 2nd - 6th graders have been diligently working on visually answering the question, "what does and island mean to you?"  Look at some of the finished results!  Great job everyone!  Don't worry, if you don't see your dish yet, I'm just waiting for it to finish drying, then I'll add it in. 

6th grade mural project

Almost done! Doesn't it look great so far?

Kindergarten Elephants

So cute!  Thanks to Ed Emberley, we can all draw cute elephants!

The first completed petri dish!!!!!!

One of our 5th grade students completed this dish today.  As the students complete the project they are writing about how and why they created their dish to answer the question "what does an island mean to you?"

 

Jim Toia

Artist Jim Toia came to visit Sigsbee on Monday.  Our 3rd through 6th grade students had a wonderful time learning about his project, "Petri Island", and about how they are going to participate.  Each student is creating a petri dish that visually answers the question, "what does an island mean to you?"  These petri dishes will be displayed by Jim Toia at the Studios of Key West this summer!  How exciting!  After the exhibit shows at the Studios of Key West, it will travel nation-wide and then world-wide.  What an amazing opportunity for our students!  Their artwork will be part of the traveling exhibit. Check out the embedded links above to learn more about the artist, the opportunity, and the gallery. 

Kindergarten Alligators

These are definitely the cutest alligators I've ever seen!

 

Thank you so much!

Thank you to all my students and their families that took time today to say thanks. The goodies are all so yummy and the  gifts are much appreciated!  My job is so rewarding, though, I should be thanking you!

Thanks Ms. Smith

Check out this link that Ms. Smith shared with me:  Child's Own

This soft sculpture artist turns children's drawings into soft toys.  Take a look at the gallery to see the drawings side by side with the toy.  So cute!!

While half of Ms. Lo's class was away, the others got to play!

Half of the class was still out on their field trip, the glass bottom boat I think, so we decided to to make pets and pizza out of clay. I really don't know how the idea for that combination came about, but look how cute they are. I love the dog eating the pizza. Funny.

 We couldn't keep the adorable art work, unfortunately, because the kiln is waiting to have power run to it. :(



 

Architectural Drawings

Students have been working on landscape architectural drawings that maintain a birds eye view throughout.  They've been very successful at this.