Artist in Schools for Art Enrichment students...so much fun!!!

Amanda Johnson was the recipient of the Artist In Schools Grant, Awarded by the Keys Council of the Arts. The grant supplements artists to teach art in public schools. She spent several classes teaching students with Sugar Kirk about how to create a wildlife painting using old masters techniques.

She is also bringing to life a new mural in one of the main hallways at Sigsbee adjacent to the children’s restrooms and water fountain. The mural is a 26 feet landscape that spans from Key West to Key Largo and has 30 different species of Florida Keys birds in it. The inspiration came from last years Florida Keys Birding and Wildlife Fest.  She hopes it can be used as a teaching tool in the future and to build awareness and appreciation for the Keys wildlife. Or just to brighten up the hallways!

Amanda Johnson has her own studio and gallery at 518 Fleming St. (between Duval and Simonton by Faustos) in old town Key West, which is full of original oil paintings. Her paintings are textured and impressionistic and she uses a palette knife to paint. She is classically trained and graduated with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Come and check out some of her new work and open studio on Friday May 30^th from 6-9pm

www.TwoMonkeysFineArt.com  or www.AmandaJohnsonFineArt.com for more information.
http://keysbirdingfest.org

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Amanda Johnson Fine Art
312-714-7427
www.AmandaJohnsonFineArt.com
AmandaJohnsonFineArt@gmail.com

Student adding details to the background of her painting

A completed pelican painting

Amanda Johnson working with student

A painting in progress

Tessellations

After studying works by M.C. Escher and Makoto Nakamura, students created their own tessellations from scratch.  The hardest part was figuring out how to draw and cut a shape that was congruent and would, therefore, tessellate.  Here are some of the finished art works:

Duct tape art

Duct tape is the latest and greatest art medium.  Duct has expanded their line of colors far beyond the silver gray of the past.  There are contests and scholarships galore for creating with duct tape.

Here are some links to directions for making everything from prom dresses to lamp shades.

lamp shade
hats
flowers
decal
shoes
wallets and clutches
lots more duct tape directions

This flyer was included in this week's Scoop (March 10, 2014).

The Mona Lisa supersized!!

To see a very creative Mona Lisa, made from 3604 cups of coffee follow the link!!

Non-Objective Compositions

It can be challenging to understand the difference between non-objective and abstract composition, but I think our students really grasped the concept well! 

Wikipedia gives us a great definition: "Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be only slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum."

Non-objective compositions can be remembered by thinking "non-objective = no object, such as people, places, or things."  These types of compositions often contain geometric and organic shapes. 

Here are some student examples of non-objective compositions.  My apologies for any disconcerting photographic angles, I had students take the pictures.

Emphasis

Kindergarten and first grade students have been working on understanding emphasis.  Emphasis is one of the many Principles of Design and simply put, means that something stands out from the rest.  Color, size, texture, and shape can be used to create emphasis.  Students view, describe, and explain emphasis in other artists' work.  They also created emphasis in a work of their own.  I think they did a great job!

Altered Books ~ 6th grade art

Middle school students use discarded library books to create multiple works of art.  Themes for their pieces include a public venue statement, poetic statement, family, and self portrait.

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!