Good evening everyone. First of all, totally forgot to do my year-end review of 2018, but will go through all of that and the exciting things we've done last year in another blog post. For now, a well-thought out post about our week as Artists in Residence at Orchard Lane. In 5 days, we had over 450 kids and lead 22 art classes and assisted several kids in 5 separate lunch/recess sessions. Each class had a specific artist as well. Kindergarten had Picasso, 1st graders had Van Gogh, 2nd graders had Klimt, 3rd graders had O'Keeffe, 4th graders had Britto Romero, 5th graders had Dali and finally, 6 graders had Warhol. Phew.
Kindergarten was easily, the toughest group. No matter how much we tried to clarify how to do the project, we always had kids that didn't pay attention. A lot of them did an amazing job, and had a great time helping me put the pieces of my in-class portrait together. The first class we taught, all gave us huge hugs afterwards. Our last class drew us some cute pictures.
1st graders was another tough one. We knew water color would be a tough medium for them to work with along with the oil pastels, but for the most part they did okay with the majority of the projects. Starry Night was a huge struggle. The wheat fields and flower piece turned out alright for the most part.
2nd graders did pretty well with Klimt. Mia's class was our very first one of the week. Each class took on a different version of the Tree of Life. Mia's class did really well. Some struggled with the basic tree shape, but overall they were pretty great. All 3 classes recognized Jill and myself so they were pretty sweet.
3rd graders had a tough one, using mainly chalk pastels with Georgia O'Keeffe. The landscape one was a pretty basic one, but some had a hard time getting those basic mountain shapes. It was our first group that we got to instruct and teach how to properly blend the pastels. A different class took on her flowers and our last class on a sea or snail shell (pending how you look at it). They really liked the last one and most of the class did a great job.
4th graders took on Britto Romero. They drew their version of his fish, cat and dog pieces. Our class that did the dog was the only one that had a handful of people struggling, but once they got that basic shape, they were off and running. I had one girl in tears trying to get her fish shape. She told me how she was never confident with art but once I calmed her down, she was totally into it and make her piece her own. Totally proud. The cat drawings were super cute as well. We always had some 4th graders stopping in during their lunch/recess to finish their Romero-inspired drawings. We had a handful of girls in our last class asking for our signatures or a quick drawing (with an autograph) Super cute.
5th graders had a pretty tricky one. Salvador Dali's pieces are both intriguing and intimidating for kids but I think all 3 classes knocked them out beautifully. First class took on his elephants. They carefully worked on getting that shape and bringing in the background to give the illusion that this creature is larger than life. 2nd class took on his "Eggs On a Plate (without the plate) which was basically the kids creating their own food images in the same style he did. We were prompted this group would struggle with this project but they were super creative and had a total blast. Very proud. Our last group had the famous "Persistence of Time" or better known as Melting Clocks. Most of them did a great job. A few needed some blending and shaping help but they rocked it as well.
6th graders took on that wild Andy Warhol. They all did their own food-package artwork. There was some seriously talented artists throughout the 3 classes. Our last class of the week blew me away. Some of the kids methodically planned their artwork out and will be finishing it in due time. Like i mentioned after wards, we always had kids hanging out during their lunches so it was pretty fun.
This was definitely an experience we'll always remember. Jill wrote a well-thought post the other morning about her experience that sums it up perfectly. She found herself gravitating towards the struggling kids, where myself and the school art teacher would help out wherever we were needed. IT may be with some kids needing some blending techniques or simply getting kindergartners to draw a simple circle. Ever since I began doing private art lessons, so I knew this would be a fun test for myself and I sincerely love working with kids. A lot of them would take our suggestions to heart and many asked if we could return. Of course we'll be back for Showcase Night and I can't wait to see the kids again. Lastly, I've always respected teachers of all subjects and everything they do, but when you're thrown into the mix teaching over 450 kids in a week, you really feel what they go through. We were there for only a week, so I can only imagine how this art teacher goes through. We had a lot of kids asking if we could just work at OL..If only it was that easy. Mia really enjoyed having us at school every single day and we even had lunch with her on one of our breaks. Super fun. She was always a great helper setting up our classes before school and helping us take them down after school. I'm super thankful for Jill and Mia's art teacher for making this happen.
Saturday I watched the Chelsea vs Newcastle game. Great match. Even better that Spurs and Arsenal lost over the weekend as well. Saturday evening, Mia and I went to the Petit. She was super fortunate to skate on freshly zamboni'd ice. She absolutely loved it. Still needs to release my hand and skate solo, but hopefully we get there someday this year.
Sunday, nothing special. I returned back to work unfortunately. I've got some logos to design this week and we'll be heading to Indiana for the day on Saturday. I promised Mia that unless the conditions are lousy, we're going snowboarding. Can't. Wait. That's all for now, thanks for reading!
