Summer Madness

 The whirlwind of summer camps at the Arts Center hit and some wonderful things were created, (most of which I did not photograph, unfortunately). We started off the summer with circus camp where students learned stilting and poi, made props and I taught a yoga class that kept students focused and taught concentration, mindfulness and balance. The yoga turned out to be invaluable for the students (and the counselors, and me) and I received lots of positive feedback! I also was able to sit in the audience (having not had students prepare anything in particular for the circus performance) and that was a real treat to see the whole production from the audience (as usually I am behind the scenes coordinating).

Life Drawing Class

In this 4 week class, students learned fundamental drawing techniques to help them create more realistic drawings. Students practiced form, value, shading, portraits, and perspective! Here are some of the results!

Shading exercise with modeling clay

Spring Overview!!

Once again the wonderful craziness of spring has hit and the creativity is spiraling out of control! There are so many wonderful things going on right now in my classes I am going to lump them together a bit and do an overview of some of the amazing projects this spring!!

Picasso Play pre-school class doing self portraits! Students used oil pastels to sketch themselves and added watercolors to color their backgrounds.  

 Tie dying in Open Studio! Open Studio students created amazing tie dyed clothing, some of which was used for the Flower Power fundraising event for arts education and outreach!

Fantasy Fiction of Spain

 Here are some fantastic artworks from my classes at The Arts Center's Fantasy Fiction of Spain Bi-Lingual camp. My classes read a spanish folktale called the Bird of Truth ("El Pajaro de la Verdad") and designed illustrations to go with the story using at least 3 different mediums (paint, pastels, markers, glitter, feathers, ink, pencils, etc.).

Easy Batik Project!!

During the week of spring break 2013 at the Arts Center, students created many african safari themed art projects! My classes created a group project that visualized the grasslands food chain (photo above). Students also learned how to batik using elmers glue and watered down acrylic paints!! See photos below for more detailed instructions for this project and try it at home!

Master Painters Class Spring 2013

 In this painting class students learn about different painters from history and create their own paintings
using techniques inspired by the artists. The following paintings were inspired by Henri Matisse. Students used bright colors and heavy brush strokes and even added bits of colored paper to enhance paintings!

MUD: Pottery Wheel Throwing Class for Kids!

 MUD Workshop! In this 8 week class students learned the fundamentals of wheel throwing and made their own mugs, bowls, lidded vessels, even teapots! Session 2 of Mud starts Tuesday, March 5th from 4-5:30pm at the Corvallis Arts Center, there is still room! Register here! 

Here are some photos from the winter session of MUD class!

 The basics: How to make a pot on the pottery wheel with photo demonstrations by young potter Zeke! 

 Step 1: lightly dampen the surface of the bat (board attached to wheel by metal pins). You don't want a puddle of water, just some moisture to get the clay to stick!