Relax, It's December

Hey Guys!

It's December! 

Almost time for a break for the teachers out there! Yay!!!

I know teachers are counting down the days until Christmas break! I did every year!

It was/is always a crazy busy time of year for teachers, especially art teachers.  For some teachers, the end of the semester brings a slower pace to start reviewing for end of semester exams and grade papers.  I don't know about other art teachers, but this one always had students who were working on finishing big art assignments up until the last day of finals! I always gave a deadline, but if a student was trying their best to finish up a great project in time, on top of studying for other finals, I didn't have the heart to not allow them that extra day to finish. So this always lead to me also being frazzled with grading end of semester projects and giving exams. (We were required to give a final exam...not a fan of that!)

Even though I am 'retired' (I use that term loosely), I am also in the middle of being in the busiest time of year! I am getting ready for 2 more shows, plus the commissions that I have taken on that have to be finished BEFORE Christmas!  So...

...this is my work space chaos!

Hopefully after the holidays I will be ready to create some short lessons to add to this blog!

Until then....

Breath   

Relax

Create

Relax

Repeat

 Mrs. Macre ♥ Loves Art!

Mrs. Macre's Art Class

Hello! Welcome back to the art class blog! 

I haven't blogged lately because we've been busy moving across the state. But I have plans to continue adding to this blog with lesson ideas and tips for teaching art, as I can. These lessons should be helpful to current teachers, homeschooling moms, or Dads, or just budding artists who need a little extra help or tips for learning about art!

Some things that I will continue to share on the blog are:

1. Tips for working with clay.

2. 'How to' posts for creating things from clay.

3. Tips for drawing with pencil, colored pencils, and ink.

4. Tips for working with mixed media.

5. My favorite art supplies. 

6. Anything else that I find to share along the way! 


I hope you will check back often to see what I am up to and check out the older posts from my teaching years. There are some very cool projects created by some very talented high school students.

Mrs. Macre ♥ Loves Art!

Life as an Artist...

Mixed Styles
Beth S. Macre©2012 

...is pretty amazing!  Although I am a retired art teacher, I am still very active with my art! I would say even more so than when I was teaching. I get to do what I love every day! It has kept me busy and I have been very happy with my decision to retire, so far.  I don't have those constant student samples to share anymore, so for now, (see update below) I will not continue to add student work to this blog.  I will leave it up for the samples that I have already shared though. It was fun to write on the blog while I could.  I wish I had started years ago.  For now, enjoy my blog and enjoy your own classrooms!

UPDATE
Update: I love to try new things so I will be sharing projects and tutorials on the blog as I come across interesting projects. I will also update some of the old blog posts with more instructional tips and step-by-step photos. Check out this blog and its' archives for interesting projects or check my Pinterest page to see if there is anything you are interested in!
Here is a link to my Pinterest Page Board dedicated to this blog and links to other blogs that are related to my blog posts.
Pinterest Board: Mrs. Macre's Art Class.
My Entire Pinterest Page: Beth Macre


Mrs. Macre♥Art 

The End of School

Art 3 & 4 Last Lunch Birthday Party
Senior Going Away Party Celebration

It's been awhile since I posted last! The end of the school year is always busy, but this year was especially busy! After the District Art School, there were papers to send home, Seniors to get wrapped up (they finish a couple of weeks earlier than the rest of the 'underclassmen').  So, the usual end of school activities is very hectic...but a week before school was out, I made the decision to retire from teaching!  So 'The End of School' really means the end of school for me.  I had a lot of packing and cleaning out to do...especially after 25 years in the same room!  I feel like I was moving out of my home away from home, but that I was finally graduating to the next part of my career.  I taught Art for 29 years and it was time for me to retire.  I have been thinking about it all year, but I was afraid to make that change!  But because of a lot of changes going on around me at school, I just decided that it was time for me to move on too.  I am excited about the future.  I plan to be the full time artist that I have been trying to be while teaching, but that just doesn't work very well.  So, although this is a new path for me, it is an exciting one.  I am already busy at work creating new art and learning about the business side of art.

In this photo are the students that I had in Art 3 and 4 this year.  This was a great group of students to work with! All girls except for one boy! Javon enjoyed being the only boy in a class room full of girls, but he did get kidded a lot and had to listen to some really 'interesting' conversations! But he was a very good sport about it all! All but 2 of the students in this group graduated this year and I will miss seeing the other two in class next year. I loved this class because they were all eager to come in and create every day! They loved being in the Art room!  We also enjoyed the birthday parties. Periodically we would celebrate the birthdays and bring food items for lunch to the art room and celebrate the birthdays! This photo was from our last party of the year. I think they had a great time!

As for this blog, I will post more project ideas from this year and some from in the past. In the future, I may be teaching some other art classes privately, so I plan to use this blog for that. This blog is not going to go away. I may eventually change directions, but for now, I hope to continue to get and to give advice and ideas to/from other art teachers.

Mrs. Macre♥Art 

Plastercraft Sculptures...Update from the Art Room

 So we have a Giraffe, an elephant, a duck, a penguin, a guitar, a peace sign, a glitter high heel shoe, a very unique cat, a purse...some of the sculptures are finished and decorating the art room.  But you can't see the finished projects yet...

So in my last post, I posted about the plaster sculptures that my students in my Art 3 and 4 classes were just starting. They were taping forms to get ready for plastering.  In this post, I  post pictures of the plastering process. I buy the plaster craft rolls by the large box. 

Like this: https://amzn.to/36qFZe9

 We use old buckets for warm water, old scissors to cut the plaster with (it's very messy work), and place newspaper on the tables and we are ready to go to work.

In my next post, I will post pictures of the sculptures in the painting stage. They are looking 'awesomely' cute! *I know that is not correct grammar, but it just doesn't come across the same with just 'so cute!'*

There are a few that are still getting some painted details, including mine!   One of the cool things about my job is that I get to play with the supplies too, especially in my Art 3 and 4 class! When I demonstrate how to use supplies and techniques, I try to work in some time, while they are working, to finish the demo project.  So I will post pictures of my demo when it gets its finishing touches.

*Update: Finished Project Update

I hope you enjoy your visit!

 

Mrs. Macre♥Art 

Color on the Walls!

Positive/Negative Space Design

After a full quarter of the year, my walls are full of color again. My Art 1 students are mostly 9th and 10th graders with some 11th and 12th graders too. The project I'm sharing this week is an Art 1 project from the first quarter.

This project teaches students about Positive and Negative Space and how to create a good composition. It is a good way to teach my beginners to pay attention to both the negative space (background) and the positive space (the subject).

Supplies Needed:
Drawing Paper - We used 12 x 18 inch
Colored Pencils or Markers
Pencil
Tag board or thick cardstock for patterns
Scissors

The students are asked to choose one simple shape, with interesting edges, to repeat all over the page to create a pattern. Some students chose to use 2 shapes or variations of one. They could draw their shape onto a piece of cardstock or tag board and cut it out to trace onto their page. After drawing the Positive shapes onto the page, they were to color the Negative Space (background).

Steps for design project:
1. Draw and cut out the shape out of cardstock or tagboard.
2. Trace the shapes onto the drawing paper.
    Overlap the shapes to create interesting positive and negative spaces.
2. Erase the lines where the shapes overlap.
3. Add color to the background with colored pencils or markers. (We used colored pencils)
    The background could be one color or they could choose the colors and patterns to enhance their design.
Tip: When adding color using colored pencils, make sure you use medium to heavy pressure with the pencils, to cover the white of the paper. This will get a good contrast between the white of the positive space and the color of the negative spaces. The design will stand out much better with strong color.
Option 2: Another option is to use markers to get a strong color contrast. 

I always get some nice designs from this project; this year was no exception.  This photo is only half of the artwork that I chose to display.

Mrs. Macre♥Art     

First Things First...

...is what we call our First Day of School. That was today. I spent part of my weekend getting my classroom ready for today, but I finally got it done and today went smoothly. The first day is important because we invite parents of our students to go through our students schedules with them. It was a shortened schedule, but we are able to introduce ourselves to the parents and tell them what our expectations are for the year. We started this program several years ago to get more parents involved and informed about what the High School is all about. And it sure does help to get the parents involved and understand what we do!

In the future, I have to remember to take photos in my classroom. I was so busy today, I didn't take a photo, so I am including a photo of the lobby of our school with an art show from a couple of years ago. (I have to include a photo!)

So with the first day over...I'm exhausted and hope that the rest of the week goes smoothly.
Hope everyone had a great first day of school!

I Mrs. Macre♥Art    

Drawing/Painting Grid Portraits

Grid Self Portraits

Time to get ready...

...to go back to school....already? It seems like just a couple of weeks ago I was celebrating the beginning of summer! Classes do not start for 3 weeks, but there are supplies to order, workshops to attend, and my classroom has to be put back together.  The maintenance department came through sometime in the last 2 weeks and waxed my concrete floor (looks great!) but now I have to put everything back into place.  They move things out to wax and stack things on tables, so it takes a little time and muscle.  I want to get organized before school starts, so I have some work to do!

Grid Self Portraits - Chuck Close Style

I thought I would share a project that I have been doing with my Art 3 and 4 classes for a few years now. This pair decided to make their portraits connect, but they are 2 separate paintings. The photo above is the end project (2 canvases are being held together by the students).  Below is the photo that I took of them.  After they drew the grid on the 2 separate canvases they each drew their own portrait, using the grid method.  Then they painted their grid portraits using their own techniques. But the emphasis was using patterns like Chuck Close does on his grid portraits.  So in the bottom picture, you can see the two canvases that are in progress.  On the parts that are unpainted, you can see the grid that is drawn on the canvas.  (Click on the picture to see it larger to see the details.) I will post more grid portraits in the future. We do some type of grid portrait each year.  The students seem to really enjoy them because they can get a good likeness of the person that they are drawing.

Check back for more details and instructions on this project.

More to come...

Photo Reference

Work in progress

Have a great year!

Mrs. Macre♥Art    

Letters from Students...

...make the stresses of the school year become a distant memory.   A few years ago, I asked my Art 3 and 4 seniors to write/create a letter to me about their art experiences or whatever they wanted to tell me...good or bad.  I enjoyed reading them so much that I have started doing this with all of my seniors and as well as the Art 2 students at the end of each semester, to have them reflect on what they have accomplished throughout the semester.  The letters that I get from my students at the end of the year, really make me remember why I teach.  If you are new to teaching, I would highly recommend that you think about doing this.  I wish that I had started doing this years ago.  Besides making a wonderful collection of memories, it could even be an end of the year project.  The colorful ones in the photo had some illustrations with them and are hanging on my bulletin board. (The heart was painted by a student who didn't take art, but wanted to come in and paint something before he graduated.)   I would recommend that they are small enough to fit into a 3 ring binder if you want to save them.  Letter size is large enough for the student to write a short letter and add some illustrations so you can keep them organized in the binder by year.

Hope you are having a great summer break! 

Mrs. Macre♥Art    

Change is not always good...Crayola...are you listening?

I love Crayola markers, but I have a complaint.  I may have to write an email complaining about this, which I usually don't complain about a product...I usually just find a replacement.  I may eventually have to do that, but I am going to let them know before I do. So, if you are not aware of this change, Crayola apparently is going green with their Crayola markers.  I read about this in another art teacher blog, which I did not know, until I realized that I had already received some of these 'green' markers.  (See the pictures and explanation below.)

Two Classpacks of Crayola Markers
put together to hold all of the colors.
Some of the colors are displayed on the lids.

I have used Crayola marker classpacks for many years in my high school art class and I love the box that they come in. It allows for me to organize the markers that come in the box, plus add more colors that come in other packages, like the Tropical and Bold colors.  Recently I have added the Multicultural classpacks to my collection of colors for my students to chose from.  The Tropical package has the sky blue marker that is always the first color that runs out.  So, if I could talk to the makers of Crayola markers, I would ask them to add Sky Blue to the Classpack, or start selling them individually. (If they do, I'm not aware of it.)

Crayola Blue Lagoon
Always run out of these!

When using the markers for a current class project, I put two boxes together on top of the cabinet beside my desk, where I can keep an eye on them throughout class time. Students can easily get the colors that they need at the beginning of class and easily put the markers back in the correct place in the box when they are finished or at the end of class. Most of my students are very good about putting them back in the correct spot and aiming in the correct direction, but I straighten them up a little at the end of each class.  It sounds obsessive, but they can get unorganized very quickly if I don't keep an eye on it.  Finding the correct color quickly is important.  Class is only 45 minutes long, so we have to have a routine to get supplies out and cleaned up and still have time to get to the fun stuff!

The 'Green' markers stayed in a box this year.

When I read about Crayola changing their markers to go green, I thought it had to do with the box being a little smaller.  But, unfortunately, I found out that they have changed the actual markers to a black color for all of the colors in the classpack.  I bought an extra classpack of markers last year, so I had a package with the regular markers.  But then I realized that I also had a package with the new markers.  At the beginning of the year, when I opened the box with the black markers, I put the black markers in a box to use later, because I still had lots of good markers from last year, thank goodness.  Then I started wondering how this will affect my marker organization method.  And realized that it will not work at all.   So I took some pictures of the new black markers to compare what they look like and how easy or difficult it will be to match the correct lid to the correct marker color.  It is not easy to do with some of the darker colors.  Knowing my students, there will be mismatched markers, which will be a headache, not just for me, but for the student who picks up a blue marker, expecting to blue color to go on their paper and will be disappointed and mad when that student realizes that it is actually a black or brown marker!  The only two markers that are obvious are the orange (that actually looks red) and the yellow.  Yes, there is a name of the color on the side of the marker, but it is the same color as the rest of the marker. No identification of color on the marker itself.    I hope that Crayola will listen to the people who purchase these supplies.  I understand that many teachers will be switching to another brand.   I don't understand how a black marker is going green.  If that is 'greener', then they need to put the matching color on the marker.  If not, then they may be losing a lot of business.

The darker colors do not look like the color they should be.
Without the caps on them, they are difficult to identify.

They all look black to me. 

This summer, as I make out my supply list and order for next school year, I need to decide if I want to switch brands or try to work out a new system with these black markers. If any art teachers have any suggestions, I would love to hear from you.

Mrs. Macre♥Art   

All That Jazz ~ District Fine Art Show

High School Art

Our District had another successful Fine Art Show in April.  We call it 'All That Jazz'...because it is not only Art from the Elementary level up to the High School level, but it is also choir performances from all levels, band performances from all levels, and it is even catered by our own Food Service program that teaches students about preparing, serving, and other aspects of the business side of working in the food service industry. I posted a few of these photos on my own Art Journal Blog, but now that I have this new blog for teaching side of my Art Life, I will share on this blog.

High School Art 2

High School Art 1

Middle School Art

Middle School Art

Middle School Art 

Intermediate School Art

Elementary Art

Elementary Art

Mrs. Macre♥Art 

Doodles can be fun...

Pen and Ink and Colored Pencil
Doodle 

Line Designs in Pen and Ink and Colored Pencil Sample

Digital Download Available through Etsy here:

Art Line Design

Mrs. Macre♥Art 

Celebration for Graduating Seniors

Watching animated movie and eating

Being the only art teacher at my high school, I get the opportunity to teach some students for 3 or 4 years. The students who love art and want to continue learning about Art, can take it up to 4 years, 9th through 12th grades. So, those students who take 3 or 4 years of art, become a special group to me. We get to know each other very well over the years.  We have many very interesting discussions while we work on art projects!  Its really nice to see these students learn and grow and become adults who are ready to move on to the next chapter of their lives.  Seniors get out a little bit earlier than the rest of the students, because of graduation.  So the week before they were to be finished, we had a going away party for the Seniors.  This class had quite a few seniors in it. And they like to have parties.  So they got busy planning what food items that they would bring for their party.  Their request from me was to bring my homemade chocolate dream pie.  They also wanted to watch a movie, so Katie wanted to bring one of her favorite movies 'Finding Nemo'.  Yes, even Graduating Seniors love to watch animated movies and eat!

Advanced Art Seniors Class of 2011
  (a few shy ones didn't get in the photo)

Mrs. Macre♥Art 

Its Officially over for the year...

Art 1 Student
Abstract painting

...but unofficially, I still need to go back to my room and finish putting away some things and getting some things reorganized for next school year.  I have made a promise to myself to purge and get my classroom better organized over the summer, so I will be visiting my classroom, at least, once a week.  That is my plan.  Being in the same classroom for a long time can be a good thing and a bad thing.  Good, that it feels like home away from home, bad that I don't always get rid of things that I should.  And I am very lucky to have a large art room, so there are plenty of places to put things.  I started at the beginning of this year throwing away things that have not been used in awhile.  But as the year went on, I got busier and busier, so I didn't have any time to continue with the clean out process and as always, I ended up with stacks and stacks of student artwork.  Eventually that artwork must be passed back out to the students, but it becomes a big chore.  I stack them by class period and by projects.  But some pieces get chosen to be displayed in the art room or in the end of the year art show, so they don't stay in the original stack.  That doesn't sound that difficult to most people, but when you have 140-150 students x 20 stacks of papers/canvases/3D artwork, per semester (at least), then those stacks of papers/artworks, become mounds of papers.  So, I am determined to get a hold of this monster this summer with a plan.  I'm still thinking about that plan and looking for some type of storage unit for student portfolios that will be poster paper size portfolios. So if any art teachers out there, have any ideas, please feel free to share...or direct me to a good blog or website that has some good ideas for storing artwork during the school year.

Being my last official day of work for the year, today I am showing a few more of the abstract paintings that my beginning Art students created last month.   Keep in mind that these are high school students, many of whom take art because they have to have the credit to graduate.  Some of them realize after they take the class that they are a little creative!  And some go on to take Art 2, Art 3, and even some on to Art 4.  

And a few clay sculptures by one of my Art 3 students: 

Looking forward to a productive and relaxing summer break...

Mrs. Macre♥Art 

Last Day of Testing for the Year...

Student Abstract Expressive Painting

...and time to finish putting away supplies and get some cleaning and organizing done.  In the high school, we have semester testing, so the last 2 days (Friday and Tuesday) have been test days.  And yes, I do have to give tests in Art, which my students complain about until they realize its pretty easy if they have been paying attention and use their common sense!   Hopefully they realize that they have learned something over the course of the year.  Most of them do, but most of all, I hope they enjoy coming to Art Class!

So as I wrap up another school year, I will start thinking about what I will do different next year. How can I help more students realize their creative selves?

This painting is an example of how a student can let loose and paint and be expressive.  Many people do not understand this type of art or do not appreciate it, but this painting stood out to me.  I don't know what this Art 1 student was expressing, or if he knew. But he just sat down and painted this in one class period, because he had been absent, alot, and needed to finish the abstract project.  I love the colors, movement, and expressiveness in it.  So I want my students to realize that its okay, sometimes, to experiment and find how to express themselves through their art.  Because that is what art is, a way to communicate!

Mrs. Macre♥Art 

The Yellow Clay duck that almost didn't happen!

Student Art Work

Some students may need some extra encouragement.

I thought I would share the story of the little clay duck.  Here is a photo of a clay project that one of my seniors made in class this semester during our clay unit.  This one almost went into the recycle bin before it was even fired!  But I convinced him to finish it. The student made a duck, but he didn't really like it much and I caught him throwing it into the recycle bucket. I suggested he make something to go with it, so he came up with the bathtub and bubbles, which I thought was so cute!  So I fired it, but unfortunately, the duck had an air pocket or moisture trapped inside and it broke in the kiln. The bubbles and tub were okay though.   So....he made another duck, with a little convincing from me.  He was reluctant, but he did it for me.  And this is the result and he let me keep it! Isn't he cute?

Student Art Work© 2011

Mrs. Macre♥Art 

Welcome to my new blog!

Welcome to my new blog and my first post! I am a high school art teacher who has been blogging my own journal for 4 years.  In my Art Journal Blog, I have been adding some occasional posts about my art class projects and thought that I would try to keep the two journals separate. I'm sure they will overlap some, but I have recently stumbled on other Art Teacher blogs that I am excited to start keeping up with! I plan to go back through my Art Journal Blog, and find the posts about classroom projects and add to this blog.  That is going on my to do list for this summer though.  This year is coming to an end in 2 weeks, so I have a lot to do over the next 2 weeks. 

I have been teaching for 28 years and I really wish that I had this technology  years ago.   I would say over these 28 years, the invention of the digital camera and the internet have been my favorite changes to teaching over the years!  Plus this year my school district installed a smart board in my classroom, so that is becoming another one of my favorite tools to teach with! (besides paints, markers, colored pencils, etc.)  

So, for now, I will be looking for old blog posts and pictures of projects and spending lots of time looking at other art teacher blogs. Along the way, I hope to meet some art teachers and get some cool ideas for class projects!  

Mrs. Macre♥Art