When I found out that Jesse Reno was going to be at the National Art Education Conference this year, I was stoked. I’ve been following his artwork and blog for several years and I love how layered and complex his paintings are. You have to watch his process of transforming one thing into another while painting. He has several videos on his blog where you can watch him paint. I was excited to hear him talk, but it would have … Read more…
How well do you know artists throughout history? Take this quiz to test your knowledge. If you are reading from a blog reader or email, you may need to click on over to the actual blog post. Art History Quiz from Marcia Beckett This past week I had the pleasure of attending the National Art Education Association conference in Chicago, IL. I have lots of information to share with you from some of the great sessions I attended. Coming … Read more…
With all the fancy projects an art teacher can find on Pinterest, sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics. Simple drawing and painting of familiar subjects. This week my students drew art manekins. You could see much more concentration in the students than while doing other projects. I was looking through the folders on my computer and found these animal watercolor paintings my students had made last year. For more watercolor lessons, check out these old posts: How … Read more…
An article I wrote was published in the April issue of Arts and Activities magazine! If you want to read the digital version, here is the link: http://pubdev.ipaperus.com/ArtsandActivities/AAApril2016/?page=24 Big thanks to the editor, Maryellen, for publishing my article. I really appreciate it! Writing about art and teaching is a hobby of mine (as you might have guessed from reading my blog) and it’s exciting to hold an actual physical copy of my writing. I have subscribed to Arts and Activities … Read more…
I have something to share with you that I’ve been working on for a long time. Well, a couple of months. It takes forever for me to accomplish anything lately (I have a clingy toddler who doesn’t like to sleep) so I work in short spurts whenever I get a chance. Many of you probably know of Ian and Melissa from Apex High School. They have developed a list of Artistic Behaviors for the high school level. I have been … Read more…
Do you want to know what will really get first graders excited about drawing still lifes? Have them bring in their own stuffed animals! I invited the kids to bring in their favorite stuffed animals to draw. I also had a garbage bag full of my own stuffed animals from home in case someone forgot to bring in one. I demonstrated how to observe the shapes and positioning of the stuffed animals and then I let the kids get to … Read more…
Hello! Today I am going to catch up on some of the clay projects my students have been working on. The last few weeks we have been busy learning clay techniques, building and glazing. We weren’t able to use regular clay for the past year since the kiln was out of commission, so my students were itching to work with clay! The 5th/6th grade classes made Clay Castles. We connected a clay unit to their study of the Middle Ages. … Read more…
