art and diversity

You probably have noticed school supplies on sale everywhere and it's nearly time for me to order supplies for the art room! This reminded me of something surprising I came across with the last batch of art supplies that still resonates with me. I ordered Sax Paint for our 6th grade diversity project and discovered that unfortunately the paint labeled flesh wasn't the flesh color for many of my students.



We discussed this quite a bit and decided to write the manufacturer/seller a letter and document the process. You can read a portion of our letter and the response we got below. Meanwhile, the students became expert skin tone paint mixers!

I bought the Sax acrylic paint sets this year for my students to use for self portraits. Included in the set is a paint tube color labeled flesh. The problem is that it's not actually the flesh color for all of our students. We enjoy a diverse population of students at our school and my students were curious why this would be labeled as a flesh color when it isn't the flesh color for so many of us. The students thought that perhaps a more appropriate name for the paint might be peach!

Thank you for your consideration. I know my students would love to get a response back soon before the school year ends.

Response:
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I can promise you we meant no disrespect. I am contacting our supplier to see if we can have the name changed on our next production run and I will be updating our digitized catalog and website.

This upcoming year we are very fortunate to be working with some high quality Golden Open acrylic paint (love this stuff!) generously donated by Artmart, a Saint Louis art supply store. Check them out if you haven't made a visit yet, they do wonderful community work and shopping there will make you feel like a kid in a candy store!

second grade fireworks

We had a lovely time at our neighborhood 4th of July celebration last night and it reminded me of a fireworks inspired project from our second grade artists earlier in the year.



We took a look at the art of Cai Guo-Qiang, a contemporary artist from China. His signature art is based on “explosion events” that use gun powder as a drawing tool. The second graders observed that he is interested in things that are both beautiful and ugly/dangerous at the same time.



Cai is the artist that choreographed the 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony fireworks show. His art inspired the second grade artists to make their own fireworks using the design elements of line and color. They made a mark of their choice and then repeated it concentrically while overlapping designs. I always enjoy watching them approach this algorithm in their own unique way. Enjoy the fireworks!

fifth grade photography

The fifth grade sponsored an art sale featuring their photography on some beautifully printed post cards from MOO at the school picnic. Our first art sale was such a success we nearly sold out of art post cards! The money raised from the sale of over 400 art cards will go to help offset the cost of printing but most importantly this sale helped our young photographers see that their art is valued and appreciated. Thank you to everyone who came by to support the fifth grade artists!



The fifth grade artists were asked how they might use photography to reflect their place in the world. Photography relates in many ways to the 5th grade theme of Perspectives and was used to help them observe, reflect, and communicate, with a focus on visual literacy. This was the first year I taught digital photography to fifth grade and I couldn't be more impressed with their work but what I loved seeing most was the intimacy and respect fostered through the use photography.













Special thanks to NCS parent and artist Jen Schmidt for her book recommendation that set me on the right path: I Wanna Take Me a Picture by Wendy Ewald.

second grade texture tiles

The second grade artists spent some lovely spring mornings outside exploring textures. They used their naturalist and spatial intelligences to find natural objects that would make an interesting texture to print in the wet clay. They made two tiles each, one with an imprinted texture from a natural object and one built up texture inspired by nature. The clay pieces were kiln fired and then a special glazing technique was used to make the textures really stand out.

These are beautiful tokens of texture that will always remind us of our school garden.

guest writer for art:21

Art:21 is an amazing PBS series that brings contemporary art to a large audience through books, television, and the internet. Contemporary artists are presented in themes: compassion, humor, power, memory, and play among many others. As an art educator, Art:21 is my favorite place for information and inspiration, so I was very excited to be asked to write on the current topic of Art and Experience for the Art:21 blog! This blog covers contemporary issues in the art world and beyond and is always thought provoking. I feel really honored to be included with the talented writers, curators, artists, and critics from all over the world. Please take a look at the post, Multiple Intelligence: Art and Experience, and feel free to leave a comment!