This morning David and I discussed a very interesting article that he had just read the night before. He gave me a copy of Olivia Gude’s, January 2004 Art Education article, Postmodern Principles: In Search of a 21st Century Art Education. It was just the kick in the seat of my pants that I’ve been needing.

In the article, the author makes the argument for teaching Postmodern Art concepts such as appropriation, recontextualization, hybridity, juxtaposition, gaze, layering, interaction of text and image, and “representin’” instead of focusing solely the elements of art and principles of design. These ideas are not foreign to me. Along with a social justice curriculum, they were a main focus of my art education training at NYU. When I entered the teaching world I was all prepared and excited to deal with these issues in my classroom.

Something happened though between that time and now. Perhaps it was the pressure of seeing other more experienced teachers covering the elements and principles and feeling like I was denying my kids something or doing something wrong? Or maybe it happened when I went from teaching high school to elementary school? Maybe I thought “How is a 1st grader going to understand the idea of recontextualition when they can barely write their own name?” Whatever the reason, I am now feeling inspired and ready to tackle some of these issues (at a very elementary appropriate level) in my classroom.

Two of my favorite resources that deal with these types of ideas are the Getty’s Sprial Art and PBS’s Art 21 series. If you are unfamiliar with these wonderful resources, I highly suggest taking the time to become familiar with them.

In my next life, or maybe even later on on this life, I would love to become an illustator. While surfing around the web for inspiration, I came across Signature Illustration. What’s nice about this site is how its creator posts lots of thumbnail images of different illustrators’ artwork. This format really helps to give a complete picture of different illustration styles.

I wold love to hear about examples of how you all are taking a stand for art in your community.

Last year our teachers started assembling “Welcome Back” Bags for the migrant school staff. At the local school, teachers are expected to buy the majority of their supplies. SAS teachers generously donated materials the they thought would be useful in the classroom. Below are some images from our delivery.

Kindergarten students are beginning the year by learning about different types of lines and the emotional qualities associated with them. After practicing making different types of marks in their sketchbooks, students filled in a life size outline of their bodies with as many different types of lines as they could think of. The kids are in the process of painting their projects with tempera cakes. Below are some images of the work in progress.

My belly is more popular that Buddah’s, or so it seems at my elementary school. I am currently 29 weeks and 2 days into my first pregnancy. If it wasn’t already a strange experience watching my belly stretch and grow, walking around the halls of an elementary makes it even more surreal. I have encountered questions that range from the run of the mill “Ms. Sajan, are you pregnant?” to the humorous “Ms. Sajan, did you eat too much for lunch today?” My students are so excited to meet my little girl. One first grader asked me if I could email her photos of my new baby as soon as she was born.

It’s been really cute to see their excitement match my own. What has been frustrating though is the fact that I am unable to maintain eye contact with them. I am able to hold their attention for about 10 seconds and then their eyes slowly drift to my little paunch. What’s more frustrating is the fact that the halls are a battle field. I can not walk to lunch without encountering a sea of outstretched tiny hands. While I do not want to crush their curisoity, I don’t exactly want to be touched by the entire school either.

= )

I like to give my kids access to most of my art materials. In order to do this, I organize the supplies into three cubby areas: collage and sculpture, drawing and paper and finally printmaking and paint. I find that it helps to organize the room this way because always know where to look for the materials that they need.

In addition to the different material sections, I keep other supplies like pencils, sharpies, erasers, crayons, markers and colored pencils in different areas throughout my room. I like to have my materials in different areas because I feel it helps those kids who have difficulty sitting still. It gives their movement justification.

I also create bulletin boards for each grade level I teach. I put examples of the artwork that we have studied so the kids can look at it during different points of the project. I also try to include art vocabulary on these boards as well.

I know it’s a little early to start thinking about October holidays, but this Day of the Dead activity combines two of my favorite activities—cooking and art!