Something cool.

I have to share something non-Sandburg related today, and it's my husband's webpage for his school.  He bought his own custom domain, so it's easy to get to his website:

www.mrleban.com 

...and it's awesome!

Mr. Leban teaches Applied Arts at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Oak Park.  He's an art teacher, but he teaches in a wood shop.  Nope, he's not a "shop" teacher either.  Most of his projects are sculptural and functional, they make fun things like marble maze games and boxes.

He has a student teacher right now, so he's been putting up some really neat things on his webpage, like videos and photos done with his iPhone.

Check this out:


Pretty cool, huh?  Do you think I should go buy mrsleban.com?!

Tour of the Art Room!

The art teachers at The Teaching Pallette have gathered a collection of art room photos from teachers all over, which I was happy to be a part of!  See the photos on the Flickr photostream here.  You may also take the art room tour right now -- see below!

 Above, you can see the supply counter where we keep colored pencils, scissors, rulers, erasers, markers... the daily stuff!

 Here are all the manikins!!!

 We have a digital projector, which is really helpful!

 The kiln (although old) is a real workhorse.

Four pottery wheels are over here, and the slab roller.  Sculpture storage is on the left.

 Smocks, drying rack, and four more pottery wheels!

 Here's my desk!  It's a colorful place.

This is the overall view when you first walk in the room.

Thanks for visiting!  Come back soon!

Reminder...

...and THIS is why you don't want to have air bubbles in your clay!!!

Multitasking!

Monday - Wednesday this week, eighth grade students are on a rotation to use the pottery wheels.  Since I only have 8 wheels, my class can't be split into two days in order for each student to have a turn on the wheel - we have to split it into three!

So, no big deal, right?  Well... we're also in the middle of a plaster hand-casting project (see last year's version of the project on Artsonia here) and painting them!  Paint, clay, plaster... Um, THREE different media and ONE teacher?  Yep... it's nuts... to put it lightly!

But it's also fun.  Students cannot wait to get a turn (no pun intended) at the wheel!  I was thinking today that I should work out a sign up sheet so that on "extended seminar schedule" Tuesdays, 8th graders (current art students) can sign up to use the wheel in the morning during extended seminar.

More wheel photos

In honor of our first day working independently on our pottery wheels, here are some more photos from Judy Huppert's visit:

...special thanks to Mrs. Riecker from the District 205 Foundation for taking photos!

Pottery Wheels

Last year I wrote and won a Thiems Grant from the Elmhurst Foundation for the three Elmhurst middle schools to purchase pottery wheels!

On Monday, Judy Huppert of Ceramic Supply Chicago came and did a demonstration for 8th grade art classes all about how to throw a pot on the wheel.  Here are a few photos from the demonstration:

I think we were all really impressed by how talented she was!  Students can't wait to start using the wheels to try out the techniques we learned for ourselves.

I've tried throwing before, and I can tell you that it takes A LOT of practice!  Wish us luck as we embark on this new challenge!  I leave you with a quick clip from the demo featuring some advice on centering your clay: