District Faculty Art Show

...With photos courtesy of Mr. Leban.  (Thanks!)

Photos of my drawings from the show.

Artwork by York High School Teachers.

A cool shot from the ground up (you can see my pieces on the left).

That's me, blurry, talking to Mary Lou Stewart - she's the head of the art department at Elmhurst College.

Hey, someone's looking at my artwork!

This is the Accelerator machine, what the building and gallery are named after.  It's really cool "Flash Gordon" space age design.

Me talking to Ms. Pancratz, Mrs. Nall, and Ms. Cruger at the show.

Mmmm... food!

My work was hanging next to the work of Mr. Rich Edgley, a York High School art teacher.

The show was really fun to do, because many of us spend so much time with our "art teacher" hat on, it's nice to get to be just "artist" sometimes.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by the opening last night!  It's great to see support from the community and our colleagues!

Art Therapy

Yesterday, Mrs. Gregory (mom of Nick, a 7th grader) came in to talk to the class about her work as a student of art therapy.  She described to us what being an art therapist is all about, and how it can help others.  She even shared some cool stories about how art had helped people overcome difficult traumas.

After learning about what art therapy is, we tried some art therapy techniques in the classroom.  We learned about Mandalas and how they can help relieve stress by making us feel relaxed and centered.  We colored Mandalas in class and learned about the Mandala Project website.

This was a really fun visit.  Thanks Mrs. Gregory!

K-12 District-Wide Faculty Exhibition!

Please come to our show!  There is a reception on January 12th (next Tuesday) from 4:30 to 6:30 at the Accelerator ArtSpace Gallery - refreshments will be served!  For more info and/or directions to the gallery, please visit the Elmhurst College website.

I went to an art show...

My husband teaches at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School in Oak Park.  On Tuesday night Mr. Leban's school had an art show in conjunction with their holiday concert by the band and choirs.  It's always fun to see what other schools are doing in their art classes.  Mr. Leban even had three students demonstrating their art skills at the show - one student was drawing fashion designs, one was making a marble-maze skill game out of wood, and another was making cube-like art toy figures out of wood (Mr. Leban teaches art in a wood shop/sculpture studio, in case you didn't know).

Brooks Middle School has a really cool hallway/lobby area outside of their auditorium for putting on their art show.  There were tons of parents and families passing by and checking out the artwork.  Many watched the student artist demonstrators and learned something new!  I enjoyed talking to the artists and learning about their work.

art auction!

Mr. Gene Evans (father of Katie, 8th grader) came in to visit and talk to the 8th grade art classes about his job as an art dealer, appraiser, and consultant.  It was really cool to hear about his job, since it's art-related without any art-making involved... just art appreciating!

Mr. Evans brought in three different art pieces and had students place bids on them via a mock auction.  Although the winners didn't get the art, they did receive candy cane prizes for their accurate appraisals!  We learned a lot of new things about art and even a little bit about how to spot treasures within our own community via garage sales, estate sales, and thrift stores!  For example, artwork is always more valuable when it is signed!  Good tip to remember for making our own art!

Thank you Mr. Evans!