3rd graders in the Chazen

Young at Art 2013

Every other year, MMoCA hosts a beautiful art show called Young at Art. Each art teacher our public schools in Madison choose three pieces of work to be displayed in this show. Today was the opening reception and as you can see, it was well attended!!

Pride was evident on the artists’ faces. This is my very favorite part of of the show!!

Plenty of art supporters came out as well. Our new superintendent, Jen Cheatum, came with her husband and beautiful 10 month old little boy.

Here is Mike Hertting, elementary superintendent, talking with art teacher Andy Mayhall.

Jen Cheatum with many of our Madison art teachers.

It was also a pleasure to see school board members Ed Hughes, Arlene Silveira and TJ Mertz at the show as well.

Please go see this show! It will be up until May 19th.

WPA and Arts Advocacy

I haven’t organized any official field trips for art and I’ve been at Randall a few years already. I am changing that this year! Every Randall student will be heading to the Chazen this spring. Each grade level is studying different things this spring based on what they will focus on for their field trip.

The 5th graders study American history in their classroom curriculum so they will be focusing on the Works Progress Administration or WPA art exhibit at the Chazen. They will be studying various WPA artists over the second semester (Romare Bearden was also a WPA artist) but we started this larger theme by creating US Postage Stamps honoring African-American women.

Students started by learning a little about The New Deal created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The New Deal was a series of economic programs that involved presidential orders or laws passed by Congress during the first term of President FDR. It was a response to the Great Depression to create jobs for the unemployed and poor to help the economy recover to normal levels. Some of the gifted and talented students made some connections to issues that have been in the news recently.

Part of the WPA was the Federal Art Project which focused on commissioning artists for public art. Some say over 200,000 separate pieces of art were commissioned from 1935 to 1943. Many famous artists were part of this project including Romare Bearden, Jackson Pollack, John Steuart Curry, Arshile Gorky, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Olds, Loiuse Nevelson, Mark Rothko, Augusta Savage, Grant Wood and many more. As 3rd graders, they learned about John Steuart Curry and his murals right here on the UW campus.

The Chazen has a special exhibition that was installed February 16th and will be up until April 28th honoring these WPA artists.

“The Public Works of Art Project was the first federal program to support the arts. In 1934 the PWAP employed thousands of artists to paint regional, recognizable subjects—from portraits to cityscapes and street scenes to landscapes and rural life. This exhibition celebrates the 75th anniversary of the PWAP, presenting 56 vibrant paintings from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s unparalleled collection.” -Chazen website

Read more about the exhibition from the Wisconsin State Journal and their connection to recent events to funding cuts for the arts.

Exhibit of Depression-era art is illustrative comparison as state cuts public funding for arts

“The money Wisconsin will spend this year on the arts — 15 cents per capita, compared with $5.77 in first-ranked Minnesota — reflects a 67 percent cut in funding to the Wisconsin Arts Board in 2011, when Gov. Scott Walker folded that statewide arts agency into the Department of Tourism. (Wisconsin’s Percent for Art program, in which 0.2 percent of a public building project was devoted to public art, also was dismantled that year.) -WSJ

Wisconsin ranks 46th in arts funding. I’m hoping you’ve been able to see how important the arts are to education through my blog. Please contact your representatives and let them know how important the arts are! Don’t forget to let the school board know as well. They are in charge of art education funding right here in our Madison schools.

I’ve gone on an arts advocacy tangent, I know. But it’s important. Back to the students! Check out the next post for more on their WPA project.

WAEA Southwest Student Art Show

It’s that time again! Time for the WAEA Southwest Student Art Show. It is held at the Hilldale mall. Work goes up on February, Saturday 2nd and will stay up until the closing reception on Sunday, February 10th (12pm-2pm). Go check it out during mall hours! (Monday – Saturday 10am-9pm and Sunday 11a-6pm)

The show is special to me because I was chosen for this show in second grade and that is when I decided to be an art teacher. I am so excited to be choosing my own students to be a part of this show!

The following Randall students were chosen:

Annie

Otto

Zola

Carson

Danielle

Sydney

Isaac

James

Ella

Aviva

Lianna

Talia

Dana

Haifan

3rd Grade Hmong projects

3rd graders first learned the word batik. We looked at a block of wax and discussed how it is melted down to draw with. The a tjanting needle is dipped in the hot wax to be used as the drawing tool. The artist then draws on fabric, not paper.

When the hot wax has dried, the fabric is dipped into dye. When the fabric is dry, the wax is removed and what is left is a beautiful design.

3rd graders first came up with their own Hmong designs using some of the symbols we see in traditional Hmong batik art. Instead of hot wax, they used crayons and instead of dye they used liquid watercolors (with glitter which drew a huge *gasp* from the collective whole that is the 3rd grade).

After they were finished with their own ‘batik’ work, they drew out a family story inspired by the Hmong story cloths. Below is an example by Youa Lor.

Combining two traditional Hmong art techniques into one created some beautiful artwork!

You can see all of these and more at the Children’s Museum throughout the month of November!

Twilight Night and Gallery Opening Night — 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, November 7
Free admission to the whole museum!

Twilight Art Night offers the opportunity to meet some of the artists whose work is on display, and to learn more about how public art was incorporated into the building.

Enjoy free admission on Twilight Wednesday, the first Wednesday of the month, from 5-8 p.m.

 

Guest Bloggers – Annual Wagon Drive

I love that Franklin-Randall kids are so aware of ways to make a different in their community! The Wagon Drive is a tradition for the Franklin-Randall kids. Two Franklin-Randall kids are guest bloggers on the subject today.

Samara and Lily wrIte:
“Every year families in the Madison School District must choose between buying food or school supplies. After learning that some of our classmates would without these, the Bay Creek neighborhood kids want to help. The annual wagon drive collects food and school supplies before wheeling the food to the St. Marks Lutheran Church Food Pantry. The school supplies are handed out to kids at Lincoln, Franklin and Randall that need the supplies. This year we decided to collect for TEP (Transition Education Program. Randall kids have already been involved with helping TEP. Read about that here) too.”

And then there is what Mom has to add….

Details on the drive:

The 4th Annual Wagon Drive will be held Saturday, August 4th from 9 to 2, in front of Franklin School on West Lakeside St on Madison’s south side. Rain date is Sunday. Neighborhood kids are collecting school supplies and food donations. They will also be hosting a free will donation bake sale and lemonade stand. The school supplies will be given to the Madison School District’s Transition Education Program (TEP) and to kids in need that attend Lincoln, Randall, and Franklin schools. All the food collected will be given the St. Mark’s Lutheran Church Food Pantry. Any money collected from the bake sale and lemonade stand will be used to purchase school supplies.

Why do we do it? The history.

My daughter Lily heard our pastor mention how heavy hit the pantry is in September, even more so than the holidays, because families need to spend money on school supplies and fees. She asked me if we could take our wagon and walk the neighborhood asking for food. My response was, heck no, that’s too much work, how about making people come to us? So she asked some friends for help, and asked a neighbor that lived on busy street if we could use her lawn. The kids handed out flyers, lined up their wagons, and shouted at cars. It was beautiful  We held two drives the first year and it was a blast so the kids decided to make it an annual event. Our neighbor spruced up her lawn, so we moved down the block to Franklin School.

I think the three kids that actively run the drive have their own reasons for doing it. One kid mentioned how she loved school shopping and just couldn’t fathom the sadness and embarrassment of not having supplies. My kid doesn’t like it that a choice has to be made between food and school. The other quietly cares, and thinks it is wrong to not have basic needs for school. Me as a mother is very very proud and am glad to support it. Plus, I wish I did something like this as a kid. I consider it my second chance and being a good kid.

We have the bake sale and lemonade stand because kids just love having one. Plus, they love shopping for supplies when we don’t get or enough of a certain supply. We buy hundreds of folders or boxes of markers at one time so people look. They get all proud when a person asks what they are doing. They are very frugal shoppers too. I get a kick out of how they try to find the best price. Too funny, because I don’t think they do it normally.

What we  need:

We will take any new and gently used school supplies including but not limited to backpacks, wide ruled note books (do not need college ruled), composition note books, glue, glue stick, tape (all kinds), markers, and folders.

According to TEP, what is needed most now is listed below. This will be our first year (and not last) collecting for TEP, so all but the backpacks and pencil cases are new to our list.

Hygiene Supplies
Backpacks
Alarm Clocks with Batteries
Fist Aid Kits & or supplies
Dictionaries & Thesauruses
Multiplication Flash-Cards
Pencil Cases

For the group of kids we are helping at Franklin (12 kids), Randall (9 kids), and Lincoln we take anything that would be found on the elementary school list. Looking at last year’s list, the least donated items were. We do give some supplies to Stephens Elementary too because on of our volunteers is a teacher there. Her kids though go to Franklin and Randall.

Backpacks
Pencil cases (hard plastic and cloth)
Composition note books-black only Lincoln uses these exclusively
dry erase markers
hand sanitizer
disinfectant wipes

All food should be non-perishable and canned fruit is high on the list of need this week.

Re-Creations at Atwood Art Room with Ms. Walsh!

Update!!!!

Class is now being offered with a drop in option.

You can come for one class, two classes or all five. Whatever works for you! $25 for 3 hours of art fun in air conditioning!!

Monday: Magazine and newspaper art (beads, bowls, picture frame, newspaper yarn)

Tuesday: Tshirts (bags, rugs, headbands, bracelets and yarn)

Wednesday: Mixed Media (collage paintings, sculptures, birdhouses)

Thursday: Glass and Metal (vases, hummingbird feeders, metal tooling)

Friday: Plastic (fused lunch bags, fused weavings, yarn and more)

Hey Randall kids, do you miss me already? Want a little bit of summer art with Ms. Walsh to get you through the rest of the summer? Sign up for this class!!

Click on this link to sign up for this class:

July 16-20 (Monday-Friday)   1-4 pm     ages 8-11        cost: $125
Re-Creations  
Create bowls from magazines, rugs from T-shirts, hummingbird feeders from bottles and more!
Discover new ways to reuse the things around you to make something beautiful.

Use hula hoops to create a beautiful rug..

…or bowl!

Learn how to make all sorts of new things from magazines!

Like bowls or..

(image from FamilyFun)

…weavings!

How about a beautiful hummingbird feeder from a wine bottle?

Or bowls from fabric without sewing?(image from ModPodgeRocks)

We will also learn to fuse discarded plastic bags into a woven mat and lunch bag!

Like this bag from TwoKitties

or a decorative mat for the dinner table.

Learn how to make this and much more when you sign up for ReCreations at the Atwood Art Room!

Plenty of room left!!

Congratulations Sebastian!

Congratulations to Randall 5th grader Sebastian Brauer!! Sebastian’s art work was given a blue ribbon at the South West Youth Art Month art show this last weekend. This means his art will move on to the Youth Art Month Capitol art show!

Go see Sebastian’s work and art work from students all over Wisconsin next month.

2012 WAEA Youth Art Month Capitol
Rotunda Exhibition
WAEA Youth Art Month (YAM) in the Capitol Rotunda will be celebrated March 18 – March 30th. Ceremony honoring PreK-12 artists will be held March 30th from 12 Noon -1:00PM. Awards sponsored by W.T. Graham, the DPI, Nasco, and Sax will given. The Capitol building hours are M-F 8a.m. – 6p.m. and on weekends/holidays from 8a.m. – 4p.m.

Neighborhood House Auction

The Neighborhood House held an auction this last weekend as a fundraiser.

Our beautiful third grade Circle Paintings were a hit! They raised almost $200 for our Neighborhood House. You should be so proud of yourselves, Randall 3rd graders!!

They were also a beautiful backdrop for the amazing music I had the pleasure of listening too. What a great afternoon and wonderful display of genuine community!!

Good Neighbors: Art to Strengthen the Community.

The Neighborhood House Community Center presents

Good Neighbors:

Art to Strengthen the Community Art Show

21 Local Business Tributes by 21 Local Artists

Friday, October 14th 2011

MMoCA Gallery Night - 5-9pm

Featuring our own former Franklin and current West HS art teacher -

Ms. Sue Moberly at the Regent Market Coop

Also featuring our very own Randall artists!

Jane Stulova, Lily Hubanks,

Jackson Guha, Eniya Driscoll,

Fiona MacCrimmon and Dana Anderson

at the Neighborhood House

Little preview…

Along with many other local artists including…

Art Gecko -> Artist Jake Goeller

Barriques -> Artist Erika Kovenium

Budget Bicycle -> Artist Wienerstick

Chole’s -> Artist Karen Christianson

Greenbush Bakery -> Artist Phil Lyons

Greenbush Bar & Restaurant -> Artist Dan Ledger

Fraboni‘s -> Artist Sascha Nepokroeff

Hong Kong Cafe -> Artist Amy Atallahill

Ideal Body Shop -> Artist Jeff Garland

Indie Coffee -> Artist Kalpana Prakash

Knitting Tree -> Artist Pat Dillon

Mickie’s Dairy Bar -> Artist Kathleen Kay

Monroe St. Frame Shop -> Artist Michelle Waldeck

Monroe St. Shoe Repair -> Artist Nancy Welch

Mallatts -> Artist Beth Rocette

Orange Tree Imports -> Artist Scott Lesh

Pasqual‘s -> Artist Greg Guilfoil

Strictly Discs -> Artists Angie and Ron Roloff

The Curve -> Artist Don MacCrimmon

Zulu Cafe – > Artist Robert Shapiro

Produced by Kaleidoscope Arts

Curated by Kathleen Kay

Endorsed by Italian Workmen’s Club

Sponsored by Trader Joe’s, St. Mary’s and Summit Credit Union