Artist of the Week 5 / 30 / 2018

Today I would like to recognize a 5th grade student who taught me a new technique and who’s behavior made me proud. After admiring some chalk drawings of Miss Rumphius’ beautiful lupine flowers that were made in Mrs. Armstrong’s class, 5th Grade student were invited to make their own flowers while mixing their own secondary colors, Green, Orange, and Purple. It was a quick and fun project. This student first got my attention not only for his work, but how I saw him comforting another student who was having a bad day. He was very kind and careful with her and helped her get started with her lesson. Then towards the end of the project he was experimenting by mixing up the colors of paint and appreciating how they swirled together. He’s not the first student I’ve seen do this, but he is the first I have seen transfer these swirls to his paper by simply using his finger tip. Check out the beautiful dots of swirling color on his painting! Nice Work Dustin P. in Ms. Roy’s 5th grade class!

Artist of the Week 5 / 23 / 2018

Today I would like to recognize another 5th Grade student for their ceramic sculpture. This student politely asked if they could make two small vessels out of clay, one for pouring liquid and one for accepting the liquid. The piece that pours the liquid is fairly simple, but the piece that one pours the liquid into is elaborated with a face. This face has an open mouth and the liquid that pours into the top of the vessel spills out of the open mouth. This is just another example of the careful thought that this artist puts into his work, often making projects that work on a whole other level beyond what I hope students will get from the lesson. I also have to give a heartfelt thank you to him and his mother for setting up the FMS Sculpture garden in the Library during our annual Art Show! Thank you and nice work, Declan W. Artist of the Week!

Artist of the Week 5/16/2018

Today I would like to recognize a 5th grade student in Ms. Roys’s 5th Grade Class. She always puts a little bit of herself into her art work, which is kind of the point. Her work is thoughtful and means something to her personally, even if she sometimes takes assignments in her own direction. I am recognizing her for her amazing Ceramic Sculpture. 5th Grade students were invited to revisit a form they all have experience with, the pinch pot, and make it their own by Scratch, Water, and Attaching (Score & Slip) at least four parts, and also adding detail by creating surface design. Not only did she do all these things, but she made a very unique and successful sculpture. Check out her beautiful Elephant Pinch Pot! Nice Job Olivia Warlick! 

Also please remember to tell your family and friends that you can view this sculpture, and our whole schools’ clay projects, and 2 dimensional art works at this Friday’s FMS Art Show starting at 5:30pm.

Artist of the Week 5/9/2018

Today I would like to recognize a 4th grade student who has been impressing me with her figure drawings since I first met her in 3rd Grade. The word figure is pretty cool because it has multiple meanings. In the art world “figure” means the human body. This student is very conscious about how our attitudes affect our lives. She is calm and understanding and gives good advice to her friends (and her art teacher). I would like to recognize her for her large figure drawing of the superhero that radiates positive energy that is displayed by the entry way to the gym! Nice job Taylor Tate from 4S Artist of the Week!

Artist of the Week 5/3/2018

This week I would like to recognize 3 students as artists of the week. First I have to say the whole FMS Third Grade has really been making some amazing art! We looked at the Canadian artist Ted Harrison and his fantastically colored arctic landscapes. Third Graders  have been making chalk landscapes using this artist's overlapping hills and brightly colored skies as a jumping off point. Today’s first student is quiet and super nice! She actually made this piece the week before, but it’s so good I have to recognize it! Her carefully rendered hills and overlapping clouds in the strangely colored sky earn her a place as an Artist of the Week. Awesome Job Kaleyn Hickey in Ms. Newkirk’s class! Next is a young woman is also in Ms. Newkirk’s class. She is not quiet, but she is nice too. She always challenges herself with her art projects. In the foreground of her landscape is a railing with shading and so many examples of overlapping.  This one of those pieces I didn’t notice until class was over for some time, but then was amazed. Amazing Job Petra Thelen! The 3rd student has been working on a ventriloquist dummy in Enrichment Art. It finally came together and then we made this impromptu video of it singing a popular song. It’s awesome! Nice Job Caiden Ashton! And nice job Irsa for doing the lights in the video!

Kaelyn

Petra

Caiden

Artist of the Week 4/24/2018

Today it was particularly difficult to choose an artist of the week because FMS Students have been making SO MUCH GOOD ART! 3rd graders sculptures are coming out of the kiln and they have also been making some really cool chalk landscapes! 4th graders have been finishing up their weavings and are about to start a new project, and 5th graders have been planning and sculpting their ceramic projects. It’s a busy time of year with the FMS Art Show coming up on Friday May, 18th.

The student I am choosing to recognize this week tries his best in class, has participated in Enrichment Art, and makes wok at home. He is also someone I can count on to help others.  He has some experience with paper mache. He just finished this penguin surfing on an iceberg in Enrichment Art. It’s very hard to make a sculpture stand up like this, but he did it! Nice work Caiden Webster, Artist of the Week 4/25!

Banners Over Bath 2018

4/18/18 BANNERS OVER BATH

I need to take a moment to recognize two artistic friends. One of the cool things that the town of Bath does to help build community and celebrate arts is the  Banners Over Bath celebration. Every spring community members can have their own artwork grace our cool little city’s streets. This requires artists to design a 2’ x 3’  canvas banner that will hang from the lampposts downtown. This design must not only help make Bath more beautiful, but also withstand our spring weather. As the Art Teacher at Fisher Mitchell School I have struggled to figure out how I could get multiple students involved with a format that is small when compared to our over 300 students. Then I thought maybe I was making things too hard for myself. One thing I am still learning is how to let go of control and better delegate tasks. Just after I had these thoughts Emily Harper and Julia Marlowe entered my classroom. These two creative young women have asked to collaborate on projects all year and had great results doing so. I could ask them if they were interested and let them take charge of this project and I would be able to check something off my list that never seems to end! I gave these two very little guidance, and trusted them to create a complete piece. I think their design came out great! Nice work Julia and Emily!