Artist of the Week 12/19/2018

5th Graders have been working on a unit on printmaking. They have been having some great results! Consistently getting a quality print is a difficult skill to master. Students have to get just the right amount of ink on their printing plate with their brayer. The brayer is the roller that we use to apply the ink to the printing plate. This is definitely one of those “Goldilocks Moments” where you don’t want too much and you don’t want too little ink on your printing plate or your prints will lose some of their integrity. The student I am choosing to recognize this week got really nice results each time she printed her design. I also love the background colors she chose. Beautiful work E.B. in Ms. Roy’s 5th Grade Class, Student Artist of the Week!

The student I am choosing to recognize is an amazing artist. He thinks deeply about his projects and always takes his time to make Careful, Quality Work. He works diligently on his art work at home, in class, and during extra art periods. He made this Portrait of Darth Maul from the Star Wars series in extra art. It came out awesome! If you see this young artist you might also ask him about the portrait series that he is working on of Civil War soldiers. Congratulations, CM in Mrs. Towle’s 4th Grade!

Artist of the Week 12 / 5 / 2018

       4th Graders having been experimenting with paper collage. This first project involves cutting a shape out of a stack of colored paper, putting one to the side, and cutting the rest of the paper into successively smaller shapes. Students are able to make their own shapes and make choices about the colors that they use. The student that I am choosing to recognize today always does a Careful, Quality Job when making her artwork. She Respectfully asked if she could use one of the black pieces of paper I had reserved for our backgrounds as one of her layers of color. The black works very well with the layers of pink, purple and light green to make this beautiful butterfly collage. Nice work S. C. in Mrs. Soule’s 4th Grade, Student Artist of the Week!

Artist of the Week 11 / 28 / 2018

Good art takes time. It took almost a whole trimester for all the 5th Graders to finish their Personal Puzzles! The student I am choosing to recognize this week is a very kind person and talented artist. I was impressed by her first draft because of the time she put into it and her very original composition. She took her time carefully recreating her colored pencil draft with water paint. To finish her project she cut very interesting shapes and glued them down with nice even spacing. For all these reasons I am proud to recognize NB from Ms. Hoskin’s class as Student Artist of the Week!

Artist of the Week 11 / 7 / 2018

You may remember when I recognized 5th Grader C. R. for being the first to complete her personal puzzle. If you don’t remember it you can look for it on the artist of the week bulletin board in the hallway. Truth be told there are still quite a few 5th Graders who have not completed this assignment because we have been working on and completing other projects and working as well. I am very pleased with the creative ways that 5th Graders have been approaching this open ended project! They are all so different just like our students! From I.R., J.D, M.J., and R.M.’s sunset skies to L.L.’s slenderman, A.A. and N.C.’s colorful patterns, and C.M.’s football puzzle we see a variety of content represented in these puzzles! I thank and recognize all the students who are trying their best on this assignment, but I am choosing to recognize one student who depicts the figure of a girl with her bangs over her eyes with colorful puzzle pieces blowing to her side. She checked with me before taking her project in a slightly different way and added a cool title which adds to the meaning of her piece. Make sure you check it out in the hallway or on our school website. Congratulations M.C. in 5W student artist of the week!

Artist of the Week 10 / 31 / 2018

 If you have walked down the 4th/5th Grade wing you may have seen some skulls and skeletons on the wall. These are to celebrate the Day of the Dead a holiday and tradition that started in Mexico and celebrates the life of family members and friends that have passed. 5th graders did a 2 day painting of their skulls and they came out great! The student that I am choosing to recognize has grown a lot. When I first met him he did not always complete his work and said, “No” a lot. Now he is much more likely to compromise and work with me and has started to make some awesome artwork! Make sure you take time to check his and all the Dia De Los Muertos Skulls up in the hallway. Congratulations J.L. student artist of the week!

Artist of the Week 10 / 24 / 2018

All elementary school students in RSU 1, our school district, learn about the artist Vincent Van Gogh. Maybe you can picture his “Starry Night” with it’s many beautiful cool colors and shimmering halos of light around the yellow stars. One of the things that made Van Gogh’s paintings stand out from those of other artists of his time was the way that he let his brush strokes show instead of smoothing them out. 

After looking at and talking about Van Gogh’s work, 3rd Graders used his painting style as inspiration making these pumpkin patches. These are coming out great and will start going up in the hall this week! I would like to recognize a young man in Mr. Deane’s class who always makes Careful, Quality Work. He was also the first student to add a fence at the edge of his pumpkin patch, an idea that some others students added to their compositions. Nice work R.S. Student Artist of the Week!

Artist of the Week 10 / 17 / 2018

4th Graders have made some awesome motivational posters for our hallways using tempera water paint. As they finished 4th Graders had the opportunity to use the same paints for what might be considered a more creative project. We talked about the difference between line and shape, and came to the conclusion that when lines connect they can make shapes. In this project students were asked to make a design using only lines, no shapes! This could be non-representational or representational. The student I am choosing to recognize this week has been practicing his skills and representing cars, which can be difficult to represent realistically. Usually when students try this line project they select a very small paint brush that allows them to make careful lines. This student selected a brush that may have seen better days, but allowed him to make multiple lines at once! Take some time to check out his awesome artwork! Did he make any closed shapes? Or are they all open lines? Nice work LS in Mrs. Towle’s 4th Grade!

Artist of the Week 10 / 10 / 2018

This was a particularly difficult week to choose an Artist of the Week. Students have been working hard to finish their designs for the Square 1 Fundraiser. I love seeing all the different ways students approach this project. I have seen everything from cartoon characters, to landscapes, to special messages to family members. I even saw a lighthouse that was inspired by the picture book One Morning In Maine! However, the student I am choosing to recognize is a 3rd Grader who did an extra special job on project that I asked students to do as they finished the Square 1 design. I demonstrated proper techniques for using Tempera water paint. I asked students to do a very specific assignment that focused on their fine motor skills and their ability to get the colors bright and vibrant and not to mix with each other or get muddy. Some students really liked doing this and even made two! One student created a really beautiful piece by first doing the assignment and then adding wavy lines on top. It came out awesome! Nice work D. M. in Mrs. Levesque’s 3rd Grade Class!

Artist of the Week 10 / 3 / 2018

Every year district Art Teachers work with the PTA (Parent Teacher Associations) to do the Square One fundraiser. This opportunity gives each student a sheet of stickers of their own design and the opportunity to have their design printed on different items like coffee mugs, aprons, keychains and pillows for a fair price with some of that money coming back to our school! In class we talked about Audience, in this case who will actually be buying items printed with our designs and of course creating Careful, Quality, Work.

This thoughtful student always does quality work. Recently I have seen many students trying to depict the beautiful colors of the sunset using tempera water paint. This student was able to create this effect using colored pencil. It looks awesome! Nice work E. M. in Ms. Hoskins 5th Grade Class!

Artist of the Week 9 / 26 / 2018

If you have visited the Fourth & Fifth Grade wing of our school lately you may have noticed the Class Puzzles that are displayed next to classroom doors. The class puzzles show how a number of individual students come together to make a group. 5th Grade students have been asked to take the puzzle idea further by creating their own Personal Puzzle. They have been asked to make their own design, which could be Representational or Non-representational, cut into at least 10 pieces and glue it onto a black background, leaving even space between the pieces. This has proven to be challenging, but one student has already completed the assignment. She enjoys art and is always making work at home and outside of art class. She is a good listener and can follow complicated instructions. For all these reasons I would like to recognize C. R. in Mrs. Gerrish’s 5th Grade Class as Artist of the Week for 9 / 26 / 2018. Nice work!

Artist of the Week 9 / 19 / 2018

I have really been enjoying getting to know our Third Grade students! Third Graders have been working on self portraits of themselves as adults. Not only are they practicing skills of representing their faces and bodies through drawing, but they are also using their imaginations to think about what they might do with their lives as grownups. I have seen artworks representing future scientists, teachers, artists, and football players. There’s all kinds of jobs and skills that our students will have as adults!

We have many students at FMS that love animals, so it makes sense that a number of students would want to be veterinarians when they are older. The student I am choosing to recognize this week not only did a careful quality job drawing and coloring her picture, but included some amazing details! Look closely and you will see a full scene outside the window, a cat on the examination table, and a lab coat on a hanger that looks a lot like a cat’s face! Nice work PC from Mrs. Walsh’s 3rd Grade class, Artist of the Week for 9 / 19 / 2018!

Artist of the Week 9 / 12 / 2018

Fourth and Fifth Grade Classes have not only been working on designing their personalized eggs for the front hall, but also a personalized class puzzle to illustrate how a group of individual students come together as a whole class. These will start to go up in the hallway this week.

Today I would like to recognize a 4th Grade Student who is new to our school. As I was looking for one of the class puzzle pieces to share with the school, I was struck by the sweet message on this student’s piece, “I Love My Friends.” What an awesome example for a Class Puzzle that illustrates how we come together to a whole! What does it look like to treat our friends and people with whom we work with Love?? It’s a great thing to think about, thanks RJ Hodson in Ms. LaFosse’s 4th Grade Class, Artist of the Week for 9 / 12 / 2018! Nice work!

Artist of the Week 9 / 5 / 2018

The 2018 - 2019 School Year is off to an amazing start at the Fisher Mitchell School! It is always a little challenging for me at the start of the year because our hallways are conspicuously empty of beautiful and thought provoking student artworks. Even though there is an expectation that we get new work up quickly, we want to make sure that we are doing Careful, Quality Work.


If you visit our school you will notice a Fisher Mitchell School Family Tree that is visible as you enter the building. Both students and teachers are working on Creative and Artistic pieces to add their names to our tree. Teachers have been asked to make a sign with their name to go below a nest for their class. Students have been asked to create an egg with their name on it to go in their class nest. This is taking a little bit of time to complete because we want to make sure that we are making Careful, Quality Work and because it means I have to manage over 200 pieces of individual artwork! It's a lot of work, but most things that are impressive take a bit of effort!

This will be the third school year that I have worked with the student I am choosing to recognize this week. He is very creative both in his artwork and in his personal style. After looking at all the amazing and very different eggs this student's work continued to stand out to me for his use of Color and Pattern. Congratulations Z. P. in Ms. Hoskins' 5th Grade Class, Artist of the Week for 9 / 5 / 2018!

First Day of School 8 / 29 / 2018

Artist of the Week 6 / 13 / 2018

I would like to recognize the students in Mrs. Levesque’s 3rd grade class. Last week we had a fun imaginative project in which we thought about what it might be like to have an outlandish pet. This could be an animal typically found in the wild, like a lion or a hippopotamus, or a mythical creature like a gryphon. I asked students to imagine doing an activity with this “crazy” pet.  The student that I would like to formally recognize is always kind and always tries his best. He sits at the back of the room and loves to help clean up and pass out materials. He was very happy to share his picture of his pet dragon, which he is riding while they race an airplane through the sky. Nice Job Ryan Harrington, Artist of the Week!

I also want to recognize a whole group of students in Mrs. Levesque’s class. When one student was feeling lonely, he put his head down in frustration. When he looked up again a number of students had moved to his table and surrounded him with encouragement and goodwill. This act of kindness made me very proud of these students. I will not list them all, but they know who they are! Nice work!

Artist of the Week 6 / 6 / 2018

Today I would like to recognize a 5th grade student who has been impressing me with her quality artworks since I met her in 4th grade. She can be quiet but she is smart and funny when you get to know her. I want to recognize her for a paper mache sculpture that she just completed in Enrichment Art. The sculpture is interesting, as it is part cat and part unicorn, but what really impressed me is how this artist chose to paint her sculpture. Instead of painting details like eyes, a mouth, fur, etc. this artist decided to paint a sunset sky at the bottom transitioning up to the deep blue black of a star filled night sky at the top. Check out the cool silhouettes of palm trees at the base of her sculpture! Nice work Chloe T. in Mrs. Wheeler’s 5th grade class!

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!

Artist of the Week 4/11/2018

    Today I would like to recognize two students in Mrs. Towles’ 4th grade class. They are both amazing artists in their own right. One of these students has been an amazing helper all year. She always remembers projects and art terms from previous classes. Because she had experience with Weaving in an art class at the school she went to before, she has been really fast and been super helpful with other students by teaching them her skills. She is so good at weaving she could teach the class! The other student sometimes has trouble completing assignments. One thing everyone can agree on, though, is that he is super creative! His paper weaving did not turn out like everyone else’s. His paper weaving turned out like a winged monster! He worked with me to show me that he understood weaving, and Compromised with me to weave parts of the body and the wings. His project is a great example how you can sometimes take projects in your own direction if you work with your teachers!

Nice job Keller Matzke and Alyssa Cogswell student Artists of the Week! 

Artist of the Week 4/4/18

This student has been super helpful in her class. She makes sure to reach out to students in her class who might be having trouble with their assignments. Last week when we were waiting for our clay sculptures to go through the kiln the first time, Ms. Barker our FMS Librarian asked me if I might read the Chickadee Award winning book “Maybe Something Beautiful” during art class. It is a story about how a young girl and a mural painter help bring beauty to a town. After reading the book to students they were invited to make their own beautiful and artistic house with cut paper and other art materials. Look at all the amazing details this artist included in her work! The Artist of the Week for 4/4/2018 is Emma Swain in Mr Deane’s 3rd Grade Class. Nice work Emma!

Today I am recognizing a 5th grade student for her scratch board. A scratch board in this case is actually a special piece of paper that has a black film over an under layer that is another color. When the black film is scratched away it reveals the color underneath. Artists create an image by using different scratching techniques to create lines and areas of different value. I chose to recognize this artist not only because she did a careful job, but because of the unique content of her piece. She has depicted a UFO flying over a mountain range. If you look carefully you will see a cow getting pulled up into the space ship by a tractor beam. However this is not just a picture of a UFO flying over a mountain range, it is a picture of a picture of a UFO flying over a mountain range. I find it vey interesting, and it really gets my mind working! The Artist of the Week for 3/27/18 is Elsie Melhorn in Ms. Hoskins 5th Grade Class. Nice job Elsie!

Artist of the Week 3/21/18

She can be a good craftsperson, taking her time to do a careful, quality job. She can also have fun taking chances, making fast choices, and looking forward to seeing how something might turn out. She can make creative choices to visually describe challenging ideas. She is open to suggestions, but she can also stick to her own ideas. She not only has participated in Enrichment  Art (Extra Art) but she also brings in work from home so I can help her create a digital portfolio. That’s where she made this flower which she decided would be the image to represent her as the Artist of the Week 3/21/18. Nice work Aribella O. in Ms. LaFosse’s 4th Grade class.

Artist of the Week 3/7/2018

4th grade students have recently completed ceramic sculptures of penguins. We studied about these aquatic birds that live in the southern hemisphere and are mostly associated with the continent of Antarctica. We  now are in the process of photographing our clay penguin sculptures in front of an Antarctic landscape. I am choosing to recognize a student who did a careful job both sculpting her penguin and glazing it. It’s not very surprising because she always does amazing work in art class. The Artist of the Week 3/7/2018 is Rebekah St. Pierre in Mrs. Towles 4th grade class. Great job!

Artist of the Week 2/28/2018

As many of you know the FMS Art Room has been supporting the Blizzard of the Books reading initiative by allowing students to do a character study. Students must write out the title of the book, the authors name, make an educated guess about the characters age and write three complete sentences about the character they are representing. This was a fun way for students to earn extra squares for their chart. One fifth grade student quickly produced a quality example of this activity and I used it as an example in many classes. Although I think he is most excited by abstract and nonrepresentational art, he quickly made this likeness of Mr. Magee in Chris Van Dusen's Down to the Sea with Mr. Magee (which incidentally is more anatomically proportional than the illustrations in the book!). It's a good drawing, but I was also impressed by the way this student made his sentences about the character rhyme just like the story rhymes! For all these reasons I would like to recognize Otto S. in Mrs. Wheeler's 5th grade class! Nice work Otto!

Artist of the Week 2/14/18

Last week I recognized two young women from the third grade as Artists of the Week for completing their dot paintings inspired by art works made by the Australian Aborigines. These paintings, like many artworks (and many things in life), take time to do a quality job. When we look around our school, it’s easy to see that all students work at different paces, and that’s natural, but what is important is that we do our best work and are persistent. Persistent means we keep trying until our work is finished. For this reason there are many 3rd graders who still have more to do to complete their paintings, which is fine, because they are doing quality, careful, work and their results are fantastic. Today I want to recognize a young man from Mrs. Levesque’s 3rd Grade Class. He chose very nice colors to use for his painting. You will see the yellow that he chose to color his koala bear and tree really stands out against his red and blue background! When you look at his work it easy to see that he was focused on finishing, but also careful to do a quality job! Nice work Lawson M.!

Artist of the Week 2/7/18

Third Graders have been studying the art of the Australian Aborigines. Australian Aborigines are the people native to the continent of Australia. Some of their ancient artworks are still found carved into the rocky hills of Australia, but today the aboriginal artists make their artworks on bark, paper, and canvas. The subject matter of their paintings often still represents animals that are found in Australia, especially marsupials like the kangaroo, wallaby, and wombat. One technique Australian Aborigines use is carefully placed dots of paint to create their compositions. Third graders have been experimenting with this technique too! Two very artistic young women got into this painting quickly and have had great results! They’ve worked so efficiently that they even were able to help each other and others in their class. I would like to recognize Deidre H. and Leah T. from Mr. Dean’s class. Nice work you two!

Artist of the Week 1/31/18

 On occasion, when I feel like 2 students worked together, or were influenced by each other, I will recognize them both as Artist of the Week. Here we again look at two examples of work created by arranging Geometric Shapes (shapes that have rules) to create Abstract Portraits (an abstract work focusing on the face). Both of these 5th grade students have impressed me many times with the art works they create. One of these students makes most things school related look easy. He always does careful, quality work when working on assignments in the art room. The other student often impresses me with his sense of design and how he often uses abstract patterns and shapes to make a project his own. From the start of this assignment I used one of these two students’ work to show how he created a very interesting balance to his piece by arranging his shapes almost (but not quite) Symmetrically. The other student, upon taking time to really appreciate his classmate’s work, decided to start over and create an abstract portrait that displays true Symmetry. I has been a great pleasure to watch these two young men learn from each other in the art room and I have been waiting for the right moment to recognize them both as Artist of the Week.   Nice job A. S. and C. M. in Mrs. Wheeler’s 5th Grade Class!

Artist Of The Week 1/24/2018

This week’s artist of the week is very kind, super helpful, and always makes quality artwork. I have seen her grow over the years and I am always impressed by how she reaches out to students who might be having trouble in the art room. Last week I suffered a mild concussion from an ice skating accident. (Make sure you wear your helmets folks!) When I got back to school Wednesday morning I was very curious to see the notes that the substitute teacher had left for me. Fifth Grade classes were asked to work on a project that they had started previously. We are learning about Geometric Shapes, or “shapes that have rules.” We reviewed some of the Abstract Portraits painted by Pablo Picasso, and then 5th Grade students were asked to create a portrait using only Geometric Shapes! Now, this student didn’t exactly follow the instructions, because her picture isn’t actually a portrait, but that’s ok sometimes in Art Class. She did do a careful job tracing her shapes, coloring them in, and using the whole page. She also made me chuckle by creating an expression of surprise on her Geometric Figure at the center of her composition. Nice work Madison B. in 5 Hoskins!

2nd Artist of the Week 1/12/18

We are going to do things a little differently this week and recognize a student artist this Friday, 1/12/18. I want you all to be aware that we are losing to really awesome young women artists because they are moving to Montana. Riley St. Pierre has been recognized twice for her artworks, a flying fox princess, and a flying paper dragon sculpture. I want to take a moment to recognize her little sister Morgan, known as “Mo” in the art room. Mo has serious drawing skills. She has been working on an ambitious painting in Enrichment Art. The concept, or idea, of her painting is very cool! Mo carefully studied Leonardo D’Vinci’s famous portrait, “The Mona Lisa”. She then used her imagination to put Princess Peach, from the Super Mario Bros. video game, into a similar pose and placed the princess in an environment that includes other characters from the game. She just finished her painting yesterday and I want you to all take a moment to look at it. I put it up across from the entrance to the cafeteria. Awesome job Mo! and best of luck to both sisters on there journey to there new home in beautiful and exciting Montana!

Artist Of The Week 1/10/18

Today I am choosing to recognize a student in Ms. Newkirk’s 3rd Grade class. I noticed her interest in art almost immediately when she entered my classroom. This student is an accomplished artist and has already developed her own style. She shares a fondness for foxes with many of our students, and these furry animals find their way into many of her drawings. She has also started a paper mache fox in Enrichment Art and created this Flying Arctic Fox   in our make up “Free Day” for students who missed out before our Holiday Break due to the early release. Her classroom teacher even told me that this student plans to give an art lesson to her 3rd grade class in future weeks. Amazing! Nice work Ada B!

Artist of the Week 1/3/2018

It has been a tradition in the FMS Art Room to have a day of free exploration of various crafts on the week before the holiday break since the days when I shared my responsibilities at FMS with WCS teacher Laura Devin. This allows students to create gifts and cards for their family and/or create art in a less structured way, and in interest areas of their choice. It is a fun and sometimes hectic day, and each student must do their part to exercise patience, share resources, and advocate for their needs, both for materials and my assistance. There truly were so many awesome art works created this week. Please see examples here. I may have said to more than one student that I was so impressed that they may be the new years first Artist of the Week. When the dust settled and the art room was put back together I looked through the photos I took of students work. I thought about originality, craftsmanship, the ability to work well with others, and work independently. I chose to recognize Charles T. in Ms. Phippen’s 4th Grade for his boat, complete with sail and sailor, that really floats (we tested it in the sink)! Nice work!