What grade/age do you teach? 8-12
Are you primarily an art teacher or do you teach other subjects as well?
I teach art and humanities (which is a Senior graduation requirement which is team taught in a lecture/seminar format to 100 seniors)
art classes: 8th grade art explorations
Studio Drawing A dnd B
Painting A and B
Printmaking A and B
IB Art and Design I and II
Portfolio A and B (which thankfully no one signed up for this year)
and next year I get to add Drawing and Design A and B
Oh I also have a "study hall" or Academic Enrichment Period to oversee.
With what medium do you teach?
I teach with whatever mediums we can get our hands on, especially in IB I am trying to get the kids to be independent and learn to scrounge for "supplies" (especially recycled ones). We have done lino-cuts, polaroid transfers, silkscreen--paper-stencil, blockout/drawing fluid resist, and photo emulsion in printmaking. (I also have a litho-sketch kit for those who finish silkscreen this year, but they seem to be to enthralled with silkscreen so far) In painting we mostly use acrylic, but we have done watercolor and are now working in oil outside (yea!) In studio drawing we use vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, colored pencils, pastels, oil pastels, pencil, and pen and ink. In 8th grade art explorations we do alot of graphic design when learning the elements and principles--we made a classroom set of posters--most liked to use tempera paint, but others collaged or drew with colored pencils or markers. We did a clay unit and created ceramic hands. This semester though !
!
I did not have any more budget for clay so we are doing lino-cuts and origami (for 3-d) We may use the left over mat board to create model chair designs if we get to it. As I said I try to get the IB students to find their own media, some have branched out into wood and metal sculpture, fiber arts, scratchboard (home-made with oil pastels) found/recyled object sculptures.
Do your students prefer one medium over another?
The preponderence of students prefer traditional media--many think they prefer oil (until they try it). It has been pounded into their heads that "real" artists use oil and paint like Leonardo. It has been a real challange to try to get them to examine their critical and aesthetic view points.
Do your students prefer using the computer over the traditional art
medium?
Our school is WAY behind the curve on computers in general and computer art completely. We had a few scrubby old macs with photoshop 3.0, which I gave to the yearbook. We now have one PC with photoshop 6.0, but no scanner or color printer. We also have been having terrible internet trouble all year, so I cannot count on using the computer to show students artists or artwork there, or have then research. Hopefully those problems are now behind us, and we have more computers (and a phone) on the way to our class next year. Of course, my room is teeny tiny and the counselors seem to think 30 kids can sit and do art work there, so where I put the computers IF we get them is a problem to be solved creatively.
Have any of your students become bored or tired with the computer and now
prefer to work in the traditional medium?
See above.
Thanks for all your help.
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Ann Hamil
7748 Parallel
Kc KS 66109
913-334-5982
Sumner Academy
1610 N 8th st
Kc KS 66101
913-627-7200
annmariehamil@netscape.net
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