Busy Being a Mom and an Artist

Perhaps if you follow this blog, or have come here via Pinterest like some 680,000 of you (seriously, there were 15,000+ visits last month?!), you have noticed that I have not posted in over a year and wondered what's up?? I mentioned in an earlier post that maintaining our school blogs became less encouraged at one point, so I sort of slowed down and was mostly posting within our school's class pages for parents to see. Then, during the last school year, my family made the decision to move to a new state, and I suppose I just started to focus on wrapping up nine glorious years at Calvert School and I stopped blogging altogether. Last June, I moved south and this year I have been staying home part time with my son and actually making some art of my own (I paint pet portraits! See below :)).

I miss teaching so very much, and I still visit this blog every month or two to approve/publish comments and reply to them. I am happy and humbled that so many people are inspired by my lessons and my students' work, and it is so cool to still feel connected in some way to the Art Education world through comments and questions from other teachers! I hope to one day find a new school home and continue to do what I know I do best- teach ART! - and then you might see me pick up here again too!

(if interested in commissioning a portrait, check out www.larisakamp.com)

Gnome Sweet Gnome

In this project, fifth graders first thought about what materials a gnome might use to build his or her house in the woods- moss, sticks, acorns, mushrooms, leaves, bark, etc. After sketching out a design, students learned how to roll clay using a rolling pin and wooden slats to create a slab of consistent thickness. Most students then stood the slabs up to create cylinders that became the walls of their gnome house (a few other methods were used depending on the design). Additional slab roofs and other details were carefully added and beautifully glazed later. The results were whimsical and fun!

#Selfie

In this project, students used the "grid method" on a photograph in order to correctly draw their facial features and head/hair shapes. Then they erased the grid lines and shaded their drawings using a variety of drawing pencils. By employing a wide range of values, students were able to achieve the look of three dimensions on a 2D surface.

I have been teaching 7th graders how to create fully rendered self-portraits from a photograph for the past eight years (some examples include split portraits for which students drew half the face and the other half was a photo, these portraits with backgrounds inspired by Kehinde Wiley, and these "Shades of Summer" portraits which included a reflection in sunglasses). In the past, I have taken their pictures myself, but this year, I thought it would be fun to have the students take their own photos ("selfies") and I am so excited with the results! Equipped with an ipad, each student chose their pose, the crop of their photo and the amount of light/dark present on their face (there was a spotlight in the room where they took their photo). The completed portraits were mounted to an iPhone screen template, to make them appear even more like a real selfie!