NAEA Convention Chicago Adventures!

I had the incredible opportunity once again to attend the National Art Education Association National Convention. This year was in Chicago (just a short train ride away!) and I attended with my mentor and fellow Elementary Art Ed teacher in my district Kristie. Here is a look into our adventures!

I prepared for the convention with a Jamberry jammicure. Notice the Keith Haring ones I had custom made!

We got into Chicago Wednesday afternoon and took advantage of the sunshine and made our way over to The Bean at Millennium Park. We had a conversation about whether or not we thought Anish Kapoor was insulted that everyone calls it "The Bean" instead of it's real name "Cloud Gate" Thoughts on this would be appreciated!

We stayed at the Palmer House, a beautiful historical hotel in the Chicago Loop. It was just a short walk from Millennium Park and The Chicago Art Institute.

We started early Thursday at the convention and somehow ended up attending SEVEN sessions just on Thursday alone. But we did get to have a little fun in the expo hall before the sessions!

Faber Castell always has a great set up and fun things to try. This was my favorite...beeswax crayons and their black tempera over the top to create a make-your-own scratch art. However, they demoed that you don't have to let it dry first. They painted the black and then while it was still wet just used the end of the brush to draw.  Officially on my list to try!

Faber Castell also had this sweet photo booth! Think da Vinci would be proud or insulted?

Friday was much more relaxing with only 4 sessions and the rest of the expo hall...

Another product that has officially made my list to order is Jack Richeson's Semi-Moist Watercolors that are pearlescent! That is WATERCOLOR paint on the black paper. The next trick is finding black paper that responds the best. They were just demoing on black cardstock....any suggestions?

This mind-blowing product was one of Jack Richeson's too. Playcolor sticks! They feel like the gel sticks from other companies when you use them but they don't smear and are actually tempera! Not sure if I will order these since I don't know what to do with them but keeping them in the memory bank for sure!

Crystal Productions is another favorite company of mine and had this book with matching display cards. It is AWESOME. And already on my list to order for next year.

A shout out to Nasco for their awesome display. Tried to get a selfie with this one but it just didn't have the full impact!

Obviously we had to swing by The Art of Ed and take advantage of their clever St Patty's inspired display for a photo op!

One of my #1 sessions was on Friday and was with Elementary Art Educator RoseAnn LaBrocca. It was one of those sessions on research but unlike some that you leave going "whhhhhhhaaaatttttt was that even about?" this one was awesome. She was actually an Art Teacher and she talked about and showed the different activities she did to teach vocabulary in a meaningful and engaging way. The big take away was to embed the vocabulary and engage students with it in the art process to provide an authentic context for learning the words. Not just saying the words the words but embedding them in everything. The data she presented was also really incredible. I'm probably going to use her research as inspiration for my PDP! It was that good.

Saturday wrapped up our adventures with a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago to check out the van Gogh exhibit. The line was long and it was crowded but glad we went!

They did a full scale recreation of van Gogh's bedroom based on his famous painting...paintingS actually..did you know he made 3 versions of this bedroom painting!?!? I sure didn't. Another amazing part of the exhibit was side by side by side VERY high resolution photographs of different sections of the paintings to compare and contrast them.

And this almost made me cry... van Gogh's paint tubes and pallette. I don't know how they know it was his or what proof they have but I will believe it without any doubt!

I'm officially home and exhausted and had to go into school on Sunday to prepare for the week but it was so worth it and amazing experience as always. Until next time!

 New York maybe!?!

Sunflowers van Gogh style!

Continuing the theme of an Art History project across all grades...

While introducing contemporary artists is fantastic for students because they can make more relevant connections, I still feel so passionately about teaching and sharing with students the artists and paintings so well known in art history. Many of the artworks I share with students appear in TV shows, movies, and cartoons still today! Usually when I introduce some wildly famous work of art, I get hands shooting up telling me where they have seen the work in their pop cultural lives (which makes me seriously geek out!). Vincent van Gogh is one of those artists that I share every year. I just can't help myself. Seeing The Starry Night in person and his self portrait at the NGA was an experience I will never forget! SEE!

Okay so projects! Both Kindergarten and 3rd grade looked at the classic sunflowers on the table painting...

3rd Grade!

I Can create a sunflower artwork inspired by the famous artist Vincent van Gogh.

Day 1: Intro! Just a basic who was he, what did he paint, where was he from via Google Slides. We also had a nice discussion about how he only sold one painting while he was alive and how that must have made him feel. I love getting deep! Then we watched this seriously awesome van Gogh YouTube video...

Last thing before we started working was looking at his sunflowers up-close via Art Project by Google.

Work for Day 1 included creating the vase decorated to their choosing and gluing it to the table and background. We left the vase unglued at the top so we could actually stick the stems in. I did give them a template for the vase.

Day 2: Little van Gogh recap with my van Gogh artist poster (more on that later) and watched some sunflowers time-lapse videos! The second one isn't real but still fantastic and gives an opportunity to talk about digital art.

I do a short demo of gluing the petals to the back and details they can add for a slightly more realistic effect and then the rest of the time is theirs to work!

Day 3: van Gogh artist poster is up once again and then we went over a worksheet to prepare them for their next project. The rest of the time is theirs to complete their sunflowers and work on the worksheet.

I love how a project can be so similar but show each personality in it's completion!

Jefferson Elementary...

3rd and Kindergarten mixed together.

(ACK! Strips you make me angry every time I see you!)

McDill Elementary...

Kinderbeaners!

I Can create a sunflower made from shapes.

Day 1: Started the class with the Mati and Dada video that I showed 3rd grade at the end of their intro. Then we looked at more of his paintings and the sunflowers up close. Because this was their first real project I wanted to take it fairly slow so the only thing we did the first day was cut the grass and make the stem and leaves. I talked up the idea that we were making the flowers start to grow this art day and then they would finish growing the next art day to flow with the way to were making them. I also really tried to get them to to focus on the shapes of the different pieces but they get carried away and I'm okay with that ;)

Day 2: Had the van Gogh artist poster up when they came in as a re-fresher and then they watched just the first time lapse of the real sunflower. We had a nice chat about what other things would be good to use time-lapse for, I love listening to them think out-loud! Sometimes I wonder where and how they think of some of the things they say! For work time, I did a demo of creating the head and petals of the flower and showed them my "magic trick" of folding paper and then cutting to get more than one. Surprisingly enough finishing their flowers took almost the entire time!

Jefferson Elementary...

McDill Elementary...

Still contemplating re-visiting van Gogh later in the year to do a Starry Night project....Too much van Gogh? Thoughts?

Kindergarten and Starry Night

Starry Night is probably one of the most recognized works of art in the world. Whenever I read a book to classes that even references the painting, they always know what it is. So no better time than Kindergarten to introduce it! Right!?

Hanging at the public library for YAM!

My inspiration for this project came from Marcia over at Art is Basic. I totally revamped it from her project but hers is where I took off from.... 

Day 1: Van Gogh intro with this awesome video! They LOVED it. Also looked at one of my artist posters with images of his work and a few facts. I love sharing with my students how old he would be if he were alive today. Really puts in into perspective for some of them...and me!

Then... with one of the coolest tools I have ever used to look closer at artworks... GOOGLE ART PROJECT. You can zoom in so close at the real painting they call it gigapixel! I don't think Kindergarteners understand how FREAKING COOL that is. Check it out. NOW. Obviously still doesn't compare to seeing the real thing, as I can say from experience seeing it at the MOMA in New York. But STILL. So, we talked about his paint strokes, showing movement, etc and then I did a demo using construction paper crayons to make the stars and swirls. They got to work and with any extra time they did a coloring sheet of the Starry Night. They thought it was pretty cool!

Day 2: Look at my Van Gogh artist poster again. Then I did a demo of creating the buildings, moon, and talked about where to put the glitter. I loved the way these turned out. Will probably do this again for sure!

Check them out!

Selected for YAM from all my buildings...

 McDill Elementary...

Kennedy Elementary...

Jefferson Elementary...