Art Opportunities for Students ages 8 & up Radical Jewelry Making - April 12th & 13th
Radical Jewelry Makeover is the first project of the Dartmouth College HOP’s new Community Venture initiative (CVI). Radical Jewelry Makeover resuses junk jewelry, promotes sustainabile mining practices, and invites members of the public to try jewelry making. The project includes opportunities to donate your cast-off jewelry and later, April 12 and 13 in the Hop’s Donald Claflin Jewelry Studio, ages 8 and up are welcome to participate in a workshop. Madeover jewelry will be on exhibit at the Hopkins Center from May 12 – June 15. To learn more visit: https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/communityventure
Wow…time flies when you’re having fun! I cannot believe we are to the mid-point of the school year already. It has been a gratifying experience to join the Lafayette School community. I have been especially moved by you the parents, your true sense of support, engagement and involvement with your child’s education, speaks volumes about the Lafayette School community. The arts provide an important avenue where children cultivate a passion for learning. Many children discover their talents and interests through the arts and develop character. Students learn habits, behaviors, and attitudes that are necessary for lifelong success that extends far beyond a classroom. Without your continued support of the arts this would not be possible.
Students at every grade level spent much of November and December taking an active role preparing seasonal artwork, holiday ornaments, and murals to adorn the stage for the holiday concert. Thanks to the support of the LPTO, students in grades 2-6 were able to create Abominable Snowman sock sculptures that were inspired by a class I attended with my own children at Bad Art in Littleton. Each grade level lessons have been aligned with the NH Visual Arts Standards and supports Common Core State Standards while developing their critical intellectual skills. Below I have provided a snapshot into grade level instructional themes explored in Art for trimester two.
Grade 6
Holiday Mural
Abominable Snowman Sock Sculptures
Value Scale Self-Portraits
Grade 5
Primitive Animal Rock Paintings
Holiday Mural
Abominable Snowman Sock Sculptures
Grade 4
PBL – Cross-curriculum Dickens’ Village Façade
Miniature Cork Reindeer Ornaments
Littleton Garden Club / United States Forest Service Poster Contest
Abominable Snowman Sock Sculptures
Grade 3
Watercolor Crazy Hair Self-Portraits
Santa Paintbrush Ornaments
Littleton Garden Club / United States Forest Service Poster Contest
Abominable Snowman Sock Sculptures
Grade 2
Torn Paper Owl Collages
Light bulb Penguin Ornaments
Abominable Snowman Sock Sculptures
Grade 1
Cut Paper Winter Silhouettes with Cool Color Watercolor Wash inspired by Henri Matisse
The entire national arts education community is saddened by the loss of Stanford professor, educator, mentor and leader Dr. Elliot W. Eisner, 81, of Stanford, CA, on January 10, 2014. Elliot served as President of the National Art Education Association from 1977-1979 and is renowned for his work in art education, curriculum reform and qualitative research. His vision, intellect and generosity of spirit reflected his widespread influence.
Ten Lessons the Arts Teach by Elliot Eisner
The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.
The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.
The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.
The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.
The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.
The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.
The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.
The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.
The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.
The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.
From “Ten Lessons the Arts Teach,” Eisner, E. (2002). From The Arts and the Creation of Mind, Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications.
I am so pleased to be teaching your child art this year. To let you know a little bit about myself, I am an alumnus of Profile High School growing up in Bethlehem. A little fun fact you may not know about me growing up in the North Country, as a youngster Mr. Johnk was one of my ski instructors at Cannon Mountain. Wow how time does fly!
I received both my bachelor’s degree in Art Education and master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from Plymouth State. I am also earned my certification as a National Athletic Administrator from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administration Association in Indianapolis. I spent two years at the Gilbert H. Hood Middle School in Derry as their middle school art educator before returning to the North Country to begin a family. I have spent the past 14 years working in the White Mountains Regional School District in variety of instructional and athletic administrative capacities. My most recent position held was the art educator for the students at The Whitefield and Jefferson Schools. During some of that time teaching at The Whitefield School your Librarian & Enrichment Teacher, Mrs. Koehler and I had the opportunity to co-teach and job share shortly after both of our daughters were born. I am very excited to once again be sharing a classroom space and collaborating with Mrs. Koehler.
Outside of school, I lead a very busy life with my family that resides in Whitefield which includes my husband, Tim and two daughters, Madison (11) and Kennedy (7). Even though having an active family and teaching keeps me plenty busy, I also operate my own home based business marketing a range of artisan crafted sterling silver jewelry. Our summer has been filled with trips to Whale’s Tale, travel to Maine, Missouri, and New York, early morning boot camp classes and jogging, spending time with friends, trips to the library, and always working with my daughter’s to create art and prototype potential projects that we will create in some of our classes this year.
My goal is to provide meaningful lessons in and through the arts while making connections to classroom learning and to students’ own personal experiences.