Secret Santa Success

As I sit here blubbering over the VERY sweet notes you all wrote for me...I thought I would post a few of the Secret Santa pictures. The AP Secret Santa party is one of the best things we do all year. Because the presents must be handmade I feel like it gives you another opportunity to get to know your classmates. Honestly, I don't think there is a better feeling in the world than knowing someone is thinking about just the right gift for you.

The party was a big success and I was super impressed with the quality and craftiness of the work this year.

OPEN STUDIO on Wednesday, December 28 10:00 - 2:00ish

Hope to see you there! xxoo ms. McB

Crazy Busy-Funness-Exciting-Most Bestest week

December 12th - 16th

Tuesday, December 13th - Scholastic Challenge Due - I'm expecting fabulous, edgy, fun, spectacular things from all of you. Can't let the Art 3 kids out do you, their work was pretty great.

Thursday, December 15th - SECRET SANTA. Perhaps the most anticipated event of the school year. The crafty side of all of us should come out on this day. Don't forget to bring the food you said you would bring. It's going to be a feast of all feasts. Ordering Bellagio's pizza, REQUESTS?

If you are absent, PLEASE get your gift to school. Imagine how sad your person would feel if they were the only one not getting a gift.

What needs to be done by the end of the week???????

1. Seniors - registered for Scholastic, art or photography portfolio or both. You are also welcome to enter as many individual pieces as you would like. There are scholarship available for portfolios and gift cards of $100.00 for the category winners (i.e. you receive 4 Gold Key's in drawing and you would be the winner of that category) Please put anything you enter into the F drive folder.

2. Juniors - registered for Scholastic, at least two photo's, and some of your artwork. Many of you have already done this. Check with Ms. McB if you are not sure. Please make sure whatever you enter there is an image in the F drive folder.

3. I NEED ALL THE SCHOLASTIC PAPERWORK AND FEES IN MY HANDS BY FRIDAY!!!! It's really hard for me to remember to get this stuff so I need you to step up and remember. I'm old, you are young with young minds. Help your teacher :(

4. I will open up the studio on Wednesday, December 28th from 9:00 am - 1:00 pm. You can work on the TWO pieces of art that will be due on January 3rd, 2012. You can work on uploading Scholastic work or you can just come visit.

Monster Child

What children’s drawings would look like if it were painted realistically?

Check out this cool idea.....

The Monster Engine is one of those projects that make me love the Internet for its ability to expose amazing creative talent to a worldwide audience. Illustrator Dave DeVries started with a simple question: What would a child’s drawing look like if it were painted realistically? In his own words:

It began at the Jersey Shore in 1998, where my niece Jessica often filled my sketchbook with doodles. While I stared at them, I wondered if color, texture and shading could be applied for a 3D effect. As a painter, I made cartoons look three dimensional every day for the likes of Marvel and DC comics, so why couldn’t I apply those same techniques to a kid’s drawing? That was it… no research, no years of toil, just the curiosity of seeing Jessica’s drawings come to life.....

Click below to see more images. Keep reading below for an update on what's going on this week...

http://www.elezea.com/2011/12/realistic-childrens-paintings/#more-1974

Are you an addict?

December 7th, Wednesday you need to have your 12 breadth photos selected. You need to put them on a disk or on a jump drive. We will be creating your breadth websites. So exciting.

December 9th, Friday

Seniors - need to select 8 photos for your Scholastic photography portfolios. These images need to be a body of work, with some sort of theme. All the images need to feel like they are from the same person. Avoid vacation pictures.

Juniors - need to select at least 2 images to enter into the Scholastic Art Awards. Some of you have already done this.

Please leave a comment where you tell me what method you use to remember things. For example, I have a new thing on my iphone called Reminders. I'm obsessed with this new feature. It really helps me to remember all the little things.

Draw a Stick Man

This is fun. Be patient and enjoy the process. Ms. McB

----------------------------------------------------------------- This is cool, watch what happens after you draw your stick man http://www.drawastickman.com/

It's your turn

For the last three months I have been blogging about everything from inspiring artists, mind games, unicorns and photography club. Now it's your turn. Your blog comment for this week is to find something art related to blog about.

It could be an artists that inspires you, something related to your concentration, an interesting article about the arts, a museum that you like and why, or other blogs or websites that you find interesting (art related)

Make a comment just like you would before except you will write a little about what you found and provide the link.

What is interesting to you?

Body Worlds and The Brain

Has anyone seen this exhibit yet?

http://www.omsi.edu/bodyworlds

How do they do it? Where do they get the bodies from? Do you consider this art or a form of art? This is the information on the official BodyWorlds site regarding where the bodies come from.

Body Donation for Plastination
All anatomical specimens on display in the BODY WORLDS exhibitions are authentic. They belonged to people who declared during their lifetime that their bodies should be made available after their deaths for the qualification of physicians and the instruction of laypersons. Many donors underscore that by donating their body, they want to be useful to others even after their death. Their selfless donations allow us to gain unique insights into human bodies, which have thus far been reserved for physicians at best. Therefore, we wish to thank the living and deceased body donors.

Did you know there is an Institute of Plastination? One reason they created the Institute is because, "The complexity and work involved in preparing these specimens far exceeds the capacity of most interested institutes. Preparing a technically correct, whole-body plastinate does, after all, require 1000 to 1500 man-hours." 1500 hours, that's crazy.

Thoughts? Is it art?