As if we needed another reality show! Okay, so we might, if it involves art. I love the concept of an art contest in the manner of “Project Runway”. I don’t know what the artist wins exactly, maybe a special exhibit somewhere. As an art teacher I know it is hard to tame the creative mind and lump it into a time frame for anything. Creativity isn’t something that switches on necessarily at will. I have a student right now in my advanced 8th grade class that is super talented. She probably wouldn’t do well under this kind of pressure as she has a hard time meeting deadlines with her artwork. How will these artists be challenged to create art and who will be judging the criteria for great art? Those are the two questions that I have in my mind. Don’t worry as I’ll be tuning in to see what happens with this show. I hope it truly is creative and not some “staged” creativity that feeds the masses what they think art is all about. Today art can be almost anything from realism to true fantasy to the fatally ugly. Making a statement in art isn’t always beautiful and sometimes is political and at others it merely mocks reality. I haven’t a clue what kind of art this show will have produced for it. I find it mildly interesting that it is being produced by Sarah Jessica Parker. I haven’t a clue what qualifies her for this. Is she an art lover? Is painting her secret passion? I know she’s been featured lately on some shows like that ancestors, genealogy thing. I really don’t care why she’s involved but I’m wondering why it’s being played at eleven at night. I’ll still have one more day of school but knowing me, I’ll probably watch it and suffer through that last day! I’m going to get my art on and have my art fix. I hope this show pumps up the volume and pushes the envelope on creativity.
Sturgis Middle School Annual Art Show
Another school year is almost finished and I’m busy with the end of the year art activities. We recently had 6th grade orientation for next year’s sixth graders. I put up an art display for that. I’m putting up another display for the board meeting and orchestra concert on the 18th. The show that I really look forward to is the annual art show at the Sturges Young Civic Auditorium. I just set up that show Monday night. Two of my students helped me set it up. Every year I always think about how I’m going to put this together and every year I am filled with excitement at the talent my students exhibit. This year was no exception. I always think I don’t have enough variety of quality work to fill the show and of course I end up with enough to fill two shows.
There are about 140 artworks in the show by around 90 students. Both two dimensional and three dimensional works are represented. There are pencil drawings, colored pencil, watercolor, acrylic paintings, collage work, sumi-e painting, scratch art, sculpture, pottery and both oil and chalk pastel. This is but a few of the shots that I took.
The show will be up through May 24th. I encourage anyone that is in the Sturgis area to stop in and see it. Here are some more three dimensional artworks.
As I said these are just some of the many artworks in the show. Be inspired by the young people with artwork represented here. I am. I love working with these young students. It is a thrill to see them develop their artwork under my tutelage. I take great pride in what they accomplish and great ownership in the work that I do to get them to this level of development. As I have said in past posts, “You got to have art!” I can’t imagine my life never having explored the field of art and art education.
Kalamazoo Art Institue, West Michigan Show and 8th Grade Art Students, What a Thrill!
The artwork above received the Grand Prize. It is Michele Shelton, A Moment to Remember, paper, fabric, metal, beads. This picture is credited to the Kalamazoo Institute of Art website.
I am inspired. Thursday I took my advanced eighth grade art class to the Kalamazoo Institute of Art. None of my students had ever been there before. We had a great time. On exhibit was the “West Michigan Area Show”. It is what inspired me and my students. We were all blown away by the diverse collection of art in the show. http://www.kiarts.org/page.php?page_id=104
The exhibit was selected by Chicago artist Gladys Nilsson. Her selection showed much diversity from realism to abstraction. Many pieces were an explosion of color but all seemed so unique and able to stand on their own let alone be part of this wonderful exhibit. Many pieces begged discussion and wonderment as to what drove the artist. Gladys Nilsson’s art really explains how she was able to select such a wonderful show. Her artwork is full of color and while it is representational in its subject matter it is full of elongated shapes, disproportions that create whimsy and a sense of borderline abstraction. Her work reminds me of Marc Chagall although there really isn’t a connection. I love the rhythmic way her work is full of movement. She uses color to saturate ones mind as though one is standing outside in a warm mist of color filled rain.
It is no wonder that this talented artist was able to select such an interesting exhibit for the West Michigan Show.
When I went home I marveled at the awesome ability of these west Michigan artists. I thought that many of them probably benefited from a great public school education. It is this creativity that has to be nurtured in our schools today. In out effort to become the best we can be in our schools with test scores we sometimes lose sight of this much needed creativity. It is the creativity in our country that develops new products that forces us to think outside of our limited boxes that we put ourselves in. We must nurture this creativity through the arts. Whether it be the visual arts, music or drama all of the arts nurture that creativity that is so necessary to the continuation of our own humanity. It is this spirit of creation that drives us all to be unique enough to not blend into the sea of humanity that just goes with the flow. These are the people that just continue to follow whatever they are told to do like mindless sheep. The spirit of creativity makes us stop and think about what we are doing and how we can make improvements to our lives. It is this spirit that I believe built our country and made it strong.
I enjoyed this show even more than some of the exhibits I’ve seen of famous artists. This exhibit inspired me and my students to come back and make art. I know my students are now anxious to get to their final painting that they will do this year. Many found inspiration in the colors and shapes and subject matter they saw in the show. The hour of our tour zoomed by and the students were very curious and inquisitive. When I talked with them individually I know they were excited about what they saw. This was a visual treat for all them and myself. I hope anyone that reads this that has an opportunity to see this exhibit will attend the show. It is well worth the drive. You will be inspired and you will go away feeling like you participated in something special. I say, “Kudos” to the Kalamazoo Institute of Art for bringing such a wonderful exhibit to the public and finding sponsors to make it free to the public.