I have been working on a series of mini Art History lessons for my AP Studio Art class for next year. (Can’t seem to help myself-just like thinking about this stuff.)

Anyway, I found this video to accompany a slideshow on Robert Longo – I think it is nice for students to hear an artist talk about their work.

I think the scale of the drawings is impressive. Just black and white figures on a stark white background.

I really enjoyed creating this little collage on the morning of ASIJ’s Senior Graduation ceremony which I’ll be heading off to in about an hour. Many seniors have craved for this day to come. Right now I am also craving the end of the school year and the summer holiday period. My symbol for all this craving is ‘chocolate’ because everyone craves it and it is often given or received around this time of year.

Happy Graduation class of 2009!

Time is running out and graduation is just around the corner. As part of their post-exam activities my AP Studio Art classes are staging an exhibition of their portfolios this week. They have also each designed a clock to sell to raise money for charity. I have been impressed with their enthusiasm for the event and feel like we struck the right balance in combating ’senior-itis’. Part of the fun has been having them use Illustrator to design an individaul invitiation to the show with at least one of their artworks on it. The plan is to invite friends and teachers along on Thursday during lunch and after school on Friday when they will be available to talk about their work with their guests.  What could be a more authentic culminating event for these young artist than an exhibition they have organised!

Catching things is usually associated with someone passing germs along via a sneeze or cough. How about something a bit more positive? I found a cool site with a eye on what designs, marketing ideas & trends are Contagious. Check it out.

Our school is going through the process of seaching for a new Head of school. It is very interesting listening to the final four candidates ideas about what a teacher-leader is. One guy obviously operates with a hierarchy model that made leadership only sound like a ladder to climb. It inspired my drawing for today but for the record I believe leadership is about empowering and developing others and you don’t have to be ‘up’ the ladder to do that.

Cover design by Kaori in AP Art

This year ASIJ as a school has made a conscious effort to ‘go green’; we have had solar panels put in, we don’t use heat or cooling for a month of the year, and the worm farm is consuming scraps from the kitchen. Likewise the Yearbook has followed suit. Our attempts to make small changes with an eye for the environment have included reducing the total page count to 178 from last years’ 208 pages. We will also be printing on 100% recycled paper and the cover will also be a recycled product (called Tyvek) made from PET bottles. 

It sometimes feels like the problems to do with the environment are too big to make a practical difference to, and that our individual efforts are isolated attempts that don’t amount to much. There is, however a growing community of artists, designers, scientists and educators who care about the environment in practical ways. I was very inspired by WilliamMcDonough & Braungarts’ book, Cradle to Cradle; an account of how they, an architect/designer and a scientist, are changing everyday designs for a sustainable future. The book itself is not made of paper (it’s a polymer) their desire is to make things that have a continuous cycle–that the product can be broken down and be fully recycled with a minimum amount of degrading of the components.

I hope that each year we can move closer to this ideal. In the mean time my class captured some of that sentiment for the front page of Chochin.

A book with a theme to match the one of the school year. A book created to preserving your memories of ‘08-’09, a year dedicated to preserving the environment. Even the less awake of us, or those suffering from senioritis, may remember the lack of heat, the wind turbine spinning, and for those in cooking, trips to the compost. But after you say goodbye to ASIJ, these memories may not stay with you. Even if you don’t remember, the earth will; these small contributions annoying to some of us, have had significant results. 

I’m glad it’s finished for another year

The next few post will be about how ASIJ is tackling the ‘Green’ theme.

Having students take the initative is always inspiring & so when a group of students sponsored a ‘Green’ Fashion show to reinforce the recycling campaign it was one of those moments. An assembly period was given over for the high school to see student designers present garments made from reclaimed and recycled materials such as paper, plastic bags & recycled fabrics. It was a fun and creative way to raise awareness.

Next, what Yearbook is doing for the environment.

Karen Noll and I will be presenting a workshop at the EARCOS teachers conference in Kotakinabalu next week. We have been working together on and off this year at the edges of where our two disciplines cross. We put together a site called visualteacher to host some of the resources we will share.

Here’s the blurb about our topic.

Communication and Visual Literacy: Art and English Teachers Developing Common Assessments
We have been exploring the issues that teachers face when designing and assessing communication assignments, specifically where visuals and language are featured together.

Art and English teachers can collaborate to teach, assess, and have students transfer the components of good visual communication and the traits of good language communication across disciplines.

MomentumMosaic from Daniel Rosen on Vimeo.

D.H. Rosen worked with students at ASIJ for a month in the creation of this film and two large scale porcelain screens. It was a monumental and exciting project to be part of. Students from grade 5 to 12 were involved in the construction of the hundreds of tiles needed to make the screens. Daniel gathered the music from student bands and individuals, even recording some for the film. The process IS the film! It was a learning experience for everyone involved in the collaboration. It is now four weeks after the opening event and the screens will soon be taken down. MomentumMosaic was more than just a product it was about the people and place and an experience of art at ASIJ.

“Her character was so flawed that he was compelled to leave.” I tried to make the fracture line down the middle of the composition more dramatic but on screen it is a bit weaker than I intended. I know the subject is a bit dramatic but I am so into the narrative at the moment.

The last few IF topics have been great. Unfortunately I have been completely occupied at work for the last three weeks with an Artist in Residence Project that will conclude this coming Friday. Ceramic artist Daniel Rosen has been working with students from Grade 5 to 12 on creating a mulitmedia installation that incorporates sound, video and huge porcelain screens that images are projected on to. It’s been an exciting process to be a part of. I’ll write a post about it when it is over. Below is another project Daniel worked on with a group called RinpaEshidan.