Art Class Signage

I am now teaching 4 Art classes for homeschoolers, and 2 of them are at my house.  I decided this morning that it was high time for some official signage :)

To make this sign I took a trip to my local A.C. Moore and purchased 3 wooden letters (A,R,T) and a wooden palette.  The rest is all acrylic paint and wood glue.  I painted each letter to emulate a famous work of art, glued it all together and added some hand painted lettering.  Tomorrow I will give it a few coats with a clear sealer and affix a wire to the sides so that it can be hung on a hook outside my front door.  I'm really happy with it!  I should have made one of these a long time ago. :)

The Classroom

One of the major reasons we decided upon this house was the excellent back room off of the kitchen.  It was perfect for a classroom!  I can work in the kitchen and see what's going on because of the pass through and I have plenty of room for all of my bookshelves (and I can't seem to stop myself from adding more and more books, thus needing more and more bookshelves.  I mean who can turn down a good book?  Books are awesome... but I digress) and art supplies (something else I have tons and tons of... I am a bit of a hoarder of all things that I think I can make into something later).  I can also gate off the entry and keep the baby contained.  I have yet to work my make-over magic on the walls, but who doesn't love wood paneling?  ok... me, I don't love wood paneling!  For now, my strategy is to plaster the walls with posters, art work, bulletin boards and teaching aids... and also the windows... because there's not enough wall for all of the cool stuff I want to hang up.  Hmmmm.... the ceiling is empty.....

You may recognize the file cabinet in the corner.  It was a fun refinish job and is now full of art supplies.  The white bookshelves were cobbled together from one 10 foot tall unit intended for the garage.  We found someone giving away a garage full of these shelves on craigslist and are using them in several places.  I basically cut the sides of one shelf into 3 pieces and used some small scraps to make braces for the tops.  After attaching them all together the whole thing wanted to fold over and twist apart so I had to add a back to the center section.  I happened to have a scrap of 1/4 inch plywood laying about that did the job.  Actually, there is very little in this picture that was not a hand-me-down, free-find, cheap used treasure, or curbside rescue... Even some of the technology pieces!

Why I Teach Art

I have always been a student of the arts.  The study of and especially the creation of artistic works is a big part of what makes me who I am.  As a small child I spent so much time drawing that my mother had to bring home stacks of scratch computer paper from work so that I would have something to draw on, and as I grew through elementary and middle school I continued to use art as an important tool for expressing myself.  It wasn't until high school, however, when I took art classes under Mr. Floyd Tunson that I started to see myself as an artist.  I took every art class that I possibly could under his direction and grew by leaps and bounds in the three years that I attended there, graduating with high honors in art.  He encouraged me to pursue my own artistic vision while helping me to improve my skill and was the first person (other than a family member) that I can ever remember calling me an artist (a compliment that I dont believe he gave lightly).  I have no doubt that his influence on me is a major part of why I am an art teacher today.

On August 8, 2009 I graduated from the University of Florida with highest honors, a Bachelors degree in art education, and a minor in art history.  I was the art teacher at Imagine Nau (a local charter school) for 3 and a half years and had a blast watching my students grow.  As I change gears as an art teacher, I look forward to continuing to put my knowledge to work and making a difference in the lives of my students just as Mr. Tunson made a difference in mine.  It is my belief that education in the arts is an essential element of a balanced general education and that it will help children to better understand the world around them, foster creativity, encourage self expression, build artistic skill, promote appreciation for various cultures and other ways of thinking, and engage children in critical thinking.