 Each year, Principal Mr. Herrera and I nominate an artistic senior to create a display for the Wall of Acceptance that showcases the schools and programs that our twelfth graders have earned admission to attend. These are displayed permanently throughout the school to celebrate our senior success! This year's honor went to Emilia W.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Mia chose to paint an image, in acrylic, of New West's mascot, Eddie the Eagle, driving a car down the "Road to College", onto which a team of seniors from Student Government will post a pennant for each school that welcomes a member of our Class of 2020. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Naturally, the privilege of flying the first pennant fell to Emilia, who added a flag for her offer to enroll at the Northern Arizona University. Emilia's other opportunities, along with the hundreds more we expect for her classmates, will be posted as the offers come rolling in this spring!
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Senior Margaret S's project was recognized by Teaching Tolerance on a twitter blast, celebrating her submitted work from Ms. Schleicher's art class to the #UsVShate art contest. We are happy that our students are using their creative skills to express themselves, but even more proud when we can see our students having an impact on such a larger scale. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The project was to create a positive propaganda poster addressing hate, bias, and bullying through visual imagery and slogans. Students identified issues they found most relevant, then researched, and created an artwork to be hung up in our halls to raise student voice and community awareness on campus. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • See other student work on our online gallery ArtSonia!  What a huge success! Thank you to all NWC families & staff to make our Visual and Performing Arts fundraiser such a huge success! It was so nice to spend time with all of you and celebrate our wonderful student alumni & current students.   December Artist of the Month has just been released to my students on our common area bulletin boards.
“This collection marks the evolution of my 30-plus years of studio work, originating from the explosively creative liminal space I found myself early in my career, both as a writer and breakdancer, heavily influenced by Dondi White, Rammellzee and other mid 70s graffiti luminaries, pulling from this time the essence and energy of New York street art,” the artist says. “A Volta simultaneously deconstructs and interrogates the transition towards the figurative and abstract within my personal oeuvre and contemporary graffiti. Transcendental archetypes and neoclassical themes are reconfigured by my current expressive relationship to the world. Moving to Brazil shaped a new, deeper understanding of my visual language, catalyzing a new relationship to color, compositions and figures relating to the mythical, the astrological and the powerful energy of our Afro-Caribbean visual legacy.” - Doze Green Link to original Source Stephen Wiltshire: The autistic urban artist with the photographic memoryFor this month, I wanted to feature Stephen Wiltshire! Diagnosed with autism at the age of 3, British artist Stephen Wiltshire is now an internationally successful artist who draws and paints complex cityscapes aided only with his photographic memory. Stephen is a great artistic reference for our upcoming perspective drawing unit. Related article for further reading! Some project progress in the art room! Very excited to see students hard at work inking their Mandala designs. Each student used compasses, protractors, and rulers to aid them in their overall design. Each mandala has 9 circle layers, and 16 radial devisions. Students currently are focused on line variance. Making sure that they have thin and thick lines that are clean/ smooth. Once inked, projects will be shaded with colored pencil to show tints and shades with color patterns. In recognition of September celebrating Hispanic history and culture, the feature artist of the month is Frida Kahlo!  After attending a Professional Development Seminar by Ms. Watford, it really helped to emphasize the growth mindset in the classroom. One of the unique take aways from this lecture was that the mindset is even more successful with the understanding and support from families and parents at home. It framed this learning strategy as a team effort to help instill intrinsic motivation, grit, and curiosity in our students. What is mindset? "Have them take responsibility for their mistakes and learn from them without obsessing over them or beating themselves up.” -Paul Tough, How Children Succeed Metacognition, a tool for fostering the growth MindsetMetacognition, a buzzword that is a constant in the education field. It boils down to the ability for an individual to self reflect on whether or not they know something, and the ability to assess what they would do different. "The real learning happens when kids begin to understand how to pick through the wreckage, find the pieces that still work for them, and devise a strategy for success.” -Jessica Lahey, The Gift of Failure Metacognitive skills lead to self-efficacy, or the belief that they will succeed at a task. Within the art room this is done within each unit with a self reflection with their art projects. They assess their artistic techniques, application of the Elements of Art and Principle of Design, areas of challenge AND areas of success. This is key to help them develop their metacognitive skills and self assessment to foster growth. Partner with ParentsGenerally speaking, our parents want students to be prepared, independent individuals who are ready for the real world. We are on the same page! Real learning is not always comfortable because we are challenging them. If it was always easy, they would never push themselves and learn to have grit or perseverance. Know that we have their best interest at heart, and that I am more than happy to review assignments and provide additional feedback if needed. However, I request that parents allow their child to self advocate. This communicates confidence in their ability to navigate challenges, but also pushes them to develop communication skills that will be essential for the real world. If this entire concept peaks your curiosity and you want more information, a fantastic book recommendation given at the seminar was Jessica Lahey's The Gift of Failure. I have also linked Lahey's recorded keynote speech.  Empty display boards make me sad! In an effort to still promote our community and alert students that we will still be displaying their masterpieces this year, I created this fun image!
I cannot wait to swap these out for beautiful student work. One of my goals this year will be to have feature student artists to celebrate excelling work. |
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