One Year and Wire Drawing

This past weekend marks one year of living (and teaching) in Istanbul. Oh what an adventure it has been! It is hard to think back to my first few weeks, but I am ever so glad that they are behind me. I have learned so much about teaching art and mostly how to cope with my creative art teacher brain that never shuts off. While I enjoy being a *mostly* secondary teacher, I would like to try it all again. I could teach those littlest ones so much better now… but I will have to settle and just be another friendly face in the hallway.

In high school drawing, we have been focusing on line and edges. I had my students try drawing with wire- taking line to the next level to create space. A lot of them really enjoyed this challenging, yet more tactile and hands on approach. I am quite pleased with these sculptures- I think they would look really nice displayed on the shelves in the library.

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Continuous Line Self Portraits

Some delightful results from today’s chaotic middle school classes. We had previously learned about blind contours and using continuous line in drawing. Overall, I was quite impressed with the final products- these self portraits sure have personality!

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Jim Dine Inspired Prints

Here are the finished products from my high school art class. We have had a lot of fun so far- this class is my opportunity to try many new ideas. This project was a series of three prints which incorporated 2-3 layers of texture and colour and a final layer with the imprinted of an object. These objects, inspired by Jim Dine’s tool drawings, were further emphasized using coloured pencils. My students printed several really interesting studies before selecting the final three they thought were the most successful.

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Art Room Print Shop

Hey everyone! It was a great day in the art room (with the exception of chaotic middle schoolers)! I enjoyed living vicariously through my students and watching them experience the thrills of gelli printing for the first time. I am loving my small class of three for opportunities like these. Stay tuned for the finished pieces!

Playing in the Print Shop

It is only the third day of school… and I somehow found the time to experiment a bit with my Gelli printing plate! I am very thankful this year to have more time to create and plan exciting lessons for my students.

First Day

First day back teaching! I must say, the art room is in way better shape than it was when I arrived last year. It is amazing what a room can look like after a lot of organizing/rearranging, a fresh coat of paint and new tables and chairs. After I get some posters up on the walls it will really look good!

It feels good to say that I have survived my very first first day of school (as a teacher!) The day’s schedule was a bit hectic- as the 6th grade home room teacher, I spent quite a bit of time orientating the new middle schoolers to their new school life… but we did manage to squeeze in a bit of art on the first day with each class!