They Are Finished

After a week of late nights at school, an entire semester of work, and last minute paper and supply woes…

They are finished.

This year has been the biggest challenge of my teaching career and life overseas. My class schedule has been busier than any of the years previous. I eagerly entered a world unknown with the challenge of teaching Cambridge IGCSE Art and Design to four wonderful students. We have spent a whole year developing our artistic skills with the final culmination this week in two eight hour(!) exams.

I am proud, they did so well.

There was a great amount of learning along this journey, for both the students and myself as the teacher. There were struggles with assessment and understanding the wordy objectives set out for us. I agonized many hours over how best to prepare them and introduce as many materials and processes as I could in our limited time. I felt like a first year teacher all over again.

In addition to this class, I also worked with two other students independently through the Advanced Placement Studio Art course and portfolio. This has been a lot of work on their part, and growing again for me to learn yet another syllabus and assessment. These two students are some of the most hardworking, dedicated and self motivated artists I have seen. They submit a final portfolio of work on Monday, comprised of three components.

This is why I am here, for them. To teach, mentor and develop artists. I need more of these moments to remind me why I am doing what I do. There are no greater pleasures in this teaching life than to sit back, watch them create independently and at the end, lay out all the finished pieces from the year. Such accomplishments are worth celebrating.

Whew, what a year… wait, there is still a month and a half to go!

Van Gogh Sunflowers

I love springtime- the fresh air smells, the increased daylight, the sunshine and weather that is warming up. Springtime also conjures up many memories of seasons past- it is a time of year when many of us need a bit of cheering up. At school there remains the busyness of final quarter assignments and looming exams. The art room is in a constant flurry of activity and creative messes- students are coming in and out throughout the day and piles of artwork are everywhere!

Sunflowers are bright and cheery- they remind me of my grandmother, she loved them. Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers is the inspiration for this year’s elementary still lifes. As a class we looked at his paintings and discussed the colours he used- a lot of yellows! I asked the students whether this made the painting look happy. A few observant little ones noticed not all of the flowers were alive, some of them droop and have withered, brown petals.

In first grade, we did sunflower drawings inspired by van Gogh’s and looking at our own still life vase of sunflowers. We added the colours and textures we observed using oil pastels.

In kindergarten, we made a collaborative sunflower painting. The students each cut their own flower shape from a coffee filter and added the different textures and colours they observed from the still life set up. Some of their colour choices were lovely! I then had them paint the background and vase, copying the colours they saw in van Gogh’s painting. Then they each stuck down their flower to fill the vase and added green stems and leaves. This one looks so great hanging up in the hallway!