WOW Wednesday: "Signs of Life"

Today has been non-stop crazy nuts... Finally back to update the second post for the day

I pulled my ceramic vessels out of the kiln room and I am really digging those, too. I just had to apply some overgrazes and back into the kiln they went. Friday we will be graded on all of our work from throughout the semester.... no pressure, right?!

wires and circuits and tiny boxes with buttons yayyyy

 I received an awesome assessment from the high school teacher I worked with these past few weeks, which was another win for the day. In addition to that we are putting together work for the high school student art exhibition at a local art gallery. I will be curating and organizing that with my professor next week to make up for 'lost time' in his course during teaching dates. I will be displaying the work of the students without names (as per their request) and including their personal reflection sheets next to the pieces. I wanted to showcase the students' writing and responses that they made before beginning work on the project.


Speaking of projects.. we did a really cool one in my Art Education course a while back and I want to  reexamine that lesson here!

Signs of Life: The Meaning of Shapes and Positions

**This lesson was based on Angeles Arrien's book, Signs of Life: The Five Universal Shapes and How to Use Them. (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998)

Shape your Talents

This was an art therapy exercise that we explored in class and I thought it was really cool.. and personal. I will be transcribing the lesson plan as it was given to me in class on a handout.

The most powerful statement?: "Here is an art therapy exercise designed to help you become clearer on who you are, what you want, and the things you live to do without "perhaps" being consciously aware that you are doing so."

five universal shapes

To start with, as shown above, the five universal shapes are: Circle, Square, Triangle, Cross, Spiral. Each shape has a specific meaning or interpretation of meaning which will be discussed later.

To begin the exercise, draw the five universal shapes listed above in the order of your preference. Be sure to indicate clearly which shape goes in which position; both aspects of this activity are vital to the results.

1.     2.     3.     4.     5.  

My choices were: 1. Circle 2. Cross 3. Triangle 4. Square 5. Spiral

Next, make a collage using the shape you placed in position number two. This shape will be the dominant design shape. Other shapes may be incorporated into your collage as long as they remain secondary to your major design shape. To make your collage, choose a large white sheet of paper and as many colored papers as you like. Cut or tear the papers, intuitively arrange them, and glue them down on the large white sheet of paper. Remember, there is no right or wrong design, just what ever design you choose. When you have completed your collage, place it where you will be able to see it in full view.

Now, use your collage to evoke creative insights. Ask yourself what does the shape in position number two mean to me (you) personally? How does this shape express itself and arrange itself in my collage? Look at your collage and write down your reactions.

Next, use your imagination and dialogue with your collage (sounds hokey but it was actually pretty cool). Let your collage speak to you, e.g. "I am a composition of your strengths, passions, skills, and talents, I am...." and write it out. Have a conversation with specific areas of your collage, asking questions and responding to what that particular area has to say to you. Try not to censor or judge what you write. Dialogue as tara s it feels right for you. Read what you have written and once more write down any feelings or thoughts you have in reaction. Finally, consider how your writings relate to your strengths, skills, talents, and passions.

Meanings of Shapes: 
Circle: wholeness/unity. Person seeks space in which to develop. Needs independence/individuation. Fears entrapment/restriction

Square: Stability. Person seeks solidarity/foundation/security/results. Needs consistency/accountability/completion. Fears that nothing will be accomplished or that one's efforts will be wasted.

Triangle: goals/dreams/visions. Person seems self-discovery/revelation. Needs to follow dreams. Fears that there may be no dreams to pursue.

Cross: relationship/integration. Person seeks balance/quality shared time. Needs connections/synthesis. Fears loss/abandonment/isolation.

Spiral: Growth/change. Person seeks variety/novelty.change. Needs creativity/flexibility. Fears routine/repetitive tasks.

Here's where it gets really crazy!. The position you placed the shapes into has its own significance and meaning. The entire exercise is based in meaning and personal exploration.


Meanings of Positions:
Position 1: Where you currently are. This shape describes the part of you that you know best and with which you are most comfortable.

my collage - packed with information!

Position 2: Your strengths, skills, talents, and passions. It symbolizes the areas of your Self that are currently strong, fluid, and resourceful.

Position 3: What is really going on in your life whether you are consciously aware of it or not.

Position 4: Your motivation. This shape furnishes clarifying information about what has provoked you to do things they way you do.

Position 5: Unfinished business. This is your least preferred shape because it indicates unresolved issues you wish to put aside.

Reflections:
There was a series of questions to help us journal about our work... I have shared my responses as a healing tool.

1. How does this shape hold significance for you? Is it a symbol? How is the shape used? (Concerning the dominant shape, the cross)

Equality, balance, control, 'crossroads', structure, core.
The 'plus' sign shape is used repeatedly both as a focal point as an accent. It grounds and guides the other shapes in many directions but is very rarely interacted with or touched.

2. What would your collage 'say' to you?

My collage would say to me: I am feeling overwhelmed by the problems of other people. I want to offer help and advice but I feel as though my thoughts and ideas are ignored. Meanwhile, I have a lot going on in my own life which is starting to weigh heavily on me. I am the core of many of my friend groups but I am starting to crumble and feel like everyone is too self-involved to see that. All of my relationships are stressful. Spreading myself too thin....

3. Strengths, Skills, Talents, Passions: Represented in this exercise?

steadfast, certain, stubborn, strong, independent, helpful, caring, involved, balanced

I thought this was a really cool, transformative, and enlightening activity. I will be incorporating it into my teaching in the not-so-distant future. I think the use of recognizable, but varied, shapes is a safe way for students to express themselves symbolically. IT WAS SO COOL. I was pretty moved by my own realizations..and by what I was pushing down.

I highly recommend it.. and now it's time to conclude another WOW Wednesday and head to the studio. As per usual... I have a lot of timing work to do so the fishes aren't quite so spastic haha

Until next time,

Ms. Kanak

WOW Wednesday: Weaving in the North Woods

Okay so I really will post two today lol

This semester has been throwing me curve balls left and right but I have tried to do one entry per week.. tried and mostly succeeded!

This past weekend I was able to go to my aunt and uncle's farm in northern Wisconsin with my best friend Matt. We finally got away from Marquette and had some much needed R&R, but not without hard work on the farm! We helped with farm chores, gathered sap bags for syrup making..the list goes on. The farm is my 'happy place' and I am glad I was able to retreat there for a few days. Sometimes a mental break is the most important element of your week.

Matt and I were introduced to large-scale weaving on an old old floor loom. As stated in previous posts, I have some experience with both cardboard weaving and table loom weaving but this was a whole other animal.

Big.. big loom

My uncle has been using the loom to weave rugs for the house and for friends and family. He cuts up scraps of clothing from donations and old items. We had some experience cutting up sheets, curtains, and even jeans for the fabric scrap chains.

Matt with a shuttle, weaving on the loom

Uncle Jim, checking our work

I have been really tense lately so most of my weaving was pulled pretty tight lol.. here's me fixing that.

it's important to keep even tension and length on the fabric scraps to create even edges 

some people prefer the rough-edged look and so leave more fabric on the ends to create tasseled edges.

our weaving - using sheets, t-shirts, curtains of various colors and sizes.

One thing my uncle made note of - fabric scraps do not have to be cut in a uniform way. Some fabric scraps were cut thicker than others so created more space on the final weaving. Conversely, some fabric scraps were cut thinner and so created much less space and took up fewer rows than larger pieces. I should have taken some pictures of the fabric balls that my uncle had been putting together - they each weighed between 2 and 3 pounds! That's a lot of ripping and tearing.

tensioning the loom

Oh hi

Matt getting fancy with the focus on my camera lol

I am long overdue to create a post JUST about the farm, but this is a quick look into the surroundings around the loom. The barn is filled with knick-knacks, mementos, deer heads, bees nests.. you name it, it's probably there! There are also pinball machines, jukeboxes, shuffle board tables, and billiard tables. It's kind of overwhelming to be honest. I have been visiting the farm since I was a wee Breanne and I will never tire of it.

Truth be told.. Matt is a better weaver than I am

beating the weft in

glamor shot - with a loom.

unwinding the shuttle for another pass through the warp

more close-up photos of the weaving -
I like this one - shows the imperfections of the weaving but also the different colors

shuttle traveling through the warp

checking the tension on the weft

Best. Friend.

Photo for scale- this machine is BIG

checking the warp for knots

 Once after we had just started weaving we snapped a warp thread. My uncle and Matt had to tie a knot in the snapped thread and hope for the best... the problem was tension. It's always tension! The warp threads were pulled too tight after re-tightening the weaving onto the bar. The string snapped and fell out of the heedle and... it gets pretty technical after that. But Matt and I both learned the importance of checking tension on the weaving, warp, and loom in general to maintain 'perfect' conditions for working. The loom was semi-automatic but we had to keep our eyes peeled for ripped threads, sloppy weft placement, knots, and all sorts of things!

cranking down the tension 

and cranking it up again!

Matt and I worked very quickly as a team and had to stop to re-tension the loom and weaving pretty often. Not a bad thing at all! I think we both came out of this experience as experts in weaving haha

sending the shuttle

One of the best parts of this second day of weaving was when one of the family friends came to the barn to check our work. She's nearly 90 and she's been weaving forever - she was really interested in seeing how we worked and how we handled our weft. She is much more meticulous with her fabric cuttings and makes specific patterns and arrangements when she weaves and plans rugs.

right about when she started asking a bunch of questions 

looking on

checking the work

 It was really cool having her up there watching us work.. kind of like she was passing on her legacy and skills to a new generation of craftsmen (and women!). Her rugs are scattered throughout my aunt and uncle's house and they beautify the rooms in a warm and homey way. Matt and I made two rugs in two days - finishing the second one in only a few hours. Talk about efficiency!

sending the shuttle

Why so serious?

These next few photos are the loom in action. The warp strings are switched when the weaving is beaten - all what seems like a million strings move in unison to switch at the drop of the levers... It's pretty cool to watch and even more awesome to partake in.

My uncle had another loom sitting in the corner which had not been warped in some time. I think it would be really awesome to have a large loom for a classroom (hopefully my classroom will be HUGE... or maybe just a barn) to pass on this craft to students. I will be finishing the set up of my table loom in the next few weeks and bringing that to camp, but I haven't quite figured out how I am going to incorporate that into the craft cabin... We shall see.

My uncle has to weave two or more rugs onto the end of our weavings to get the most out of the warp and also to tension the loom properly. He will leave one or two rugs on the loom so he can start working again without having to restring and re-warp everything.. because holy crap does that take a long time!

Another post coming up today - a lesson plan I did in my Art Education course that really turned out cool and resonated with me. Off to class and work and studio and my eyeballs are falling out from staring at the computer screens in the animation studio.... yaaaaaaa!

The end is near...
Ms. Kanak

Chew on It

Heya! So.. I lied about a two-fer blog post this weekend. I was having TOO much fun at the farm helping with syruping and chores and time got away from me. However, something happened today that I absolutely have to blog about... I took my last Art Education course at NMU.

In A Natural Fashion - teacher sample

Now before I do a happy dance (lol yea right, already happened) I really need to reflect on my lesson presentation because.. I realized something BIG today. As I was standing at the front of the class, confidently delivering my ideas and inspirations to my classmates, I realized that... I talk a lot. Like A LOT. And it is something that has followed me into the classroom as well. As a modern tech-savvy art teacher I want to use as much of my computer knowledge and technology as possible, but in the process I have begun to shy away from the true joy and purpose of putting together presentations in the first place: to engage students in learning and responding and to hear THEM talk.

In the setting of my Art Education classroom we are given a limited amount of time to present a large amount of information to our classmates and instructor. While I realize this time constraint is because of the length of the course I cannot help but notice that I do the same thing in classrooms with students. When I was at the high school for the past few weeks I relied heavily on the presentation as an anticipatory set, peppered with some discussion, but mostly it was me blathering on about one thing or another. I did most of the talking and explaining and expected student engagement because of my ever-moving mouth.

Uh, shut up, Ms. Kanak and let the kids do the talking! Let them Chew on It!

When I realized I was probably (definitely) talking too much I would ask the students what they thought about a piece or a particular idea and, lo and behold, they would respond in kind with opinions, observations, and comments of their own.  I also  will admit I am a bit of a control freak which makes me way more inclined to take over a conversation.. but I am only doing a disservice to my students by taking away that power to respond. And as a result I am telling them their opinions are not as important as mine, being the 'expert' on the subject.  I think the problem is that I rely too much on the technology to present what I want to show students and do not allow enough time for reflection.   There are a few reasons for this...

Reason 1: Not all students are going to be receptive to what I have to offer. 
Sometimes.. students just are not feeling whatever I have thrown up on the screen. I remember being in elementary school and being completely entranced by the images on the overhead projector and then, later on in the same school, being so excited to create and present Powerpoint slides for all my classmates and teacher to see. I was "that" kid... I did a Powerpoint presentation on Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 3rd grade.... yes, I'm old. BUT THAT is not the point! Each day will have a different anticipatory set or beginning activity - to engage students with something other than images slapped up on the projector screen. Word art just doesn't thrill like it used to, guys.

Reason 2: I want to move things along at my own pace.
While this is a pretty standard desire of most educators.. it is not really conducive to learning and engaging AND connecting. I need to step back and let the kids make the connections; let them be the teachers. When I encourage students to reflect and respond to work I often hear answers I have not thought of and that is one of the major joys of teaching for me :) As stated above, in the future I am going to work to cut up my very long (very colorful and thorough) presentations into sections by day. That way I will be forced to slow the hell down and encourage engagement in other ways. My lesson that I presented today had a great deal of pre-planning and activities before the actual final project and in my experiences in the classroom this is what gets students moving - not a powerpoint with fancy pictures.

Reason 3: Technology engages students.. or.. not.
As I said before I remember being really excited about creating presentations because it was such a streamlined and new-fangled (my word for the week) way of showing people what I was passionate about and interested in. Now as a teacher I use them as tools for introducing new topics, artists, posing questions, and stating objectives. I think they are a great asset in the classroom but after today I think what really sells my interest in the subject is my enthusiasm. I can show kids 90 slides of photographs or classic paintings or sculptures and be a college professor of art history (sorry, folks) or I can be Ms. Kanak - enthusiast for art, creativity, and contemporary culture.. I like the second one.  It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Technology is extremely appealing at face value but we often get lost in the sheer amount of information we are trying to present. By cutting up my information into sections and days - and by focus - I will be able to present information at a less overwhelming pace. In addition to that I will be able to hone in on each topic more thoroughly and engage students in discussion facilitated, not dominated, by myself.

After talking to one of my best friends today about this realization he, of course, agreed that I talk a lot but what I do not lack is enthusiasm and knowledge. One thing I have learned to do more in my Art Education courses is to KNOW my LIMITS and content. I need to realize through the three reasons I have listed I can overcome each roadblock by just slowing down, making time for feedback and student response, and to not rely on technology as a crutch or for a flash-bang effect. I feel more confident than ever with my presentations of ideas and as I move along in my career as an art teacher I will only pick up more influences and knowledge along the way. It really is as they say - you have to stop and smell the roses.. and listen to the students' feedback!

Until Wednesday,

Ms. K

Elementary I : Day 4

Hey all! So sorry for the delay in postings.. today I will post two to make up for that :)

First of all... Marquette is getting really OLD with all the snow and winter weather. I was supposed to go to the high school on Monday but got snowed out (in?) and classes were cancelled. Wednesday everything was back to normal - and covered in white powdery nonsense. I had a critique in my ceramics course and it went fairly well. My work is coming along slowly but surely... I have to glaze like a madwoman this week. I have been experimenting with overglaze treatments and color combinations. 

So. Many. Ceramic. Things.

 In my original tiles I used mainly tinted primary colors and black background glaze. I "had" to utilize a similar color scheme in my tile boxes but.. frankly I think they look like McDonalds play place jungle gym things. Sooo I went back to a previous glaze treatment, threw in some test tiles, and hoped for the best. I will have the results of that firing, along with my large clay vessels, to finish this weekend.

In addition to ceramics I have a final animation to work on which is.. I guess, chugging along all right. We have to utilize photography and/or film as well as 3D modeling. "Create an animation utlizing Cinema4D that composites 3D models and animation over photographic or video imagery. The primary technical goal of the project is a realistic composite between the 3D and background - appropriate lighting, shadows, color, and perspective. The primary visual and conceptual goals are to entertain and amuse." So.. my idea is to create the illusion of fish and whales coming out of the faucet in my kitchen and interacting with each other.
Later on Wednesday I went back to the high school to try and finish up the lesson with the students -- Success! The goal for the day was to put all the components of the lesson together onto a background and write statements. I had 4 students come in to work and everyone was on-task. One of the most outspoken and active students was pretty quiet but came in talking about some internet videos and sat right down at the computer.. I wasn't sure what he was doing but I soon realized that he was looking up reference images for a drawing he had started the week before! He spent the entire time drawing and listening to youtube videos. He kept track of all the directions I gave him and finished his project before class ended. I had to compromise with him to finish his work, "If you cut out and glue down your drawings you can be done for the day." That was the motivation he needed because he finished his work and also helped to clean up.

Scissors, pumpkins, PRIDE ROCK

 This student fought me EVERY DAY about his project. "I don't know what to draw. I don't remember that time.." well, he churned out some pretty excellent Mario drawings. He was a big perfectionist and glued and reglued a lot of his project - and then it was very important that he cut down the size of the image to make it more cohesive. His words, not mine! He did a great job and as he worked little memories and anecdotes came up from the parts of his childhood that he thought he had forgotten. He did not write a statement.

mushrooms and coins and piranha plants - he did a good job!

 This one probably shouldn't count because it belongs to the teachers' aid but he did an awesome job embracing the assignment. He told the kids lots of stories and helped me motivate them to work and draw. His stories made them less anxious about sharing theirs - and he commended me on my work with the kids. I shared a lot of stories with them as well - and we all had some laughs :)

 This student came in on the second day and drew a LOT of images. Unfortunately, he lost his first page of drawings and had to make up for that by drawing more. He was really receptive to the lesson and even said he liked the idea of looking back on that time. He shared stories and kept on-task pretty much the whole time. He was a model student and thanked me for organizing the projects. He even wrote a statement!

This student had written a lot of negative things on his response sheet before beginning to work... his drawing skills are awesome, though! He had pretty much ditched out on art day the first two days and when he came back on day 4 he was ready to work. He really liked working with the white charcoal pencils and was upset that his piece looked 'unfinished'. Unfortunately I had to explain to him that it was the last day for the projects but he said it was okay if I displayed his work. He did not write a statement.

A few of the students who were coming in to work were sick that day but I am going to display their drawings with the response sheets they filled out. I will block out names as per the request of the students - some of them were really sensitive to the things they wrote on their sheets. It took a lot of bravery to share with classmates, and with me, a stranger. 

 Reflection: If I was to do this project again I would create fewer guidelines for students (ex: the original lesson is only for elementary school, only certain colors, specific steps) because kids do not always want to talk about their pasts. One girl who was drawing some really excellent images was focusing on middle school and her experiences there. She explained each image with great detail and enthusiasm, compared to some of the other students who were not really that excited about their elementary school experience. Maybe having the kids focus on one year or a particular age would be more interesting for students... in any case, I received a handful of collages and a couple of statements to type and display in the gallery show.
I was able to talk with the kids about the possibility of art programs at their new school. Their teacher and I have been talking about writing grants to provide funds for art supplies and possibly for a regular teacher in a classroom. When I presented the idea to the students they were pretty excited and even happier to hear that I might be the teacher. That was a good boost for me :) Especially since THIS WEATHER WILL NOT GO AWAY.

Seriously. Elsa. Calm down.

I promised a second post and I will have it to you by TONIGHT. I have been on vacation at my aunt and uncle's house with my friend Matt and we have been learning how to weave on a BIG loom. We joked that we are weaving a friendship rug but...really, we are. We are learning how to salvage fabric scraps for weft material, how to reset the loom, and I am hoping to someday incorporate this craft into my own classroom. As shown in an earlier post I have a tabletop loom and I will be finishing the process of setting that up before camp this summer. I think it would be fun to have kids weave a collaborative piece or maybe small pieces over the course of the summer.. lots of possibilities.

On that note! Time to get back to weaving, relaxing, visiting, and syruping outside in the north woods.

More later,

Ms. Kanak

Elementary I: Day 3, Academic Update... holy boots

Holy boots, guys.. this semester is ending at record speed! I have been running myself ragged between classes, work, teaching... dishes. Always dishes. WHERE DO THEY COME FROM!?

Anyway. 

I believe I posted pictures of in-process tiles.. well.. they didn't turn out as well as I would have liked them to. They were all cracked and damaged before and after firing. I glazed them to try and hide the ugliness of craftsmanship aaand.. my professor was not impressed haha. I had to redo at least one so here's the new 'crack' at it, pardon the pun.

 In addition to the tile box project..thing.. I have to some how crank out two coil-built vessels that are at least 14 inches high with designs from the tile project incorporated in some way. As I type this I realize how truly insane I am.. but I have one and a half vessels near completion and will be returning to the studio today to try and make a dent in those, too.

Insanity. PURE MADNESS!

 Oh, did I also mention my animation class has been keeping me on my toes? We had to create an 'audible motion' animation project, meaning the animation sequence had to follow audio in some way. I went WAY more experimental than I needed to.. but I kind of love it.
I call it "Chimes" for obvious reasons...

We have a mandatory revision, much like the one from the oranges video project. Here's the comments I received for the animation, round 1:

sphere movement maybe a bit more pronounced, but less jerky?

-spheres all spinning would be a good idea!

the orbs around it could have some variation from the centered orb, to differentiate them from it

move them a little more to the left, since at the end the bottom left corner looks a little bare and the spheres sort of rotate away from it

-not enough happening, stay on one part for too long (especially second camera cut)

the out of control central sphere spins way to fast for how slow and "flowy" feel from the rest of the animation

Some cast shadows from the orbs onto the main surface would be nice to see and would add more depth.

- Depth of field could work well with the particles

wish the balls would move in time to the chimes throughout the whole thing

more close-ups could make it look sweet

Teacher Comments:

g-

- interesting main shape, bizarre and ambiguous (see below also)

- good sequence of camera cuts

- changes of motion between the main shape and the slower spheres is good -- change in texture as well to differentiate between them

- experimental modeling approach

b-

- main shape could develop or change over time -- different shape entirely or new texture or different deformer... it gets repetitive by the ending

- reflection on side of big shapes is odd and black

- some of the cross fades are jerky -- watch your keyframes in AE

- fade out all the way at the end

- perhaps the animation could have some more direct relationship to the audio -- something happens in time to the bell chime (like a change of color, size, light increase/decrease, change of movement in the spheres, etc.)

- the experimental modeling approach could to further yet, periodically filling the frame with "stuff"

- fast rotation sphere near the end is odd (second to last shot)

I've got my work cut out for me.. but LUCKILY there is a Computer Art marathon tonight in the art building. So I could work on those revisions and start my last animation for the course ALL night... We will see how much caffeine my body can take. Hopefully the effects won't follow me into the next few days since I never have caffeine ever. Fun times, guys.

Elementary I: Day 3

So.. I had a big learning experience yesterday. FRIDAYS are the most difficult day of the week to engage students.. and myself haha. The kids had a school-wide assembly for pride/faculty volleyball so my 'regular kids' were not all there. In addition to that I had interviews and work all day so I was pretty zonked... needless to say it was a slow work period. Some new students came in to work but they just wanted to hang out and draw - which would be fine if I didn't have deadlines and expectations for completion! Sigh... hopefully they are more willing to work on Monday.

I found myself compromising and changing this lesson a lot as I worked more with these students. Some of them were really motivated to start.. and now they're dwindling. As am I! It was obvious to me which students wanted to draw all the time and make a bigger project because they have produced the most work, but yesterday was just a blah day for everyone. I think Monday will be more interesting because we start the next step, which is creating the background space and adding details. Some of the kids said they would take their drawings home to work on them, and the 'Mario' kid said he would definitely work on it. Hopefully.. everything makes it back into the classroom. It took him 3 days to want to put pencil to paper.

I'm not feeling completely defeated though.. the teacher at the school I have been corresponding and working with (and using her room, thanks, Amanda!) sees a lot of improvement and excitement in these students she doesn't normally see. They ask her when art is coming up and look forward to coming in to work, which is a big boost for me. I put a lot of energy and time into planning and presenting information in a fun, energetic way so it's nice to know they want to keep coming back.

In addition to that, I was talking to the teacher about the big move the school is going to take on. After this summer, the students will be moving to another school in town and STILL will be without an art program. After working with the students, both the art-enthusiasts and the general walk-in kids, I can tell these kids NEED and WANT art in some form. The kids were talking yesterday about how they 'wished music was every day' (currently they have Tuesdays and Thursdays for music) and that got me to thinking... Art is probably the same way. Sure enough, after asking them about art being a regular thing they expressed the same feelings. After talking to Amanda a bit she suggested I do some research on grants for art supplies and art resources.. a big, BIG task I have never taken on. But I know that the arts would go leaps and bounds to help the students become more engaged, learn differently, and have a creative outlet for all their energy and thoughts. There are a few non-profit organizations up here that specialize in art grants for schools without the arts - I have worked for one before, but I need to contact them and see where to start searching. The teacher even offered to sit and write the grants with me! Basically, that would mean if we could write a grant/grants for funds for the arts we could possibly put an art teacher in the school AND fund the supplies needed for an effective program. AND I could, possibly, be THAT teacher. I am going to make some appointments with higher-ups and see if I could count teaching at the school as credits or independent study.. it raises lots of questions about my future, but I would be so excited to bring the arts to these students who consistently express the need and want for creative expression opportunities. Even if I wasn't the teacher or the direct provider in the classroom, I would feel better knowing they had art in their school lives.

ON THAT NOTE. I need to get back to MY school life! On to the studios and the caffeine and the snacks...

Wish me luck,

Ms. Kanak