Week Two- Recap

I started out the week with an attempt at collage and pastels. I should have known better but it was an experiment. I only managed to get through that with one class and the rest were all intro'd to pastels in the drawing center. This worked better and many of the members took to the pastels and created some really wonderful pieces. I loved seeing so many different works in the making. No two looked alike! I will call this a success. In the last post I mentioned how I was allowing some name drawing since this was their comfort zone. After speaking to my committee chair he let me in on a little secret line he used to use with his middle schoolers. "What is the most boring way we could do this? We don't want to be boring, so lets think of something else to do!" What that turned into was me telling them that if they couldn't think of anything to do but their name to take the letters of their name and start thinking of things that began with those letters. For example, my name, Alexa. It starts with an A so I could draw an apple, or the letter L and draw a leaf, or the letter E and draw an elephant. The kids laughed and took to the idea and after that I didn't see any more name drawings. Amen for that.

Many of the members were determined to spend more time on their portfolios and thats ok. I keep reminding them that there isn't really a time frame because artists work at their own pace. They REALLY liked that idea. One girl said, "Thank goodness, my school art teacher makes us all do the same thing in the same color and finish at the same time. Thats boring!" Yes, little artist, it absolutely is.

It has been a good second week and they members are asking what's next. I've got them hooked, lets see what next week brings. I have included some of the pastel works that are coming along nicely. They have already learned about fixative and always ask to have their's sprayed so next week it wont be ruined. They are just as on top of it as I am. It makes me proud and excited.

On another note, I have received full IRB approval! So onward with my research project that I am looking forward to soooo much.