Student art exhibits and awards - March 2023

The SDUSD VAPA Spotlight awards ceremony was held this week and I was honored to receive and Artistic Innovation award while my 5th grade student Keith Baham received the Rising Star award.  

Thank you to SDUSD VAPA and VAPA Foundation for putting together a spectacular event! Special thanks to my principal Mr.Murchison who came directly from the airport after his trip and to my Associate principal Mr.Vera for showing their support.

The SDUSD art exhibit opening reception was also held this week and Zamorano students were well represented! A total of 30 Zamo student art pieces from the school were on display out the total 500+ pieces. It was so great to see students and their families come to see their works!!

Below are some student works!

15 of my Zamorano 4th grade student works were exhibited with other artists from San Diego. These were digital works we created a few weeks back inspired by public art and Yayoi Kusama and it was a powerful and validating experience for students to see their works in an art gallery!

 

Week of 3/13/23 - UTK, Kinder and 1st grade

 UTK and kinders returned to create paper collages this week. We looked at the below photograph and had a class discussion about what we see. Students noticed that there was a sun with yellow and orange, sky with light and dark blue and that the artist that created this used paper that was cut with scissors or ripped.

 We looked at photos of Zinnias and poppies and first drew a circle to represent the former and an organic shape for the latter. Students first used paint sticks to add details to their work like the sky, rainbow, grass, flowers and/ or the rain. They then colored in the flowers, stem and had the option to cut/ rip construction paper and add them to the flowers to complete their work.

 1st grade students worked on a book illustration! I showed them the book "Caps for sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina. This was one of my favorite stories growing up and it was exciting to share it with my students. I played the story for my students and we had a class discussion about what's on the front cover (title, author and illustrator name and illustrations), spine (title) and back cover (blurb of the story). I had a rectangular piece of poster board for each student with 2 black lines pre-drawn with a black Sharpie marker. Students wrote the title "Caps for sale" on the spine and again on the front cover along with their name. We discussed what illustrations need to be on the front cover  and drew the peddler, tree, caps, mountains and monkey(s).

Students used paint sticks to color the illustrations and then watercolors to paint their book cover. Four out of six classes illustrated the book Caps for Sale while the other two used The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

 

Week of 3/6/23 - UTK, Kinder and 1st grade

 UTK, kinders and 1st graders were back and we were busy!!

UTK and kinders created sculptures while 1st graders painted on their fired clay projects.

My friend Tony is a wood worker and donated close to 800 wooden pieces!! We looked at the work "Seven magic mountains" by artist Ugo Rondinone and talked about what we see, why the artist made this artwork and how this work is in fact a "sculpture". I explained the difference between creating a regular work on a paper versus building, balancing assembling and arranging pieces to create a sculpture.

UTK students glued 4 wooden pieces on a wooden base and painted their pieces with tempera paint. Each student also glued a cork piece to their work.

. I encouraged them to keep turning their work so it looked interesting from all sides.

 Kinders used popsicle sticks, buttons, corks in addition to 4 wooden pieces and glued all to a base after arranging materials in different ways to see what looked interesting. They also added line patterns on their wood blocks with tempera paint sticks which ended up making the sculptures look even more beautiful and interesting. I love how unique each looks!

 1st graders painted their clay works - I had students create clay tiles with their initials, mugs and cacti. We used oil pastels and tempera paint depending upon the project and used the entire hour of 1 class to paint these as it takes time for the color to get into the designs and bumps. I encouraged students to keep turning their work to make sure all sides were covered in color!

 

Week of 2/27/23 - More with 4th and 5th grade

 This week 4th grade students returned to create art inspired by the works of San Diego artist Bhavna Mehta. We looked at the installation "My father's letter" created by Bhavna in 2018.We had a discussion about what we saw in the below photo, what it was made from and why the artist made this? Each student wrote 6 words on a piece of paper to document what words came to their mind when they saw the below work.

We talked about how this work is in fact a letter Bhavna's father wrote to her from India and it was so meaningful to her that she decided to enlarge the letters and create this installation. Each student picked a word meaningful to them - love, hope, Abuela, Boba among several others. They drew the letters block letter style on black card stock, cut each out and used paper circles to glue each letter on white poster board. Students also wrote a short constructed response on what word they picked and why it was meaningful to them.

 

5th grade students returned to complete their weaving from the past week and paint glaze on their clay spoons that I had fired and kept ready. I gave students the option to use a needle and add extra weft to create areas of interest. Some students created knots and some even braided yarn using contrasting colors.