Studios! A blog post about change

Hello, Tam in Iowa here. I just wanted to write a quick blog post on some changes I have been making in the area of ….well…pretty much everything I have done in the past 10 years.  

After working with a visiting artist on a large scale sculpture for our community, I had a huge mind shift on how and what I am teaching in Art. 

This visiting artist/sculptor travels to businesses to share with them the incredibly important vital role of creativity in their business model. 

He had several statistics to prove how important it is to change the mind shift from everything requires “one answer” (like math and chemistry require) to almost every other discipline that can have “many answers” (like the arts allow). He used a funnel to show the student artists how math provides one answer but the arts provide many different answers. 

Art or Math?

Whoa, amazing right? Blew my mind. 

It got me to thinking…how I am I teaching art in the 21^st century?  Every art educator has standards and every school has expectations,  but what do I believe art education should look like and what do I think the purpose of arts education is?

For the last ten years, I have practiced a Discipline Based art education program. I teach a visual alphabet - the elements of art and principles of design. I still believe it is important that all students know the visual alphabet.  Otherwise, their artwork just looks well, crappy. I mean seriously, how could you write without the alphabet? How can you create visual art without the visual alphabet?

Keep in mind, I think process step by steps are valuable SOMETIMES to learn new techniques and ideas. I also believe craftsmanship is important, I want everyone to do their best .

BUT the question that haunted me was how was I investing in their minds? How was I allowing them to express their ideas? How often were they climbing up Bloom’s Taxonomy? Was I doing all that for them?   

Yikes, yes I was.  Many times we all “created” art that looked the same.  I was doing the work for them.  Below is a Jim Dine study. Yes, they are different but they didn't have to do much thinking to use the template, and overlap.

So, I believe they need to learn the visual alphabet, I believe they need to do some step by steps, I believe I need to demonstrate how to use materials. How in the heck does that add up to expression? Can it be combined with creativity?

Turns out, yes it can! And turns out, it’s going to take some time for me to get there. 

This year, I introduced the elements of art to all students. We defined terms and made lines, shapes, you get the picture. After the intro was over, the mind shift began. 

Intersecting Shapes

We just switched to  using rubrics, studios, and student- centered decision making. The first studios are basically learning how to read a rubric and follow the steps on it to make a specific work of art. For example, in fourth grade the choices are

Pen Pal Artist(we study another young student artist who has a website, they create a painting using favorite dots, lines, colors, and they write a letter to him)

America (they read a book about art that shows freedom in America and pick a medium to express how they feel about freedom in America)

Scratch Art Animal (any animal, must use texture)

Wordless Book (they read wordless books, develop their own story line, and draw a wordless story)

Skyscrapers of New York City(learn about building skyscrapers, do experiments, build a skyscraper out of rolled newspaper and tape)

wordless book

Scratch Art Animal

What Freedom Means to Me

Skyscrapers of NYC

Still, a little structured right? But not as much, right? 

Blowing my mind further is going to be independent studies that students choose to investigate artists or art they have always wanted to create. I will be the resource person to get them the stuff. 

One kid said to me, “I wish we had a studio about Andy Goldsworthy, it was so fun working with natural materials last year.” 

Guess what that kid is getting for Christmas? 

That’s enough words for today, we can only think about so much at once right?

More later on how to frontload these studios and the management things NOT to do (that’s how I learn).

Sincerely and with much love and respect for what you all do!

Tam in Iowa

Cow Parade

As many people worried about the end of the world coming, during the summer of 1999, cows took to the streets of Chicago for a moo-ving display of creativity, and a chance for some to thumb their noses at the Y2K scare and recapture the imagination of the nation. The idea came from a Swiss art director, Walter Knapp who was influenced by a similar display of lions in the city of Zurich in 1986. Many cities have followed suit doing their own version of “Cows on Parade.” Cities across the world joined Chicago in this “street art” – moose moseyed into Toronto, Canada; angels ascended in Los Angeles, California; gorillas gamboled in Bristol, UK; elephants were escorted into Rotterdam, The Netherlands; and in Minneapolis artists created Snoopys that strolled the streets in honor of Charles Schultz.

Throughout time, I have had my students take on a similar challenge. We have recreated cows, snowmen, Pandas, and Snoopys – just to name a few. The challenge is always one of having each original to the others in the class. So, to help with that, this year I added a new spin to that the challenge, PUNS! It almost brought some to the “tipping” point I must say, it was an “udderly” perfect idea!

Middle School Photography

Tam in Iowa here! I teach photography to middle school students. As a trained photographer who used to be in the portrait business, I am interested in teaching them the basics of how to take great selfies, use lighting to their advantage, how to tell a story, and which angles to use. I don't teach any camera use except how to hold their device. This frees them up to learn about the art of photography. Check out the Pinterest link below for visuals for Angles in Photography. Also don't forget to check out the worksheet I hand out for them to take home(below). Worksheets help them remember what to do once they do get home. I will soon be posting my favorite collections of photography videos on our A Tale of Two Art Rooms Pinterest page.


Hope you like my new recipe format! I am hoping this will help you understand what I am teaching without all my blah, blah, blah.

Pinterest Link



Silberzweig Portraits

In the world where selfies and Instagram pics are the go to for self-expression for so many of my students, I continue to search for ways to get them to work on portraiture in their art. The idea of self portraits is always met with disdain, horror, and a ridiculous amount of eye rolling. So, I’m in constant pursuit for a way to grab their interest, and meet them at a comfortable place that allows them, and me, to see they can step out and be original in the process of creating portraiture, even if it’s not of themselves.

This year, I stumbled upon the work of Sandra Silberzweig, a Canadian born artist, that uses the elements and styles of cubism, folk, expressionism and modern art. She is inspired by many artists, but states on her website that it is Picasso's work that really speaks to her. After perusing many of her images from her online gallery, I thought her work presented just what I was looking to try with my students. It presented an opportunity to explore portraiture, abstraction, line, and color to create these magically intriguing images that peeked interest and ended up captivating not only the viewer, but the student artists as well.

While chalk would have been my preferred medium with this project, I opted to have the students use a watercolor resist technique, since so many have an aversion to the texture of chalk. I think the next time I do this, I will use chalk and we’ll snag some gloves from the first aid kit for those who need them. 

As you can see, there was no lack of creativity in these Silberzweig inspired portraits and each of them is a true original that shows the personality of the student artist.

Near and Far Perspective Crowds

I have had kids tell me that when something is far away, it is not smaller.
Literally, they are right, but visually, they are wrong when it comes to showing perspective in a setting.
Realism in Art( I feel like perspective is a part of that) is frustrating for my third grade students, so I decided to show them the elements of perspective without getting hung up on creating a realistic piece of work. (like the playground scene my curriculum suggests)
I took a page from Pam's Modigliani lesson last month and changed the people in our crowd portraits into people-ish.
People-ish people resemble people, but not in a perfectly real way.

Example Below 

Because I am a bitmoji loving 50- something, we made our crowd out of cartoon characters.
The objectives were still to teach near and far perspective, overlapping, and how people look smaller visually when they are far away.
A fifth grade student who is exceptionally talented at Minecraft and Pokeman character drawing, came in and gave us a lesson on creating made-up creatures(this was a good shift for him as well). I love it when students teach students. He was prepared. He even made us ALL call him Mr. Jones(Jones substituted for his real name).

The third grade then played a partner game of "Roll a Character". The dice thingy with cartoon faces.
They went bananas. They were so excited about their created characters.
Next, they quickly sketched out (lightly) their crowds of characters. The only rule to this game was to overlap, make each row of heads smaller, and to create a new face for each character.
To keep it graphic and awesome, we just added black sharpie. I added a quick impromptu lesson about every dark/light area helping draw our eye around the composition.
Crowd Cartoons-the bomb.com


working large and adding a background



so many interesting faces!



So creative!



adding dark and leaving light areas



Texture too!

Modest Modigliani & Me

 Modest Modigliani & Me

My sixth-grade artists were long overdue for a self-portrait lesson. Sixth graders, as we all know, are pretty self-conscious about their own “look,” so I thought they’d work well with Amedeo Modigliani’s style. His abstraction, the lack of emotion in his portraits, and his ability to finish in one or two sittings were drawing me to tackle this with them. This had sixth grade written all over it!

Before we started, we discussed how most portraits of his time were painted to look beautiful and noble; but he would paint them simply, sad, and using a modest color palette. People didn’t like his work of them at first, but he later became known as one of the 20^th century’s greatest artists. We talked color – we talked expression – we talked elongation – we peered into mirrors – we tried to muster up as much angst as we could – we dug out the oil pastels – and we ended up having fun! Yes, even the most reluctant among us had fun as was successful.

These are the best self-portraits that I have ever had a class do. There was no talk of them not “looking exactly like them,” that wasn’t in the planning, and I think it gave them the ability to go beyond the fact that they were the subject matter. With the elongated faces, cylindrical necks, almond shaped eyes, my students saw a new way to look at themselves. And in a way, as though Modigliani himself, were inspiring each of them…, to create without inhibition!

Stonehenge in Kindergarten

The Neolithic/Bronze Age, perfect start for  the year in Kindergarten Art, right?
If you said yes, you totally get the power of Stonehenge, rocks, building, and sculpture for five year olds.
This lesson was broken up into two 35 minute periods. In the first lesson  large boxes and drawings were the materials we used. The second lesson's materials included small rocks and blocks.
Our vocabulary included; post and lintel, Great Britain, rocks, horseshoe, arrange, and Stonehenge.

In our first lesson, we looked at the Stonehenge structure on the Pinterest board I made.

My Stonehenge Pinterest Board.

I showed them the formation of the large prehistoric sculpture, along with the tools they probably used to build it with, a post and lintel, and what a horseshoe looks like

We looked at our inflatable globe to find Great Britain. On our globe, it is a little pink island. They never forgot the pink part.

"What country is Stonehenge in?" I ask.

"The Pink One!" they shout.

We then practiced building Stonehenge by acting out using the tools we saw on Pinterest.  When I want them to repeat something, I just point at them and pause and they repeat whatever I say or do. I had them repeat and act out hammer, chisel, dig, and pulling rocks up with ropes.

Transitioning to arranging blocks as a group was something I really thought out. I know how kindergarten works, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN FOR EACH LITTLE TRANSITION (learned the hard way).  I had several cardboard boxes rescued from the recycling at school, and I had the students make themselves into a circle with the boxes around us. They took turns adding the boxes and they were all excited about their turn to build. We started by asking questions like, "Does Stonehenge have a post and lintel? How would we build that? How would a horseshoe look with boxes? How would a circle on the outside look?"

They also had time this year to draw Stonehenge. It is very interesting to see what they have retained. Their perspectives were all different, some were drawing it as if they were looking straight at it, some from a bird's eye view. I find that interesting.

In the second lesson, the students used rocks(Dollar Tree) and blocks to build their own mini Stonehenge. I also had some leftover pieces of some kinds of little sculptural materials I found in an old art closet. This is the their favorite thing to do! Every year, I have excited little people working hard to form mini Stonehenge and other sculptures that happen along the way. Their classroom teacher adds the rocks and a picture of Stonehenge to their centers for more work in the classroom.

To get students to remember vocabulary, I often have them repeat words with me at the end of class while they are standing in line. To make it memorable, we use different voices. Daddy voices, mommy voices, baby voices, puppy voices, they are all fair game. When a student came up with "Meowhenge" I was thinking, "This kid is brilliant!"

I script lessons. if I just write down "Stonehenge”  in my lesson planner, I will never remember exactly what I want to teach. So I script for myself. It's always great because I can go back in and change it if something doesn't work great. Then it will be ready for the next year. Here is the shortened version of the lesson and how a script works for  me.

Stonehenge, Lesson 1

vocabulary: Stonehenge, stones, arrange, post and lintel, Great Britain,

Visuals: Pinterest pictures, Globe, rocks

Supplies: CARDBOARD BOXES, PAPERS, PENCILS

Take a look at Stonehenge!!! (I am very dramatic with Kindergarten-this is where I turned the TV on-of course the board was already on the computer and showed a photo of Stonehenge)

The stones are arranged in a circle with horseshoe inside. Arrange means putting things in place. Like I put these rocks in a circle. The rocks on the side are posts and the top are called lintels(insert call back  here with practice saying words)

Some rocks weigh as much as a dump truck(of course, that is huge to them)

Act out making Stonehenge(I said the words below while we acted it out)

"They made them with hammers and chisels and split the cracks of the stones

They dug a huge ditch for them to sit in so they wouldn't tip over

They worked together and pulled the stones up with ropes"

Let's make a giant Stonehenge today and next time we meet, we will make our own small Stonehenge. We have to work together!

Use boxes to make a post and lintel, add the rest to make a circle, horseshoe

When we are done, I will say  5,4,3,2,1 and we will sit down where we are at.

At your tables, draw Stonehenge on your papers, a horseshoe in the middle, and a circle around.(this is where we transition to the tables, like NINJAS)

Stonehenge, Lesson 2

Vocabulary, Texture, Post and Lintel

Materials: rocks, blocks, photocopies of Stonehenge

Let's look at Stonehenge again. How much do these rocks weigh? dump truck

How did they make them?(hammers and chisels and wood)

How did they put them in the ground(they dug a big ditch)

How did they pull those big rocks up(with ropes)

Where is Stonehenge at? Great Britain

What is this piece on top of the stones called(a lintel)

Take a look at the bumpy texture of the rocks

Today we are going to feel rocks and arrange rocks.

What does it mean to arrange something? put in place

Each stone we handle  is special because of its size, shape, texture, color,

How could we sort these?

Look at your stones and decide how you want to arrange them

Can you put them on top of each other?

Can they be side by side?

A piece of paper is on your table to help you remember what Stonehenge looks like

As they work, take pictures of their Stonehenge. Share with the class when you see a student arranging a horseshoe, circle, stacking blocks on top, or putting blocks beside each other.