twobanartist

Several Projects all in Process

This is only a few of the projects I am currently working on. A funerary urn (Copper), a shrine (pewter), and a chalice (pewter). All still to be finished.

Aptos Junior Public Art

Aptos Junior High students get a hands-on lesson
BY LAURA NORTON
It’s not refrigerator art.
Instead of pieces likely to be hung on kitchen appliances and office walls, students at Aptos Junior High have been busy creating large pieces to grace the campus.
With the help of professional artists and a grant from parent Norman Black, whose deceased son was an Aptos student, two murals and a giant clay relief are now a part of the campus art scene.
“I thought the best thing to do with the money was to give kids the opportunity to work with professional artists,” said art teacher Susan Megorden.
Artist Katherine Wilson helped students create an 8-foot by 42-foot mural titled “Make History,” depicting Aptos history from the time of Ohlone habitation to the current era.
About 70 students worked on the mural and students are enjoying it, Wilson said.
Eighth-grader Matt Catalano said he liked the result.
“I like how they show everything we are learning. It shows the culture and the nature of the area, I think it looks really good,” he said.
Students also created a 7-foot-tall non-representational ceramic sculpture that frames a doorway to the art classroom. That piece, titled “Sentry,” took several months to create and students were involved every step of the way, Megorden said.
A third art project, a welcome mural at the entrance to the campus, is still in the works and should be completed soon.

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School Board Displays

One important piece of educating and advocating in our district was the creation of the School Board Displays which will be ongoing and permanent to remind our trustees of the importance of art education.

Flower Color Lesson

Students were given red, blue, and yellow paint and were asked to experiment in a guided way in which they created secondary colors on coffee filters. The finished coffee filters were used to create a spring flower landscape using tissue paper and seeds to create the flowers.

Habitat Book at H.A. Hyde

Habitats

The work in this book was produced by Laura Azarro and Kim Schnittger’s second grade class with the help of Carolyn franks and susan megorden.

In This multidisciplinary project, the students covered science, Language Arts, and visual art standards which were connected to the topic of animal habitats.

We produced art about animal habitats and discussed the genre of landscape art while learning both water color and tempera paint techniques.

Here are the poems we produced:

Ocean
Sunny, wavy
Diving, resting, eating
Sandy, cloudy, reflecting light, deep blue
Sea otters
By Astrid

Forest
Cloudy, foggy
Growling, attacking, killing
Emerald green, tall trees grow
Bear
By Eric

Grasslands
Shady, peaceful
Grazing, chewing, eating
Emerald green leaves falling off trees
Domestic horse
By Marissa

Rainforest
Leafy, rainy
Squeezing, slithering, hunting
Shadowy, scary, dark, bumpy
Boa constrictor
By Jorge

Forest
Sunny, loud
Squeaking, munching, climbing
Cool, leafy, windy, bumpy bark
Chipmunk
By

Grasslands
Sunny, windy
Eating, flapping, flying
Leafy, bumpy, grassy shadow
Hummingbird
By Luisa

Grasslands
Grassy, sunny
Sniffing, running, hiding
Burnt siena bark growing tall
Wild horse
By Chelsea

Grasslands
Sunny, noisy
Stomping, crashing, crunching
Emerald green bushes growing tall
African elephant
By Mare

Forest
Sunny, cool
Chewing, climbing, swallowing
Short burnt siena stumps sit
Panda Bear
By Daisy

Ocean
Sunny, wavy
Attacking, eating, swimming
Sandy, watery, deep, cold
Shark
By Moses

Ocean
Deep blue, cobalt blue
Diving, flapping, hiding
Wavy, sunny, sandy, leafy
Seahorse
By Samantha

Desert
Sandy, windy
Striking, slithering, hissing
Burnt siena, green, moving sideways
Rattlesnake
By Armando

Wetlands
Swampy, foggy
Hunting, camouflaging, striking
Leafy, smelly, sunny, quiet
Alligator
By David

Grasslands
Sunny, grassy
Hunting, sneaking, hiding
Emerald green grass, tall, little
Lion
By Halie

Forest
Steamy, dark
Camouflaging, crawling, nibbling
Burnt siena bark on trees
Thorn bug
By Jazmin

Matisse Lesson

The examples below were produced by a second grade class in two 40 minute periods.

Students were asked to look at the work of Henri Matisse. Our goal was two-fold, first to recognize the genre in visual art of a still life and secondly, to introduce and practice some basic art-making techniques like wax resist in watercolor and using white glue in a controlled way.