The Four Step Process

Well this is different. Mr. Sands (that's me) has moved from Art One and started teaching Art Three. Before putting together the lesson plans for my new found class, I took a long, hard look at how I was teaching. I realized that, although I could come up with some creative lessons, the projects were more about the outcome I wanted to see then what the students wanted to create. I decided to revamp my entire teaching style. Here's what we're doing now.

Each project now follows a four phase process; Initiation, Design, Production and Presentation. During the initiation phase, I present the student's with a topic and a theme. This project's topic is text as an element (check out our Pinterest page for example) and the theme is culture.

Next, during the design phase, the students were tasked with creating a list of 20 items related to culture. From this list, they designed 10 thumbnails of possible art projects. Depending on their design, they selected the medium and based on the medium, they explored techniques they would need to accomplish the project.

 This is where we are today...

Once the design is solid, the student's will be ready to begin creation of their work.

For the final phase, presentation, the students will post their work to their blogs along with their personal reflection of the piece. The actual piece will then be presented to the class on Feel Good Friday where students will write comments for their fellow artists to read later.

Meet Kim Sudkamp

My brother & I

New Art Teacher : Kim Sudkamp

I am from Apex, North Carolina though I did not attend Apex High.  I earned a BFA in Art Education and a BFA in Studio Arts Ceramics at East Carolina University - School of Art and Design. I've taught for a semester in another county, but this will be my first full year of teaching.  I am looking forward to working at Apex High School.  I've heard many wonderful things about the school and I'm so happy to be a part of it.

Sudkamp Art Website

Meet Melissa Purtee

New Art Teacher : Melissa Purtee

I believe that students have great ideas and that they should be able to use them to make art that expresses what they think is important. I was born in Kansas and grew up in Michigan, where I earned a BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design. Shortly after graduating I moved to North Carolina to accept my first teaching job.

This year will be my ninth year teaching and my first year teaching high school. I’m so excited to be a part of the Apex High School Art Department!

Purtee Art One Website

Eva Perry Street Art Workshop

Tonight, Mr. Sands hosted a Street Art Workshop at the Eva Perry Library. Despite the rain, we had a good turn out. We looked at a variety of different street art.. everything from Shepard Fairey's stencils  to Buff Diss' tape murals. Then we set out to make a few stencils of our own...

Using a selection of flower images for inspiration, the first step was to draw the image on poster board.

The second step was to cut out the positive space.

 It's important that you don't have any island, circles inside circles, or those pieces will fall out. Always leave connectors!

Since Eva Perry wouldn't let us spray paint their parking lot, we decided to use baby power. Don't sprinkle on too much! Less is more.

It also helps to pat it down a little bit.

The rain finally let up right at the end of the workshop. Even though the ground was wet, we tried a few in the parking lot.

If you're interested giving this project a try, Mr. Sands has made the lesson plan available as a free download on the Art Of Education website. Click here for the lesson plan.

Street Art Workshop at Eva Perry Library

Come out to 

The Street Art Workshop 

at Eva Perry Library 

Tomorrow night, 

Thursday at 7pm - 8PM 

The plan is to take over the parking lot!

Library	Eva Perry Regional Library
Website	Eva Perry Regional Library
Library Address	2100 Shepherd's Vineyard Drive Apex, NC 27502
Phone	919-387-2100
Age	Grades 6-10
Contact Name	Lindsey Dunn

What Mr Sands Did On Summer Vacation

Tomorrow, June 25th, I (ian sands) will be presenting at the Art Of Education 2013 Online Conference.. How very exciting! Yes, I know! And not only presenting but I'm first! Feeling pretty good about being the opening act :)

There are two parts to this conference.  The first part is a pre-recorded video that goes live for attendees tomorrow at 11am EST. The second half is a live chat during the same time where I will try to answer questions. It should be fun! 

So what's my presentation about? Well, here is the intro...

Art Vs Education!

Art teachers are creative beings. We teach a creative subject with creative materials. However, the bureaucracy of education; pacing guides, standards and even the curriculum can jab, punch and often KO an art teacher’s creative endeavor. In this presentation we’ll toe the line with the issues that put art teachers up against the ropes and we’ll learn how to knock those concerns out of the ring. Let’s get ready to rumble!

It's Like our Work is Your Work

An art teacher posted on Facebook, Last year one of my 5th graders said to me, 'Wow, Mrs. M, it's like our work is your work!'...

Aka, How to sneak your student's artwork into an exhibit ...

New ideas but for now... Summer!

Back in March, Mr Sands had the opportunity to meet with many outstanding art educators at 2013 NAEA National Convention in Fort Worth. The exchange of ideas was fantastic and it really got us thinking ahead for the 2013-14 school year.

From those talks, our crack team of educators here at Apex HS developed a new set of goals. We will spend the summer devising a new approach to teaching and learning art. In fact, you can tell we already started. Just look at the board!

So go to the pool, sit back in your lounge chair and soak up the sun. Be well rested. You're gonna need it!

Till then... Have a Great Summer!!

Doodling in the Class!

This year, instead of taking notes in Art History, I wanted the students to create visual journals. I thought the addition of their own drawings along with any notes would be more beneficial, especially to the visual learner. Then I saw a video by Rachel Smith at TEDxUFM titled Drawing in class. That confirmed everything I was thinking. I played this for my students on the last day of school. They yelled at me, "Why didn't you show this at the beginning of the year!"



A first, some students had trouble with the concept. They were still stuck on taking notes. Their journals looked more like they were taking notes in history class than art. As the year progressed, they loosened up more and more. Here are some of the pages from this year’s class.