Art History Kites 2012

March comes in like a lion, right? What better way to celebrate lion like wind then by flying a kite. so the Art History class is busy making kites. Not just any old kites... art History kites. How exciting, yes I know! So hopefully later this week, if the wind is right, we'll go outside and make it so.







Kristen is not making a kite. She is playing "Hungry, Hungry Venus of Willendorf" the classic marble strategy game.



This is Caity. She was on an episode of One Tree Hill but she doesn't like when people talk about it cause she is modest.

Project Flop: Good Lessons From A Bad Teacher

The only class I ever failed in college was ‘Intro To Art Education’. Ironic, as I am now the Arts Department Chair at Apex High School. So why a book about failures? Because I believe I can’t take credit for my successes unless I take credit for my failings. There are hundred’s of books about classroom successes. This is a book about failures

Kindle Edition on Amazon 
Paperback on Amazon

All project start off with the best intentions. Whether you create the lesson from scratch or borrow it from someone else, in your mind you envision success. You write your lesson trying to plan for every situation that may arise. The supplies are laid out, a presentation and a demo are reviewed and practiced, and everything should go off without a hitch.

Then, be it fate, a misalignment of the planets or perhaps the art gods are angry, the lesson falls apart. Regardless of your preparation the students don’t understand. As for your enthusiasm, the class simply doesn’t share your zeal for the project. You try to pull it all together but in the end, for lack of a better word, it fails. Worse off, you take it personally. You feel like you failed. You will be happy to know that you’re in good company.

Project Flop consists of stories from some of the biggest failures that Ian Sands ever taught at Apex High School. Some projects were domed from the start, others appeared successful till an unexpected twist occurred.

Kindle Edition on Amazon 
Paperback on Amazon

Here are some of the best failed projects!


Monalloon:
I wanted a project that would out do any project we had done before or probably would do again. I came up with the best idea in the world. A giant replica of the Mona Lisa created out of balloons. Click Here to see The Monalloon!

Interactive Chalk Mural:
I was standing in the courtyard watching the students snap photos of their friends inserted in the art. I leaned over and asked the creative writing teacher what she thought, expecting obvious praise. “I hate it,” she said. View the Interactive Chalk Murals!

Expressive Skittle Portraits:
The project created a class full of students weary of gluing rows of candy, angry moms tired of purchasing Skittles, and a hungry mob that circled the trailer waiting for any chance that the door might open. View the Skittle Portraits!

Broken Kites:
March comes in like a lion and after having been cooped up all winter in a musky auditorium, I thought it would be fun to take the Art History class outside and let them feel the wind in their hair. View the Kites Project!

Art History Kite Day 2013

A Short video all about Learning to Fly.. Kites.

There are very few projects that I continue to do year after year. The Art History Kite however has become a tradition! This year's theme was Northern Renaissance.

While I was away at NAEA13 in Texas, the Art History students were busy designing their Northern Renaissance kites. We had everything from the four eared lamb of the Ghent Altarpiece  to the  mirror from the Arnolfini Portrait...

To this take on Durer's Four Horseman of the Apocalypse ...

As well as Durer's rhino 

and Durer's hare.

What we didn't have was much wind.

Which made some people have frowny faces.

And they gave me looks of disappointment. 

And then they took a nap.



Yes! Another successful Apex HS Art History Kite Day!!!!


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Art History Kites

Today was kite flying day in art History. We took the kites we designed, Van Gogh, Haring, Dali, Munch and more into the sky... sort of...

Kite Day 2012

Despite weather conditions not being ideal for kite flying, our team set out to conquer the air. Today was our day. Art History Kite Day 2012!



We left the trailer and headed down a short cut through the woods to the lower field.



Since we've had so much rain, the creak was particularly high making crossing somewhat of a challenge.



I thought placing a large log across the creak might make crossing easier.



Mitch though otherwise.



Eventually we all arrived safely at the lower field. There was Van Gogh's Starry Night...



Matisse was ready to fly...



As was my personal favorite, the Zonkey Kite (automatic 100).



But let me tell you the tale of the Sponge Bob/Warhol kite.



The story starts out as most all kites do..



with drawing and a lot of time and effort painting to get it just so...



The proud team enters the field, ready to take command of the sky..



But like Romeo and Juliet, the story ends in tragedy!

All in all it was a successful day of little flying, even less art history knowledge, and a lot of wet feet.

reCreating Art History

This will be my seventh year teaching Art History. Over the years, my teaching style has continually evolved. The first year I pretty much did the lecture thing, showed PowerPoints, had students take notes.

Over the next few years, I tried to move away from lecturing and more towards student research.  We created an Art History Ning where I posted questions and teams of students would research and post their findings to the forums. I called it Toss and Remix. However, students still kept notebooks.



Art History Toss and Remix from iansands on Vimeo.


I've tried a few different ideas to move the class away from the notebook. One year I tried having them keep flashcard with an image of the artwork on the front and their notes on the back. I thought it was a great idea however, it was a total fail. Keeping up with the cards was a pain for both students and teacher.

This year I thought I might try having the students keep journals. You know, like the Journal Junkies? This might be fun cause students could doodle and write and paste and all sorts of things in their journals. Then I thought, what if I went one step further...

I've always included projects in my class. We've built art history kites and art history putt  putt golf.. And these projects were all assignment by me.

What if, instead of notebooks or journals, the students had to create a self-directed project that encompassed what they discovered for each unit? So if a student wanted to create a journal for that unit that incorporated their finds  that would work. But another student might create a painting or a collage or a 3D sculpture.

In addition to the project, students could maintain a blog, similar to the way the Computer Art and Art One classes already do. They would post photos and give a written description of their projects.

So what does that mean? I'm not sure yet. Does this idea have potential or am i going way to far? That's why I'm opening the idea up for discussion. I would love to read your thoughts so feel free to post a comment.



Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Art History Kite Day 2012: The Video

A look at the greatest moments when Apex HS Art History 2012 took to the field to fly their kites... or whichever

Kite Day

Today was Art History Kite Flying Day!

To be honest, they might have flown well if only there had been some wind. 5 miles an hour winds out of the NW didn't really cut it. However, the kites look really good-->

Barbie Visits The Museum!

Barbie Visits the Museum from Apex HS Art on Vimeo.

 

Here's a quick look at some of the other things we did in Art History this year...

We did stuff like this...

OK, I'm not really sure what she is doing but she looks pretty happy about it so there you go.

We learned about Romulus and Remus! 

We made kites like this Pop Art inspired kite in progress.

We learned about Egyptian hippos and Jackson Pollock... though I'm not sure they were around at the same time.

And we made some degenerate art. So that was fun!

Art History Kites

In the making...