Saturday, January 29, 2011

An Expat in Egypt

An interesting article about a woman who lived where I lived, and her feelings on the current protests in Egypt.  I also read in other articles that the lootings have definitely stretched to Ma'adi.  The French Version of Walmart was even looted... Not far from Ma'adi.  It's hard not to pay attention.

Egypt

My thoughts are lost in what's going on in Egypt right now.  It's such a significant time for that country, and the rest of the region.  I hope that what is going on there means positive and peaceful changes that will come.  They need a new government.  One that actually puts the people of that country first.  Not an autocracy.  YES, I'm talking about you Hosni.   It's ridiculous to even think that they call themselves a democracy when they disconnected use of the internet and mobile phone issues.

The people are speaking out and I really hope that means a change is gonna come.

Thoughts are with you Misr.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Andrew Bird

Had the extreme pleasure of seeing him play about 2 years ago.. I'd see him again and again.  Absolutely one of my favorites.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The snow. THE SNOW!

If you weren't following my feverish postings on FB, you might have thought I held out no hope for no school tomorrow. Well, you'll be happy to know that, it's not happening.  Otherwise, I would be in bed by now.  So I thought I'd just post a few pics.  This wasn't really supposed to be anything... but, as I said before, I'll believe it when I see it.. And I did.






Yes, I'm following my own blogs

AND SO CAN YOU!! I'm hoping that this will keep me in line. With art....and teaching (although I don't seem to need help with this one).  Look in my profile and you will see two additional blogs I'm trying author.  One's about me as an artist.  The other a classroom blog I hope my students can be a part of on a regular basis!   Follow me! It'll be a blast!

Bon Chance!

Planning for a winter curriculum

Well, an early day! Thanks to the bad weather we're having. It's said that we're going to have some pretty nasty weather over here in the DC metro area. We'll see about that. I never believe it until I see it. Every newscast says something different, and of course I check "weatherunderground". But no one really knows. All I know is that I got out early and it's on to making the rest of my plan for the rest of the week.

You have to be flexible when it comes to teaching in my school. Since I run more of a therapeutic program with art, I change a lot of things all the time. I don't usually have a full on open studio (it happens sometimes), but for the next few weeks, it might happen. I always like to give them a theme or technique, because after all, I have to keep track of everything. And they do like to have some structure. So my lessons are usually very open ended, especially since a lot of kids do not take art, have never taken art, or are just totally not into anything...

Right now we seem to have a lot of kids who are in and out. So that means short term drawing projects, or small paintings, or whatever. Too bad for some, we're working on a big theme-- Optical Illusions. We started with "Op Art" (which was quick, easy and fun for most of them). But, we've moved on to tessellations. They love them, but they're time consuming. Since there are kids coming in and out, they don't quite get the same satisfaction because you do have to invest your time, energy, and skills... I get a lot of," I don't want to do this, I leave tomorrow (or whenever)".

So I'm at a crossroads. Tomorrow is Thursday.. Friday is the end of the quarter. I'm thinking... maybe do some skill building, because it's just not worth starting something new for the new people, and the old people are not finished with the tessellations...

My goal is for students to have a meaningful experience in my class. And while I know it's completely up to them (they are 15 and older), I still want to do my best to help them find some kind of art niche. It wears me out sometimes, but when I see a kid really enjoy what he or she is doing, it really makes it all worth it.

So tomorrow- we could have school, it could be a 2-hour delay, or no school. I gotta think ahead so I'm not just offering up "free draw".

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Ice ice baby






It's cold outside. Ice is everywhere, it hasn't even begun to melt. NO SNOW! Just an ice storm. Here are some pictures! Thankfully we have the day off from school! Only to be made up in March.... oh well, I'll take it.

Monday, January 03, 2011

Hi, it's me again

First day back to school is always the hardest, isn't it? I had a shorter-than-usual winter break because school started after Labor Day. Well, not for me. I started school back in August. But our calendar goes along with the local school district (at least most of the time). So our vacation was cut down to 10 days. I have to say, by day 7 I was really into it. So into it, that I wish I had another 7 days to get my way out of it. It's kind of like a tease to get that amount of time off. I'm not going to complain, but it was hard to get up this morning.

But I survived. Many of my students were still there (well, there's no vacations in lock up is there). I have to say, they were pretty eager to see me for art class. Which is nice.

I've been kind of preparing what we'd begin when I got back, and decided on optical illusions. I thought it would be the perfect tie in to so many art periods, styles, and techniques. So I'm ready.

Oh, forgot to tell you... one problem. Umm...no BUDGET. What? No budget?

So plans may change. I have a few supplies left over from the year I was gone, but mostly everything is in danger of being used up!! I tried to order things in the beginning of the year, but it was "complicated" (won't get into that right now, all you need to know is that people were supposed to put in the order and didn't....multiple times). So I made a huge order and put in back in November, and well, here we are... No New Supplies.

Frustration is setting in. I think I can hang on for a few more months making something out of not much.

In addition, I'm also in 3 different classrooms throughout the day. It's amazingly horrible. I've been told there'd be changes, but the new year has not brought a single one. Not even a storage space in one of the classrooms... WHAT THE HECK.

But-- a change is going to come, my friends. It has to come. I will make it come.

So survived is definitely the word for this Monday. I'm sure there will be a few more posts like this... But I hope not.

Sunday, January 02, 2011

NGA

It's only the second day of the year and I'm off to the museum. The National Gallery of Art is still showing the art of Archimboldo! I'm so excited. I've maybe seen 1 in my entire life. He does compositions of head that are composed of plants, animals and object. They're bizarre, but accurate. He was definitely ahead of his time, and artists after his time copied his strange and surreal visual representations.

It's in the final week, and then the whole exhibition is back off to Italy! So glad I get to close out my holiday with some art of inspiration! Pictures posted when I get back!!!

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Hello! 2011

Another decade has come and gone. I hadn't even thought about that until just now. 10 years ago I started out the beginning of this decade in New Mexico! In between I've been quite lucky to have some amazing travels and meet some pretty amazing people along the way.

I haven't been much of a blogger this year, I have to say. I think i was just too busy to even consider telling much of a story. This year was full of some amazing highs, though. Oh, I don't know, like getting married. I can't wait to see what the next 10 years will bring us. I hope that I can spend more of this coming year focusing on a variety of things. I aim to gain some balance, and live more day to day instead of dredging up the past, or getting to ahead of myself. It is more useful to focus on the day to day things, what's going on now.

Do I make resolutions? No, not really. They'd always end up being broken. The only thing that I can resolve to do is try to learn something new everyday. Try to make the most of my day, and live my life how I want to live it.

So I know, not too much wisdom going on. I just wish everyone out there to have a wonderful, healthy, happy, and peaceful NEW YEAR-- and NEW DECADE!!!