Visitors Speak |
| Nice job Larry you do some great work with the kids!
Gord Vaughan
|
| Your website has been such a great help!!! I inherted the middle school
art program in Jan. & have used your website for lesson plans &
ideas. My students are a real mixed group & need to be buzy at all
times. We do a lot of hands on crafty projects.
Thanks a million, Adele
|
| Dear Mr. Prescott,
I am putting together a powerpoint presentation based on Elliot Eisner's
Jaye Ayres
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which
|
| Larry, I'm an Art Docent volunteer in an elementary school working
with 5th & 6th graders. I've just discovered your amazing website
and all the lessons and ideas. THANK YOU!
I also hope your personal work is being shown in galleries, especially in Ketchum/SunValley where I've spent a lot of time. Congratulations on having "the best job" in the world.
|
| Hello,
I have been searching the web for technology based projects and was
By the way, ALL the work is so beautiful! Thanks. Barbara DiSalvo Art Instructor Try the following link. |
| I really enjoyed looking at your class webpage...especially all your
wonderful student work. I am a third year middle school art teacher
from Greensburg, Pennsylvania and am always looking for some inspiring
lesson ideas. I absolutely love the Andy Goldsworthy project.
If you get a chance, check out my site at
I am curious as to how your schedule it set up. Do you have students daily, on a rotation, etc.? For a semester, year long? Great job,
|
| Hello,
This is my third year teaching art at a private middle school for girls. I've visited your web site for inspiration and ideas many times. the work your students produce is amazing. I would love to see more lesson plans in conjunction with the student art work. I also visited your blog where I learned about plum tv. How can I
Thank you for sharing all of your talent as an artist and a
all the best,
Marietta, Thanks for the encouraging words. I think middle school teachers need all the positive support we can receive. I am happy to read that my efforts have been of service. I was helped my many people when I started teaching middle school art 5 years ago...so I decided to put a lot of my ideas online for others to glean from. When I first started the school art web page, I had good intentions of putting full-blown lesson plans online for every project I developed. Well, as you can see that intention has faded. Time is the major restraint. I continue to add new student work but have let go of the idea of putting more lesson plans online for the next several years. I am also working on a masters degree in developing art curriculum. I will finish it next year and I suspect my teaching will take a different direction; hence, the new section "Rethinking Art Education" is under construction. To show videos from the internet to my students, I have linked my video output from the computer to two large TVs. I can then show whatever I pull up on the net to my students. Finally, I always share the link to the Incredible Art Department run by Judy Decker in Ohio. She was a major inspiration for me when I started this job and continues to inspire through her web site. http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/ Best wishes, Larry
|
| I was on your website and loved your Ancient Egypt Sarcophagus project.
I
want to do that project with my 6th grade class. This is my 3rd year teaching. Could you give me some words of advice as to how one would begin that project? I would really appreciate it! Thanks in advance! -Mable Ting I had the kids work in groups. They choose
a member to lie down on a large sheet of butcher paper and then traced
their outline. This determined the size of the sarcophagus.
Next, they looked through library books to get ideas for the cover design.
A great book to use is Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki. After the
initial drawing, they painted the work using tempera paint. When
they cut out the sarcophagus, they cut 2 layers. They began stapling
the edges while filling the layered paper with crumpled newspaper.
They continued stapling and filling until the process was complete.
|
| I am a 7th - 12th art teacher in Valencia, Spain. I really
like your
website. The work that your students produce is amazing. I was wondering if you could send me the lesson plan for the mosiac project. I am really interested in it and cannot tell how it was done... Jason Maddock
Jason, I had kids glue poster board together to make the ground for the mosaic. Next, kids mixed tempera paint to make the colors they needed. On colored construction paper, they painted full sheets of needed colors. I encouraged them to leave brush marks in the 12 X 18 inch color fields. Kids then drew on the poster board. They outlined the shapes that would require the different colors and then cut the painted construction papers into small "mosaic like" pieces. They then began the gluing process. A few weeks later, spending some of their lunch time, they completed the project. |
| Mr. Prescott,
I really enjoy your website, not just the great art and lessons, but
the
Karen Castro, art teacher Le Roy High Karen Castro
Go for it. I am glad to be of service. |
| Larry, My name is Diane Dixon and I am the art teacher at Manhattan
Beach Middle School, in Manhattan Beach, California. I was on-line searching
for a new self-portrait lesson for my 7th graders and saw your website.
I love the Cubists portraits. Can you send me the lesson plans for that
project?. I am putting on an art show this year based on self-portraits
and this lesson would work perfectly for it. Thank you for your time and
if I can help you with anything, let me know. Diane
Daine, this is one of those lessons that I have never written down. The lesson evolved from day to day during the project. It is a culmination of the portrait lesson I taught to the same kids in 6th grade, a final project self-portrait for 6th graders, and a basic shading cubism lesson used in 7th grade. http://mms.d321.k12.id.us/webart/html/student%20work/selfpor6.html http://mms.d321.k12.id.us/webart/html/student%20work/draw6por.html The cubism introduction lesson in 7th grade: http://mms.d321.k12.id.us/webart/html/student%20work/cubismin.htm Basically, I had the kids draw two self protraits...one
profile and the other frontal. I also had the kids draw an animal
of their choice with the idea of blending the animal into their own image.
Next, the kids cut the drawings apart and arranged the pieces in to a collage.
The arrangement was then colored using colored pencils.
|
| Dear Sir / Madam,
I just had the good fortune of coming across your website while looking for inspiration for my own art lessons in my school in Germany. Your students (and their teacher) did a great job! I am very impressed with the exellent results and the variety of works on your page. Greetings from Germany! Yours sincerely, Monika Niemann
|
| Greetings!
My name is Carrath and I am an art teacher visiting your website. I love the student examples. I was wondering if you could tell me how you did the quilt project. I'm particularly interested in the almost tie-dye or batik effect of the colors. Would you mind explaining the process? Thanks so much. C |
| I want to thank you for all of the hard work you put into creating
such a
great website. I am also a middle school art instructor and was surfing around looking for project ideas for a new class I am creating and was blown away by the quality of your students' work and of your site promoting their work. Way to go. Michael Smith
|
| AMAZING. Truly your sight is inspiring! I have been teaching
with in
similar style at a private school where I taught grades 8-12; however, I recently returned to public school. I teach at a relatively new middle school where my class sizes range from 30-32 students at this time. I have been trying to adjust my lessons and format my goals to the 9 week session versus a semester. I am also need to use a lot of technology in my lessons as per my district requirements. I hope you don't mind me showing your website on my white board. Incredible work from a master teacher!! If you have any concerns, suggestions or comments, my email is: tmays@forsyth.k12.ga.us and also artgirl48@hotmail.com Best wishes for a splendid year! Theresa Mays
|
| I just want to let you know your Art program & student work samples
are
awesome. Some obviously outstanding teaching is going on here. Apart from using many of the ideas with my own students, I will add a link to this page on my teacher resource page. Thanks for a great site! Regards
Year 7 Teacher
|
| Is there a way to fund out how the project was created "quilt
block project
6th grade"? If so could you please pass the lesson on. Thank you, M Volz Melissa, click here. |
| My name is Shelli Theriault and I am a visual arts teacher in Cheshire,
CT. I am teaching my 5th graders to use photoshop elements for an art lesson on Andy Warhol. I just happened upon your student work featuring mandalas (I Googled "photoshop elements student work" and up came your link). They are awesome! I was wondering if you get give me any tips on how you did the lesson. What were the original images? I'd love to use this lesson with my 6th graders. THANKS in advance! Shelli Theriault
Here is a student tutorial that I use for this
project. Images were found by the students surfing the net. Tutorial
|
| Hi,
Thanks for sharing your inspirational website with the rest of us out
here in syberland!
I have been teaching art for 19 years in Louisville, Ky and am continually amazed at what kids can do if we give them the opportunity. Thanks again,
|
| Hello,
Just wanted to say hello. I ran across your work website and was impressed with the student projects. I teach middle school art in Plano, TX, but was born in Rexburg and grew up in the Firth area. Don't ask me how I ended up here, but I am enjoying it. Keep up the great work. I like your photographs as well. I've spent a bit of time fishing in the Chester area. Ammon
|
| Hi,
I just wanted to write and say how lovely your student work and art department are!!!!! I teach grade 9 and this work is top rated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a nice day!!! Heather Walden
|
| Hello Mr. Prescott,
I have been looking at your web. site and I think it is great. I really enjoyed the Arcimboldo Composite Faces. I was wondering if you had lesson plans for this. I think my 7th graders would enjoy this project. Thanks,
Victor, I would be glad to send you the powerpoint presentation I use and the files that the kids use to create their faces. |
| Hi Mr. Prescott,
I am so impressed by your M.S. website! It is the best I've seen! I was an art teacher in a middle school and have been missing it a lot lately! Looking at your website makes me anxious to teach again (once my daughter is older). I am encouraged to see the variety of work that you are doing with the students. It looks as though your students are learning a lot and will never forget the times that they've had in your classes! Keep it up! (how many hours do you put in a week as a teacher???) :) artess79@yahoo.com
|
| Hello,
I love your website, it is so inspiring. I am a new art teacher and really love the projects you have. I am particularly interested int the hot air balloon project. Would you be able to send me instructions on how to set it up. How do you get the hot air in them and what is it you use? Your kite project is wonderful also, if you happen to have instructions for that I would also be very interested. If you have any other ideas you can send me they would be greatly
Maria
Maria, I went through my files to make copies of the
information about the kites and balloons. I could not find the info
about making the balloons so I did a search for tissue paper hot air balloons
and found a great site...better than my lost instruction sheet. The
link is http://www.explorium.org/tissue_balloons.htm
Also, after I made a copy of the kite instructions, I did a search for
tissue paper tetrahedron kites and found this site...
Best of luck. Larry
|
| Dear Mr. Prescott,
I am a 5th year middle school art teacher at Clarke Middle School here in Athens, GA. I found your Environmental/Andy Goldsworthy lesson on The Incredible Art Dept and think it is fantastic. Thank you for posting it!! With your permission, I am hoping to teach a modified version of your lesson in the next week or so. Please see my website http://www.clarke.k12.ga.us/do/teacherClassNavView?id=73117 for the Webquest, Powerpoint and worksheet I have designed for this project. Once again, we have not started this yet. Another question: I am trying to win some digital cameras for
my classroom through this competition:
Please feel free to decline. I will not be hurt. I just thought I would ask! Thanks so much for being such an inspiring art teacher! Laura Lee D'Huyvetter
|
| Cynthia, just received
your letter. I appreciate your comments. Middle school teachers can
always use some positives.
Like most teachers in the middle, I am more than happy to share ideas. Anything I can do to help, just let me know. In particular, the quilt block project was a spin off from the video Eric Carle, Picture Writer. I had used a lesson by Bunki Kramer (Los Cerreros Middle School??) doing collages like Eric Carle, but wanted something different. I had the kids paint colored tissue paper a la Eric Carle and then had them cut out and apply their paintings using traditional American quilt designs. The designs came from a coloring book of quilt designs. Also, the color value grid is best done by having kids work on one square at a time. The image just emerges. Some achieved good results by drawing small portions of the face and then coloring. Most kids who just had to draw the entire face first, lost momentum in the coloring process. Finally, I let the kids decide whether to use colored pencil or crayons. A combination of the two works well to get a good range of values. Try and find Bunki Kramer's site. I think you would really get some great inspiration from her kids work. She has also contributed quite a bit to the IAD. Are you a member of the teacherartexchange listserv? This service provides me a number of great ideas each week. Judy Decker of the IAD is a frequent contributor and a tireless advocate of art education. Best wishes, Larry
|
| I want to thank you for your wonderful art site! I am NOT an
art teacher, but this year I find myself teaching a 6th grade in an elementary
school setting. If the kids had gone to a middle school, they would
have a "real" art teacher, and I don't want to cheat them of art instruction,
just because they have only me. Your site has given me wonderful
ideas and I feel that my kids may not be getting the best from having me
instruct them in art, but hopefully by copying many of your lessons I am
at least exposing them to some art skills and basics that will help them
when they do get a trained art teacher next year.
Thanks for your generosity in sharing your ideas, lesson plans, resource
links, and wonderful student art samples!
|
| Hi Larry
I was directed to your website from a link on IAD. I think the work you do with your students is fantastic. I have just changed schools in my district from Elementary to Middle. I am going to start out with the Notan project. I have some technical questions if you could take a few moments and help me. How do the students glue down their pieces. Do you use thinned out white
I assume you don't have the students start gluing until all their pieces
are
Do you have your students make a sketch first or do they start cutting
Thanks for any advice you can give me.
Gina, thanks for the verbal support. I adapted the notan lesson from a lesson on negative shapes. I model the process as I introduce the project. I use a large piece of black paper and tape the pieces to my white board. All the while, talking out load, helping the kids understand the thought process...Metacognition. Also, I use the ideas found in the book Notan, ISBN 048626856X, a great design book. I was introduced to this book by a college design teacher who uses the ideas with her students. I encourage good line and shape..see mask essay http://mms.d321.k12.id.us/webart/html/student%20work/maskteach.html . Kids save their pieces in a posterboard portfolio which we construct the first few days of class. The portfolio is stored in the art room in cubbies that I have constructed over the last few years. This prevents the loss of the cut pieces. Kids don't make any preliminary sketches. I encourage a dialogue with the piece. Again, refer to the mask essay. We work on this for about 5 forty-five minute periods. Finally, kids do not glue anything down until the design is completely arranged and they are happy with the composition. They use regular white glue to adhere the cut pieces. Hope this helps, Larry
|
| I really like your site and am impressed with the work your students
are
doing. I am interested in trying the face casting. Can you tell me any details about how you did them or give me a site? Thanks, J Butler I have had so many requests for information about
this project that I am now putting the details about this project online.
If you need further clarification, don't hesitate to write. Face
Casting.
|
| Hi there. I was looking at your Chuck Close lesson on Incredible Art
Department. I would like to do this with my HS kids. We have done grid drawings before and many of the kids are familiar with Chuck Close. I am just curious about the transfer method in your lesson. Normally when I do grid projects, we use a smaller grid on the original photo and then enlarge it (1/2 inch becomes 1 inch, etc.) on the drawing paper to make it bigger. But your lesson calls for a 1/2 inch grid on the photo and the bigger drawing paper. How does that work? How does it work out of the grids are the same size but the paper is bigger than the drawing? I just want to make sure I understand this correctly before attempting it with my students. It looks like such a cool project and I am sure my kids would love it, so I don¹t want to mess it up by confusing the directions. Thanks for your help. Tina Grimes
Tina, have your kids draw a cross in the small square on the photocopy. This small square is now divided into 4 tiny sqaures. Each tiny sqaure then corresponds to a half inch square on the paper. So, one half-inch square on the photocopy becomes 4 half-inch squaes on the paper. Hope this helps. |
| Ancient Egyptain Sarcophagus
Loved this project. Our fifth graders study Egypt. Any more info on how these were created - what media? Thanks, fran Legman
This was a great project. The project requires
very few supplies and the kids loved it. First, the kids worked in
groups. They used rolled butcher paper to trace the outline of one in their
group. This then became the size of the "mummy." Kids then
researched Egyptian symbols and sarcophagus decoration. The Aliki
book, Mummies Made in Egypt, was a favorite among the kids. Next,
the kids designed the surface of the sarcophagus with pencil. Tempera
paint was used to add color. When the painting was complete, another
layer of paper was cut to fit on the back of the first paper. It
was then stapled, beginning at one end. Crumpled news papers were
stuffed in as the stapling process proceeded. Finally, a three dimensional
sarcophagus appears!
|
| Thanks for putting up more art work! You get your kids to do great
work.
Robin Philipbar
|
| Hey, those were really cool (the quiltblock projects)! I'm trying to
figure out what you made the quilts from....painted papers that the students
made? dyed papers (ie, coffee filters etc)...cuz it looks like some papers
were exactly alike which makes me think it was dyed thus more than one
that is like the other. Please inform me! Your site is terrific. when do
you have the time to dink with it? You have to address this attention
to me because we do not have personal email addresses. thanks:
Sincerely, from a crazed art teacher in KC,Missouri: Shelley Davidson Shelley,
Larry
|
| Nice work! I always enjoy visiting your website. Your students
can be
very proud of themselves and their teacher. Sandy ArtsEdNet |
| Larry, Your site is a treasure. It really shows what students
are capable of producing with a great teacher. Thank you for sharing.
Linda in OK ArtsEdNet |
| I loved this project (watercolor cities) and the students work is fantastic.
Can you share
any more of the lesson and how you developed the work? Thanks,
Caryn, Thanks for your compliment. I love to share ideas. Someday I hope to have every lesson plan online for all to glean from. Time is my only constraint. I am now looking forward to the coming of summer in which I will finish building my house, landscaping my yard, designing and installing landscapes as a business, beginning a digital imaging business, and being a dad. For the watercolor lesson, I spend time drawing overlapping shapes on the board and discussing the concept of depth through overlapping. Then I get kids thinking about what kind of future cities they would like to see. After a period or two of drawing, I have them outline the shapes with black crayon to unify their drawing. I then have them use white crayon over "white" areas as a resist to the watercolor. During painting, I model how to blend colors and how to lighten a wash. I stress "juicy" paint when using the watercolors. The "juiciness" becomes a sensory experience for many kids. Finally, I have kids color selected areas with crayon. I hope this helps. Larry
|
| Hello, there. I like your home page and I visit you often.
This is to announce that I have the "School Galleries" home page.
I would like to make a link to your web page.
I'd be interested to know what you think about the School Galleries
of our
With kind regards,
|
| Dear Mr. Prescott,
I am very pleased with the quality of work on your web site. I will
be
Judy Decker |
| Your website was an inspiration for me. I'm a beginning teacher (at
50)
and Andy Goldsworthy is one of the artists that inspires my personal work (glass and pottery). I'm definitely going to do that Goldsworthy lesson with my year 7's and 8's! Thank you. Regards
|
| I am a retired primary school teacher in England, now teaching
myself to do realistic drawing. I came across your school site and
am wondering how I can go about procuring the Richard Bird lessons and
book A guide to Perspective.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Villoo |
| I'm totally blown away and inspired by your student's art work!
How long have you been teaching? I will have a site up and running by next year. The Goldsworthy project was interesting, as I also admire his work, but olnly became aware of him about a month or so ago. I teach middle school art in Evans, Georgia, and would like to show
you our
Thanks, Tracy Fiebiger |
| Whoa, your an art teacher now, you were my history teacher. You
probably
don't remember me but I'm Stacy W. And I love history because you made it come alive. I was there for Sam K's edition of We Didn't Start The Fire And yes I still have it memorized. Fact is every time that song comes on the radio I think of sitting in your 3rd hour class thinking of a different variation of Billy Joel's, and I can't help but sing along well I've got to go. Seeya,
|
| My name is Ariel Sklar. I am a middle school art teacher in Baltimore
City.
First, I must say your student's artwork is fantastic! Second, I am curious how you created the quilt block lesson? I could not tell what medium was used and I found the pieces to be really beautiful. Could you please let me know the technique used? Thank you, Ariel Sklar |
| Nice site, Larry! Looking forward to seeing the lesson plans
for such
terrific student work. S Jahnle (artseducators) |
| You are amazing! What a gift you have to inspire students to
reach inside themselves and create such works of art. It's exciting
to watch the art bulletin board to see what new things the students at
Madison Middle School are creating. You not only inspire, but provide
them a way to display and share their talents with all of us at the school.
Thank you. Joyce D |
| Dear Mr. Prescott,
I am a 7th grade art teacher in a very large school district located in upstate New York, midway between Albany and Saratoga Springs. I just stumbled across your website and am very impressed with the beautiful student work that is displayed. This week I began a new semester with a new group of students and am working with the math teacher on a project focused on symmetry. I would like to introduce my students to radial designs in art while they are working on symmetrical designs in math. Your website is truly an inspiration. Kudos to the Madison Middle School Art Program! Sincerely, Diane Wheeler |