FYI- Trouble with Grading Software

Our new county-wide software (PowerSchool) for grading has been inaccessible most of last week and this week as repairs and adjustments are made at the district level. Although this new software is exciting and will be wonderful for teachers and parents once it is online, the bugs are still being worked out of this new system.
Please know that, though no new grades can be posted in the online gradebook, grades are still being documented and will be entered into the system once the data storage is reliable. This may result in a delay of progress reports, so please be aware!

Thank you for your patience; I'm sure practicing mine! :)

Week 8... Art studies in depth

1st and 2nd periods Ceramics classes do not have an IW due this week, as their Throwing on the Wheel investigation was due last week. Students began this week by researching Glazing. We now have several bisque-fired pieces ready to glaze, so before we begin the process, students will become acquainted with the History and How-To's of glazing. After this week, I hope our classes have glazed their Slab Texture Tiles, Coil Coasters, Pinch Pot Rattles, and even their Clay Leaves. I am excited to see how the first finished pieces turn out! The finished IW on Glazing is Due Mon (10/4).


3rd period Art 3/4/AP class worked on the Seminar Reading Project (see previous week's description of the project task and goals). After focusing last week on brainstorming and investigating ideas then beginning on one section of their work (either typography and layout or realistic drawings), students will spend this week pulling the project together to make a beautiful, meaningful work of art based on their Seminar books. Once finished, students typed a 2-3 paragraph Artist Statement to explain the piece. One student remarked last week, "It's amazing how may more details I'm noticing in the book now. Its cool how art can help me understand my book better!" Yay for interdisciplinary connections and reinforcing important ideas across the curriculum; it really does work! IWs this week should be focused in the Seminar Book project; hearty investigations of the book, ideas, and a well-done critique should all be present and are due Monday (10/4).

4th period Photo class worked on quite a few tasks again this week. They continued rotating in the darkroom to learn basic darkroom printing techniques in order to make Photograms, completed one Visual Analysis of a Photo, and copied important vocab into their IWs from a list provided. Important information on: Use of Enlargers, mixing the Chemistry in the Darkroom, and Black and White printing was covered. Notes should've been taken during Mulloy's demo, as instructed, to remind students later of the timing and process for when they work in the darkroom alone. At the same time, students are also photographing the ABC's (26 photos total, 1 of each letter) which are due Monday (10/4).

6th period Art 2 students spent the week studying and practicing portrait drawing. Tuesday was a computer lab day to do research for the IW, and the rest of the week was spent creating their projects. After getting their own photos taken, students will create Expressive Self-Portraits using an Intaglio printmaking method. Students will create the images by scratching their portrait into a clear acrylic 'plate' which will then be inked and run through a printing press. The resulting portraits should be quite Expressive, bold, gestural and hopefully fun to create! An IW on  Käthe Kollwitz and Intaglio Printmaking is due Tues (10/5).

Week 7... Seminar Books, Photograms, and Coils

1st and 2nd periods Ceramics classes created coil vases this week. Due Monday (9/20) were 5 photos of ceramics seen outside of the classroom. Students could show me camera phone pics, post to Facebook, or print out the pics. A demonstration on how to throw on the potter's wheel later in the week began the rotation of students onto our 4 potter's wheels to experience throwing. Each week, students will rotate onto the 4 wheels and hopefully create some great pottery while learning a fun technique! Students concentrated this week, howeer, on creating a solid coil construction which was: 20 coils high, included spirals, and was water tight. The different shapes and approaches have been really interesting to see in creation! Students do not have a new IW this week, as it is TURN IN WEEK for workbooks!

3rd period Art 3/4/AP class worked on the Seminar Reading Project. After investigating their seminar book by creating a summary and list of important themes, symbols, and objects from the story, students were asked to bring in 2 photos or 2 of the actual objects from their lists to draw. After making sketches and observing details, students will create a 6x9 realistic drawing of each of their objects. Students will then choose a passage or two from the book mentioning those objects and use their skills with typography to incorporate the text from the passage into the artwork. Students may propose a similar idea, such as creating a sculptural piece instead of a 2-D piece, but proposal must be made to Mrs. Mulloy before deviating from the established assignment! Due Monday (9/20) was an IW on the history of and relationship between Literature and Art. There is no new IW this week other than for the Seminar Reading project! All other IWs are now overdue and will be graded this week!

4th period Photography students learned about Photograms early in the week by doing research, then learned in the darkroom  how to create their own Photograms. Due Monday (9/20) were a Rule of Thirds IW and 10 Rule of Thirds Photos: One set of 5 centered, one set on the Rule of Thirds. Learning and practicing basic black and white printing skills in the darkroom, students gained valuable experience in traditional photography this week. Working chemical solutions, dilutions, While we were rotating in the darkroom, students also completed a Visual Analysis of a photograph of their choice, copied important photo vocab into their workbooks, and began their next Photo shoot Assignment: Photograph the ABCs, 26 photos due Tuesday, October 5.


6th period Art 2 students finished up their Summer Reading Projects at the beginning of the week. After finishing the artwork, students created Artist's Statements to accompany their art work in an exhibit around the school. Our hope is that other students will not only be able to admire the creative talent of our art students, but also reinforce the major ideas and themes of the Seminar and Summer Reading books we read. Students then began an Expressive Portrait project. They will create portraits of themselves based on photos then altered to be in a more Expressive style.

POP! Extra credit*

You will earn 2 extra credit points added to your lowest grade (not to exceed 100 pts) if you do all of the following by Sunday 9/19, 11:59pm:

Post a link to my Website: mrsmulloy.blogspot.com to your Facebook wall with a positive comment, then tag me, print it, or text me a picture to show me you did it! I must have your documentation by the cut-off time above!
Don't have Facebook? Propose another idea to Mrs. Mulloy by Friday (9/17)!


*As mentioned in class, POP extra credit is only available by checking this website regularly. POP extra credit is not announced in class and is an incentive to use this site to reinforce and enhance my curriculum.

Week 6... in the Mix

1st and 2nd periods Ceramics had an IW on rattle design and history due Monday 9/13. This week students began learning about throwing on the wheel, including a demonstration DVD by The Clay Lady, online research, and a teacher demo. Students will begin to, after this week's intro, rotate daily on the wheel; each student spending a few days experiencing and experimenting with the equipment and process over the semester. Hopefully by the end of the semester we'll actually be throwing pots! Students also made a clay leaf impression piece, using the slab method and a fresh leaf to create a beautiful and functional piece of pottery. After slabs were rolled, students collected fresh leaves from outside and pressed them into the top of the clay, creating a beautiful surface texture and reinforcing the idea of interesting surface design in addition to the importance form in pottery. Homework this week was to take 5 photos of pottery they see outside school (at stores, people's homes, etc). The 5 photos are due Monday (9/20).

3rd period Art 3/4/AP students finished up their choice projects and IWs with critiques early in the week, then began to brainstorm and investigate for their Seminar Reading Art project. After investigating their seminar book by creating a summary and list of important themes, symbols, and objects from the story, students were asked to bring in 2 photos or 2 of the actual objects from their lists to draw. After making sketches and observing details, students will create a 6x9 realistic drawing of each of their objects. Students will then choose a passage or two from the book mentioning those objects and use their skills with typography to incorporate the text from the passage into the artwork. Students may propose a similar idea, such as creating a sculptural piece instead of a 2-D piece, but proposal must be made to Mrs. Mulloy before deviating from the established assignment! Students should create an IW this week on the history of and relationship between Literature and Art, due Monday (9/20).

4th period Photo students had an IW on Camera Basics & Exposure and their 2 photos due Monday, 9/13. Students spent this week learning about different time periods and genres of photography through watching the Adventure of Photography DVD and taking notes about important events, figures, and ideas in Photography. Students also began investigating the Rule of Thirds and Composition in Photography, for which the IW is due Mon (9/20), as are 10 pics: 5 images using a symmetrical, centered composition, then 5 identical pics instead using the Rule of Thirds to compose them.

6th period Art 2 students finished working on their Summer/Seminar Reading book projects this week. They were asked last week to bring in 2 objects or photographs from their list to draw. After students completed the two 6x9 reaistic pencil drawings, they chose passages from the book and applied their knowledge of typography to paint a beautiful arrangement of words to combine with their drawn images on large paper. Projects should be completed by Friday (9/17) and are due Tuesday (9/21). For this week's IW assignment, students should research Expressive Portraits (vs Realistic portraits) in preparation for their next project. They should've already turned in a headshot photograph of themselves to use in this project in Week 4! Expressive Portrait IWs are due Tuesday (9/21).

Week 5... Busy as a Hive!

*Progress Reports go home Friday 9/9!*
Although this week was shortened by Labor day on Monday, students have been busy learning and creating in the art room this week! Mrs. Mulloy was chaperoning a STARS leadership team on Wednesday out of school, but students had a lot going on with their research and art making! Submissions for the Hamilton Place Bus design contest have been scanned in and will be submitted this week! I'll keep you posted if any Eagle Artists make the cut, and I'm working on getting our online gallery updated as well!!

1st and 2nd periods Ceramics had a History of Ceramics and Pottery investigation due Tues (9/7). This week students worked diligently creating their own ceramic rattles this week. After creating designs in their sketchbooks and investigating the history of rattles in different cultures and their use up to now with infants, students got their hands dirty! Although our shortened 55 minute periods are tough for accomplishing much ceramic work, we are learning to work quickly while having enough time to clean up before the bell rings and get to the next class (usually at the other end of the building). We are also learning a lot about the role of humidity, temperature, and trying to keep our clay wet enough to work! Chemistry is alive in the art room, as are pop quizzes! Students' rattles and investigations (3-4 pages, as always) due Thursday (9/9)!

3rd period Art 3/4/AP should have already turned in a bus design and IW last week! My students looked a lot like college art students this week; each working on their own choice projects! Creating 3-4 page investigations on their ideas, students are executing interesting works of art, from traditional charcoal still-life drawings to tissue-paper embroidered canvases! Projects and investigations, including a self-critique ( as always) are due Friday (9/10)!

4th period Photography had 7 Elements of Art photos and an IW due Tues (9/7). This week students began to learn about Camera Basics and Exposure in Photography. After a podcast series, videos, and online research time, students created a 3-4 page investigation on the topic. Heavy in new vocabulary, this week was full of talk about apertures, shutter speeds, ISOs, depth of field, stops of light, and ranges of values. In addition to all the vocab and notes, they need to use a camera with adjustable settings to take multiple photos manipulating the light, focus, and depth of field just by changing the camera's settings. They should submit 2 digi files or prints: one exposed automatically, and one showing an identical image but with manipulated exposure (blurred focus from long shutter speed, shallow depth of field from larger aperture, etc) due Monday (9/13)!

6th period Art 2 students were busy creating the 2 realistic drawings (yes, they can learn to draw realistically, no matter what!) they will use in their Summer reading/ Seminar book inspired artwork. After summarizing their book in 2 paragraphs, students were asked to brainstorm important ideas, themes, symbols, and objects from their books. Students then created small sketches of each object or symbol. (All of this work was done in the IW and should be part of a 3-4 page investigation on the Summer reading book and project!) An additional homework IW (3-4 page investigation, 50/50 images and text, with MLS sources, as always!) on Art and Literature is due Tuesday (9/14)! They were then asked to bring in 2 objects or photographs from their list to draw (the most accurate realistic drawings are done form OBSERVATION, not memory). After students complete the drawings, they will choose passages from the book to and use their knowledge of typography to paint a beautiful arrangement of words to combine next week with their drawn images on large paper. I am SO excited to see how the works of art turn out, and I hope this project will reinforce the students' interest in or knowledge of their Summer Reading/Seminar books, as well as the important relationship between Art and Literature!