Do you like the image above?? Then you are going to love Sarah Krajewski. Sarah is today's Everyday Art Room Interview. This lady is just getting started in her creative life. She has been a creative soul, but I have been watching over the last year as she is developing herself as an artist as well as an Art Teacher. Sarah was Art Teacher of the Year in 2018 for the state of Wisconsin. This lady has such good energy!
For a very current look at what is happening in Sarah's world, you are going to want to check out her Instagram @artroomglitterfairy. This woman is prolific with her IG posts. You are going to learn a lot about classroom management, creation, and process. It is also the place where she celebrates her personal Art making and that is the focus of today's podcast!
Beyond her IG account (and also in her profile to her IG account), you can see how very social Sarah is. Visit her website to learn more about her work and how you can get a work of Art created by Mrs. Karjewski. I am the proud owner of my own piece which is hanging on my #WelcomeWall (see the previous post)
Be sure to give a quick listen, and follow Sarah as she continues to develop herself as both an Art Teacher and Artist!
I am so excited to announce my involvement with a new Art Education Blogging Group called Art Ed Blogger Network. Each month we will be posting on a similar subject. I'm very excited about this post because it's going to allow me to celebrate the latest Artist soon to be in my #WelcomeWall.
Two years ago I made a commitment to myself to collect Artwork to display in my house. I wanted this art to be original pieces. I have created a uniformed size and I common color of blue, but my goal is to collect many different kinds of Art to display in my home. I call it the #WelcomeWall and have posted a bit more about the project here.
I have a piece that is coming my way in the mail and I'm so excited to celebrate the Artist who created the work. I think this Artist is one that we can all incorporate in our classrooms as a living, working Artist. I'm excited to share her work with you. Allow me to introduce you to Clare Youngs.
I first found Clare on Instagram posting her amazing collage work. I fell in love the textures of the papers, the color palette, and the energy of her characters. This find led me to her beautiful website where I learned that Clare also has several books and many that look quite interesting to an Art Education Teacher.
What is great about Clare Youngs is that you can learn a lot about this humble Artist with a couple social network searches. It was quite a find to run across Handmade Home YouTube Channel where Clare Youngs was interviewed. It makes her so real and it's always amazing to listen to someone talk about their passion, whatever it may be (video above).
Explore Clare Youngs Instagram and Website... You'll fall in love! I know I will be overjoyed when her artwork created for our family arrives... should be any day now. You better believe this project will bring joy to our house and my #WelcomeWall. Her work already is inspiring to me and my work so it will only be a short time until I bring that inspiration into my classroom as well. I love the paper created by her as well as the subject matter. I think Clare Youngs work would inspire many of us in the classroom and in our personal work.
Check out the whole list of participating blogs below to find out what each one of us wrote about in our first post as an Art Ed Blogging Network.
In 2015 I made a New Years Resolution to collect Art from Artist I admire (see previous posts). I created several small, 8X8 box frames and have been asking Artist to trade or to purchase I have been waiting to collect my next four works of Art to write a post about them, but now allow me to do so. I'm excited to show you the next four Artworks on my #WelcomeWall.
Katrina was a find on Instagram (@Katrina.berg), and boy, what a follow she is. Take a look at this Mom of many. She is living a most Artful life and loving her kids along the way. This Utah native was happy to work with me on this project. She was excited to make a connection with a Minnesotan because her kids happened to be learning about the 50 states at the time.
After finding her on Instagram, I started snooping around her website as well (Katrina Berg). I found out that she is a creator of some amazing products. You can get clothing, prints of amazing work, and buy original paintings as well. Yep, I needed one for my wall!!
I let my son choose this painting. Katrina has so many amazing images that I let my 10-year-old at the time, take a look and pick out a subject. He chose a Mixer. He said it reminds him of our time spent as a family in the kitchen. He loves to bake.
The wall continues to grow. I love my space, bringing in artwork from people I admire is important to me. I sometimes just go into that room to sit and admire the works collected thus far. These works of art are admired and loved by everyone who sees the #WelcomeWall.
In 2015 I made a New Years Resolution to collect Art from Artist I admire (see previous posts). I created several small, 8X8 box frames and have been asking Artist to trade or to purchase I have been waiting to collect my next four works of Art to write a post about them, but now allow me to do so. I'm excited to show you the next four Artworks on my #WelcomeWall.
This is not the first that I have shared about Lisa Arnold's on my blog. I first met Lisa in 2010 when I worked hard to earn money for an Artist in Residence. Lisa was my gal. She was local to Minnesota and her personality was amazing! I knew I needed her to come to my school. See below... this is a tiny portion of her many schools she has been in... That is me... circled.
Check out the many other places she has taught including Jamaica (click here). Here is a couple of early post about the mosaic visit as well. That was early in on my blogging so, they're a little light on content and pictures :) (Intro to Lisa) and (Instruction). I fell in love with Lisa's energy and projects. We had a blast together for the two weeks we worked on the project. We have kept up ever since.
With the welcome wall, Lisa requested a trade as well. If you are following me on Instagram, you might have seen this post a while back. This was the work I made for Lisa.
She, in turn, created this amazing mosaic for me (image below). Lisa has often explained... 'more is better'. She loves the action of a full image. She gave that to me in her little artwork created in beads.
Here you go guys... your next Artist in Residence is Lisa Arnolds. You may have to book ASAP because this lady is busy, but totally worth the wait. Follow her (@xolalisa) on social media via Instagram and become inspired!
In 2015 I made a New Years Resolution to collect Art from Artist I admire (see previous posts). I created several small, 8X8 box frames and have been asking Artist to trade or to purchase I have been waiting to collect my next four works of Art to write a post about them, but now allow me to do so. I'm excited to show you the next four Artworks on my #WelcomeWall.
As far as the #WelcomeWall goes, this is my oldest friend. Let me introduce you to Bridget Bruneau. Bridget and I attended The University of Wisconsin-Stout for our undergrad in Art Education. I always admired her work. In college, she created these amazing images of swimmers underwater. I have often thought of her work so I reached out to her for this project.
In her package she sent back to me, she included some postcards of her work. Beautiful work!
Bruneau shows her work at First Street Art Gallery in Menomonee Michigan. You can also connect with Bridget on Facebook. Or get your own print of her work by visiting FineArtAmerica page. You can see her images of swimmers and dancers. She creates so much movement in her work. I'm so proud to own a Bruneau original.
In 2015 I made a New Years Resolution to collect Art from Artist I admire (see previous posts). I created several small, 8X8 box frames and have been asking Artist to trade or to purchase I have been waiting to collect my next four works of Art to write a post about them, but now allow me to do so. I'm excited to show you the next four Artworks on my #WelcomeWall.
If you have been following this blog for the last couple of months, you know this Artist. Sue Davies has done the Art Teacher Swap with me for the past two years. She is not only a coworker of mine, but also I'm lucky enough to call her a friend. Sue is extremely talented. Much of the time her subject is animals. I knew that she does commissions, so I was excited to propose a trade with her. She excepted. Her crow hangs proudly on my #WelcomeWall now. I create a felted pig for her as a trade.
You must go to her page to see more of Sue Davies work. Read her Artist Statement and find out where you can see her work in person by clicking here. Look at some of her amazing prints by clicking here. You can (and should) also follow her on Instagram or friend request this lovely lady on Facebook.
You can also watch an Artist Statement and see my friend Sue in action. I admire Sue Davies so very much and am so proud to own one of her works.
I'm excited to update you on the #WelcomeWall. I explained in a previous post that the #WelcomeWall was my New Years Resolution. I have requested admired artist in my life to make a piece to add to the wall. Each artist is provided a wooden box and they create the art on. I have offered each partner a monetary trade or an art trade. I have had fun making art as well in this project.
So far I have received art from Steph Brooks @HipWaldorf. She is part of my #PLN on twitter. I have admired her work as she shared it on our #k12artchallenges, #k12artchats and on Instagram. I love the quality of her watercolors so I was thrilled with the very first piece I received in this project. I was able to meet Steph briefly at #NAEA16 but we didn't get a picture together. She seems as spirited as her artwork is. I love when you can read the energy of the artist personality in their work.
The second work that I received was from Tery Castrogiovanni, @TeryArtTeacher. Again, Tery is someone I have been introduced to on Twitter. All of these artists have amazing Instagram accounts that are worth a follow, click here for Tery's. I fell in love with her flowers long ago. She decorated a whole wall with flowers. I thought about doing somewhat of my own wall inspired by her work but instead, thought it would be better to have the artist herself create something to put on my wall. I think she was really the artist who got my brain working on the #WelcomeWall project. Tery has been really fun to do this project with because she was so active on social media creating and sharing her process. I adore how she wrapped the edges of her work with flowers too. It is so 'happy'... that's what I can say about this work. It's happy. Her package was a lot of fun to get as well because it was presented so sweetly with a beautiful handmade card, a homemade bag with her signature flowers on it, and the artwork was wrapped in beautiful colored tissue paper.
At the #NAEA16 I spent a lot of time with Don Masse. Don is best known for his blog, Shine Brite Zamorano, but is also an active member on twitter (@shinebrite71), and is an Instagram poster... and he publishes articles on a regular basis from Arts and Activity. This guy shares his love for art education. He and other #PLN members had the opportunity to meet several times over the 4 days and I enjoyed his company greatly. He's such a creative brain and funny person. I was thrilled to trade artwork with him at the conference. We started 'working' together a couple of years ago at the AOE conference where we co-presented about collaborations in the art room. Since then I have been able to watch not only his expert ideas in the classroom but his personal artwork. I'm so excited to have his work on my wall.
The forth artwork that I have received for the #WelcomeWall is admired, Tim Needles. Tim is a respected participant on social media and within the Art Ed community. His twitter account is lighting up all the time with creative messages (@timneedles), he has an amazing Instagram account and is best known (at least in social media) as the 'Vine Guy'. His Vines are amazing and really share his experiences in life. When I got Tim's artwork in the mail I was so pleased with the result. I loved the layers and knew it would be a perfect addition to the wall. A couple days later Tim sent the Vine that you see below. This is where I fell in love with this work. I ADORE process. to see the hidden messages below allowed me to have a deep connection with this work.
I sit in my front room all the time now. I admire the work that is hanging in the space and smile when I think of the participants who joined the project. My goal is to love everything that is displayed in my house. I want to have a connection to the decor and allow it to represent me and what my family really values. This wall screams the connections that I have made with amazing people over the last couple of years. It makes me smile every day and I can't thank my friends enough for contributing.
First, allow my family to wish you a very Happy New Year! Video below has the story, set, costume design, and characters created by my very own Mini Matisse. The whole family helped out with the voice over.
Did you see the awesomeness that Cassie Stephens posted recently to celebrate the upcoming New Years? Wow does she have her goals laid out there. I mean really... focused, clear and dreaming BIG! I knew there was a reason I loved that girl, well that's at least one reason.
In the past I have put goals out there for my professional goals, but not today. Today I want to share some goals that I have for my personal life rather than my professional. If you watched the video you saw that my number one New Years Resolution this year is to collect art from friends. I want to fill my home with art... art that I love, art from the people I love. I have been working hard at decorating my classroom with artwork that I love, but now... it's time for my home.
I'm going to start with this wall!
This is my front room. I never wanted a 'front room' but we have used it a bunch... playing games, chatting with friends, sometimes homework. See the feet on the wall... they are the Hahn's feet. I love that picture but my 8-year old's feet were newborn in this image. I need to switch it up.
Here's my plan. I spent the day creating 8 X 8 boxes. I had my husband show me how to use all the tools I needed to make these little gems... and I have a good start to my wall of art.
I plan to put out a personal invitation to create a mini work of art for my wall. I have a budget for the artist and/or will offer to create an art exchange. I was playing with the idea of a subject requirement but I chose to go with a color request. I want each artist to create the style, medium, the subject and the inspiration of their choice but I'm hoping that they would be able to put a little of the blue(ish) color to coordinate the front door in the same room. I have a Southern Blue door by Behr paint.
I'll send these wooden bases out to excepting artist via mail and hope to have them all back (and on the welcome wall) by the end of 2016.
I have two other happy goals for the new year. The first is a continuing documentation of our Hahn life. Our family lives away from us so to communicate the happenings of our household, I will be continuing the 5th year of Project 52. Project 52 is taking a picture (or two) every week and posting a little caption. I print these books off every 100 pages using Blurb, which allows you to take an album on Facebook and plop it into a book. I have quite the collection (seen below).
This is perfect for the images that I collect over the year and has taken over as a scrapbook. Way easier! I don't have something to document our 3D yearly moments such as movie tickets, notes, and good finds. I saw this amazing solution on The Idea Room. A time capsule for the year!! Great idea, right? I'll give this a try for 2016.
So yes, I plan to do great things in the classroom... you know that. But this year I wanted to resolve to do things I'm excited for, I mean I could put on the list that I need to do a better job of flossing (New Years Resolution for the past 10 years) or collect art. YEP!! I'll choose collecting art. Have fun picking your goals for the upcoming year!!
