I Hung Artwork All Morning

At the school I work out we start out with hands on art. I think it's pretty important that they learn the rules of art, then learn when and how to break those rules. I teach Art Media Techniques and Color and Design Theory first semester.

Next semester the 1st year students get their computers, and learn the print programs. I teach Illustration and Design and Layout at this time.

When they are in second year they get into web, 3D models and a little bit of Flash for animation. Flash is pretty much passing away for web, but is still used for animation. It is then they get an associates degree. I skip teaching in 2nd year.

Then when the students are in third year they have a lot of classes they need to get a BFA. Classes sort of unrelated to design, but essential to get their degree. They also have my classes. I teach an advanced Design and Layout and Portfolio Development courses. In those classes we work on refining their portfolios and campaigns for companies and nonprofit organizations.

All morning I was working on hanging an exercise that first year worked on.
Each student got one rectangle, and a crazy technique out of a bag. Example: Create the image out of junk, paint on tissue paper, and so on. They have to use that technique, but add to it if they so desire. Meaning they can add paint, or anything else to the junk that they get. 

This is the image I took in Toadstool park with Mario Bros. added.

 

Here's how the students did:

A few close up:

Acrylic paint on Pumice and torn paper collage

Ink and the next one got found objects. They used kitty litter and painted on top of it.

This is the image I took in Crawford, Nebraska with Mario Bros. added.

Here's how the students did. I know Luigi's face doesn't line up. Oh and the girl in the pink car, ya that one didn't get a good grade.

A few close up.

Tissue paper, and collage with words

 

Watercolor in using dots, and colored pencil on a clear Gesso surface.

I happen to like the Toadstool Park one better. Every year I try something different. One year it was a Native American dancer and a Indian (from India) dancer, another year it was a sky diver and a parachute, another year it was a jelly fish and jelly on toast and so on. It's kind of neat to see what they come up with.

Ponderosa Ranch

The first place we stayed at, while on vacation was in a little cabin by Fort Robinson on Ponderosa Ranch. It's in Crawford, Nebraska. It was in the middle of no where.

We got there, and there were horses, pigs, chickens and sheep around a little wood cabin. The boys were in awe. Daddy checked in, and I had trouble keeping the boys in the car. They wanted to roam like the rest of the animals.

The owner came out introduced herself and said, "The boys are free to get out and run around. The sheep are tame." Out of the car they went.

Soon it was tag time between two small boys and the owners sheep.

Daddy was told where our cabin was. He was warned that there was no lock on the door, but that no one comes there.

He drove up to a little house that was white with green trim. We were there. We went into the house that was wide open. Everything looked lived in. We didn't care. Daddy had to go potty, so he did just that.

I looked around some more. I saw a check on a dresser for a larger sum. I looked out the window and saw a cabin in the back that was brown with white and green trim. I put two and two together and realized we were in the wrong place. Here the boys were running around someone's house and Daddy was locked in their bathroom. I said, "I think we're in the wrong place!"

Daddy called the cabin owners and found out we were in fact in the wrong place!

Off to our cabin we went.

It had the things we needed, but did not look lived in. The boys immediately took claim of which bunk bed they wanted.

Daddy wandered outside. Our view was amazing! It was then he realized he left his maps and paper inside the wrong house! He had to go in and claim his papers before the owner(s) got home.

I envisioned the owners of the wrong house coming home and doing God only knows what to my husband. I had no clue who lived there. You could say that I've watched way too many 48 Hours episodes.

He came home safely. Then I felt free to laugh about us going into the wrong place to stay.

The ranch was indeed beautiful! They had everything we needed. If you do go to stay somewhere in the middle of no where make sure you stop for food. Daddy told me, "We can just go to the closest town." Finding food was a hard thing to do. For once in my life I was hoping for a McDonald's just to get a grilled Southwestern Salad. It seemed like the few places to eat were pretty greasy. I'm just not used to deep fried anything, and cook mostly in olive oil. We're even used to having veggies with our breakfast. We finally found a place; to stock up. Lucky for us we had 2 refrigerators, a microwave, a stove, a coffee pot and a toaster in our cabin.

We did a lot of hiking around Ponderosa Ranch.

The boys picked wild flowers for me to put in my hair. Isaak wanted to keep adding more and more flowers.

The boys loved spotting deer, turkey, horses, cows and more animals. Remember we are city folks. All this was new for them.

We had fun walking all over the ranch. There was just endless grassy hills.

It seemed like we were on Little House on the Prairie. We stayed there for two nights. It was so pretty!