Back to School for Teachers

In Michigan its back-to-school for many art teachers as we attend the Michigan Art Education Association's summer workshops at Western Michigan U in Kalamazoo next week. I'm looking forward to a few days of art making with friends. This year I'm trying two new media: photo silkscreen and glass blowing. I recently discovered all the equipment for silkscreen in my cavernous storage closet at school and hope to do some projects with my students this coming school year. Glass blowing is purely for myself - something I've always been interested in, but never had the opportunity to try. Its certainly not a middle school activity!

For the silkscreen class I'll be combining the images shown here to make a two color print. These are pics I took last winter as I watched one house after another fall to the great recession. I wonder about the families and lives that have been destroyed by the greed of others. Processing these thoughts and fears through art has always been my way. It is so insignificant in the face of such troubles.

These early explorations in printmaking eventually led to a series of  house paintings in watercolor. Same ideas, different medium. It has been and is an unsettled time. Making art settles me, but doesn't do much for addressing the larger environmental and societal problems we face.

Shrieking Clown and Grilled Cheese at the Art Institute of Chicago

My daughter and I took a trip on the train to Chicago this week. We each chose an activity. Mine was a visit to the Art Institute. My daughter, the whale lover, chose the Shedd Aquarium. We decided to do the art first and save the 'fun stuff' for the second day.

We started, while energy was high, with a tour of the new contemporary art wing. My daughter was a good sport, for awhile, until we got to the shrieking clown video piece. That sent her over the edge. Time for lunch!

Fortified with grilled cheese and french fries we made our way through the modern galleries. And here I watched my daughter, no art lover, come alive. She loved the landscapes and paintings that 'told stories.' She recognized Picasso's "The Old Guitarist" and told me all about his Blue Period - hurrah for her wonderful art teacher, Mrs. Lampen!

I was amazed at this landscape by Piet Mondrian from 1916. Clearly on a track to abstraction. I loved looking at the actual paint surface, something you can never see in reproductions. Because I grew up near Chicago, I had the opportunity to take many school trips to the museum. My own students have not had this experience. We do not have the funds or parental resources even to go to our local art museum.Our day at the museum over, we took our tired feet to the hotel where we rested up just long enough to gain the energy and appetite to head out for a great meal at an Italian restaurant. Tomorrow - Beluga whales at the Shedd.