2017 LIASCD Conference: Engaging Creativity With STEAM

I'm excited about having an opportunity to present on Engaging Creativity With STEAM at the 2017 LIASCD Conference.  Above is the handout from the presentation with some great resources and an overview of the topics being covered.  Below are some live links to some of the resources:

Books:

Make, Learn, Succeed: Building a Culture of Creativity in Your School

By Mark Gura, Published by ISTE

The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity

By George Couros, Published by Dave Burgess Consulting

STEAM Kids: 50+ STEAM Hands-On Projects for Kids

By Anne Carey, Published by Left Brain Craft Brain Place

Events:

• World MakerFaire (Queens)
• Eastern Long Island Mini Makerfaire (Port Jefferson)
• Deauville Gardens West School Maker Faire (Copiague)
• SLIME (Garden City)

Makerspaces/Hackerspaces:

Long Island

• SBU Innovation Lab
• Launch Pad LI

NYC

• NYSCI
• The Makery
• Fat Cat FABLAB NYC
• Dazzling Discoveries
• Pioneer Works
• Hack Manhattan
• Staten Island Makerspace

Studio Art: Shanti Peace Poster Contest

In Studio Art we are working on creating designs for the 2017 Shantil Peace Poster contest/  Each student should create a 8"x10' poster for the contest, the theme is PEACE AND NATURE and you are free to use quotes from people such as Gandhi and/or Martin Luther King if you wish. We will begin by creating thumbnails and I'll discuss your concepts with you and give you suggestions then we will work in mixed media to create the poster in landscape view.  Each grade level has prizes and finalists may be considered for inclusion in the 2018 Shanti Calendar.  The poster above was created by Ilysa from AP Art class for this year's competition and here's a link to the some winning Smithtown designs from past years: 2011 Peace Poster.  The final poster design will be due on Wednesday and we will critique the results in class.

AP Art: Young Arts

October's extra credit assignment for AP Art class is to create and submit art work for the Young Arts contest. There are a number of categories and in the video above you can see some of the winning work from a previous year.  The contest comes with a $10,000 scholorshio and a number of other perks.

Painting: Plein Air Watercolor Painting

In Painting class this week we will be learning the basics of Plein Air (Outdoor) Watercolor Painting. Each day we will try a new technique and critique the work next week.

Digital Media: What's Your Sentence

In Digital Media well have been talking about the work of author Dan Pink and using his concept of "What's Your Sentence?" to create part of our short animated film.  Step one is to think about yourself in the distant future and imagine something you want to have done by then- once you arrive at that idea write it in sentence form as if you've already done it.

We also watched his TED talk which was animated by the RSA shown below and discuss what motivates us as people.  Write down something that you think would help motivate you to do your best.  We'll take some of this information and apply it to our class this year.

Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.
After we create a digital version of our sentences on Photoshop and share it we will learn how to animate them to create a video to share our dreams with the world.

Studio Art: Illustration Friday- Jazz

In Studio Art well work on this week's Illustration Friday, the theme is Jazz and it will be due on Monday.  I'll also be collecting and grading your final Zentangle name page from you sketchbook. Above is my example, Stan Getz, have a great holiday!

Extra Credit: September

This month's Extra Credit is to create and register a work into the Celebrate St.James contest. The basic information can be found on the poster above and you can click the link to register.  The contest is open for all of September and will left your lowest grade of the quarter up a letter grade.  The book Images of America: St. James by Geoffrey K. Fleming might be a great resource to use, it's available at the library and the local bookstores.

AP Art: Art From Poetry

Our first in class assignment of the year will focus on taking a note of inspiration from poetry and translating it visually to art.  There are famous examples such as The Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens which was inspired from Pablo Picasso's blue period painting shown above, the poem was then used as an inspiration for David Hockney's series of work on the Blue Guitar some of which is depicted below created a Beta loop.

You're challenge is to choose a poem and use it as an inspiration point for a piece.  It can be a line, a feeling, or the whole poem whatever works for you and it does not need to be a literal illustration, use your creativity and inventiveness to create the piece in any media.  I suggest beginning your search with one of these poetry websites but if you are unsure of a direction speak to me and I'll give you some personal suggestions that I think you might like:

• Poetry Foundation
• Poets.org
• Poetry Out Loud
• Library of Congress Poetry Archive

Painting: David Hockney Portraits

In Painting class we are finish our self portraits today and we are going to learn about artist David Hockney and look at his recent Portraits.  Hockney created a series of portraits using the same chair and background with a series of friends and acquaintances, well look at some of Hockney's ideas about painting and how his work evolved over the years.

We'll learn about some of the concerns of painting a full body portrait and look at the basics of anatomy.  Then we will create a full body portrait painting that will be due Friday next week.

Digital Media: Dot Day and Augmented Reality

We will start Digital Media class today learning about the basics of Augmented Reality and how it works along with it's enormous potential.  Most students have experienced it while playing Pokemon Go so well touch on that interaction.

Excited to be invited Long Island's 1st #Mewtwo raid today- being part of #PokemonGo's Beta test is a teachable moment in my #media class! pic.twitter.com/WBjISVrfdZ

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) September 15, 2017

I'll also talk a little about Beta Testing and how I'll be part of Pokemon's beta test for the first Mewtwo invitation only raid later on this afternoon.  After we understand a bit about what it is we will create an augmented reality dot using the Quiver app to celebrate Dot Day.  Above are a few examples of students and their augmented reality dots from class!

Parent Teacher Night 2017

Welcome to art room 161 this classroom blog is used for all our assignments and is a great reference for due dates, study guides, extra credit, and keeping track of what's going on in class.  Here's some of our ongoing projects that we'll be working on in all Mr. Needles classes:

Our "Going Global" project with the Japan Society & student exchange

SKYPE in the classroom and Google Hangouts with professionals and alumni

PBS Digital Innovators program

College and alumni visits 

Studio in Art:
Google Art Project- http://www.googleartproject.com/
Illustration Friday- http://illustrationfriday.com/


Digital Media:
IMDB- http://www.imdb.com/
You Tube- http://www.youtube.com/user/TimNeedles
Vine: https://vine.co/v/bt9Qbx5XBM0
Short & Sweet NYC-http://www.shortandsweetnyc.com/author/tim-needles/

Painting:
Illustration Friday- http://illustrationfriday.com/
You Tube- http://www.youtube.com/user/TimNeedles



AP Studio Art:
Wiki-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Placement_Studio_Art
College Board-http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_studioart.html
Artnet- http://www.artnet.com/?gclid=CKW4_bj4m7ICFYFo4Aod61UAag
Drawn- http://blog.drawn.ca/

#Needlesclass Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/needlesclass/?hl=en
JJ Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/jjcommunity/?hl=en
College Board-http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_studioart.html




National Art Honor Society & National Media Art Honor Society:

Meets every Wednesday in Room 161

Volunteering at the Hampton's Film Festival on October 6-7

Building our Safe Halloween program

Our fall field trip to New York City and our spring trip to the Hampton's

Guest speakers & alumni visits

Contests:
Young Arts- http://www.youngarts.org/
LI Best- http://www.heckscher.org/
Scholastic- http://www.artandwriting.org/
Shanti- http://www.shantifund.org/

Digital Media: Coding

This week we will begin learning the basics of coding using Code.org.  Were beginning with the basics but the concept can lead to really cool technology such as the sand table featured below.  Follow the step by step instructions to complete the 20 levels and make sure your computer coding is completed by Friday at the start of class. You can click the class link below to begin:

Period 2- YMLQHC   

Period 4- BMDFNX

Studio Art: Zentangle Basics

In Studio Art this week we will be learning about the Zentangle drawing technique.  We'll start with the basics and learn a few step by step together then you'll get a chance to choose others freely or create your own.

Here's a third pattern well learn which is a bit more complex but interesting and includes a use of positive and negative space.

Here's a fourth pattern well learn which is a bit more complex but interesting and includes a use of positive and negative space.

And here's the final (and most difficult) Zentangle pattern to learn, it's a bit complex but give it a try and lets see how you do!

A full page of zentangle drawing will be due at later and should include the two styles we learn in class (shown above are some examples) and any others you want to draw.  Below is an demonstration I made for students last year which shows the next step in the process, we'll draw our name and zentangle around it on the first page of our sketchbooks! We'll Zentangle the negative space around a contour drawing of a word, person or object.

Digital Media: Creating A Self Portrait in Photoshop

In Digital Media class we are learning the basic of Photoshop by creating a creative self portrait with green screen using various Photoshop tools.  Below you can see the original image and above is an example of what we are going to do in class by replacing the chroma key green with another image. The final self portrait that will also feature your first name and any other edits or creative techiniques you want to add will be due at the end of class on Wednesday.  The final image should have the following (this is also how it will be graded via the rubric):

• Basic photo adjustments
• Your first name (large enough to read from a distance)
• Creative background (you can use the green screen swap or add over it)
• 8"x8" square saved as a JPEG
• titled DM2 or DM4 + your last name (depending on your Digital Media class period)

To submit the final image you will need to drag it into your google drive and share it with me using my email: tneedles@smithtown.k12.ny.us

Painting: Illustration Friday

In Painting class well spend each Friday in our first month stretching our creativity by interpreting the theme for Illustration Friday.  This week's theme is recipe so think of an interesting and unique way to illustrate it.  This week you will be free to use any media you wish but in future weeks we'll use specific media.  Above is a quick example I created in class today.

First Day of School 2017

Welcome to the First Day of School 2017! I'm Mr. Needles and this is our class blog, this year I'm teaching:

• Digital Media
• Painting AP Studio Art
• Film and Video
• Studio Art

Today and tomorrow we'll be going over some of the basic and the class projects and expectations but we are going to begin each class today but creating!