Welcome Back From Winter Break

Welcome Back From Winter Break!  I was in Spain and France and had a great time explore Barcelona, Figueres, Bilbao, and Paris over the break.  It was great to visit creative locations such as Antoni Gaudí's famous Park Güell in Barcelona seen above.  The food and culture is tremendous, one of my favorite Spanish foods is churros y chocolate seen below.

I also visited Salvador Dalí's house and museum in Figueres which was like visiting the mind of the artist himself with surrealistic room designs where the artist lived and worked later in his life and were he was buried.

It also houses one of his coolest pieces, a room seen below which is a portrait of actress Mae West when viewed from the right perspective.

I also had the chance to visit the amazing Guggenheim Bilbao Museum designed by architect Frank Gehry which also houses Jeff Koons iconic 'Puppy' sculpture.

Welcome to 2014!

Welcome back everyone (for at least a day anyhow) but there are only 14 school days left of the quarter and in some cases the class! Keeping that in mind, here's a project we will be working on next week that you should consider before we begin:



THE WHITE HOUSE FILM FESTIVAL- due January 29, 2014
films must be 3 minutes or less

THE PRESIDENT HAS AN ASSIGNMENT FOR YOU
Our schools are more high-tech than ever. There are laptops in nearly every classroom. You can take an online course on Japanese -- and then video chat with a kid from Japan. You can learn about geometry through an app on your iPad. So, what does it all mean?
We’re looking for videos that highlight the power of technology in schools.
Your film should address at least one of the following themes:

1. How you currently use technology in your classroom or school.
2. The role technology will play in education in the future.

Here are some topics that you may want to consider as idea starters when deciding what your video could be.
How does technology help with:

• Personalized Learning
• Online Learning
• Global Collaboration
• Student Creativity
• Making and Tinkering
• Project Based Learning
• Critical Thinking

Consider showing the following in your video.
These are examples only:

• The use of technology as a creation tool
• The use of technology in new and innovative ways
• The use of technology to access high quality online content and resources

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a terrific vacation and holiday and are refreshed for the Spring! Remember the quarter ends this week and the AP Studio art test is right around the corner so we are going to pick up right where we left off with a guest coming into Wednesday's mandatory Art Honor Society meeting followed-up with our field trip out East to the Longhouse on Friday

Monday Morning Manifesto

I'd like to welcome everyone back to school with an inspirational Monday morning manifesto from Holstee design which reflects so many of the things I believe in in a well designed typographic poster.

"Life is short. Live your dream and share your passion!"

I came across the manifesto on one of my favorite creative blogs Brain Pickings which is well worth checking out along with Drawn, Illustration Friday, and Design Taxi. I recommend taking a look, they are all terrific ways to stay artistically positive and keep up with cool art going on around the world.