A year ago, the North High Art Department decided to implement a written final to replace the standard comprehensive final. We felt that a written final would provide us with a more accurate assessment of student knowledge, application and understanding of art concepts & techniques.
On January 14, 2012, North High School Art Department hosted its 1st Annual Art Teacher Idea Exchange hosted by the Wisconsin Art Education Association and local WAEA members, Carol Rokicki of North/South High School and Brian Sommersberger of Random Lake Elementary School worked together along with Lee Amborn of Black River Falls Middle School to develop an open invitation to K-12 art educators in the North East Region, which included local colleges and private schools. Lee Amborn has been doing the Annual Art Teacher’s Idea Exchange in his district for the last 28 years.
Carol and Brian thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for art teachers to get together and exchange ideas/lesson plans and instructional thoughts. Those who participated were told to bring numerous copies of one lesson plan plus visual samples. Teachers were also asked to bring one “teacher tip” to share. Participants were excited about having the opportunity to see different ideas and approaches to art instruction. About 10 art educators attended the 1st Annual Art Teacher’s Idea Exchange from various grade levels and districts. The 2nd Annual Art Teacher Annual Idea Exchange is already being planned for next year.
Brian Sommersberger is currently serving as WAEA’s North East Regional Vice-President. Carol Rokicki is currently serving as WAEA’s Secondary Representative.
Nova Czarnecki is a local Milwaukee artist who came to talk to the Advanced 3D students for part of the Artist Lecture Series here at North High School. Her work, which is mostly oil paintings of people, all represent symbolism or stories of different sorts. Some of her painting topics include bird’s, women, orb’s of light, the woods, and her experiences or travels. Czarnecki also paints her fears in order to work through them to the point she no longer is afraid of them.
Yesterday, our 3rd visiting artist was Melissa Dorn Richards, an oil painter from Milwaukee. She finds ideas and inspiration from everyday objects that we often overlook on a daily basis or take for granted. Her application, limited use of color and chosen imagery delivers a powerful visual impact on what truly is seen as “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
Melissa talking about one of her paintings
Her Artist Statement:
Sometimes it is an object that catches my eye; at other times, it is a pattern. I take that object or pattern out of context, removing the extraneous, and re-present it to you to again consider and examine. I am intent on capturing and focusing your attention on that “thing” that has caught my eye by using bold color and employing lines or shapes to control and add impact.
It is the exploration of color and shape that I am most interested in. Organic shapes are the most appealing to me because they are often slightly asymmetrical, which works within the context of how I use line. The line, or outline, in my work is never perfect, the thickness of the line varies as it follows the shape creating an even more asymmetrical form.
There is rarely angst in my work, more likely you’ll find a veiled sense of humor and a certain pleasure in their simplicity.
Visit her at www.melissadornrichards.com to learn more about Melissa and to see more work.
– NHS Art Department
On November 12, Kathryn E. Martin visited North High Art Department to participate in its Artist Lecture Series.
“I observe benal objects and through close examination, find inspiration and artistic expression. Concentrating on formal characteristics I make marks, leave alterations, and change inherent functions. The process I incorporate uses and re-uses the whole of its parts through dissection, interpretation, repetition, and assemblage”.
– Kathryn E. Martin
Sculptor, Kathryn E. Martin visit NHS Art Department
To view the video from this presentation visit us at www.nhsart.com
Visit Kathryn at www.kathrynemartin.com
On Tuesday, October 19, Eriks Johnson kicked off the NHS’s Artist Lecture Series with a box full of art, a rolled canvas, and a laptop. Eriks is an artist and a teacher. He currently teaches at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, has taught for AWE (Artist Working in Education) and participated in IN:SITE, a resource for temporary public art in Milwaukee and Milwaukee County.
Eriks Johnson
Artist Statement
Currently my interests have been to restrict some of the variables in my paintings. Primarily I have been reducing the amount of color that I use, this emphasizes other aspects of the painting and I think makes more apparent the decisions in the mark making procedures and therefore the thought process of the painting. Patterns: organic, inorganic, clumsy, sometimes graceful are the main motif of the work. It is important that it is obvious that they are painted by hand. I want the viewer to know that a human being is unavoidably behind the work.
I have also been more conscientious about the use of materials. Instead of making them more lavish I have been paring them down, using more recycled, found or inherited materials in the paintings. I like to think that I have become a hunter/gatherer when it comes to getting my paints and surfaces. Primarily I aim to avoid materials that we take for granted as making art, what I mean by that is materials that, as soon as they are used we know art is being made. For the time being I am also avoiding stretching the paintings. Larger stretched canvases are cumbersome, I cannot take them camping, the edges are hard, and they take up more space. I like to sit in my paintings while I work on them.
Objects from non-western, non-industrialized societies have become a primary source of inspiration. Specifically, living in America, has made me interested in cultures that are indigenous to this area and whom the land influenced all aspects of culture, from lifestyle, to the language, to what we would call art and spirituality as well. I envy the sense of connection I feel that exists in those works and that I feel for those works. Art and life are not separated. To me, traditional representational painting, being a representation, in a framed square with the use of perspective, in a museum seems at times to just create a longer and longer tube through which one observes the world.
The first goal of my work is to feel a connection from making them. The concentration and relative freedom of the decision-making process are very appealing to me. Primarily I work intuitively with a few parameters in mind before I start. I try to balance the constant and repetition of a pattern against the variations and incidental aspects that allow it to grow turn into various forms. When I am painting I remember the rivers I have kayaked, the birds I have seen and the trees I have hid behind when hunting deer. The more beautiful the pieces turn out the happier I am with them. When someone else finds them beautiful I am happy as well.
The Artist Lecture Series is an in-school program that invites local and regional visual artists to share with the art classes about their journey as artists. Topics that are discussed are such as but not limited to: education, discipline, determination, time management., conservation of materials, and accountability.
©2010-2011 All images copyrighted by Mr. Frank Juarez. All rights reserved.
We are about 97% finished with the AIDA banners. The only thing that is needed are the addition of text and minor finishing touches. Working on this project was not an easy task for this group of art students working with different personalities and various degrees of work ethic and not to mention motivation. Overall, the banners are turning out great. I cannot wait to unveil them.
submitted by: Mr. Juarez
Everyone is almost done with the banners. Its tough staying on task now that its been a couple weeks but all of the students are doing a great job. The four banners are just getting some finishing touches and we will be all finished up. Its exciting thinking about how far we’ve come and how cool the banners will look hanging as the backdrop for the play.
Submitted by: Sarah B.
We have finished drawing the entire design and have started painting. It’s really going pretty good. We have started on the skin tone, and the other shade of brown on the type. Of course gold, the gold it really a really cool color, all shiny and what not, but the gold is oil based, which means that it dose NOT come off you hands like acrylic. We are doing good on progress and will finish on time if not earlier. This is going to turn out amazing. We have and awesome group and every one works well together.
submitted by: Annya E.
Hey, do you wonder what’s new with Thee Egyptian Ladies? Well so far, we’ve traced the drawing onto the canvas, and are preparing the paint. Now the thought of just looking at the image and drawing it onto the canvas was a bit challenging, so we made a grid to help us effectively scale the egyptian female. The result was magnificant, and now our next step is painting. So until next time, best of luck to us!
Work in progress
Submitted by: Minah L
nhsartdept.com 
