“Rocking It” to a New School Year

August 28, 2014August 28, 2014Leave a comment

This summer’s artventures bring new ideas into the art room. These ideas are going to expose our students to a wide variety of contemporary art being produced locally, regionally, nationally and internationally by emerging, mid-career and established artists. Introduce our students to artists who embraced their art education in elementary, middle school, high school or college, which as a result have encouraged them to pursue their passion – to create art. Also, to educate our students about the importance of connecting art education to other content areas through new programs such as our Artist in Residence Program and our 2nd Floor Gallery. These ideas will provide an avenue to consistently engage our students in learning both inside and outside the classroom.

One project that we will be implementing is called the 365 Artists 365 Days Project. This project is an online blog in which artists from across the globe are interviewed and introduce to its growing readership on a daily basis. The other project is called the Midwest Artist Studios (MAS) Project. This project is designed to connect a contemporary art studio practice with art education. The MAS Team went on a week-long road trip interviewing artists from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin. These visits were documented via photographs, audio and video. As a result from this trip, lesson plans will be created based on the artists’ work to be implemented into classroom instruction and educators having access to these artists via Skype or Google+.

Alongside these projects we continue to provide our students with a high school gallery internship at the Frank Juarez Gallery in Sheboygan.

Ceramics: Works in Progress

February 6, 2014Leave a comment

The Senior Art 2 and Art Foundations 4 students have been working on their ceramic project. The Senior Art 2 students are creating their very own version of Japanese vinyl toys, however, instead of vinyl they are using clay. The Art Foundations 4 students are creating teapots inspired by compound words.

Here are works in progress. Enjoy.

© 2013-2014 Sheboygan North High Art Department. All rights reserved.

© 2013-2014 Sheboygan North High Art Department. All rights reserved.© 2013-2014 Sheboygan North High Art Department. All rights reserved.

Art Students Awarded a Scholastic Art Gold Key

January 14, 2014January 14, 2014Leave a comment

Dive In Maggie C Scholastic Gold Key

Students Maggie C, grade 12, and Lauren H, grade 12, will be awarded a Scholastic Art Gold Key Award in February. A Gold Key Award is the highest honor given to a student for a work of art. These students will be recognized during the Scholastic Art Ceremony at the Milwaukee Art Museum on February 8 at 10:30am.

About Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have an impressive legacy dating back to 1923. Over the years, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have grown to become the longest-running, most prestigious program for creative teens in the U.S., and the nation’s largest source of scholarships for creative young artists and writers. A noteworthy roster of past winners includes Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote, Richard Avedon, Robert Redford, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King and John Updike.

The process begins across the country as young artists and writers in grades 7-12 submit work in 28 categories of art and writing to a network of regional affiliates who present award ceremonies and exhibits for selected works on a local level. Gold Keys, the highest awards, are then submitted from each region for national adjudication. By luminaries in the visual and literary arts, some of whom are past award recipients. National Gold and Silver Medal winning students and their teachers receive national recognition, and are invited to attend the exhibit in New York and award ceremony at Carnegie Hall.

In the last five years alone, students submitted nearly 900,000 original works of art and writing. During that period, more than 60 top art institutes and colleges have partnered with the Awards to make $40 million in scholarships and financial aid available to regional and national Scholastic Award winners.

Mikado Backdrop Coming to an End

October 4, 2013Leave a comment

These past three weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement and trying to get all Drawing/Painting I students to contribute to this unique experience of painting the backdrop for North’s upcoming play, “Mikado”. We had our obstacles as you can see from the photos below.

Students were asked to break into groups or work alone to come up with a design that best represented this play (based on an initial sketch from Mr. Johnson). To work on an idea when it is not yours can be a challenge and the effort can be minimal. However, these students welcomed the opportunity to work on a large-scale painting and worked well in a group setting.

This marks our 4th project working with Mr. Johnson.

Here are some photos documenting the process.

© 2013 Sheboygan North High Art Dept. All rights reserved.

Introducing the 2013-2014 NHS Student/Parent Handbook Front Cover Design

April 18, 2013Leave a comment

Mr. Thennes, NHS Assistant Principal, approached Mr. Juarez to see if he was interested in having an art student design the front cover of next school year’s handbook. Without hesitation Mr. Juarez said, “yes”. The question was which student to approach with this challenge.

Mr. Juarez approached junior Lauren H to see if she would be interested in this project knowing that she only had a couple of weeks to design something. She jumped on the artportunity. He knew he wanted a junior to design the cover so that the student can see his/her design in action.

Lauren stated that “I knew that I wanted to incorporate the elements of water in the design, but the idea developed as the design was being created. Mr. Juarez gave me a couple critiques that helped me to develop a better overall artwork. I have never had a critique before as a student. It was a very motivating process and it helped me to create a design I am proud of”.

Image above: Lauren’s design took several drafts to reach a mutually agreed upon design.