9/2012
HELLO!  Welcome back from your wonderful summers!  

Most of  your children have started school.  My little school will start this week- on the 12th.  The classes and schedule have been updated throughout the summer on the blog- but here it is in brief, to make sure there are no mixups:

Tuesday:  10:45-  NEW Class time for the youngest students!  The class is in formation and hopefully will fill by the 18th ( next week).  This class is for 3 to 4 year olds approximately.  Very wonderful class.  Painting in all sizes, on the floor and walls, and learning the same color mixing skills as learned by the older students.  Clay and collage work.  All age appropriate.  Dance at the end to loosen up and relax.  Students in this class NEVER have a problem staying the hour  once they get used to it.   Please email me to sign up for this right away so it can start.  We have TWO definite students.  Need 3.

Tuesday 3:30

8 and 9 year olds (approximately again). Some returning.  All serious, but with different areas of interest.  Open to exploring new ones.  The class emphasizes growth, without competition, (except with the student him or her self).  

I am expecting to be blown away- by these as by all the students.

*THIS CLASS IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW STUDENTS- (posted Sept 29). Sign up for next semester!

Wednesday: 3:30

5 and 6 year olds. NEED a third.  (Will start on the 12th however).  One returning student and one new one.  We will be doing a lot of painting, and a lot of clay work ( PROMISED to the returning student!)

PLEASE find students for this wonderful class!

Thursday: 3:45

6-7 year olds ( approximately).   Students will all be starting together- in color mixing, first in tempera and then moving into acrylic and?  (whatever moves us).  Assemblage, collage.  Clay. I am expecting a lot of energy and discovery here.

THIS CLASS IS NOW FULL.   WILL CONSIDER ONE NEW STUDENT.   

As many of you know- I am at Westbeth.  Call or email for the apartment number if you do not have it.   

Most have sent in a deposit of $50.  For those-the balance will be due- $50. +15 for supplies, for the month of Sept.  It is due by the first day of class. All payments will be expected the first week of the month this year.  

For those signing up now- you MUST do that by email in advance, and the tuition is $100 plus 15 per calendar month.  But the commitment is for the semester.

Please come prepared to fill out a rolodex card with all your contact info.  Parents or sitters should be prepared to stay the first day at least, unless you can arrange with others to be responsible for your child if needed. 

I do not allow drop-ins.  Sorry.  

Parents do not participate in the class work or dancing, but there is a sitting area, separated only by a curtain. I always provide a snack for the parents who wait, and for the children after their work.

Smocks are used.  Best to mark them, and leave them here. 

Still open to having adult classes -( drawing- prerequisite for painting)- in the mornings Wed. and Thurs. mornings -Tues or Thursday evenings.  Please let me know if this is of interest for  you and a couple of friends and we will open a class!  Prices are listed further down on the blog.  Or email me.  joanroberts909@gmail.com

Classes start on the 11th- next week!  Sign up now if you have not, by emailing Joan at joanroberts909@gmail.com.

Drop-ins are not permitted, so do sign up.  A semester commitment is required, for the good of all.

Class schedules have been updated:  just scroll through the photos of the student exhibit.

See you soon!  Joan

It is mid July and I am in Maine relaxing with friends.  However, I check my email regularly, so do write if you are interested in the classes, listed after the wonderful work from the end of year student exhibit.  Doing some kayaking and loving it.  Wish for all some down-time with friends and family.  Joan

  

STUDENT EXHIBIT 2012

Great success!  The work was extraordinary, as usual.  The show was hung in the Community Room at Westbeth- the first time.  I used to hang it in my apartment and studio, but the school has gotten too large.  We ate strawberry shortcake ( yes that is what that was- not pita bread) looked at the art, adults mingled, grandparents oggled, we all listened to Noah on the piano, and students ran around the courtyard.  I wasn't sure it would get done ( 9 to 1 is NOT enough time to hang a show) but it did and all was down by 5. 

Keep scrolling down for information about Fall classes, the school in general, and my art educational philosophies: the posts run from most recent to least.  I will be posting photos of the show here, adding a few at a time.  Thanks for looking, and any comments on the show, (you now can), and thank you wonderful students for your remarkable work.  Joan

                                                                       Coming In!

                                                            Ava and her Wall (6 yrs)

Nicco's Wall ( 7)

                                                Noah and his Value (ink wash) and Line Drawing (8)

   

                        Continuous Line and Value Drawings from Observation- Noah and Buster (8)
                                                          (some close ups coming)

                                   Julian and shows his grandmother his Wall and sculptures

                                                                       Proud dad 

                                                          One of Izzy's collages (6 yrs)

                                                                  Violet's Wall (5yrs)

Noahs (8 yrs) Continuous Line drawing of my friend Ruth's sculpture.  Taking the photo to show her this weekend.  Actually taking all three of the wonderful drawings the students did of her "Ondine". 

                                                                Alexander's (8yrs) "Ondine"

                                                                 Buster's (8 yrs) "Ondine
                                                  (These are going to make Ruth smile! )

                                                    "Black Dry Paintings"- 7 year olds                                                  

                                  (top, Julian.  Bottom left, Tessa.  Bottom Right, Cayla)
At this age children in my classes seem to split a bit between those who want to work representationally, and those who think more abstractly. I encourage both.  In an attempt to have the more abstract thinkers feel comfortable with drawing- that is primarily seen as a representational, linear art form- I gave an assignment to do "Black Dry Paintings".  The children were given dry media, in sticks, and told to not leave any white, and to fill the page. Usually I shy away from formal constraints but I was trying to make them see drawing in a more painterly fashion.  The results, you can see, were astounding.

(Julian, top; Cayla, bottom)

                                     Caylas "Wall", Nicco (left) and Tessas (right) Black Dry Paintings

                                                                    Izzyy's (6) spot

                                                                  Giselles Wall (3 yrs)

                                                     Giselles Portrait of her Sister Tessa

Violet's (5) Wall

 Buster's Continuous Line Portraits of 1. Himself  and 2.  Noah  (8 yrs)

Buster's continuous line drawing of my dog Cookie- sleeping. (8)

                                            Buster's continuous line drawing of Alexander

                                              Julian's Mixed Media Paintings, Collages (7)

                                                                    Tessa's (7) Shell

Tessa's Area (7)

                                              Maeves (6) Mural Painting behind Stroller

                                   Noah's(8) Continuous Line Drawing of a miniature Eiffel tower

Alexander's (8) Charcoal Value Drawings

Alexander's Continuous Line Drawings: Flower, and Self-Portrait in Studio

                                            Nicco's (7) Observation Painting of Flowers

                                                                 Our Entertainment

                                                             Maeve's and Noah's Parents

                                                   Maeve(6)' and Charlotte(7)'s Walls

                                                                       Maeves Column

                                                                        Charlottes Wall

                                      Proud Artists and Good Friends  Maeve (6) and Charlotte (7)

LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!  NEW CLASSES FORMING FOR THE FALL!!!

Well, it is time to put up the paints, get rid of the clay, have our year end exhibit- June 16, Saturday, 1 to 3 in the Community Room at Westbeth-55 Bethune St between Washington and the Westside Highway. All are welcome to see the great work!!!!!

In Fall 2012, the classes will run from Tuesday through Thursday.  I am available to set up classes throughout the day, into early evening for adolescents and adults.

Fall Semester:  Sept 11- Jan. 31
Spring Semester: Feb. 4- June 21 ( last class actually june 13, but semester includes student exhibit)

Keep scrolling through to see wonderful work from the children, and thoughts from the teacher on her art education methods.

I want to add something to my last post.  ( Please go to "older post" after this one- if you do not see it.  If you are new, keep doing that and you will get more information about the classes.  Sorry- not perfect layout-yet).
 Sometimes I will suggest your child, or you, look at the work of an adult artist.  Sometimes I will show that work to the students.  This is not the same thing as teaching a style, and asking the children to utilize that style.
Why do I do it?
1.To give the child confidence.  That I have read his or her work- on a formal level.  And show them that it is shared.
2. To introduce a formal concept further.  Such as Alexander Calders use of line drawing, and the way that was taken further in wire.  This is a concrete example of how line is used 2 and then 3 dimensionally.
3. Like all of us, children respond to sensitive well executed work- they can read it.  Exposure is good.  Mimicry is not.
4. When I ask you, not your child,  to look at adult work, it is to show where your child may be formally.
There is a tendency to look at adult work more objectively, with more distance, than the work of children.  If similarities are found, a childs decisions can be seen- like the adults-  to be formal; philosophical (yes), and artistic.  expressions of who they are and how they think.