Anne Baruth instructor: Middle School ART

The start of my wonderful full time art teaching career - and encouragement to persevere, trust and excel … 🕊💕

I taught my students to draw from real life, not to trace. This is how they learned to draw what they see, not what they think they see: by looking at the object more than they looked at their paper and getting the detail, detail, detail. It is how I learn to draw. This video adds credence to the things I believe.

There may be a time for tracing, perhaps in commercial endeavors, but it is important for the artist to learn draw from real life without the enormous shortcut of tracing or training wheels of grids... It trains the eye, the mind, the heart, and hand in important, exquisitely beautiful, complex and intelligent ways.

Every year we had an art show. It took many years of importuning, but finally, instead of being an extra to the music concerts (hardly anyone went through our extensive displays, and everyone had to be very quiet in the main lobby near the auditorium), we were able to have our own ART NIGHT!!!

We had displays, art activities in the art room (more displays there as well), guest artists, a scavenger hunt for young ones (items in student artwork), professional art people to give a couple awards, I’d make a 15ish minute slide show of students at work throughout the year, Philip would perform live classical guitar through the sound system or even strolling, free high quality Reynebeau Cookies made professionally by a former principal, student tour guides and greeters …

The center wide hallway would be clogged as hundreds of art viewers crowded in and wandered out to the other hallways and main lobby: art was displayed throughout the large school. Hundreds - maybe even a thousand - people would show up. People dressed nicely for our glorious art openings!

Tables for sculptures had black paper tops and carefully pleated Mylar skirts … about 15 tables and 14 or 15 large bulletin boards including 2 large display boxes, yards and yards and yards of hallway cork boards.

It was grand fun. Guests filled in their names and comments if they wanted to in our art night guest book …

Nights to remember!

Students at work:
https://fb.watch/zIkyXH3Pdc/?

Some pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/100057358395073/posts/846119433976662/?

Video of art:
https://youtu.be/JXn3MXMbRlQ?si=ni375nqh61bxKcCv

Invitation:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154800811093732&set=a.10154789753903732&type=3

Feedback:
https://youtu.be/nIf2RRmSViM?si=a-uWbUHXJPqCN99j

More pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/100057358395073/posts/671452434776697/?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=846119433976662&id=100057358395073

Official summaries:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=672136314708309&set=a.569485044973437&type=3

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=672136334708307&set=a.569485044973437&type=3

… a great teacher is a great artist.

This was one of my college art history professors. What an amazing person; what an incredible insight into art, education, and the creative process in children:

Drawing Conclusions Making marks—scratching in the sand, carving into a branch, or marking stone with a charred stick—is a primal human activity. Since prehistory we have used drawing to visualize, explore, refine, and communicate ideas, from the practical to the purely expressive. Drawing helps us understand what ...

Links that encourage thought, education, imagination, and art - see comments:

Some of these quotes and concepts are noteworthy …

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Former student …

From a few years ago … a grandfather who appreciated the art program. Insightful comments:

ART NIGHT INTERVIEW 2017 A grandfather expresses his appreciation for the work I've been blessed to do with students .... enormously grateful for his words!