NCCArt

Dear NCCAE family,

It is with great sadness I write this letter. On Friday, June 30th I sent in my formal letter of resignation to Mr. Hansen, I will not be returning to NCCAE next year. This was not an easy decision to make, but I know it is the right one. There were a few events in my life that occurred back to back in the past few months that have led me to retire from the classroom. I have a unique opportunity to establish a new company, with a more flexible schedule, that will allow me to travel more frequently to Miami, where I am desperately needed.

I would like to thank all of you for making my experience at NCCAE a wonderfully memorable one. I will miss all of you. To the tenacious NCCAE faculty, I have truly enjoyed working with all of you. It has been a privilege to work with such a dedicated and focused staff, always open to new ideas and willing to work together to achieve the schools vision. To the wonderful NCCAE student body, please remember Matisse's' quote we learned this past year, "Creativity takes courage". So be courageous and ask questions, do the research and be as creative as you can be, and you will go far...I will miss your smiles, laughter, growls, stomping up the stairs, silliness, but most of all your hugs! To the NCCAE community, you are the glue that holds it all together. Your commitment to the school, is enviable. You are always there to help out and make the teachers and students school experience just SO much easier.

As a consummate arts integration advocate, I will continue to explore ways to work with teachers and students alike, to adopt, teach and learn through the arts, for all of you know, it is not just one way of teaching, but the only way. Please free free to contact me if you wish to bounce off arts integration ideas for your team/classroom, I am more than happy to help!

Please take complete advantage to recharge and get some well deserved rest and relaxation. Happy Summer!

With love,
Marielena Martinez

This is where I sign out!

More pictures of the show...what a great cast!!!

Sorry to have been MIA but this is what has kept my attention the past month or so. The collaborative musical production The Lion King, was amazing. So proud of my art club students...You rock!!!

5th grade created steampunk sculptures after learning about the industrial revolution. Thanks to all who donated to make this possible!

Hello there all! It has been a little while since I last posted. Hope everyone had a restful and joyous winter vacation. I wanted to show you some of the activities in the art room before the break...

Kinder and 1st grade were working on studying a variety of cultures, so we discovered how the Chinese celebrate unity and reunion with their festival of lantern every January. They printed beautiful blossoms, cut and assembled their own lanterns.

While the 2nd graders studied American native cultures in their classrooms, in art we integrated this Social studies standard by turning simple while t-shirts into authentic faux pelt vests with american native motif designs. Please ask your students what the steps were, they were very enthusiastic and they loved their vests!

Students studied Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi and his use of organic lines in all his architectural designs. The students explored the difference between public and private art. Since our big idea is still "Opportunity", the students discovered how Gaudi took the opportunity to use old broken tiles, ceramics and glass to create beautiful mosaic art.

Students cooperated to create our own mosaic wall. Each student created their own animal mosaic then added it to our "public wall". Students then filled in the spaces between mosaic pieces.

Please come by and enjoy!

NCCAE's Jasper Johns exhibit is now open.

For our lesson on the industrial revolution, the 5th grade students will be creating a steampunk art project. However we will need a lot of materials to get this project going...Pls clear out your junk drawers/garages and bring/send us any items that has been used in any mechanical/industrial objects.

Here is a list of items we are looking for (but not limited to):
-old keys
-small chains
-old game parts/pieces
-faux jewelry
-gears of any kind bike/watch/ electronics
-bolts/ washers
-wood/metal dowels
-copper piping and fittings
-wires of any kind
-buttons
-car parts
-old glasses
-old mechanical toys
-heavy duty foil
Basically anything from the hardware aisles, the older the better!

Anything you can donate will be greatly appreciated. I will place a bin in the work room so you or your teacher can drop off your steampunk donations!

Thank you so much for your cooperation!
Ms. Martinez

Celebrating our inalienable privilege and right as Americans to vote, our gallery is ready for the Jasper Jonhs exhibit. Opening next week...

Students created Matisse inspired work.
- K and 1st Studied Matisses work, focus on his use of shapes, lines and colors. Wax resist watercolors.
- 2nd and 3rd Took inspiration from his courage to continue working even after he was ill..."Paper paintings" or cutout collection.
-4th and 5th Passion for patterns, study of his "The of Purple Robe".

Our Mattise wall ready for our student's work...

Hello NCCAart fans! That Matthew came through and threw us all for a loop!
I was so excited on my last post to share and celebrate with all of you, our student’s amazing Spanish heritage month projects. Unfortunately our big fiesta was cancelled; my Spanish dancer dress still hangs in the materials closet… :(
The student’s work is up in the gallery, if any of you would like to come view it.

We closed out our COURAGE unit with a lesson on emotions, how artists use the elements to express and elicit emotions. They were introduced to Henri Matisse, French Fauve artist. Students were amazed by his bold use of colors, lines shapes, textures and patterns, thus understanding why he was called a “wild beast” or Fauve in French!
They were also touched by his tenacity and courage to continue working, even when he went completely blind. This is when traded his paintbrushes for a pair of scissors, and “painted” his famous paper paintings.

K-1st Grade explored bold shapes; colors and lines, through the use of wax resist and water colors.
2-3rd Grade created paper “paintings” on two different emotions, focusing on geometric and organic shapes, bold lines, colors and patterns.
4-5th Grade studied Matisse’s’ Lady with a Robe and painted their own version of it.

This week students are finishing up their projects and participating in their first class critique, where they discuss their work and that of their classmates according to the project rubric. I am continually amazed by their insights and ability to make connections.

Words of the week:
Fauve: Fauvism is the style of les Fauves (French for "the wild beasts"), a loose group of early twentieth-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism.
Color: An element of art made up of three properties: hue, value, and intensity.
Line: An element of art defined by a point moving in space. Line may be two-or three-dimensional, descriptive, implied, or abstract.
Shape: An element of art that is two-dimensional, flat, or limited to height and width. Geometric/organic
Matisse, Woman with a Robe 1937 Matisse, "The Thousand and One Nights," June 1950

Stay tuned to get a look at their fantastic work…

Our Spanish Heritage Celebration is here!!!

This week each grade explored a different country with Spanish Heritage. Students worked on their project ideas, to be put together this coming week.

*** Save the date for our Spanish Heritage Extravaganza***
Tuesday, October 4th from 5-7
- Student artwork
- Music
- Sample Latin American foods (catered by local restaurants)
- Piñatas
- Presentation of Bilingual play

Although Cleopatra is now "history", we continued working on our Egyptian projects.

Continuing with Courage as our enduring Idea, we discussed how it took courage for a group of people to be one of the first, to stop being hunters/gatherers, to settle and to create a magnificent civilization. Courage to create amazing pyramids, wall paintings, paper and their own writing called Hieroglyphs.

Art focus: Egyptian wall painting characteristics:
• Telling different stories and passing of time through story boxes.
• Larger the figure the more important they were.
• Use of intricate patterns.
• Hieroglyphs telling story depicted.
• Figures: face, arms, legs in profile, while shoulders and eye facing forward.
• Use of bright colors.

Kindergarten-2: Made handmade paper by recycling old newspapers, created Egyptian design and added it to their handmade paper.

3-5: Generated ideas for their Egyptian paintings refined their design for their final draft. Aged, and painted their Egyptian wall painting.

Enduring Idea: Courage

Words of the week:
Pattern: Repeat an element of art such as line, color, and shape or form.
Line: An element of art defined by a point moving in space. Line may be two-or three-dimensional, descriptive, implied, or abstract.

Ancient Egyptian art: The painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization of ancient Egypt in the lower Nile Valley from about 3000 BC to 30 AD. Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic.

NCCAE had a fantastic town hall meeting for our 4th and 5th graders today. Please discuss with your child all the amazing opportunities all our clubs have to offer, and since this is the NCCArt page...here goes my shameless plug...

If you are interested in art in any shape or form, than the NCCArt club is for you! Attached please find what they will need for the art audition. I am SUPER excited to get my team of super artists together.

I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Labor Day weekend!

Just a sneak peak on what's been happening in the NCCArt room...this past week...Ancient Egypt's Queen Cleopatra was in "da House". She showered our students with information about her culture and art, and even took time to teach them how to walk like "an Egyptian"... keep tuned to find out about their Egyptian projects.

"NCCAE 4.0! Courage, Opportunity, Integration, Love for the Arts!"

I’m taking our school motto as inspiration for my lessons this year. Every quarter we will be exploring one enduring Idea. In every lesson we will study this main idea from different angles and perspectives.

Courage is our first adventure.

This week we studied how it takes courage to be ourselves, but also to be united as one. Students created personalized name designs using bubble/block letters and added patterns to their design. Secondly the students colored their name designs with a monochromatic palette. Finally students placed their design where their color fell in the spectrum.

Words of the week:
Pattern: To repeat an line, shape, or form to create a design.
Monochromatic: The use of only one color to create a work of art.

Highlighted artist: Picasso’s “Le Gourmet”, 1901

We had a great first week...After the "Meet Ms. Martinez" video, students introduced themselves and shared something about themselves with the class. Arrival, dismissal and attention Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) were discussed.
In our second meeting, Manaphin, Phinican, and Eevee helped us discuss the art room vision: Attitude, Respect, Try your best!
The art rewards and consequenses.
Scholars discussed, drew and wrote about our art vision.
Scholars worked together to add their drawings to the SOARing in ART board. Our Art vision Door!

We are learning how to SOAR in ART!

Meet Ms Martinez

Get ready to SOAR in ART!

Meet Ms Martinez Meet Ms. Martinez as she embarks on her NCCAdventure!

Please scan the QR code to access my welcome letter.