"Only One You" Collaborative Mural

The SMS Artists recently completed our school collaborative this year inspired by the book, "Only One You," by Linda Kranz.   Each student created a unique fish design after reading the story in which the artist uses painted rocks to create her artwork. All students grades K-5 were able to participate in creating this under the sea scene! 

Artsonia!

Happy 2018-2019 School Year!  I am so excited to announce that this year I will be launching Artsonia, a digital art portfolio for our upper elementary students (grades 3-5) https://www.artsonia.com. Notices have gone home about this exciting new platform and I cannot wait to share student artwork with you in this digital way!  These notices do contain a code needing to be entered for your student's work to be shared so if you have not had a chance to log on, please do so!   Feel free to contact me kdow@sau16.org for any questions you may have. 

Art Fest 2018

A heartfelt thank you to all of the families who attended our Art Fest last week!  The students loved showing you all around the exhibit and pointing out their special work of art.  There are over 600 works of art featured in this show and some collaborative pieces as well (including my fantastic dress the kiddos helped design for me)!  The majority of the show will stay up on display through the Grand Luncheon on June 4th so if you haven't had a chance to come see the work, hopefully you will see it then!  After that event, the work will be coming down and going into the student's portfolios so that they can bring home all of their great treasures home to you!  Thank you for supporting the arts at S.M.S!

3rd Annual ArtFest Next Thursday!

Good Day SMS Art Supporters!  May is in full swing and it feels like the year has gone by in a flash. The art studio here at SMS has been buzzing with projects as we wrap up the school year with our annual art show!  This year's Maker Fest and Art Fest will take place on Thursday, May 17th from 5:30-7:00 PM and during the school day on Friday, May 18th.  This is our big art event which showcases all the artistic efforts of our K-5 SMS students.  Each child will have an artwork on display during the event and the two-dimensional work will be on display through the Grand Luncheon in June.  This truly is the kiddos work at its finest and showcases a variety of mediums from painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and more.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding this event: kdow@sau16.org.  Hope to see you on May 17th!

National Art Education Convention 2018

Seattle, Washington is a place to add to anyone's bucket list! I recently had the amazing opportunity to visit for the 2018 NAEA (National Art Education Association) convention! The conference is held every year in a different city across the country and gives art educators the opportunity to learn and grow from others in the field of art whether it be practicing artists or other educators.  With over a 1,000 session options, my days were packed with studio workshops, assessment strategies, adaptive arts and general curriculum enhancements.  It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but I also spent some time exploring this amazing city.  There is so much to do and see: The Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum is a must do as well as the tourist favorite, The Seattle Space Needle and Pike Public Market.  As an educator, I feel incredibly blessed to be able to have had this opportunity to grow my craft. 

Youth Art Month 2018

To celebrate Youth Art Month, the Exeter Arts Committee will be showcasing artworks from students in and around our school district throughout the month of March. This show will be on display at the Exeter Town Hall (across from the gazebo) in the second floor gallery. The gallery will be open for viewing every Saturday and Sunday during the month of March from 12-4 PM.  A wonderful way to spend an afternoon being inspired by beautiful student work! This year our school will be featured on the right side wall panels next to the windows. 

Zentangle Flowers with Grade 4

Ask any fourth grader about what project they have been working on in Art and they would tell you in great length about their Zentangle flower!  In fact, this project has been all consuming since September!  Students first learned about the art of Zentangling, or sometimes known as purposeful doodling, in creating designs to calm and inspire.  Over the course of the next few weeks, students created flowers which encompassed these ideas.  With Zentanging, pencils are not used and the artist truly creates spontaneous designs organically.  Once their flower was filled with various Zentangles, students set to work to create a tinted background selecting a color and creating the tint scale of that color using white.  Students showed great perseverance and artistic growth in these pieces!

Name Creatures with Grade 2

Second graders have been practicing their line skills in the creation of a creature! Using their name, we followed a series of steps to make a reflection of that name which we then designed using various line designs. Students worked hard to follow the many procedural steps and used a variety of media to create these unique creatures,! Can you spot the artist's name? 

Photography with Grade 5

Fifth graders have been learning about the elements of digital photography.  For the past few weeks, we have done some "field work" investigations into our backyard SMS garden and trails!  Students have been working in pairs with various cameras (Canon and GE) to try and capture interesting compositions.  Now that the "field work" is coming to a close, students will investigate their images further using their Chromebooks and Pixlr (a free digital editing system) to edit and enhance their photos.  These photos below are unedited first editions: 

Monochromatic Self-Portraits

Here are our self-portraits working together to make a beautiful rainbow!  This is still a growing two murals as we are now having faculty and staff assist in adding their portraits to our walls!  Such gorgeous results!  

Welcome to the 2017-18 School Year!

Greetings from the Art Room!
  I cannot believe how fast the summer flew by and how much the kiddos have changed in such a short amount of time!  I hope you found your summer to be full of fun and relaxation and are ready for the new school year! 😊  In the art room, we have already been hard at work creating portfolios (grades 1-5) to be used to store our amazing projects throughout the year as well as sketchbook cover designing (kindergarten).  Grades 1-5 students have also begun to create a colorful self-portrait where we are using a monochromatic color scheme.  These small self-portraits will be combined with the other classes to create a rainbow of colorful students here at SMS.  Here's a sneak peak:

 
Be sure to check back to see the complete finished product!  Throughout the school year please feel free to email kdow@sau16.org or call the school directly.  I am so looking forward to a creative and colorful school year!

2nd Annual Art Fest Coming Soon!!!!

Wow! May is already here and it feels like the year has gone by in a flash! I hope you all had a wonderful April vacation full of relaxation and rest.  The art studio at SMS has been buzzing with projects as we wrap up the school year with our annual art show!  This year's Maker Fest and Art Fest will take place on Thursday, May 18th after school from 4-6 PM and during the school day on Friday, May 19th.  This is our big art event which showcases all the artistic efforts of our K-5 SMS students.  Each child will have an artwork on display during the event and the two-dimensional work will be on display through the Grand Luncheon in June.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding this event: kdow@sau16.org.  Hope to see you on May 18th!

Youth Art Month 2017

To celebrate Youth Art Month, the Exeter Arts Committee will be showcasing artworks from students in and around our school district. This show will be on display at the Exeter Town Hall (across from the gazebo) in the second floor gallery. The show officially opens this Saturday (March 11) and will run every Saturday and Sunday during the month of March from 12-4 PM.  A wonderful way to spend an afternoon being inspired by beautiful student work! The following students will be featured in the gallery:

Grade 5

Sophia P.      Sean D.      Sam C.    Brielle D.    Megan H.    Kyle B.     Kelly O.     Liam B.     Jack W.

Kitana P.B.    Clara K.     Will M.      Lauren B.

Grade 4

Maya L.     Drew B.     Lily F.     Emilie v d L.     Ryan O.     Kelsey S.

Grade 3

Caterina H.     Enzo I.     Meaghan K.     Matthew M.

Grade 2

Jillian B.     Lauren B.     Lucas C.     Grace W.

Grade 1

Alex D.     Case S.     Michael P.     Casey H.     Lena S.     Anna H.

Kindergarten 

Jasper T.     Cole G.     Addy D.     Sam R.     Paige K.   

Mehndi-Inspired Hand Designs with Grade 3

    Third grade students have showed great perseverance creating artworks inspired by the Mehndi tradition seen in India. This tradition of painting beautifully intricate designs using henna for ceremonies and important events inspired us to create our own versions on paper. As many of the symbols used in the Mehndi tradition have significance, the students as well designed elements in their hands which were of importance in their own lives. To complete this project, students created bright backgrounds through the exploration of watercolor colored pencils.