Teaching!

I had my first day of teaching on Monday and it was so incredibly wonderful and refreshing. Don't get me wrong I love my job at the YMCA, but it is a little monotonous...so a break from the norm was so great. I taught 2 classes at Hillcrest High School and absolutely loved it. I was a little nervous about teaching high schoolers, but it really turned out ok. They were very respectful and responded well to the "session." Ok..so I'm not really TEACHING them anthing huge...but I do think it's an important exercise. Every class we go through four pieces of modern art. I give them 5 minutes to sketch, or take visual notes. This allows them to take down the important things in the image. The we discuss the work for 5 minutes. They tell me what they think is going on in the image and why (what do they see in the image that leads them to their opinion).

I think this is an amazing exercise because there is no right or wrong answer and it allows everyone to have a voice about art. A lot of times art is open for interpretation and I think giving high schoolers a voice is really important and it helps reinforce their creativity and thought pattern.

The other great thing about these classes is that I don't need to know anything specific about the work. I'm not there to lecture on the history of the work or tell them what the artist was aiming for. I am there to simply create conversation about some great contemporary works of art.

So here are some of the works we looked at the first week:
















Cindy Sherman. "Untitled Film Still"
Unsure of correct title, I'll update it later!















Kelli Connell. Giggle. 2002




















Xinpeng Chen. Self Portrait. 2004




















Pablo Picasso. Weeping Woman. 1937
Femme en pleurs

The theme for Week 1 is "Be." The use of self portraits is great for this becaues it shows the students how the artist is wanting to portray themselves to the viewer.

If you have any questions or ideas just give me a shout!

Good Reads!

So some of my dear friends included me in their venture at GoodReads. It's a really great site that allows you to share what you've read, what you are currently reading, and what you have on your list TO read. You can also review the books you've read, giving others an insight to what you thought. I've loved seeing what others have read and I've added many of the books to my books "to-read."

I've just finished Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. The books is similar is subject to The DaVinci Code, but I still really enjoyed it. It's a book loaded with suspense, and although most of the "facts" are not entirely true, or just completely fabricated...I do see an underlying theme or message. The big story line of the book is "Science vs. Religion" and the other desire for them to work together. I really do believe you can have both...not one without the other. God created us with the ability to think and expand our knowledge and, to me, science is just a tool to further understand God's amazing creation.

The next book on my list is Love and Respect (The Love She Most Desires and The Respect He Desperately Needs)by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. I really want Joshua to read this one as well...but that might have to wait for summer...or maybe I can just give him photo copies of the passages he should read..haha. It seems like a great relationship strengthening book.

Ok, that is all on my book talk. If you haven't already, you should go check out "Good Reads" and get connected!
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In other news....I start teaching my own classes next week with the Dallas Contemporary! I had all of my training last week- a half day at the studio and a half day at a school- and I feel confident that I am going to do a good job. I may have to practice on Josh Sunday night just to make sure I've got it down. I'm so excited though! I'll definitely let you know how the first day goes!

Art Auction

This weekend the Dallas Contemporary held their annual Wish Auction. The pieces in the auction were donated by artists throughout Texas. The event was so much fun! I worked the check-in and check-out and I loved seeing all of the great outfits. They always pick a color for the theme and this year it was green! I was able to wear my beautiful dress from Hawley's wedding along with the great gold shoes! Who ever said you can never wear a bridesmaids' dress again? I have to give Hawley props for picking such a stylish dress. All of the money raised went towards the gallery's operations.

Just to give a little background: The Dallas Contemporary is a non-profit, non-collecting gallery that shows emerging Texas artists, as well as some national artists. They also do this great program called ArtThink. It is a program that teaches high school kids how to think and approach contemporary art. It helps them relate to the subject matter and take their personal experiences in to consideration when interpretting art. I've recently been asked to to participate in this program and I am SO excited! I am going to be TEACHING art!! I will only be doing this once, maybe twice, a week but it's still a great start. I'll post back abou this later!