We are so excited that we received a travel grant to go to the Frederick Meijer Gardens in the spring! A large group of 5th graders will be able to visit the gardens because of this generous grant!

During Art Club we made these fun crushed can art! A different spin on recycling, we up-cycled these cans into whimsical art!

Last Friday, a group of 6th graders were able to go Downtown to ArtPrize! it was such a fun experience and we were able to see a ton of art. One of the highlights was going to the Downtown Market to view, "Reflecting Differences". What a wonderful opportunity. Thanks to a travel grant from ArtPrize, we were able to attend.

ArtPrize 10 voting starts today! Check out these articles on our work below.

​https://therapidian.org/placematters-artprize-10-grand-rapids-downtown-market

www.schoolnewsnetwork.org

To learn more about our entry, Reflecting Differences, click here: http://www.artprize.org/67314

We have been working hard on our piece for ArtPrize 10! It is a district wide, K-12 collaboration. This Thursday we will be installing the panels at the Grand Rapids Downtown Market on Thursday. VOTE CODE: 67314

We have been super busy glazing the pieces that we made while Jo Nicholson was visiting us. Here are just a few of the pieces that have recently come out of the kiln! 

Recently students worked hard on hallway tape perspective drawings and making a geo board that will end up in the classroom. 

We were so lucky to have artist Jo Nicholson come into our classroom to do a collaboration with our 5th and 6th grade visual art students. Jo is a sculptor, potter, and teaching artist to name a few things :) While she was in our room, students learned about different careers in the arts, different firing processes of clay, about different clay bodies, multiple ways to glaze and finish pieces, about hand building methods, and much more! It was such a fun experience for the students to work with a artist from our community. On the first day Jo threw many items on the wheel and discussed her working process. We talked about how students envisioned the collaboration and how they would like to collaborate with Jo. The second day students spent sketching and planning their concepts and then taking their ideas from concept to completion. Below are some of the photos of the creative process working with Jo. We were able to have this experience because BCFAB funded this project! Jo's infectious energy and love for the arts is still a buzz in the art room. I hear kids talking about how much fun they had and how there are no wrong answers in art (something she often said to the kids)! What a awesome experience it was for all!

Noah D, Joilenne S., Tatum K, and Lynne R all had their artowrk selected for the MAEA Region 9 art show!

On February 12 at 6:30pm there will be a Board of Education meeting at the Van Singel Fine Arts Center. Our K-12 visual art department is putting a few pieces on display. I decided to select a few 6th grade girls self portraits to put up this year. Nice work ladies!!