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!!

Two pieces from 5th grade are wrapped and ready to go to adjudication on Saturday at the GRAM and five pieces from sixth grade. If the pieces are selected by the judges, they will be on display at the GRAM for the MAEA Region 9 Art Show! Some may even be selected to go onto a state level show! Results will be in this weekend, I hope we do well, everyone put in a lot of work on their pieces this year!

Sydney B. from Mrs.Fonnesbeck's class created the logo for our new STEAM apparel! All orders are due January 31!

www.victoryapparel.org/teamsales
​Team password: BCSTEAM

Students have been super busy in the STEM and art room completing challenges. Here are a couple photos of some of their completed projects.

​https://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?project=1383489

We have been super busy in the Nickels art room this year! Here are some of the highlights from a couple of the assignments.

Above: 6th grade self portraits. They were able to choose any medium they wanted to create their artwork. 

Above: Examples of 5th grade radial symmetry name designs.

Above: 6th graders learned a variety of watercolor painting techniques and applied to a wide variety of subject matter in their work.

Today was wonderful! We were able to secure a grant for transportation funding form ArtPrize this year. This allowed us to take a field trip downtown Grand Rapids. We were able to visit many of the outdoor venues and we spent time in STEAM Village. It was a really fun day!