Woodland School

     Woodland School is located just outside Traverse City, MI on 240 acres of woods.  It is an amazing school where students love learning and understand HOW TO learn and assimilate knowledge into useful life skills.  The arts are imbued through out.

Winter, looking down at the main building from a classroom on the hill.

This tile mosiac was created by students grades 3-8 as a class one trimester.

      My own classroom extends well beyond the art room walls, although I have the best room ever!
In addition to teaching art, I teach Literature, and team teach many classes which combine subjects such as  art, science, history and english, seamlessly. 
     Art (as most classes other than the core curriculum of Math and Language Arts) is an elective.  Students in grades 3-5 (multi-age) may choose up to two art classes each trimester.  Students in grades 6-8 may choose up to three classes each trimester.  I make sure to offer many different experiences so students are exposed to many process's and materials and artists.  Art is deeply woven into language arts classes as well as science.  There is also a very strong performing arts program at Woodland.  This includes, choir, theater and band.

     Art in the 6-8 grades is often quite advanced.  Although I teach to the needs of each student, by the time they reach the middle grades, they have had many foundation art experiences which have given them the skills to develop more complex art pieces.  I set the bar high and they have no problem leaping right over it.  The charcoal drawings here are done by 6th through 8th graders. They were drawn from a still life.  Emphasis on composition, and technique were stressed.

These journals are works in progress and responses to literature.  I have the older students work in journal format when responding to questions about reading. Responses range from sophisticated imagery to simple representations. Students who spend two years in this particular class love to go back and review their progress.  The evolution in their thought and expression is evident, becoming more confident and exploratory in nature as they mature.

Each of these large portraits is 5 x 5. This one is created by a 7th grader.

(My daughters) Sage, 8th grade

8th Grade

     This large portrait project challenged students to work with proportion, often creating their own formula to scale up a photograph. Each square became its own smaller composition with in the whole. Various techniques and media were explored , while emphasizing deeper personal ideas and visions about who they are and what matters to them.  This was an ambitious project and took an entire trimester.
     When students are working on a project, I often work along side them as a fellow artist, we all give feedback to each other.
     This is a VERY BRIEF overview of some of the things I do at Woodland.