Winter Wish Tree

My favorite projects to teach are interactive ones, particularly Yoko Ono inspired Wish Trees. It never ceases to amaze me how personal, moving, silly, thoughtful, compassionate, and heartbreaking the wishes end up being. A reminder that so many people, youth especially, are crying out to have their voice heard in a world that typically tells them there is only one right answer for something and rarely asks them what they care or dream about.

You can create a Wish Tree of your own at home, at church, at your mosque, ashram, synagogue, meditation center, backyard, neighborhood, in the park, school, friend's house-anywhere there are trees! Can't find a tree? Paint your own on a big piece of paper and use sticky-notes.

For more information about Yoko Ono's Wish Tree project, please visit website below. She has collected over a million wishes and they are being buried in time capsules at the base of the John Lennon Imagine Peace Tower.

You can also tweet wishes or send facebook wishes!

mail all the wishes to IMAGINE PEACE TOWER, PO Box 1009, 121 Reykjavik, Iceland.

http://imaginepeacetower.com/yoko-onos-wish-trees

 

Dia de Los Muertos

For Dia de Los Muertos we created small papier mache skulls. Students learned about the art elements form and color and the design principle of pattern. Some even came in during activity time to make more on their own time when class was over!

Ojeda Afterschool Art Club

Last year, I had the great pleasure of teaching afterschool Art Club through Creative Action (formerly Theatre Action Project). This year, I started an "official" Ojeda Art Club. Here are some of our new members. We started the year by creating out own zine with the prompt "What is Art?"

The science teacher graciously donated some large styrofoam rectangles. When I brought them out for the students to look at and brainstorm ideas on what we could do with them they each shouted "Let's make a giant book! It can live in the library!" And so we did.

First week at Ojeda Middle School Fall 2012

I am grateful to be the new Art teacher at Ojeda Middle School. It has been an eventful couple of months and my 6th, 7th, and 8th graders have been hard on work on a variety of projects. We started the year off with a Name Design project  where they were asked to include things personal and important to them so I could get to know them better. Great first week of school project!

Theatre Action Project's Youth Arts Festival

This past weekend was Theatre Action Project's Youth Arts Festival. I had the great pleasure of being a Teaching Artist at three of the middle schools showcased at the festival: Ojeda Middle School in Del Valle ISD, and Webb and Mendez Middle Schools in Austin ISD.


Below are some links about the projects at the festival I either taught or helped collaborate with including:

Ojeda Middle School:  Wish Tree, Oaxacan Folk Art inspired sculptures, school mural, and more!
Webb and Mendez MS: School murals

I am so proud of all of my students!

http://tapstories.wordpress.com/2012/05/15/students-show-variety-of-talents-at-the-youth-arts-festival/

http://tapstories.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/1000-cranes-for-luis/

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzn1KkU