The Art Room: A Reflective, Divergent, Connective Thinking Center

"Teaching tugs at the heart, opens the heart, even breaks the heart. The more one loves teaching, the more heartbreaking it can be. The courage to teach is the courage to keep one's heart open in those very moments when the heart is asked to hold more than it is able so that teacher and students and subject can be woven into the fabric of community that learning and living require." Palmer.The Courage to Teach.

(p.11)

Loose Structure

Slide Show: The Creative Process

The Basic Tools for Art: An Open MInd, A Gentle Heart, A kind Invitation

"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play of instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves."
C.G. Jung


"The most potent muse of all is our own inner child."
Stephen Nachmanovitch


" We learn to do something by doing it. There is no other way."

John Holt

Celebrating a new & improved art room in Saigon South

Here or there, everywhere I go kids are pretty much the same: so much fun, creative, sensitive and beautiful! I love teaching kids to respect their unique inner creative impulse, the desire to draw, paint, and sculpt and to try new things is of divine importance to me.

Teams of 2 or 3 Organize Themselves for Medieval Architecture

Students on a mission negotiate role assignments without a hitch during early morning art classes. Once the fifth grade students are given the go-ahead,  the designers, cutters, builders, and managers naturally take on their roles to get the job started. They work out problems together, attempting various solutions and optional ideas. Small group work is punctuated by large group discussion, question-answer sessions, and independent research and pre-design drawing. 

Seeds of Creativity Are Watered from the Start, in Kindergarten!

The path to expert starts at fun: children who have feelings of joy, happiness, and pride associated with early childhood memories of experiences in school, perhaps especially in their art classes, are more likely to continue to have a positive connection to divergent thinking, open-ended explorations, the arts, creativity, and innovation throughout their lives: skills they will need the most in their futures. Feeling entitled and empowered to fully participate in the richness of creative expression is a basic civil right for all global twenty first century people. I feel extremely honored to be able to introduce meaningful art experiences to young children and to be able to share so many methods, materials, cultures, and venues of visual art with people of all ages through my career as both an art educator and an artist.

Medieval Architecture for Fifth Grade Students Launch into Construction

After internet research on medieval fortresses from China to Timbuktu, from Whales to Tibet, Overby-Sheppard students begin the measuring and foam core cutting process. Stage one of the construction will soon be put on hold for necessary design revisions and further studies in measurements. The use of rulers will take a prominent role in Mrs. Kelley's architecture class!  

Mrs. Kelly's ART CLUB meets for plein air river scape painting

A special day painting  on Church Hill

This was five year old, De'Juan's first time ever working with clay! His excitement was contagious and to this day he looks forward to  art class with excitement.