The flying art room

четвъртък, 26 май 2016 г.

Annual plein-air

The plein- air is an artistic event I have been trying to establish as a tradition in our institution for a few years now. Having in mind that our school is language orientated and Arts are not a priority subject, the idea itself was slightly radical when I first introduced it, but the plein-air is also great opportunity for CAS activities so gradually it became well accepted and popular among the students. For years I have worked to put emphasis on the importance of creating art and doing so outside of school, and the last plein-air is what I consider the best plein-air we've done so far- it was the smoothest blend of students I have worked with in this type of artistic activity. Not only my VA students but all 11th IB grade and students from the National Programme participated in various art exercises, worked as a team, enjoyed the art-making process, discussed their results and generally had fun.

We tried out many inspiring techniques such as basic drawing, clay sculpture, papier-mache, photography, land art. All in all the results were a beautiful mixture of ideas, visions and skills, put together in a nice end-of-term exhibition.

вторник, 8 март 2016 г.

Scribble Project

I have been a fan of The Scribble Project for ages. It turns out my students enjoy it quite as much as I do- it's a fun way to express yourself, to get to know one another, to share interests and demonstrate artistic skills. This blog is intended to reflect on the progress of my IB VA students as well as the Art Club members, BUT I will make a small exception of the rule. The Scribble sheets below are drawn mostly by my 8-th graders- it's a task I give at the beginning of the academic year, when it's hard to remember all the new names and faces. It's a fun, fun way to know what my students enjoy, like, dislike, etc.

A special thanks to Lisa Currie, the creator of The Scribble project for inspiring me. Visit her website here: http://www.lisacurrie.com/

четвъртък, 18 февруари 2016 г.

Midterm school exhibition

The IB VA students finally had the opportunity to set up an exhibition- in this case it was the traditional midterm expo of the 8th and 9th graders'artworks. A task, which may have seemed an easy one, took more than two hours of discussing,choosing works, composing, moving easels back and forward and thinking like a gallery owner. In my opinion, this was a good warm up exercise for the final assessment task in 2017 when I won't be there to help and guide them through setting up their own exhibitions.

p.s. I do believe I have some very talented 8th and 9th graders :)

понеделник, 15 февруари 2016 г.

Express(ionism)- Art club

Artworks by Georgi Kolev (10th grade).

вторник, 26 януари 2016 г.

Linocut (Contrast)- IB VA

I know I haven't been very active lately, but I was focused on creating art, rather than sharing it.

A few weeks back, we were exploring the topic of contrast in art which ultimately led to printmaking and linocut. It was great to see how much effort the students put in this difficult and experimental process- the cutting, the inking, the printing, the expectations, the disappointments, the hard work, the mess and all.

Unfortunately our school doesn't have a printmaking press, so we had to print everything by hand, using a large roller. Even though this might make the process harder and more time-consuming, the students (especially Polly) did very well and had quite a blast.

To be honest I was a bit worried at the beginning, having in mind that printing by hand might not give out the best results, but luckily I was wrong. Look how pretty they are:

Teodor Paralyikski - 11 IB (SL)

Polina Nikova- 11 IB (HL)

Ivan Maslyankov- 11 IB (HL)

сряда, 16 декември 2015 г.

Asymmetrical and symmetrical collage (IB Visual Arts)

It has been a while since I have posted any updates on our studio work, but trust me, there have been so many new ideas and techniques to explore, that blogging was not a priority. These collages were made by my students weeks ago, when we were still discussing the topic of symmetry and asymmetry in art and nature. It's truly great how different and individual the artworks turned out, I love the variety of colours, materials and composition the three of them have used, it's wonderful to see how all of them have their personal style and understanding of balance, asymmetry and symmetry.