Student Work

Above: 7th graders working on self portraits, and 3rd graders learning how to blend chalk pastels to finish their still lifes (using an Elmer's glue resist). Soon I'll post photos of the 6th graders' masks, 8th graders' still lifes, and K & 1st graders' turkeys. 

Above: New wall art I have... is a gift from a first grader, given to me on a stressful day. She approached me so sweetly saying, "Ms. Sogaard, here", and walked away. I feel peaceful every time I look at it.

Today

 

Above are photos of open studio time at the elementary school. The last image is of the 7th graders' one-point perspective drawings. In the elementary, we are studying the work of Grandma Moses and doing fall still lifes, and soon we will start turkey projects, horse drawings, and Avatar characters. In the middle school, students are drawing trees, using watercolor, making mandalas, and doing clay food sculptures. 

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Welcome to Wednesday. It is the day of my week where I feel most subject to exhaustive craziness, when I feel the most raw. This feeling surfaces on my drive home after my evening class (tonight we discussed the "getting hired" process) when I've been on the go from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m., when the sun has set by that time and my stomach turns with hunger. I'll realize the crazed part of me has kicked in when my music's incredibly loud, I'm bouncing in my seat, and I start laughing at myself. It is such a freeing, who-gives-a-shit feeling! When I get home, I usually fix myself a snack, hang out with my family, and then trip over my own feet, falling into bed. 

Saw so many people lugging around 6-packs today, so I crave sharing a few cold ones with someone. Must... wait... for the... weekend. I also got a new book, and tonight I had a dinner of fruit. My stomach is full, so I'm off for a walk and then a good read!

Necklace

A boomerang necklace I made in my metals/jewelry class, made from brass and looped with copper jump rings.

Final Studio Projects

Our final ceramics assignment was to help keep up the wood fire kiln. The first photo shows some classmates with all the pieces that were fired. The last four photos show my stuff. Some were warped by the nature of the wood kiln (clay was thrown too thin) and came out a little wobbly, but I love them for what they are!
 

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For my final metals assignment I made a few pairs of earrings (one pair is red anodized aluminum; another was made from an old bracelet of my mom's; and the third pair is bent aluminum with fake moss and bird nest sticks). I also made a mini earring holder from brass and a necklace (spun wallpaper pieces from an old necklace, also my mom's, that a neighbor of her's had made). The last photo shows me wearing it and how it falls when worn.

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For my final painting assignment, I painted a six-piece series that is titled "My brother's room".

 

This Week

Howdy! Here are a few photos I'd like to share from this fast-moving and fun week of getting work done:

• Day of sitting at the window to finish up my final painting series! 
• Keeping up the wood fire kiln for my ceramics class. Pictured is a wonderful classmate of mine with her face shield. 
• Visited my fort... there I am with it and the mysterious fake rock. The pond in the front yard is filled, so little ducklings and their parents have been swimming about.
• No, no, not the "TRY OUR NEW FIESTA SALSA ARE YOU LOCO" sign, the dog!
• Lollygagging in the car while dad checks out a motorcycle shop.
• Dad and me, heading back to my apartment to cozy in with mom but stopping first to play around with the best silhouette wall on the south-side of town!


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Sunday Morning

Greetings from the living room couch! Slept here last night as my parents took my bed. Now that I'm awake, now starts a new week that I consider my finals week, as all final studio projects and a workshop reflection are due. No exams to study for here. I look forward to finishing up work and showing some photos of it all.

Whether I sleep on the couch back at home, at my Grandma's, or here at my own place, I always seem to take on a fresh appreciation of a house I already know so well. I'll wake up and look around at the architecture and placement of objects, seeing things I'd hardly ever noticed before. I'll get to know the room better in the quiet of the morning hours as I lay there and then wonder when the sleeping others will be saying "good morning".


Today we'll go get breakfast, shop at my dad's favorite IC second-hand store, and then it's studio and wood fire kiln babysitting time for me! 

Here's some sweet Dolly fer ya':

UAY Art Show

This Thursday, 4/26, the UAY junior high and high school students we have been teaching in a weekly workshop will show their work from the past few months! Located at 355 Iowa Ave and going on from 4:00-5:30 PM, stop on over and check out their incredible work that includes ceramics, clothing and mural design, sculpture, puppetry, bookmaking, comics, and more. Pictured above, a small preview of what you will see. See you there!

Pathways Mural

The photos above show the progress of the mural my Art Ed. Studio class made last fall for a great local adult day center, Pathways. My dad collaborated with us by engraving the plaque to the right of the mural and laser cutting the 'Pathways' title letters above the mural. Thanks dad! Nice work everybody!

Renewal

Above is my latest Metals assignment, a necklace I've titled Renewal. The idea came from the first photo above, one that I took last year in Denmark on a rainy spring afternoon. The assignment required the use of found materials, and I used a leather band, copper for the jump rings and clasp, black anodized aluminum for the branch pieces, fake moss, plastic zip-ties, and yellow and copper-colored nail polishes.

Today

Happy International Women's Day, everybody! Above are photos from an annual International Women's Day party I've worked at now for three years. Each year for this, a different country is chosen and a ton of traditional food from that country is made. My favorite... the big bowl of cilantro rice, starfruit, and the coconut tres leches cake. 

Who's going out tonight? Or just staying in their bedroom? Whatevs, R0CKTH3LIP$... http://rockthelips.tumblr.com/


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For day three of workshop today, the students made backdrops, wrote scripts, and chose music for their short video performances they'll be doing with their puppets. One puppet's t-shirt reads "FCC TAKE A HIKE" and the performance is entitled "What Do You Want?". The other performance is entitled "Never Betray Lent" and is about a puppet named Joey who drinks too much pop in his bedroom. Fantashtishk!



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Last but not least, it is officially my Spring Break so I'm enjoying the last bottle of Vieille Provision Saison Dupont, a Belgian Farmhouse Ale that my roommate's boyfriend kindly introduced my other roommate and me to. Highly recommended! The back of it reads:

"Brewed at one of Europe's last farmhouse breweries, in Hainaut province... This increasingly rare specialty originated before the age of refrigeration as a beer to be brewed in winter for summer drinking. The style required a beer sturdy enough to age in the bottle but refreshing enough to be enjoyed in warm weather. Saison Dupont fits this description perfectly, it has a big fruity bouquet, and dense head. The taste starts fruity but ends dry and very clean with a light, refreshing body." 

So with an open night ahead of me, will I fall asleep watching the first season of the Simpsons? Will I go soul dancing at dance party? Will I just sit on my floor in the silence of Spring Break? WHO KNOWS... 


CHEERS!!!