https://sites.google.com/cps.edu/waters-art-lab/home

BRAVO to Waters' first-ever MS ART 1 class! We've begun THREE UNIQUE visual art projects our first week of school and will continue to keep rolling!

We meet 3x per week and structure our studio work in the following ways...

• DAY 1 COMMUNITY STUDIO ART PROJECT We work on our K-8 community project-based learning. This K-8 structure works to create a common Waters School canon and group of knowledge for all of our kids. Our community art project is always flexible to meet students where they start--- with multiple ways to innovate learning and create success.

• DAY 2 SELF-PORTRAIT VISUAL JOURNALS Our goal is to practice a variety of visual journal making methods to explore text as image and image as text. We will model our work after Frida Kahlo's diaries, Keith Haring's journals, Janice Lowry's journals and Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. Our visual style will be rooted Rakefet Hadar's SoulPages method (check it out in our video text below).
  

• DAY 3 ART LAB GENIUS HOUR (choice-based and inquiry-led) & COLLABORATORY In addition to exploring our own creative genius in a variety of art media, we are partnering with our Preschoolers to be mentors and friends across the schoolyard once a month. One of our action items together will be curating the public art and stewardship of our Secret Garden near our Cicada Time Capsule!

Our inspiration for our next K-8 community project--- WATERS' FANTASTICAL SCHOOL OF FISH---the folkloric whimsy and patterns of Oaxacan Alebrijes!

Take a look at the multilayered Indigenous weaving and storytelling project honoring NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH featured below. We plan to feature WEAVING & REWEAVING OUR HISTORIES at our all-school art show at the end of THIS November!

Please consider supporting the Art Lab Donor's Choose project to help make this happen for our children. This proposal will provide Waters students with advanced weaving and mixed-media consumable supplies, culturally responsive texts and restorative justice materials to build and enhance all art lab projects this season---K-8! Any and every donation makes a difference!

Otsaliheliga!

HAPPY SEPTEMBER!

I LOVE Autumn...and am looking forward to all of our good work this season...🍂🍁🍂

We have completed our first community artwork of the year---to begin our study of the Circle of Life as we observe seasonal changes and personal growth. MS Art 1 students are creating a tactile mural to share with our Preschool buddies later in the month. We will be utilizing recycled cardboard frames to house our "One Tree, Many Leaves." (Shel Silverstein) woodcut installation. Way to go Circlemakers!

We are starting September with a study of color, pattern, texture and shape to create rhythm and harmony in our artworks. We will study alebrijes (magical creatures) and the folk art traditions of Oaxaca, Mexico as we work with recycled cardboard, found objects and tempera paint. Our community goal is for each of us, K-8, to create a one-of-a-kind (OOAK) fish to represent us in the Waters' sea of learning... Check out our classroom text (slideshow below:)) and the rich history of alebrijes construction (video text above:)).

This recycled object artwork will begin our study of Indigenous arts of the Americas this season and will launch our visual interpretation of folktales, fairy tales, myths and storytelling this year. We will also be looking at how our stories change and stay the same throughout time and space as we read and unpack The Salmon Princess: An Alaskan Cinderella Story.

This modern-day adaptation of the cross-cultural Cinderella story is a contemporary look at what it is to be a prince and/or princess and how to advocate for yourself---no matter the situation you find yourself in... It is a great spin on the many classic renderings! Students will use this fish tale as our prompt for our art making this month. We will then compare it to other folktales concerning magical fish and other Cinderella stories from around the world before we come back to Mexico next month.

As we wrap-up our fish tails and tales, we will begin our study of the ancient legend of La Llorona, ephemeral artworks of Remedios Varo and the hojas volantes---famous broadsides of Jose Guadalupe Posada. In addition to creating artistic responses, we will be looking at how art can inform and respond to social needs and political outcomes throughout history.

Thank you for your support!

With Kindness,

Mrs. Vecchioni

Layers of Meaning

Our ART LAB DAY 2 Visual Journal Guidebook

We will continue our self-discovery journal by practicing HAPPY ACCIDENTS and MAGICAL COINCIDENCES throughout September!

In 2007, Janice Lowry's 126-volume collection of journals were made part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art.

We will be looking at a variety of texts throughout the school year that feature neurodiversity themes and experiences. Masterpiece, written by Alexandra Hoffman, is a great story celebrating our unique ways to create as artists and is one of our Big Think texts for our D2 Self Portrait Visual Journals.

We are an ensemble of parents, students, teachers and staff that are excited about fine arts programming---exhibits, performances, showcases, arts festivals and literary salon events. We need your ideas and enthusiastic spirit to help us give Waters kids the BEST arts education we can...

We build community together and have a lot of FUN:)!

ALL ARE WELCOME!

WE NEEDED TO CHANGE OUR FIRST MEETING DATE---Sorry for the inconvenience!

🎨Our first meeting will be Wednesday, September 18, 2024, 3:00-4:00PM in the Art Lab! 🎨

🎨 Thank you for your time, support and energy:)! 🎨

ALL STUDENT Wavemaker Art Clubs will begin on THURSDAYS in OCTOBER:)! Our Girl Scout club and Wavemakers will be participating as one this year so we have more time together:)! EACH SESSION WILL BE 3PM-5PM THIS YEAR:))!

Thank you to everyone who has already signed up! I will be sending emergency contact forms home to interested students the second week of September. Check your child's backpack for hard copy forms and/or email me, alvecchioni@cps.edu. Thanks in advance!

2024-2025 Wavemaker ART-IN-ACTION Clubs include:

Wavemakers Arts Leadership Team & THE GROUP FORMERLY KNOWN AS CRITTER CLUB (5-8)

FIRST THURSDAY & THIRD THURSDAY EACH MONTH (3PM - 5PM)

SEMESTER 1 MEET DATES

• 10/3, 10/17
• 11/7, 11/21
• 12/5, 12/19

Wavemakers Arts Advocacy & Grrl Scout Troupe #27333 (1-4)

SECOND & FOURTH THURSDAY EACH MONTH (3PM - 5PM)

SEMESTER 1 MEET DATES

• 10/10, 10/24
• 11/14
• 12/12
  

*LUNCH CREW LITERARY SALON LIBRARIANS (2 & 3 grades) & CRITTER CLUB (4-6 grades) will be each Wednesday this year! Let Mrs. Vecchioni know if you are interested in joining us:)!*

From CPSArts:

"As a Fine & Performing Arts School with Demonstration Site Status, your school will receive the following:

Badge Certification
Feel free to use this official badge on all school print and virtual documents.

Innovation Grant
Your school will receive a $10,000.00 innovation grant to support the expansion of your arts and arts integration curricula into contemporary and innovative spaces. We encourage you to consider emerging technologies in artistic disciplines and arts integration. We will release further guidance on how to spend these funds as we approach the start of the school year.

Increased Visibility
Your school will become a beacon of inspiration, hosting visits from teachers and administrators at other Fine & Performing Arts Schools who want to learn from your strengths.

Teacher Leadership Opportunities
Your teachers will join a pool of presenters for Fine & Performing Arts Schools professional development, and they will have opportunities to share their successes and experiences with their peers.

Lending Library Early Adopters
Your school will have the opportunity to be an early adopter of the Fine & Performing Arts Schools Lending Library, which will include advanced and specialized art-making equipment. We will issue guidance for how to access this library around the start of the school year."

*This great news and more was cited from The FULL REPORT below. Check it out:)!