Sugar Skulls

After studying the Mexican tradition of Dia de los Muertos, third grade artists created their own sugar skull in remembrance of someone (loved on, friend, ancestor or pet) who has passed.  Each student created their own sugar skull using their own as well as traditional Mexican symbolism.  Every sugar skull was accompanied by a written piece explaining who it was created to remember.

These will be on display in TTE Town Square through Showcase Night in January. 

Create Your Own Gingerbread House Workshop

Create your Own Gingerbread House Workshop

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Friday, December 18th 12pm-3pm OR

Saturday, December 19th 9am-12pm 

$45 includes all supplies  SIGN UP HERE!

Ages 7​​-14 

Location: Rocky Heights Middle School, Culinary Room 214

Come to this fun workshop and create the Gingerbread house of your dreams. Each participant will design and decorate their very own gingerbread house. Take a break and get messy in the kitchen. Enjoy the endless decorating options. Choose from frosted candy roofs to pretzel picket fences. Spread the Holiday spirit by bringing home your very own gingerbread creation!

Gingerbread House Workshop

The Art Room Elf is Back!

Nigel is back and he brought a friend!  Her name is Noel, like the song, "The first Noel."

      
Nigel and Noel have been hanging out in various locations in the art room as students create their masterpieces.


Your elves are always welcome to visit Nigel and Noel in the art room! Last year the elves had quite the holiday party!

Dia de Los Muertos at TTE

In celebration of the wonderful Latin American Dia de los Muertos holiday, third grade TTE students created a Calaveras (Sugar Skulls) in memory of specific loved ones or pets who have passed away or live far away. Students studied the traditions surrounding Dia de los Muertos in order to gain understanding of the importance of this beautiful tradition.  They chose someone to remember and created a Calaveras using both traditional and student created symbolism that represents their chosen subject.  

Below are some of the fantastic Calaveras created by our talented third grade students. 

Please join is in remembering these very important loved ones and pets.

 

Local Artist - Daniel Gonzales

Today concludes the traditional Dia de los Muertos celebration.  In honor of this, I would like to introduce a good artist friend of mine who paints Dia de los Muertos inspired art.

Daniel Gonzales, former Rock Canyon High School painting teacher, recently had an Art Show at  the Outnumbered Gallery in Littleton.  His work is amazing. This show was inspired by his Mexican heritage and his love for Dia de los Muertos.  Most of the art in the show had the skeleton theme that is popular in Dia de los Muertos.  If you get a chance to visit the Gallery and check out his work...you will not be disappointed.  Below are some pictures I took at the show.

 Daniel with his painting "Stargazers."

 Daniel and I at his show (notice how small I am - ha ha)

 "The Virgin Mary"

 "Stargazers" - my favorite painting by Daniel.

 Detail (up close zoom in) of "Stargazers"

 Calavera

"Nocturne"

Dia de los Muertos Mural

During our Dia de los Muertos unit, third graders studied the work of local artist (and former Rock Canyon painting teacher) Daniel Gonzales. Below is a time-lapse video of Daniel Gonzales painting a mural with a Dia de los Muertos theme over the course of three days.  This mural was part of an art festival in Littleton called the "Imagined Wall Festival." Local artists were chosen to paint a mural on a wall downtown Littleton in order to beautify the area.  Daniels actual mural is on the outside wall of Rienke Brothers costume shop in Littleton. You can see the actual mural by driving down Main Street in Littleton.

Dia de los Muertos Cultural Workshop

Museo de las Americas Presents our

Dia de los Muertos 

Cultural Arts Workshop

During this hour long workshop, students will embark on a cultural journey to discover the meaning and mysteries embedded in this ancient celebration.  Students will explore a traditional Altar and decorate their own sugar skull to honor their ancestors as an act of remembrance. Our workshop will supplement any lesson since it not only aligns with academic Social Studies Standards but also Visual Arts Standards. This workshop is ONLY $5.00 per student and can be implemented in English or Spanish. Museo can come to your school (off-site fee will apply) or you can bring your students to the Museo and include an Exhibit Tour to create a full cultural experience. This workshop is only offered during October and Early November, book soon!

Interested in our Dia de los Muertos Workshop?

Visit our website at www.museo.org 

under the Education Link or contact 

Korrine Salas Young at 

workshops@museo.org or 

303.571.4401 ext.28

I hope you all have a fantastic summer!! 

If you are feeling artsy this summer there are a lot of cool art activities around in the area. 

There are several First Friday Art Walks.  Most people are familiar with the Santa Fe Art Walk, but there are some new art districts that have started their own art walks. Below are some links to those for more information. 

Santa Fe Art Walk

Golden Triangle Museum District

RiNo Art Walk

Block 7 Art Walk

The Denver area is also host to a number of cool Art Festivals and events (the first one starting THIS weekend)! Check out the list below to see some of the cool events! 

MAY

May 23-24
ArtStir Denver

May 22-24
Downtown Denver Arts Festival

JUNE

June 6-7
Denver Chalk Art Festival 
*A good friend of mine participates in this as an artist every year!

June 13
FARMCAD Food, Art and Craft Festival

JULY

July 3-5
Cherry Creek Arts Festival
*A friend of mine (Jerry Brem) from college will be showing at this festival again this year.  It is considered the most prestigious of all Art Festivals across the U.S.

July 11
FARMCAD Food, Art and Craft Festival

July 18-19
Pearl Street Art Fest

July 25 -26
3rd Annual Cheesman Park Art Festival

Have a great summer! Maybe I will see you on a First Friday Art Walk or at one of the Art Festivals this summer!  Hope you come back to school this fall refreshed, inspired and ready to create some awesome things in art class!!!

Dance Party

Every year we like to celebrate the end of the school with a Dance Party.

To celebrate take one day and during specials we gather the entire grade 

level in the gym, turn off the lights and jam out with glow lights! 

We do all-dances, competitions and this year we tried doing 

Jam-Circles so that individual students could showcase their skills. 

It was a BLAST! What a fun way to celebrate a FANTASTIC year at TTE! 

Below is a collage of some of fun moments! 

Mini Miss Wison

Dress Like a Teacher Day!

What a terrific way to start the week! Today was "Dress Like a Teacher Day" at TTE.  I had the most exciting surprise, Sarah (a fabulous fifth grader) dressed like ME today!  

Here we are together when she came into art class this morning!

Everyone at TTE knows I am an avid U.T. Longhorn fan, as it is my Alma Mater. She wore a Longhorn shirt, and in case anyone was in doubt....a name tag that read "Mini  Miss Wilson Art."

She even wore a paintbrush in her hair! Nice touch!!

What an honor it was to have Sarah, such a great student, dress up like me for today's theme!   Thanks Sarah! You made my whole week!!  =D 

Cards, Cards Everywhere!

As part of our Community Building focus in Wolf Time during December and January one of our activities involved using our artistic skills to make cards for those who might not able to spend time with loved ones during special occasions.  Fifth graders spread winter time holiday cheer by creating holiday cards that were delivered to the folks at Blue Spruce Assisted Living before Winter break. First through fourth graders created Valentine's Cards for those who are in the hospital on Valentine's Day. Today Mrs. Johnston and I stopped by Castle Rock Adventist Hospital and dropped off Valentines Cards made by TTE students. They will be delivered to patients this weekend.  Below is a photo of some of the beautifully designed cards created by our fabulous TTE Artists!

Nutcrackers

Nutcrackers are a really fun and festive way to learn about how basic shapes can be combined to create a very recognizable subject.  I LOVE Nutcrackers and have quite a collection of German and Bavarian Nutcrackers from growing up in the Netherlands as a little girl.  They are not only a holiday decoration at my house, I leave them up all year!

Ask just about any intermediate grade level student what their favorite second grade project was and you will most likely hear about the Nutcracker project.  This year they are being displayed in the entry of TTE Town Square! Below are some festive pictures of our fantastic Nutcrackers!

Elves in the Artroom!

This holiday season there have been many Elves in the Artroom!

It all started last year, when a student brought his elf (Crispy) to school so that I could teach his class how to draw his elf. I asked his elf if it would be possible to get an elf for the art room.  I waited and waited, but no elf showed up.  Christmas came and went and I forgot about my request for an elf.  Fast forward to this year. It has always been my tradition to put my Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving. The next day I woke up and sitting on the tree was a brand new elf, Nigel.  He had a book and letter explaining that he was here based on a request from last year.  Who knew that it took a whole year to get an elf by request?! It was such a great surprise!

Meet Nigel.

He has been all over the art room, making sure students are doing what they are supposed to do in Art Class during these last few weeks before break.  He has proven to be the most helpful elf.  He fixed the broken projector that would overheat and turn itself off after 7 minutes. One day when I got to school he was sitting up there on the projector. It has worked wonderfully ever since then.  I guess I really lucked out and got a helpful elf, rather than a trickster elf.

Over the passed few weeks many elves have come to visit Nigel during Art Class. The first was a vintage elf named Drew.  He is much older than Nigel and they spent a lot of time talking about what the job of an elf entails.  He was such a good mentor to Nigel.

Frosty, a Swedish elf, came for a whole week! He and Nigel hung out and had such a great time talking and playing elf games. One day we even had 9 elves and two reindeer hanging out together. Elf Party in the Art Room!!!! 

Nigel is working on getting a girl elf to come and be a part of the TTE Art Room so that he can have some help watching over so many students. One of our sweet first graders asked her evles (Belle and Fudge) if they would help get a girl elf for the artroom so Nigel would have a friend. Santa said that there was a really good elf-in-training that would be perfect for the job!  Maybe she will show up next year when I put up my tree on Thanksgiving!  I can hardly wait!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Charlie Chaplin

Many students have been asking me about the Halloween Costume that I wore Trick-or-Treating with my niece and nephew. At school, everyone saw that the Specials Team went as Day of the Dead characters. I always do a different costume for Trick-or-Treating.  This year I was Charlie Chaplin.

For those who do not know who Charlie Chaplin is, he was one the first widely known film comedians. He played the same character in many films. This character was known as "The Little Tramp."  Below are a few pictures of Charlie Chaplin dressed as The Little Tramp.

Below are pictures of me dressed up as Charlie Chaplin for Halloween.