Killing my cameras softly

I taught 3 poetry classes at one school (5th grade) in SSF, and 4 after-school art classes at Brett Harte Elementary School near Hunter's Point, a dicey part of SF adjacent to Candlestick Park—I'm deep in the trenches and loving it. Otherwise, it's been a pretty shitty day. An adorable kindergartner decided to hug me for all she was worth for doing art with her and so she launched herself at me to hug me and my best camera, make that my only working camera went flying—this right after my tea spilled all over my MacBook. So now my shutter won't open all the way. The other camera too took the plunge in a similar fashion. All this loving. I'm down two Nikons. And I can't document the incredible artwork the kids did. At least my 23-year-old little red Honda hatchback (Lil Rix) is behaving. Not a place you want to break down while being white. But I seem to live a charmed life teaching these kids art.

added & rev. 4/17

Teaching notes, Wornick Jewish Day School, Young Audiences

Grueling day teaching art at the Wornick Jewish Day school in Foster City; several of the kinderkids lost their pinch pots (they were all jumbled together in the kiln—not my doing, I didn’t load the kiln) & far too many of our cool butterflies blew up. Talk about the butterfly effect! We glazed 'em anyway. And then we glued them back together. The 1st graders made amazing wet pastel landscapes. Our schoolwide art show and Open House is coming up, so the madness is on. It is hard teaching ceramics as an artist in residence, I have to lug everything to each classroom. Backbreaking work. It’s hard enough with all the art supplies needed to teach two-dimensional art. But I’ve got it down to a science. Art a la cart catering. I’ve also taught silk painting at the school as well. And that too is a real production. Massive amounts of prep for both silk painting and clay. And to make things worse, the classes are only 45 minutes long with not transition time between classes. And I’m not paid anywhere near enough for the work that I do, with all the prep through Young Audiences. They’re charging the school nearly double what I get. At least it’s three sessions. Small miracles. And the commute to Foster City is challenging. I have to get up super early in order to get there on time. Otherwise I won’t up dealing with to traffic jams. But I do love crossing the San Mateo Bridge, the utter beauty of the bay, the salt flats, and the patterns of migrating birds.

• Teaching notes YANC

Teaching notes, Prepping for a silk painting workshop, SSF, YANC

I’m prepping my art supplies and packing up the car (it took me three days to prep my all my supplies—it’s like setting up an encampment or a catering event. Art a la cart. Luckily I’ve had lots of practice setting up and catering events.) to teach a silk painting workshop in South San Francisco, and right now I am missing my old truck to stow all my gear —especially the painting frames—my gear barely fits into my newish Honda Civic (but it gets such great mileage!) We will make class murals on silk, working in teams. Culminating event is fun but tiring.

Teaching notes, Wornick Jewish Day School, YANC

4/22: It's off to a new school in Foster City: K &1, Day One. In the kindergarten class, we will make clay pots & in the first grade classes we will paint landscapes for Earth Day! How will I manage to teach all that in 45-minute classes? What were they (Young Audiences) thinking? Scheduling like that with no transition time either. Not to mention the massive amounts of prep with the clay class. Breathe. Inspire. Breathe together, a conspiracy of art. It'll all work out. The drive over the San Mateo was breathtaking. Earth Day.

4/22-23: Packing up the car for a silk painting workshops in South San Francisco, I miss the old truck to stow all my gear —especially the stretcherbar frames—it all barely fits into the newish red Honda Civic (but it gets great mileage!)

Teaching Conceptual Optics in the Classroom

Back in the 1990s, I saw several classes listed for kids at the Lawrence Hall of Science, and a school wanted a science unit for GATE (in Alexander Valley), so I created an arts based optics class combining several class write ups from the LHS...which was wildly popular... I taught it for years evey spring.

I never quite teach it the same way twice, I guess I'm teaching conceptual optics with a K as in Newton's Opticks. I have a certain, if vague fondness for Max Planck, Heisinger, and we can't forget Schrodinger's cat! I once held a letter Einstein wrote, after the Bonb, and I had a a 2nd cousin who worked on the Manhatttan Project—the math gene skipped me. And my grasp of physics is challenged but I can show how scientific questioning and hypotheses are related to artisitc inquiry.

It all started one day when I was throwing light around the room with prisms, and as we looked at the rainbows on the ceiling. a kindergartener asked me quite seriously, "Are you a magician?"

I often start with the EM scale and show kids where visual light lives on it. Such a narrow band. Then we explore and create a variety of optical illusions. Benhan rings, eye fatigue; we view an upside down world with magnifying glasses, we look at the retina as mirror (and that pesky flaw in the mirror, the optic nerve that forces the brain to create illusions like hotdog fingers), concave and convex (camera) lenses, we use fishing line sculpture for fiber optics, etc.

We make Dame Edna glasses, with one red and one green celluloid lens, color in geometric shapes, make contrasting color collages and look at them vibrate. Very 1960s acid trip kind of thing...the kids are all wandering around looking at the world with rose and green colored lenses, exclaiming, "Oh WOW!" it's a real scream. Sadly, I can no longer get celluloid, I'm eeking out my last few scraps (from Australia). Plasticwrap doesn't work. Can't see thru it.

We also do some really basic examination of eye structure, with partners, mirrors and flashlights...talk abiut how humans and other creatures see, and what colors we see vs. spiders & dogs. I show them how cyan, magenta and yellow dye can make every color. The main thing is that kids have fun while exploring a tiny portion of the optic realm.

We chase rainbows with prisms, CDs, crystals, Calistoga water bottles (the indentations throw rainbows) and bubbles. I've found that feather and snakeskin both have prismatic qualities. One final project is to throw sunlight at a right angle and create rainbows on a shadowed wall.

I think what got me interested in this originally was that when Newton's Opticks was published, it spawned a revolution in art and poetry...people had a new relationship to color and light. And I'm an artist and poet... I've a KQED SPARK grant at Cleveland ES during the day (painting on silk—see it's not paint, as in pigment but dye which stains the fiber—back to physics again). This is just extra. I'm still learning as I go.

Young Audiences of Northern CA Calligraphy Residency

Artist: Maureen Hurley
Discipline: Introduction to Calligraphy & Graphic Arts

Goals of Residency/Teaching Philosophy

Goals: For teachers: to spark ideas for the creation of an integrated curriculum, using visual arts and language arts. For students: this calligraphy residency will teach the art and history of fine hand lettering, and instill in students, the historical and aesthetic tradition of the art of calligraphy.

What is your approach to working with children?

I am an active published artist, performer/writer and educator. The excitement of, and proximity to creativity carries over into the classroom and ignites students and teachers alike with a desire to learn a difficult skill. Sharing this inspiration in the classroom allows me to create an arts community and foster a nurturing and safe space for students of all ages to explore divergent thinking skills.

What approach do you use to teach them skills in your arts discipline?

I love integrating core curriculum into my lessons, whether it be language arts or visual arts, social studies or science. I share my artistic process with students and instill in them my teaching philosophy which includes a sense of excitement, playfulness, and a burning desire for exploration and experimentation. I use specific models, class demonstration, group and one-on-one instruction, review process, critique/compliment sessions, and portfolio assessment.

Learning Objectives
(what do you want students to know by the end of the residency?):

Objectives: During this six-session residency, students will practice various skills in the visual and written graphic arts. At residency’s end, students will have a grasp of the mechanics of fine art lettering, and with the skills they’ve learned and the handouts I’ve given them, they will be able to continue learning long after the residency is over. I often ask them to teach a sibling or friend after class so they have a sense of ownership in the learning process.

Young Audiences of Northern CA artist bio and residency workshops

Poet and visual artist Maureen Hurley has led creative writing and art workshops for 20 years in California, Montana; Europe and the USSR. Maureen was awarded seven California Arts Council Artist in Residency grants, and numerous awards and fellowships for her work. Maureen' holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Studio and Expressive Arts from Sonoma State University. She holds a MA and MFA in Creative Writing (poetry/playwriting) at San Francisco State University, she minored in Celtic Studies, and Folklore at UC Berkeley. She is a storyteller for Oakland USD. Maureen often bases her classes on school curriculum— especially Social Studies or Science, or classes that combine the literary and visual arts. Maureen has taught students of all ages and levels—from Special Ed to GATE; pre-school to Elderhostel. Classes include Poetry & Silk Painting or Calligraphy; Murals, Painting & Drawing; Poetry & Performance. Residencies may be adapted to all age levels and skills.

Residencies (Visual Arts)
Drawing & Painting
How does an artist see the world differently? Students will develop the ability to observe like an artist or a scientist by exploring aspects of drawing and painting using contour line, form, and color composition. Media may include tempera paints and watercolors, India ink scratchboards, oil or chalk pastels, specialty pens and papers. Our models will be the great masters as well as other students’ work. Student-artists may develop a portfolio of their own work and display it in an art exhibition at the school site.

Painting "Sun Catchers" on Silk
Discover the magic of light and color with silk "sun catchers." Students will explore painting and drawing (see above). Using gutta serta—a technique similar to batik, and brilliant non-toxic silk dyes, they will apply their newfound skills to create stunning works of art on silk-covered hoops, or "sun catchers," and on silk banners and scarves. Or we might create large themed group silk "mural" or a series of self-portraits. This class also works well with a poetry or science component.

Murals: paint a story on the wall
Make murals for a school play or event using cardboard and tempera, or create a permanent installation with acrylics on canvas or plywood. Mural painting—whether it tells a story, or records a historical event—is a collaborative process where everyone gets to help with the design. We will incorporate drawings into a mural, create an outline or cartoon mock-up, and then under the guidance of a student mural captain, teams will paint the mural.

Calligraphy = Beautiful Writing
Calligraphy, the art of beautiful writing, develops observation and reading skills as well as fine eye-hand coordination. Students will learn the history of the Roman alphabet, from its pictographic beginnings to modern shapes. "A" is an ox; "B" is a house. We will write secret messages in Phoenician, invent our own alphabets, look at other writing systems including Linear A & B, Mayan, Chinese/ Japanese and Egyptian/ Cuneiform to see how the art of writing evolved. This class is an excellent addition to 6th grade Social Studies curriculum.

Residency (literary)
Poetry, the Mother of Art
The Greeks called poetry the mother of all art: Poetry allows us to synthesize what we know, explore new ideas, and ask questions in a safe format where there are no right/wrong answers. Poetry builds language skills and is an important component of both the Performing and the Literary Arts frameworks. Using their own unique perceptions and relevant life experiences, students write, perform, and publish poetry that creatively expresses their feelings, thoughts, and dreams. They will use culturally diverse model poems from both their peers and by world poets while exploring the use of metaphor to develop their own poetic voice. We will unravel language and make it our own. Many of the poetry recipes may be taught in bilingual Spanish. Publishing may include designing broadside posters or a poetry book. Longer residencies might also include the visual arts such as silk painting or calligraphy.
(Available in Spanish or English)

Young Audiences of Northern CA painting and color mixing workshop

Five Session painting and color mixing workshop

Day one will introduce simple color mixing techniques with tempera paint, and give a brief overview of the ten-session art and poetry lessons. Painting exercise will focus on primary colors (yellow, magenta, cyan) mixing with tempera paint using geometric and free form shapes. Students will learn the proper use of brushes, supplies, etc. We will have a class complimenting session at the end,

Whenever possible after every session, we will close each class with a complimenting session (using Visual and Performing Arts Standards (VAPA): aesthetic valuing) of each other’s work. Teachers will also display student artwork in classrooms and in halls.

Day two focuses on building (9 x 18”) simple landscape, using layers and triangles, using calendar photos and artist landscapes for inspiration. We will draw simple miniature (baby) contour line drawings to identify the shapes. We will build landscapes in layers and artist will introduce age level appropriate key VAPA vocabulary and concepts.

Day three focuses on primary and secondary color mixing with the addition of white/black (hue/shade) with tempera and we will make very large paintings based on landscape. We will use culturally appropriate artist landscapes (reflecting classroom diversity), calendar photographs for our models.

An alternate teaching idea is to have students cooperatively paint a large landscape (18 x 24”) in pairs. Whenever possible, all art lessons will be theme based according to grade level language and or science/social studies curriculum (weather/water cycles, land/sea/sky, transportation, CA history, etc)

Day four will introduce the concept of (solid) contour line drawing with black felt pens using toy animals and cars as our models. We will use blind contour drawing, opposite hand and freestyle drawing techniques. Or, if the teacher prefers staying with color exploration, we could do more landscapes using oil pastels or chalks.

Day five is an optional follow-up drawing lesson, using larger scale toy animals and each other to develop comfort and confidence drawing in a black and white medium. Students will do partner drawings and mirror drawings, if there’s time.