Introduction to Flowerstone Art!

Sadee and Ashley drawing the chickens at the farm!

It's good to be up and running this Flowerstone Art blog finally!  I'm so excited to share with everyone all the "going-ons" at our studio. The studio has been open and I have been teaching for over four years.  I earned my Fine Art Degree from the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta in 2008 with a focus on art education. As an art teacher I often try to search the internet for lesson plan ideas I can use with my students.  What am I looking for? Projects adaptable to artists the ages of my students (6 - 16), using recycled materials or as inexpensive materials as possible, something visually appealing and fun to create, and something that teaches something about art!  That's right, we are not a craft class!  More often than not, I find something that springboards my own creativity and I come up with a brand new lesson plan on my own.  So, I thought I would share what goes on in my studio with my students and hopefully fill the art education world with some new ideas as well as some tried and true ones. 

At Flowerstone Art I aim to teach children at a young age what the elements and principles of art are, how to recognize them in the art they see, and how to create BETTER artwork themselves by adding more of the things they have learned in class.  I find artists and illustrators that are using a fun technique or style in their art that I can show the students how to try themselves.  It's important to show artists where and how to find inspiration without plagiarizing the artwork itself.  We go on field trips, especially when we try plein air painting or drawing animals from life as in the photo on the left when we went to draw farm animals.  Once a year we hold an Art Show where the work of the students is displayed in a formal manner.  They can invite anyone they want to see the Show, I create a program that explains what each project's artistic goals were and the students each receive a ribbon for a piece they did especially well on.  I have outside help come and award a "Best of Show" ribbon as well.  It's a pretty big deal!

One thing I will share here with you is what works and what doesn't.  I do a lot of experimenting. When I try three recipes for air dry clay I'm going to tell you what I liked and don't like about each one.  When we use an iron or heat gun I'll share with you what is WAY too messy for the classroom and what will make you have to open windows because of the stink!  I'll have fun experimenting and I will save all of you some time!  I'm hoping this website will be helpful to art teachers looking for new exciting lesson plans, parents looking for relatively easy art projects they can do with things at home, and even the occasional emerging artist who wants a new art adventure. Let's get creative!

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A photo from one of our art shows. Notice some of the award ribbons. Students sometimes help curate the show and learn about yet another vocation in the art field!