How to be an art teacher...

I came to ICSB thinking, "I know how to be an art teacher. I know what is involved." Little did I know what it would actually take.

Being an art teacher means much more than just teaching classes. I have come to learn that because I am an "art" teacher, it means I am constantly getting requests to help with creative tasks around the school.

For example, the high schoolers wanted to make a cross mosaic for one of their chapel periods. This required breaking up tiles and mirrors, gluing them down with silicon, and grouting between all the pieces. I was put in charge of this project and it turned out beautifully in the end.

Another example: The Special Services office wanted a make over. I got put in charge of painting some picture frames to match the decor. I decided to have my independent study student help me with this. This is meaningful as she is a student with special needs herself. The picture frames will be hung in the office soon.

Also, this year I had my first experience with theater. I got recruited to be the set coordinator for the middle school production of Annie. It was a big task for me as I have never done anything like this before:

• Marble walls were created for Warbucks' mansion. Youtube was a big help in getting technique down.
• NYC was created using a large canvas with painted buildings and twinkle lights. It was topped off with a painting I did of King Kong.
• Hanegin's office was given a drab green color.
• The director also wanted a portrait of Daddy Warbucks for his office.
• To help transform the gym into 1930s NYC, advertisements were posted along with street signs.

**I recommend clicking on the photos to make them bigger so you can see things better.

I am so thankful for the parents that came to help me with this. Even though I was stressed out the entire time (including dreams about everything that still needed to be done), in the end the musical was wonderful. The students did great! The set of the NYC scene got a round of applause when the curtain opened. Now I am waiting to hear what the high school musical will be so I can start planning for it :-)

Art

Time sure is flying here at ICSB! We are almost half-way through our second quarter and progress reports are looming over teachers' heads. So far, my students have been very busy. We have done the following things in art:

• Studied the Elements of Art
• Made books and posters about the Elements of Art
• Drawn still-life shoes with pencil and charcoal
• Drawn self-portraits
• Drawn street scenes in 1-point perspective
• Drawn boxes in 2-point perspective
• Studied line and created drawings using only line
• Made paper...for projects and for invitations!
• Created sculptures of paper mache
• Created abstract paintings
• Had a guest graffiti artist
• Painted with watercolors
• Used color pencils to shade
• Created family portraits with oil pastels
• Created a fish using a wax resist and watercolors
• Have had 9 weekly sketch assignments

I am attaching a video and pictures of some recent work the students have done. The video is of the High School Art 2's latest project. They did amazing work!

The pictures are High School Art 1's handmade paper projects. They were required to experiment with different materials and include a creative writing piece on the paper.

Enjoy!

The Big Picture

Two weekends ago marked a big event in Campus Crusade's history.

A lot of what I do is mainly involved only with the school. However, Campus Crusade for Christ is my support mission, so I am also a part of that community. I attend different staff get-togethers. Each month I enjoy a nice fellowship with the women staff of Crusade.

Recently, I got a much bigger vision of what Crusade does in Budapest. Budapest holds the Eastern European office headquarters of Campus Crusade. Larry Thompson has been the director of Easter Europe since 1992.

The vision for Eastern Europe is to raise national leaders. The goal is to staff people who are native to countries like Poland, Hungary, Romania, etc. In essence, the need for American missionaries is to be fazed out and nationals brought in. It happened this year.

Larry Thompson has left the role of area director. We had a good-bye celebration that commemorated many of his achievements in Eastern Europe. He and his wife started serving while communism existed. We heard stories from the Thompsons and other missionaries about what life was like as a missionary under communism. The night included interviews, videos, stories, and songs about how Larry became the director and events that occurred within Crusade under his watch. As a new staff member, I was overwhelmed at the huge history Crusade has had in Europe.

The day after Larry's good-bye celebration, Crusade dedicated the new director. This switch is very significant as the new director is from Poland. His name is Marek Wyrzykowski. God has raised this laborer along with many other new staff members from various countries in Eastern Europe. It is awesome to see people who aren't Amercians at Crusade events. Americans aren't the only ones who can be Christians.

These changes are so significant that several of the "higher-ups" flew in. Vonette Bright flew to Hungary for this occasion. She and her husband Bill were the founders of Campus Crusade for Christ in 1951. Bill has passed away, but Vonette wouldn't let her old age stop her from missing this event! She was gracious to pose for pictures and spoke during the event.

The Lord's work was truly glorified during this celebration.