Frustration

I retired three years ago.  I wasn't tired of making art with kids.  I was tired of all the other stuff: the nonsense being shoved down my throat by administration, the state regulations, the assessments, the Essential Questions, the SLO's, the so-called professional development that never related to art education, the data, the lunch duty, the requisitions for next year's supplies (due in February when there's still a half year of school to go), and more.  I was tired of making doctor and dentist appointments in the late afternoon and racing to get there on time.  I was tired of booking vacations when everyone else is on vacation.  I was tired of being exhausted of Friday nights, and I was tired of grocery shopping on Saturdays when the stores are crowded.

But I wasn't tired of making art with kids.  As a matter of fact, it was just the opposite.  I had so many projects I wanted to do again, and so many new ideas I wanted to share with students.  So I needed a plan to make art with kids, on my own time, with my own rules.  Just hands-on mess-making activities.  Papier-mache, paint, collage, weaving, mask-making, and more more more.  Low tuition; just enough to pay for the materials and other costs.

My plan involved opening my own business, DragonWing Arts.  I put the plan in motion about 2-1/2  years ago.  The plan was (and still is) to have classes of students grades 3-6, or ages 8-11ish, for weekly classes in a session of between 5 and 8 weeks.  Each multi-week session would be based on a theme.  I had/have so many ideas for themes.  By the way, all photos in this post are from my DragonWing Arts classes.  Our themes thus far  have included All About the Face, Around the World, Marvelous Mess,

 But the big challenge continues to be finding students.  I do not live in the community where I taught, so I do not know the children.  My friends do no not have young children.  So I have tried, with varying degrees of success, advertising in a local weekly newspaper, contacting area art teachers, and sending flyers home in backpacks.  The schools have been a challenge, often refusing to allow flyers to be sent out for a fee-based program.  I have fluctuated between 5 and 3 students per session. I had some repeat students.  But this fall, my repeat students have all just started 5th grade, which is in the middle school, and the school and their schedules are new to them and their parents say there's too much going on for them to commit to the art classes.  So every time I latch onto a student for a year or two, it seems they "age out" because of the demands of middle school.

I believe, ironically, that my program is more important than ever. My students, who came from several local schools, had universal complaints about their school art programs.  They rarely did anything messy; rarely painted.  They've never touched papier-mache before they came to my class.  They've drawn and colored with pencils and markers.  They have never done weaving.  They have imaginations and creativity waiting to be unlocked.

 In two and a half years, we've made 3-D painted paper weaving, we've hammered nails to make rain sticks, we've experimented with salt and watercolor and we've marbled with shaving cream; we've learned basic perspective, made toothpaste batiks, giant masks, and stocking/wire sculptures; we've made papier-mache flying pigs, Darumas, rain sticks, and ice cream cones; we've built giant eyeballs, painted paper, made papier-mache pulp reliefs, tie-dyed coffee filter flowers, and held art shows for the parents.

And this fall, the plan was for papier-mache garden gnomes and gnome home doors in tree stumps or mushrooms (large, with more papier-mache and all sorts of fun embellishment).  I was totally excited.  Yet, suddenly, I found myself with only one student signed up and as of today, I've had to cancel the fall session.  I am frustrated, disheartened.  I want these smiling happy faces back in my little classroom. 

 I advertised the program for three weeks, and didn't receive even one response from the ad.  School hadn't started yet, so I couldn't even attempt the backpack battle.  It seems like the stress of school has gotten worse, and when you are working with a clientele that "ages out", you need to continually find new "clients". 

 I don't expect you to offer me any solutions.  What works in your community might not work in mine..  I just wanted to share my frustration.  Meanwhile, I'll keep plugging along, and hope that this winter I may find a new batch of students. 

Bill Peet, author/illustrator extraordinaire!

I thought perhaps it was time to do a post about some favorite children's books that, while not specifically "art books", could certainly inspire art lessons.  Then I discovered that I'd already written that post, about two years ago!  You can find it HERE.

So, instead of just re-writing the same post again, I want to focus on one particular author/illustrator mentioned in that prior post, the fabulous Bill Peet.  If you've never come across any of the books by Peet, you are actually still likely to be familiar with much of his work, because, besides being an author/illustrator of children's books, he also spent 27 years working at Disney as a story writer/illustrator.  He left Disney after a disagreement with Walt Disney, and then continued his career writing and illustrating children's books.

In the shelves of books saved from my son's childhood, I found that he had four books by Peet.  Three of these books are a selection are storybooks, and the fourth (on the left in the photo above) is an autobiography written for an intended audience of upper elementary age children.  The black & white images below are from this autobiography.  His books are filled with rich  drawings of animals, both real and imaginary, trains, cars, buildings, and much more. 

 In the autobiography, he talks about his time working at Disney, as you can see in the two pictures below.   This book is an excellent choice for teaching children about autobiographies. 

One of Peet's most compelling books is The Wump World, a book with a strong environmental warning.  It may remind you in spirit of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, but Peet's book was published first, about a year before The Lorax.  Here's a few images from The Wump World.

Here's a few more pages from the Peet books that we own, including Cowardly Clyde, and Cock-a-Doodle Dudley.  I think, if you were looking for lesson inspiration, Peet's books could be motivation for using illustrations to tell a story, and inventing creatures, and are wonderful examples of using value to create forms. 

These few that we own are only a small sampling of the books written and illustrated by Bill Peet.  Each one has an intelligent story, well-written, and loads of beautiful illustrations.

One of my favorite Peet books can be somewhat controversial, and years ago I made the mistake of selecting it to read to a 2nd grade class in my school district, when I was invited as a 'guest reader'.  That book is The Gnats of Knotty Pine.  The story takes place at the start of hunting season.  The animals in the forest band together to chase away the hunters.  Unfortunately, the school district where I taught is located in the rural foothills of the Adirondacks of NY, an area very popular for hunting.  I would guess that easily 3/4 of my students lived in homes where there are hunting rifles, and where many of these students have been hunting with a parent, and possibly even own their own guns.  Venison is a frequent meal at the dinner table.  The kids did not understand the anti-hunting stance of this book!

If you've never encountered a book by Bill Peet, I strongly recommend it!