"Fauve Fauves" by grade 3

Well. I think we're finally done with Matisse and the fauves, and this may be my favorite project of everything we did with Matisse. The paper was I think 16 x 20" (or thereabouts), and I had the students leave a frame of about 1-1/2" on the paper. Students practiced drawing African animals by looking at lots of visuals, and the kids each picked one for their painting. They did the drawings on white paper with yellow chalkboard chalk. Some of the details of the original drawings unfortunately got lost in the re-drawing, but I like the childlike freshness of what turned out.

I had ordered a package of animal print tissue paper without a plan in mind, and it turned out to be perfect for the frames. I cut it in strips and the kids used starch to adhere it.

OOPS. I hung this bulletin board explaining the project after attending this afternoon's union meeting, and now that I'm looking at the photos I see a BIG error. The signs say the work was done by 2nd graders, but it was not. It is THIRD grade work and I'd better get into school early tomorrow morning to fix it before the kids see it. YIKES!

A retirement shelter for homeless art projects?

A lot of the bloggers I follow are still early in their teaching careers, but some of you, like me, have been teaching a LONG time and are close to retirement (or already retired). I'm anticipating that I'll probably retire a year from this coming June, so basically a year and a half away. My son graduates from college this year, and my teaching contract runs for another year, so it seems to make sense that that will be the time to retire.

Retirement is a big deal, and I've accumulated a lot of stuff over the years. I've got boxes of crazy props for drawing, and glass bottles, and art prints, and sample projects. Lots of them. I've got sample paintings, drawings, collages, prints, and more. I've made woven pouches, sculptures with stockings over wire, clay critters of every sort, an army of finger puppets, paper bag puppets, sock puppets, apple head dolls, plaster bandage people, a sock monkey, a funky totem pole, carvings in sheet rock, tooling foil reliefs, cardboard sculptures, and papier-mache. Lots of papier-mache: there's hot air balloons, maracas, a Mancala game, a penguin, a dragonfly, an iguana, a frog, three fat cats, crazy critters, tikis, Kachina dolls, masks, bowls, and more. Yes, more. And of course my dragons. Lucy is 5' long, cloth-mache over chicken wire, and when her wings are attached her wingspan is also about 5'. And there's her fragile baby Sparkle in her cracked dragon egg.

So here's the question for you, fellow bloggers. Where do they all go when I retire? I'd have to build another whole house to fit it all in, but I'll also be reluctant to get rid of it. And sweet Lucy won't fit in my little house anywhere. It's been suggested she hang from a ceiling somewhere, but she's a resting dragon, with a flat bottom. Hanging her wouldn't work. I don't think my husband would look kindly on all of this stuff in my living room. He'd be booking me for an episode of Hoarders.

I know I've got some time to figure it all out, but please weigh in with your ideas!