Worth a Million Words

Students at Williams were invited to share their love for art, music and school nurses through postcard art. The post cards were supplied by the Friends of Alachua County Public Schools Elementary Arts Programs and the Gainesville Community Foundation and were mailed to our Alachua County Legislators. We hope this postcard campaign would remind our state officials that arts education is important in Alachua County. They sure reminded me!


Kindergarten











First Grade











Second Grade











Third Grade











Fourth Grade











Fifth Grade

Third Grade - Georgia O'Keefe

Third graders are creating warm and cool color flowers in the style of Georgia O'Keefe.

Here are Xavier Collins and Isaiah Gordon from Ms. Scott's class with their work-in-progress.

The lesson with reproductions and objectives.

Talented Student Artists

The Art Program is in full swing and our student artists are creating high quality projects. Second through fifth graders began the year with lessons on reading the credit line (the information that accompanies a piece of art). They learned how to identify the artist, the artist’s nationality, date of production, title of piece, medium and size. They learned the various mediums artists use for visual creative expression and practiced analyzing pieces from a variety of perspectives.
First through fifth graders all recently completed “Name Plate” designs. They learned basic graphic design principles of spacing, balance, symmetry, positive/negative space and warm and cool colors. Completed pieces are on exhibit in the art building foyer gallery. Kindergarteners are now completing self-portrait paintings – to be on display soon.
New projects are beginning this week.
First grade – “People in Action”
Second Grade – “Amate Bark Paintings”
Third Grade – “Georgia O’Keefe Flowers”
Fourth Grade – “Mona Lisa/American Gothic Parodies”
Fifth Grade – “City Street - Linear Perspective”

Keep up the good work!

Summer Update

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacation.
I just developed some end of the year photos and wanted to share this one . . .

Samuel, Deanna and Ja'Mese are 3 creative and cool kindergarteners, as you can tell.


I know you have seen the news of the funding cuts to the art and music programs in our county for next school year. The good news is that I will be at Williams with you all. The bad news is that it will only be half of the year. As things stand now (although I am campaigning to reinstate our full-service art programs) I will be the art teacher at Idylwild the other half.
I am myself enjoying summer vacation so far. Thank you for your emails and calls. It has been wonderful hearing from you. I love your ideas for future art projects! Keep them coming.
I will 'blog' again closer to the school year to let you know how plans have progressed.
Enjoy the rest of your summer.
Now go make some art!

Love,
Ms. Lindquist

It's Been Great!

Have a great summer young artists.

Remember to keep in practice.
Buy a sketchbook ($1 at the DollarStore) and draw from real life. Set something on a table in front of you and draw it. Try and make it fill up the paper-space and add shading if you can. Plain ol' pencil on paper. There is nothing better to stay in training and to foster the most important skill in being an artist - really seeing!
Bring your sketchbook to school in the fall for me to see . . . . . p l e a s e.

Congratulations to all on so many amazing accomplishments. It's been a pleasure.
Love,
Ms. Lindquist

Juneteenth Festival & Juried Art Show

It's Almost Here!

Please come out to Lincoln Park on the Williams Elementary and Lincoln Middle School campus on June 14 & 15 anywhere between 10:00am - 8:00pm and experience African American cultural heritage through the arts. Many of our students will have art work on display in the children's art tent. Mr. Thomas and his band will be performing some wonderful Jazz. And very thrilling to me, is that 8 Highwaymen will be exhibiting! The Highwaymen were a group of young African American artists from Ft. Pierce who painted Florida landscapes and sold them of the side of the roads in the early 60s. There work hangs in the Governors office and is sought after by art collectors everywhere. This is the first time that this many from the group will be together since they were conducted in the Florida Artists Hall of Fame (floridahighwaymen.com)

To know more about the festival visit jfestcentral.com

Science Fair

The Science Fair was a big success. I am so proud of the Art Club participation.
Here is a picture of Max Fowler, Shane Schenck and Mihir Patel (3rd graders) with their color inquiry on creating the pigment color 'peach'. Good Job!

Art Club - Scientific Method

The Art Club explores 'Color'.
Steps of the scientific method
1. Name the problem or question
2. Form an educated guess (hypothesis)
3. Test your hypothesis by doing an experiment
4. Check and interpret your results
5. Report your results
Second graders, Justin Harbilas, Promise Santos & Desitiny Bivins wondered how to make silver paint. They pose here with their exhibit displaying the evidence of their research.

Third graders, Emili Pearson, Destiny Dunaway and Elaa Singh wondered how many different shades of brown could be made by mixing the primary colors (yellow, red and blue).

Current Curriculum

Kindergarten through 2nd grades are studying proportions of the human figure, learning the techniques for representing the human form in natural poses.
Third grade is studying 'warm and cool' colors and analogous colors. They are using these color schemes and relationships in creating a oil pastel picture in the style of Georgia O'Keefe.
Fourth grade is just finishing up a Still-Life project.
Fifth grade is completing a project on Linear Perspective.

JFest 2008
June 14 & 15.
Some of our students will have art work on exhibit at the Juneteenth Arts Festival this summer. Ms. Lindquist is in charge of the youth art exhibit and welcomes volunteers

(Call 352-339-1698).

Students working with clay

Kindergartener, Samuel Freeman with his modeling clay sculpture.







Fourth grader, Isaiah Smith with his Timucuan-syle clay pot.

. . . and Tavaris Jones.

*The Timucua were an American Indian people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia.

Harn Reception

It was a spectacular evening celebrating our talented students and their art achievements at the Harn. Thank you to 5th grade teacher, Laura Maxwell, for attending.

Last Friday, guest artist Adam Eccleston, gave a presentation about making jewelry to the students in

Ms. Ulrich's kindergarten class, Ms. Skipper's 4th grade class and Ms. Davis' 2nd grade class. The presentation was fascinating and our students were so interested and respectful.

Mr. Eccleston had his jewelry on exhibit at the 5th
Avenue Art Fair.

GRU / Wards Canvas Earth Day Bags

Beautiful and smart art. Our students decorated canvas grocery bags that were given away at Wards supermarket last Tuesday, Earth Day. It was a team effort, from kindergarten through 5th grades to get all 100 bags completed within a week.
We received a "Thank You" card from a man in Alachua, Florida (as copied)
"I was so pleased to receive one of your hand painted bags when I went grocery shopping on Earth Day. The bag is beautiful and I will use it every time I go shopping. You must truly love the earth to create so many bags to save the Earth's resources."
- David Williams

Williams' student DO love our Earth!!!!!

Art Club Announcements

Williams Art Club

The last Art Club meeting will be on May 20.

We have finished our projects using the scientific method to explore ideas of “Color”.
For our last project we will be creating acrylic paintings on board, a la Matisse, “Scenes of the Seasons”.

This Tuesday’s Art Club meeting (April 29) is cancelled. I will be going to Tallahassee with the School Board and ACEA (teacher’s union) to talk with our state legislators about school policy and budget issues. If you have any words you would like me to pass on your behalf, write me a note or call. I'd be happy to.

Thank you,
Jennifer Lindquist
352-339-1698

Juneteenth Festival & Juried Art Show

JFest 2008

June 14 & 15, 10:00am - 8:00pm

I will be teaching a variety of lessons inspired by the upcoming Juneteenth Festival & Juried Art Show both in art class with our students and periodically here in this blog for the last couple of weeks of school for everyone. It is an historic event both in what it commemorates and as the first arts festival of it's kind in East Gainesville. The event encompasses the ideas of African Heritage, the arts (visual, music and performance) and culture.

Also, many of our students will be participating in the Youth Art Competition and Exhibit!

Lesson #1 - What is Juneteenth?
History (Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)
Though the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had little immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in Texas, which was almost entirely under Confederate control. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived on Galveston Island to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves. Legend has it while standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3”
The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.[6]
That day has since become known as Juneteenth, a name derived from a portmanteau of the words June and nineteenth.

Go to Gainesville's JFest website to know it all -

http://www.cce.ufl.edu/JFest/index.html

Carnival, 4th Grade DVD cover designs & news

Good news:
The Williams Annual School Carnival and Spring Arts show is this Friday the 25th. Please come and celebrate with our school family, support the PTA and revel in the artistic talents of our students!
The 4th Grade DVD cover designs for the "Let It Be Told!" oral histories project of Williams' alumni pre-integration have been receiving compliments in the community. They are very impressive. I invite you to view an example interview of what our students used as inspiration for their DVD designs.
Go to http://www.documentary.org/resources/fiscal_sponsorship_donate.php?film_id=3022
Not so good news:
I'm sure you aware of the budget cuts that are affecting the planning for next school year. It is hard for me to believe that our school board/district would allow the arts to be cut from the school curriculum as a means to lower expenses. But with the recent press . . . (please review the article in last Wednesday's Gainesville Sun http://www.gainesville.com/article/20080416/NEWS/804160360
As parents, you see the value of arts programming in your child's education. I urge you to contact our school board members for more responsible measures for dealing with our budget issues and to express any and all of your thoughts about your child's education.
Thanks, and get your face painted by Ms. Lindquist at the carnival.

Emmanuel Durr's photograph

Here is Emmanuel Durr's photograph titled "Bikes Outside" that was selected to be the postcard art for the Harn Museum of Art's announcement for the Annual Student Art Exhibition.









Please take time to visit the website and view ALL the fifth grade photographs at
http://www.williamspta.org/photoshowcase/ .

Art is Blooming

All are invited to attend the opening reception of the Harn Museum of Art’s annual Alachua County Student Exhibition on April 24th at 7:00pm. Congratulations Emmanuel Durr, Fred Carmen, Collyn Thomas, Davis Wilkey and Luke Meyer. These fifth graders have their photographs on display in this special exhibition. Emmanuel Durr had his photograph selected to be the postcard design advertising the exhibition. To see Emmaunuel’s original photograph and view ALL our talented 5th graders go to http://www.williamspta.org/photoshowcase/ .

Congratulations to 5th grader Tesshia Adolphe for having her painting “Going To the Movies” inspired by Jacob Lawrence (one of the best-known of the twentieth century African American painters) on exhibit at the Museum of Natural History.

All students at Williams are engaged in meaningful art experiences each week in our visual arts program. Come see the work on display in the building. Our students are so talented.

VOLUNTEER! Our students have recently completed projects. They are mounted, labeled and ready to go. Come by the art room any time, grab a stack and hang them on any piece of empty wall you can find. Donations of Plasti-tack and/or Wax greatly appreciated. Come by TODAY!

Ceonda Honer & Jasmine Murphy at the Thomas Center

Congratulations to 5th graders Ceonda Honer and Jasmine Murphy. These two students have art work on display in a special exhibition at the Thomas Center that will run from March 1 - 23. Ther will be an opening reception on Thursday, March 6 @ 6:30 and everyone is invited to attend!

Projects are coming to completion as part of the school-wide Black History Unit.

Curriculum:

K - Romare Bearden, "Funny Face Collage"

1 - William Johnson, "Family Portrait Tempera Painting"

2 - Faith Ringgold, "Community Quilts"

3 - Harriet Powers, "Story Quilt, Fabric Collage"

4 - Graphic Design of the Harlem Rennaissance, "DVD Cover Design"

5 - Jacob Lawrence, "Narrative Painting with Tempera"

Congratulations to Emanuel Durr!

5th grader, Emanuel Durr had his photograph entitled "Bikes Outside" selected to be the postcard and poster image for advertising the Harn Museum of Art's student exhibition. When you see the image you'll understand why. Beautiful work Emanuel!