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Editor's Note

Arts & Activities, Sept, 2001 by Maryellen Bridge

You can feel it in the air: the excited anticipation that precedes a new school year. For the past few months, we've been busily selecting and preparing materials that will help you make the best of this fresh September start. Traditionally, a study of color is appropriate for this time of year, and we have several ideas in this regard, under the heading "Start the Year with a Splash of Color." To begin, Geri Greenman's "Shades of Summer" (page 22) serves as a beautiful segue from vacation time to school time. Using familiar swimming-pool toys, high-school students apply their knowledge of color theory and color mixing as they create luscious, luminescent watercolor paintings.

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In "Warm & Cool Dinosaurs" (page 28), Sally Mannlein shares the successful lesson she used to introduce her first-graders to drawing dinosaurs, the concept of distance and--most importantly--warm and cool colors. Then, learn how your secondary-level students can create a "... new kind of color `wheel,' contrasting pure, powerful color with tantalizing tints ..." in Paula Guhin's "Commanding Color and Versatile Value" (page 38).

Among our "Inspirational Ice-Breakers" is a wonderful way to utilize the time when students prepare to enter and leave the art room. `Line Up for Art: Making the Most of Those Teachable Moments" (page 37), by Minuette B. Floyd, clearly outlines how you can make use of every minute of "art time" with fun games and an informative "art news board." Also useful in breaking the ice is "Student Silhouette Designs," by Bill Brittain (page 40). Here is a project that will convince timid art students that they have nothing to fear--and much to gain--in the art room.

New this year is an occasional series that we are calling "On the Art Career Track," which will feature projects that provide students with a glimpse of art careers, as well as some practical experience. Many of the projects will utilize the computer as the main art tool, but basic, traditional art skills and knowledge will also come into play. Check out our first installment on page 44: "An Exercise in Creative Typography," by Irv Osterer.

We are very pleased with this year's Clip & Save Art Prints. Once again, Guy Hubbard has developed a fantastic series of artworks that you can use with your art classes. The theme for 2001-2002 is "The `Isms' of Art," and the introduction can be found starting on page 30. We will be focusing on American artists who represent a variety of "isms," and the first in our series--an example of Impressionism--is Childe Hassam's "Lower Manhattan (View Down Broad Street)."

With the well-researched information and suggestions that Professor Hubbard and all of our contributors share this month, you are certain to develop many excellent lesson plans for your students, who are awaiting art class, and the new school year, with excited anticipation.

Editor's Note

Arts & Activities, Sept, 2001 by Maryellen Bridge

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