Welcome to Art with Mrs. French

I've put together this site to showcase some of the wonderful art work my students are creating. Take a look around and enjoy!

We Are Art Smart!

Howard Gardner, Ph.D., professor at Harvard University, first identified seven different kinds of intelligence in his classic book Frames of Mind. His theory has challenged assumptions about intelligence and learning and deeply influenced the path of education in the United States.

Gardner identifies Spatial intelligence as the ability to "think in pictures," to perceive the visual world accurately, and recreate (or alter) it in the mind or on paper. Spatial intelligence is highly developed in artists, architects, designers and sculptors. When we create art, thinking and acting to increase and develop our spatial intelligence, we become Art Smart!

Click here for an interesting article from ARTSEDGE on why being Art Smart is an important 21st century workplace skill.

About me

Julie French

I started my career in advertising as a graphic designer working with some very interesting businesses and non-profits. Click here to see some of that work. After taking time off to start a family, I wanted to combine my two loves — children and art. I'm now in my eighth year teaching art and I love it! My students' creativity amazes me every day, they are a joy to work with.

Contact Me

Parents may reach me through our school website, everyone else please email juliefrench@mac.com.

Thursday
Mar292012

Yarn Baskets

Recently as I was considering what art project should come next for our grade 6 class, I realized our materials stock included a large supply of brand new bottles of white pvc glue. I wanted to work on something three dimensional for a change after the class had spent a lot of time drawing their wonderful mandalas, and the glue seemed like a place to start. We also have a wonderful suppy of yarn I've been wondering how to use, hmm... what could we do with those two materials? 

One of the joys of the internet for art teachers is the incredibly easy access to a wealth of lesson inspiration. After a little searching, I discovered a way for students to learn a new technique and develop their skills working in three dimensions while making good use of existing materials in our classroom. These baskets were made by briefly soaking yarn in glue, then wrapping or applying the yarn to a mold. When the yarn was dry the mold was removed and we had baskets! The project took a while to complete and was pretty messy, but the students learned a new technique, got to make some interesting design decisions and ended up with a pretty cool product, don't you think? Clicking on any image gets you to the picture gallery. I'll be adding more images next week.

 

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