Student artwork exhibited at NJPAC

Dilara's "Scarecrow Landscape"

Soven's "Cityscape - Paris"

One of my goals, each year, is to display as much artwork as possible outside of our school. This month 2 pieces of artwork will be on display in the lobby of the Victoria Theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ. This is a juried exhibit sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey, 30 pieces will be exhibited in all. All the artwork is framed under glass and lit in true gallery style. The Artist's Reception will be Sunday, December 9, 2007 from 11:00 - 12:00 pm. Congratulations to Dilara & Soven! If you are going to NJPAC this Holiday Season please make sure to stop by and enjoy the exhibit!

Mount Prospect Students have Artwork Published in a NEW Art Education Textbook

Artwork from students at Mount Prospect School is included in a NEW Art Education - text book, Explorations in Art, published by Davis Publication. The student artwork is featured in the Student Book and used as examples of what children might create for the lesson.

How did this all happen, you might ask...Well, Dr. Marilyn Stewart was a professor of mine when I attended Kutztown University and the co-author of this K-5 series. She and I have kept in touch over the years, when she was working on the book she contacted me. I told her to take a look at our Artsonia Gallery to see what she could find. Next thing you know I was getting e-mails from Davis asking for permission, from parents/guardians, to use the images!

How exciting -- CONGRATULATIONS to all the students involved!

New England Art Ed Conference or Cape Cod in a Hurricane!

I started this post yesterday and published it before I finished writing it...sorry! Anyway, I spent the weekend at the New England Art Education Conference. Can you believe just this weekend, Hurricane Noel decide to hit the Cape? Well, it was really the perfect time to be inside at a conference -- lots to do inside and no reason to be outside! My presentation on Artsonia was first thing on Saturday morning, it went very well and we had a PACKED house. Then I had time to attend 4 other presentation. My 2 favorite were Black Light Puppet Theater and Chinese Brush Painting, I hope to share both with students at Mount Prospect sometime this year! The Black Light Puppet Theater was AMAZING, I know the students will love it. We actually created a puppet show and performed it, the presenter video taped our performance and is going to post it on YouTube. It was interesting to meet art teachers from ALL over New England and see what is going on in their art classrooms.

Mount Prospect Student has artwork selected for AENJ Calendar

Sabrina82

Each year the Art Educator of New Jersey (AENJ) publishes a calendar of student artwork. The artwork you see above was created by Sabrina82, last year in 3rd grade. Each student had to create a self-portrait showing themselves as a king or queen. Sabrina shows herself as the "Queen of the Art Studio"! This piece was selected to be on the 2008 AENJ Calendar. This calendar will be distributed to all AENJ members at the annual conference in October and mailed to NJ Legislatives, State Board of Education members, Senators, and the Governor. Congratulations to Sabrina!!!

If you would like to check out the other pieces selected to be on this calendar, check out the AENJ Gallery on Artsonia.

Excellence in the Arts

The first week of October was certainly a week to
CELEBRATE Excellence in the ARTS!!!

Mrs. Bivona & Mrs. Slutzky at AENJ

Mrs. Bivona at the Excellence in the Arts Award

On Monday, October 1, 2007. Judy Slutzky, Principal of Mount Prospect School received the The George DiBouno Recognition Award from the Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ) at the AENJ Fall Conference. This award was established to honor former AENJ President, George DiBouno, whose dedication to arts education in New Jersey was marked by a realization of the power of leadership in education to move the arts to the forefront. This award is for those who are "within" the field of education, but not Art Educators.

As President of AENJ I was fortunate enough to present this award to Mrs. Slutzky. Here is just a little bit of what I said in my speech.

"Mrs. Slutzky leads by example…she always makes sure that the Arts get equal billing at all school events!!! That lets us know and the community know that the ARTS are important! She has supported and continues to support my leadership role in AENJ 100%. I could not do all that I do without her! She makes sure that I attend this Conference and the National Art Education Conference each year. All of this allows me to become a better leader. My hope is that I give back to Judy by being a leader at Mount Prospect School!!!"

Then on Tuesday October 2, 2007 - Mrs. Slutzky and I were together again, to celebrate my award at the Somerset County Cultural & Heritage Commission's Excellence in the Arts Awards. The reception was held at Twin Brooks Country Club in Watchung, NJ. There were 2 performing groups and 4 art educators recognized!!! The Excellence in the Arts Awards celebrate the arts in Somerset County and highlight and honor some of the most outstanding artists and arts organizations for their exemplary leadership in and dedication to the fine and performing arts in the county. Honorees show exceptional commitment and dedicated service to the arts, exemplifies talent and professionalism as an artist, educator or arts advocate and most importantly, is an inspiring role model to the community.

It is truly an honor to receive this award in Somerset County. It means so much to me to be recognized by my community - my students, their parents and my co-workers! I hope to instill a passion for art in all the young artists at Mount Prospect School!!!

To see more photos check out the Courier News Photo Gallery

Welcome Back!

Back to School Night

Please make sure to visit the Art Room (#257) when you come to Back to School Night on Tuesday, September 18, 2007. I will be available from 7:10 - 7:40pm for parents of students in 3rd through 5th grade, if your child is in K - 2nd grade please come by from 8:10 - 8:50pm. Come see what we have been doing with the Smartboard!

Art on the Move Blog

As usual there is LOTS going on in Art this year, I hope you will take the opportunity to sign-up to get updates to this BLOG in your e-mail in-box! If you look in the left sidebar of this page you will see a place where is says "Subscribe to Art on the Move by e-mail" (see picture below), click here and you can sign-up. That way you will ALWAYS be up-to-date!

ARTSONIA

We will be publishing student artwork in our online gallery at: www.artsonia.com/prospect1.

If you have a student in Kindergarten or you are new to our school, you should have already received a Permission Form, those forms should be returned to the teacher who will get the form to me! Just so you know, last names are NEVER listed on the site. If you have any questions concerning Artsonia, please e-mail me. You can contact me at - sbivona@bernardsboe.com. We have been publishing artwork in our gallery for 6 years now -- students and parents just love it!!! It will give you an opportunity to see what your child is creating in Art and share it with family members.

See you Tuesday, remember the Art Room in #257!!!
Mrs. Bivona

The TABLES have ARRIVED!

I told you not to worry!

I arrived at school this morning to a wonderful surprise -- the new tables for the ART ROOM have arrived and they are BEAUTIFUL!!! The stools arrived too...and so did all of the supplies! Now all we need are the students -- I can't wait for everyone to see this amazing STUDIO that we will be working in!!! Enjoy this last week of SUMMER and I will see you soon!
~ Mrs. Bivona

Movin' in...to the ART ROOM!

Well, it has been a long wait -- but well worth it! I walked into the ART ROOM for the first time yesterday. It is AWESOME, I am so excited to have this beautiful space where the young artists of Mount Prospect School can now come and create -- it is going to be a VERY exciting year!

Don't worry that you only see one table in this photo, the tables have not arrived yet! We will be all set for September.

I truly cannot wait for this year to start, having a space for our students and myself to work is going to be a wonderful experience for everyone.

Can't wait to see you in September! Mrs. Bivona

Mrs. Bivona takes an on-line class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art!

Hi Everyone!
I hope you are having a wonderful and relaxing summer! I have been busy painting and wallpapering my house, but I have also been taking an awesome on-line class at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This was the first time the Met has ever offered a class online. It was called Face to Face: Comparing Portraits - an online interactive workshop from elementary school teachers. Mrs. Defrancisco, art teacher at Liberty Corner took it as well. Over the 2 weeks we looked at a variety of portraits -- then we blogged about them, created wikis with lots of infomation and inquiry-based questions and we even created our own self-portrait (which we then photographed and uploaded to our blog)! We learned so much!

It was an excellent opportunity to communicate with teachers from ALL over the country, there were 28 of us in the class from 16 different states. We had 2 excellent instructors, William Crow from the Met and Herminia Din from the U of Alaska. On Tuesday, July 30, 2007 we were all invited for a tour of the Met in NYC. Mrs. DeFrancisco are going to attend, I will take lots of photos to share with you!

I am looking forward to sharing all that I have learned with our students at Mount Prospect!

Enjoy the rest of the summer -- see you all soon!

Mrs. Bivona

A GREAT photo from NJPAC ~ June 2007

Here is a wonderful photo of the huge CROWD at NJPAC for the final Student Art Exhibit of the year! Check back at the end of August when "Art on the Move" will be back on-line and posting monthly! Enjoy the Summer ~ Mrs. Bivona

Student work exhibited at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)

One of my goals, each year, is to display as much artwork as possible outside of our school. This month, and throughout the summer, 8 pieces of artwork will be on display in the lobby of the Victoria Theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, NJ. Congratulations to Kayla & Emily (5th grade), Alessandro & Jed (4th grade), Martin, Claire, Abby & Julia (2nd grade) and Amil (1st grade). This is a juried exhibit sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey, 30 pieces will be exhibited in all. The Artist's Reception, for this exhibit will be Sunday, June 10, 2007 from 11:30 am- 12:30 pm. All students who have artwork exhibited in this show have been informed by mail.

2007 Spring Art Exhibit - PREVIEW

5th grade - Sneakers
2nd grade - Lions & Dragons to Celebrate Lunar New Year

3rd grade - King & Queen Portraits

Spring Art Exhibit
This year’s Spring Art Exhibit ready for viewing!!!
The work will be on display from
May 18, 2007 through June 8, 2007
Visit the school ANYTIME to view the exhibit
or
Come early, before the CONCERTS, May 22, 2007 & May 29, 2007 - this is the perfect opportunity to enjoy all the artwork students have created this year!!!

Artwork from each child, in the school, is on exhibit in the long hallways on the 1st and 2nd floor. All work is identified by the teacher & student name, you will also find a description of the project!

Attention Third Grade Parents & Guardians
A special exhibit of artwork from 3rd grade is on display in the hallway
past Ms. Salazar’s room, look for signs!!!

We know you will enjoy!
Thank you - Susan Bivona & Kamyee Ladas, Art teachers

Charter Day - May 19, 2007

Happy Birthday Basking Ridge!!!

Saturday May 19, 2007 is the 13th Annual Charter Day - a celebration of the day that Basking Ridge received its charter! The day runs from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm - a variety of community groups and businesses have booths and there are activities throughout the day. Most of the activities take place right in the center of Basking Ridge.

One tradition is an Art Exhibit, from the Art classes in the Bernards Township School District, at the church. Mount Prospect School will have over 70 pieces of artwork on display. Enjoy!!! Any child who has artwork on display will receive a notice before Friday, May 18, 2007.

For more detailed information about Charter Day, check out the Historical Society of Somerset Hills website! Hope to see you there!

Artsonia Hall of Fame

Although the school year is starting to wind down, ARTSONIA is just getting started with one of the newest family involvement features on our site! Now, parents and fan club members can help their artists earn Artsonia awards and even get their name listed in the Artsonia Hall of Fame!
* "Portfolio" Award -- earned by having 5 or more pieces of artwork in the gallery this year
* "Popular Artist" -- earned by having 5 or more fan club members
* "Rave Reviews" -- earned by receiving 5 or more comments this year
* Hall of Fame -- our highest honor, earned when the artists has all three of the above awards

Mount Prospect School currently has the following award winners for the 2006-2007 school year:

2 Hall of Fame winners

14 students have earned 2 of 3 awards

144 students have earned 1 of 3 awards

Ready to see which students have achieved awards this year? Click the following link (or enter in your browser) to view your school's student awards page! http://www.artsonia.com/schools/prospect1/studentawards

Geico's 2006 - 2007 National Safety Belt Poster Contest Winner

Geico's 2006 - 2007 Safety Belt Poster Contest

Another WINNER -- for the 2nd year in a row we have a WINNER in the Geico National Safety Belt Poster Contest! Here you see artwork created by a Kevin, a third grade student at Mount Prospect School. This piece was selected as the third place regional winner for the 6 - 8 age group. WOW - a Congratulations goes out to Kevin, keep up the GREAT work!!!


For more about this contest go to:
http://www.geico.com/about/poster/

NJ Conserve Wildlife Foundation Species on the Edge Art and Essay Contest

For the second year in a row Mount Prospect School participated in the NJ Conserve Wildlife Foundation Species on the Edge Art and Essay Contest. Once again, we had 3 pieces selected!!!
Congratulations go out to 5th grade students - Raeann, Sabina & Andy!

You can find out more about this contest at:
http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/teachers/2007species.html

Artsonia Update!!!

Mount Prospect School Gallery at:
www.artsonia.com/prospect1.

Security Keys, Comments and Fan Clubs !!!

Mount Prospect School has been publishing student artwork to our On-line Artsonia Gallery for 6 years now! I continue to get lots of positive feedback from both students and parents.

Here are just a few things you should keep in mind.

SECURITY KEYS
Please Note...when your child has a piece published on Artsonia you will receive a paper notice. It is important that you check this notice and see if you are REGISTERED. To register you MUST have your child's SECURITY KEY...the only way you can get it is from me, Mrs. Bivona, on the notice I send home. Once you register you will automatically get e-mail updates when new artwork is published! Thank you for taking the time to do this!!!

COMMENTS
Artsonia allows you and other visitors to leave comments for our young artists, I would like to encourage you to do so! Students LOVE to read positive comments about what they are creating! The next step is you, the PARENTS & GUARDIANS need to approve the comments!

FAN CLUBS
Parents need to register to receive e-mail updates, but other family members and friends can become a member of a child's FAN CLUB. This way they can receive e-mail updates each time a new piece of artwork is uploaded!

Mrs. Bivona hits the TODAY Show for Youth Art Month

The National Art Education Association's Convention was held in NYC - March 14 - 18, 2007. As President of the Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ) I represented our association at the Delegates Assembly. On Thursday - March 15, 2007 a few of my art teacher friends (and AENJ Board Members) decided to hit the TODAY Show to tell the world that March is Youth Art Month! We got up at 5:00 am, so we could get in line early. We were there by 6:15 but there were many people there before us - including many other art teachers from across the county! They finally let us in at 6:45 and we decided on the "perfect spot", it was right next to the door that Matt, Meredith and Al Roker use to go outside. Although we were not on the air speaking, there was an art teacher who got on the air to talk about Youth Art Month! And we had the opportunity to give Meredith a set of Youth Art Month note cards!

State Youth Art Month - Trenton, NJ

Congratulations go out to Nikhil K. in 5th grade!!! His artwork was one of 6 pieces selected at the Somerset County Youth Art Month Exhibit to move on to the State Youth Art Month at the State House in Trenton. Both of these exhibits are sponsored by the Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ). The Artist's Reception was Wednesday - March 7, 2007. Each child received a certificate, a button and a t-shirt. Once again the reception was well attended with a standing room only crowd! There were many proud students, parents and teachers! Artwork representing all 21 counties in New Jersey were on display.

March is Youth Art Month

The Johnson Gallery

Endorsed by the National Art Education Association (NAEA), Youth Art Month (YAM) is a national annual observance each March to emphasize the value of art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs. To recognize Youth Art Month, the Somerset Art Association partners with the Art Educators of New Jersey
to host a two-part exhibit of Somerset County student work on both floors of the Johnson Gallery.

The Somerset County Youth Art Month Exhibit is held at the Somerset Art Associaton (SAA) in Bedminister, NJ. Part I of this exhibit ran from March 4 - 14, 2007, highlights the talents of children in Kindergarten through 5th grade and Part II, March 18 - 31, 2007, highlights work created in 6th through 12th grade. Above you see photos from the first exhibit.

Mount Prospect had 17 pieces on display for this exhibit. Six pieces of artwork were selected from these two exhibits to go on to the State Youth Art Month Exhibit at the State House in Trenton. The award winners from Part I are, Nikhil K., Grade 5, Mount Prospect School (Art Teacher, Susan Bivona); Katherine G., Grade 1, Bradley Gardens School (Art Teacher, Lani Montgomery) and Rohit R., Grade 3, Triangle School (Art Teacher, Nancy Knutsen).

The exhibit has been here at SAA for the past 5 years and a BIG thank you goes out to Robyn Tromeur, Director of SAA and all the volunteers from SAA who helped hang this exhibit.

All the work can be viewed at our Artsonia, On-line Gallery @ www.artsonia.com/somerset1

Americans for the Arts

Somerset County Environmental Center

"Nature Through a Child's Eyes"

For the 11th year in a row the Somerset Environmental Center has sponsored this exhibit. All K- 6th grade schools, in Somerset County can participate. This is the 6th year Mount Prospect has participated!

Over 35 students from Mount Prospect had their work exhibited. All the work on display is inspired by nature. The children are asked to write, What nature means to them...
All of the answers are included in the exhibit program.

It is always so exciting to see the students with their family and friends, they are all so proud! There are refreshments and a variety of art activities for the children to experience.