Mrs. Bivona meets author & artist - Faith Ringgold!

Wow, this year has just flown by, so fast that I have not made very many posts to my BLOG this year. So, I wanted to start with one that I actually wrote in October 2008 and never posted.

On October 7th & 8th Mrs. Bivona attended the Art Educators of NJ Fall Conference. This year's Keynote speaker was artist & author Faith Ringgold. Faith Ringgold, began her artistic career more than 35 years ago as a painter. Today, she is best known for her painted story quilts -- art that combines painting, quilted fabric and storytelling. You might be familiar with her book, Tar Beach it was a Caldecott Honor Book. It was quite an honor to meet her, I even had a chance to have lunch with her. She was telling us the exciting plans for her new children's museum in NYC. The Faith Ringgold Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling will be located on Sugar Hill in the center of Harlem, the neighborhood where Ms. Ringgold was born.

Welcome Back - Why Arts Matter...

Welcome Back to School

As I was reading the Star Ledger last weekend, I came across this article. It seems the perfect kick-off to a new school year (to read the full article, just CLICK on the title below).

Back to School Night is Tuesday, September 16, 2008. I will be available in the Art Room from 6:00pm - 8:30pm. Please stop by to see our beautiful work space and learn about what your child will be creating in Art Class this year!

Hope to see you there!
Most sincerely, Susan Bivona

Why arts matter...

by Star-Ledger Staff

Saturday September 06, 2008, 10:00 PM

CLARA NATOLIStar-Ledger critics don't ever want to see an empty theater. Below, they state their case for why arts matter.

Now more than ever, make room in your life for the arts. At a time when it may be tempting to scrimp on outings or cut back on concerts, we need to remember art's enduring value.

The arts can comfort and nurture, inspire and instruct. They make us better and more caring -- and flat-out smarter, too. They help us learn more about our world. And as anyone who has ever taken a child to their first Broadway show can attest, they provide a fun and bonding way to pass that knowledge to our children.

The arts connect us with each other, and connect us with our souls.
-- Kathleen O'Brien

VISUAL ARTS
The visual arts provide decoration, shape the spaces in which we live, teach history to our children, and even enhance the value of local real estate.

But their unique value is their elevation of an individual viewpoint above all else.

In an era full of art manufactured by corporations or committees, the paintings, prints or sculptures produced by a single person remain the last refuge of completely personal expression.

The vast majority of work in museums and galleries was made by one artist working from his or her lone vantage point -- with only the vaguest hope of finding compensation for their effort.
-- Dan Bischoff

Olympic Artist Trading Cards

Olympic Artist Trading Cards
Right - Emily361
Left - Patrick185

At the beginning of this school year I saw a Call for Participation that invited teachers and students to take part in the Olympic ATC Exchange - an international exchange of artist trading cards created to celebrate the "Olympic spirit." Artist Trading Cards, also referred to as ATCs, are miniature works of art, usually done on card stock, that are traded between artists. They can be about anything and made with any media, materials, or techniques. They can be produced as one-of-a-kind originals, in limited editions, or in a series based on a particular theme or subject. It’s all up to the individual artist.

Since I had never participated in anything like this before we tried it with just one 5th grade, Ms. Linstra's Class. So, between December and January we work on our Olympic Inspired ATCs in Art Class. The theme of the exchange was “The Olympic Spirit,” which describes 5 traits — Friendship, Honor, Peace, Glory, and Fair Play. Each ATC made for the exchange expressed or represented one of these five traits. In addition, the five traits were matched up with one of the colors of the Olympic Rings.

All of the ATCs created for this trade are published on the Mount Prospect Artsonia Gallery. Each student selected 1 or 2 cards that they wanted to swap and they were sent to Professor Craig Roland at the University of Florida. He collected and redistributed the cards to the participating schools. Just last week I received a box of Olympic ATCs to be distributed to our student's in Ms. Linstra's class -- needless to say they were thrilled!

To commemorate the exchange and to showcase the variety of ideas and media that have been used for the project, 52 cards from schools participating in the Olympic ATC Exchange were chosen to form a "Gallery Deck." Congratulations to Emily361 & Patrick185 who both had a card selected for the Gallery Deck!

To read more about this project and see the "Gallery Deck - CLICK HERE! Olympic Artist Trading Card Press Release

Thank you and congratulations to all the students who participated in this exciting exchange! We will do this again!

Let them be Heard...watch and listen!

District Youth Art Month Exhibit at the Bernards Township Library

Here is a LEAP DAY post, we can only have one every 4 years -- To Celebrate Youth Art Month, Mount Prospect School has artwork on exhibit at the Bernards Township Library along with other schools in the district. Our work is on display in the Children's Library on the lower floor of the library. There is some inside the library and more in the hallway. It is wonderful to see examples of artwork from across the district in this exhibit. I hope you get a chance to visit the library and enjoy this show, the work will be on display until April 4, 2008. All students with work at this exhibit have been notified. Enjoy!

March is Youth Art Month!

Endorsed by the National Art Education Association, 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 (SAA) 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 in Bedminister, NJ. Part I of this exhibit will run from March 9 - 18, 2008 and it highlights the talents of children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. Part II, March 22 - April 6, 2008, highlights work created in 6th through 12th grade. Mount Prospect will have 20 pieces on display for this exhibit.

Above you see a photo the beautiful full-color, glossy postcard from the Somerset Art Association. The artwork you see on the cover was created by four, 5th grade students at Mount Prospect School. These pieces beautifully illustrate this year's theme - Destination: ART! This postcard will be sent out to all the members of the Somerset Art Association in addition to all of the teachers & students with work in this exhibit. The original pieces will be on display at the Somerset Art Association as part of this exhibit!

The exhibit has been at SAA for the past 6 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

Artwork Featured in new Crayola Dream Makers Books

Over the past 2 years, a variety of children at Mount Prospect School & I have had the opportunity to work closely with Crayola. The children have tested lessons intended to be published in a series of books called Crayola Dream~Makers. What that means is that we have worked on projects before they were published, I was able to give Crayola feedback on how the lesson went with the students and the artwork that the children created was then used as samples in the books. The books have finally been published ~ I have a complete set in my classroom. If you are interested in seeing them please contact me and we can work out a time. The children can look at them during their art class.

For more informations on the Crayola Dream~Maker books please click the link above!

Mount Prospect Students Exhibit work at NJPAC

This month 4 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, February 9, 2008 from 11:00 - 12:00 pm. There will be lots of opportunities to take photos along with refreshments and certificates for all the young artists. If you are going to NJPAC, please make sure to stop by and enjoy the exhibit!

Photos from the Environmental Center Exhibit

Enjoy the photos of the artwork exhibited at the Somerset Environmental Center! There were so many students and families there today -- it was very exciting! This exhibit will be on display until February 10, 2008.

Nature through a Child's Eyes - Somerset Environmental Center

Wire Sculpture Fish - Emily96

"Nature Through a Child's Eyes"

For the 12th 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 7th year Mount Prospect will have work on display!

Over 35 students from Mount Prospect have their work exhibited. All the work 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.

This Sunday - January 6, 2008 will be the Artist's Reception, from 3:00 - 4:00pm. 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. All students who have artwork in this exhibit have been notified by mail.

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