Wednesday, January 11, 2006



"Clinton Elementary School has a very varied school population. Many students are recent refugees who have come to Nebraska from countries of war and unspeakable poverty. Other students who have never been outside their neighborhood and where traditional academic learning is difficult have been able to expand their world via the study of the arts."

"Every morning nearly 450 students walk through the doors of Clinton Elementary. It is a diverse group!! They range in ages from 3 to 11 (PreK-5). Twenty-seven percent of them are served by the English Language Learner (ELL) program. Another twenty-seven percent of them receive special education services. They speak 10 different native languages. They have different religions, different learning styles, and different life experiences. In spite of the incredible diversity in the Clinton population, however, there are an amazing number of similarities. Unfortunately, the greatest similarity is poverty. Ninety-two percent of these students receive free or reduced lunch. Because they have limited life experiences and opportunities to develop language, they also share a struggle to reach their academic potentials. In addition, they share a need for a unique approach to learning which connects their lives to the academic objectives being taught." ~Mark Lago (5th grade teacher)


Friday, January 06, 2006

Dog Artists

Find out more about Dog Artist Tillamook Chedder here.

and here's Pippin D. Dog

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Exploring the Artists List:

Fujio Akatsuka
Nell Brinkley (who influenced another great female artist Blanche Ames)
Thomas Hart Benton
Karl Bodmer
Carl Barks
William Cary
George Catlin
Jay N. "Ding" Darling
Harry Grant Dart
Walt Disney
Will Eisner
Max Fleisher
Charles Red Grooms
George Herriman
Katsushika Hokusai (who influenced many including Yoshitoshi Tsukioka)
Katsushika Isai
Jack Kirby
Harvey Kurtzman
Goseki Kojima
Winsor McCay
Yasuji Mori
Thomas Nast
R.F. Outcault
Katsuhiro Otomo
Gibbon Sengai
Toyo Sesshu (a pupil of master Josetsu)
Toba Sojo
Tawaraya Sotatsu (who influenced Ogata Korin who then inspired Ito Jakuchu)
Osamu Tezuka

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Purpose of National Education Association Fine Arts Grant:

"The NEA Fine Art Grants are awarded to fine arts teachers, through local NEA affiliates, to enable them to create and implement fine arts programs that promote learning among students at risk of school failure. Programs must address the arts."

1. What disadvantaged/at-risk students will be served?
2. What are your learning goals for your project?
3. Describe your activities
4. How will you evaluate student outcomes?
5. Teacher/Artist qualifications
6. How will you use the grant funds...specific itemized list

Some of the Comet Arts goals follow many of what the artmakers and cultural centers are doing Nationally.
1. Positive self-image
2. Understand the World; affiliation with diverse elements
2a. focus of details; looking at a specific challenge or situation
3. Art=Empowerment; faith
4. Reading and Writing Skills
5. Work habits and collective/group skills
5a. Working with kids on a personal level first and then towards group/community work
6. Questioning points of view
7. Pass on and share knowledge

One of the main elements of Comet Arts would be the idea of pulling something from everyday life to be used in, or designed around, a project. It's important that children at this age understand arts presence in everything they do. Art class doesn't end when you walk home. Comet Arts has designed its projects using parts of everyday life: street signs, shopping, music, videogames, family, spirituality, home, siblings, hanging out, posters, fashion, televison, movies, toys and so on. What are they experiencing everyday?

Visual Arts: A National Mix of Essentials:


1. Artistic Perception
Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information Through the Language and
Skills Unique to the Visual Arts

Perceive and respond to works of art, objects in nature, events, and the environment. They
also use the vocabulary of the visual arts to express their observations.

Develop Perceptual skills and visual arts vocabulary
Identify and describe the principles of design in visual compositions, emphasizing unity and
harmony. Identify and describe characteristics of representational, abstract, and
nonrepresentational works of art.

Analyze Art Elements and Principles of Design

2. Creative Expression

Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Visual Arts

Apply artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to communicate meaning and intent in original works of art

3. Historical and Cultural Context

Understanding the Historical Contributions and Cultural Dimensions of the Visual Arts

Analyze the role and development of the visual arts in past and present cultures throughout the world, noting human diversity as it relates to the visual arts and artists.

How does are local art museums contribute to the conversation of art?
Identify and compare works of art from various regions of the United States

4. Aesthetic Valuing

Responding to, Analyzing, and Making Judgments About Works in the Visual Arts

Analyze, assess, and derive meaning from works of art, including their own, according to the elements of art, the principles of design, and aesthetic qualities.

5.Connections, Relationships, and Applications

Connecting and Applying What is Learned in the Visual Arts to Other Art Forms and Subject Areas and to Careers

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Cartoons Are My Life
Michael Bruner

Cartoons are my life (GENERAL CARTOON SOUNDS)
Things come out of other things without explaining themselves
to me
The farmer unzips his body and he is a duck (QUACK)
or another man (HI THERE!)
My friends tell me they are attacked on the streets
and my car slides out of control (TIRES SCREECHING, LOOK OUT! CRASH)

There are too many things to think about
There are too many ways I dream to be

Cartoons in life we do stick to this earth
flying at a thousand thoughts are gone
in a particle wind echo (ECHO ECHO ECHO)
and there are those who accumulate these thoughts
in nets of schools and languages
they fly through the particle sky to the moon safely
(WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)

But I like the old cartoons more than the new.
Cartoons that mean nothing compared to Minnie playing the cow
(MOO) or the ostrich with its head in the sand (SSSSSUCK) or an
ancient picture whose creator is gone, watching
laughing at the smashes and the bumps (*#@%#)
the stars flying out of the Scuff (*&$#%!)
the children at my door (TRICK OR TREAT)
the truth

For cartoons are my life
Things come out of other things without explaining themselves
to me



Untitled
Jackson Pollack

Technic is the result of a need_________________
new needs demand new technics______________________
total control________________denial of
the accident_____________________
States of order__________
organic intensity____________
energy and motion
made visible___________________
memories arrested in space,
human needs and motives___________________
acceptance_____________________
About the Artist


The final artwork from Summer Cartoon Art Jam: An Art Arashi.

Monday, January 02, 2006


Bagge 1

Bagge 2

Bagge 3

Bagge 4