Today's visitors included Dakota Bruce and Katelyn Babcock.   Day 4 of  The Jar.

As we were chirping away, mostly me and Dakota complaining, well me, a visitor was brought to my room.  In came a flatbed dolly with boxes on it through my classroom door. ( Jeff the eternal hall monitor pushed it in). An older woman was seen behind it, standing in the hallway, looking intently into the class. As I approached, she came inside the doorway and started to speak to me.

"I have some art supplies I think you may be able to use...."

"Oh that's great" I said.  She started say "They are from my......." and she stopped.

She said "I'm going to start to cry...."  I stood bewildered.  She continued, "They are from my brother who was one of the first graduating class of the school." 50 years ago.

"He was an artist."   

 She broke down a bit.  She said he loved art. Was really good, "won contests and awards".

 I couldn't ask her any questions with her in the state she was.  You could see it must have happened very recent. They must have been going through his possessions.

 She was letting go.   We were there to see it.  Thank you whoever you were.   Let's use them! 

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So I've known Ro for a few years. I came to observe his classroom when I was getting my teaching certification from EMU. This guy has posters on the ceiling! He hangs quotes from the ceiling! When he needs to get your attention (students), his voice will shake the tiles on the ceiling! Ok, not really, but I was intrigued by his methods, and when I accepted a job out here in northern Nevada, I used a few of his techniques my first year, and they worked! I am now finishing my fourth year of teaching and teach upper classman in the oldest high school in Nevada! Not in Las Vegas. I am six hours north of there, in a rural location. Cowboys come here in January and share stories and art. It's a mining town, too. But I am still using things I learned from Michigan and Mr. Ro and others, applying them to my own methods and getting these kids out here to know and understand art in a high desert community.

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Hello everyone,
This is my first post here on The Jar, so I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Olivia, I'm 24 and I was a student of Mr. Rheault's in 2005 and 2006 at which time I took Drawing 1 and 2. My favorite mediums to use on assignments were graphite pencils and oil pastels. At the time I was going through a lot of personal things and Mr. Rheault's classes really gave me the outlet I needed to keep going. So, for my first post I'd like to refer back to one of the pieces I created around that time.

This was a drawing for our sketchbook assignment. It's a portrait of Amanda Palmer, a musician and artist. Some of you may know her as the wife of Neil Gaiman. This sketch was done in graphite pencils, mostly 6B, and was completed in a little over an hour. This was the first time I thought that I could really create art for the rest of my life.

Currently, I'm studying Visual Communication as an e-learning student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. My area of concentration is Sequential Art, or illustration for comics, graphic novels and children's books. Once I graduate I plan on writing and illustrating children's books. Aside from drawing I enjoy creating art in a variety of forms; painting, sculpting, photography, writing, sewing and crafting in general. Eventually I'll probably end up posting something from every area of art I create.

Along with these posts, I'd like to include a work of art or artist that has been inspiring to whether currently or previously. That person is going to be Allie, the person behind Hyperbole and a Half. What I lost most about Allie's posts are that even though she uses humor in her writing and cute drawings, there's almost always something lovely behind the post, something personal and intimate and encouragement for the reader. For the first reads on her page, I'd recommend "Depression Part Two," "The Awkward Situation Survival Guide," and "The Alot is Better Than You at Everything."

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

When was it that you realized you loved art? I'm always interested in what has made a person realize they wanted to create art for a living or make it a part of your life in some way. For me, I've always loved art and creating things but I realized I wanted to make a career in art when I was 16 and took Mr. Rheault's Drawing 1 class. My decision was solidified when I took Drawing 2 the following semester and we began working with color.

There are some really great artists out there, no matter what your age. I'm looking forward to seeing all the upcoming talents here on The Jar.  read more

I've had the idea for years. In fact since 2003 I believe. What if I was able to corral the numerous personal alumni talents, skills, and interests that I've come across? What if we helped each other?

I have worked hard on websites, Facebook and Twitter to promote. Those have gone extremely well, but I know I can do better. 

My definition of websites now is that of an archive of information.  A place to go to get something as if researching or buying a specific item. I feel social media is the key to promotion of the arts. Facebook is great for a two day span, then the great posts get lost.  It's difficult to find a certain post when you need it.  Twitter is good for an hour at best then the thought gets lost.  

I feel a blog and its archive organization is what I'm looking for. A place for comments and posts by many. 

Any alumni connected through me can blog here. I would like to have daily blogs by different people.  An agreement where they would blog on certain days. I also don't want anyone to do extra work, to share a personal blog here or link to their own sites. 

I want to generate a community and share each other communities.  I feel through my teaching since 1998 I have quite the awesome community!  So why not share all around the country. 

THE GROUND UP

The goal of this blog is having numerous, talented, passionate, alumni (to start), who will contribute posts and promote their personal interests and happenings.  

In no way do I want those to do any more "work" then they already do.  One post a week, or just bring us to your own blog.  Promote yourself and your businesses. FROM THE GROUND UP.   

If we all tie our personal social, business, groups, "communities" together.  With me being the tying factor between contibutors,  we can provide a nationwide effect and support for our social networks.  

I personally will have a place to organize my lessons and influence that others can RESPOND/REPLY too. Seems better then a website and more organized then Facebook.  I also wanted to break away from some censorship of "school". 

We will use facebook and twitter to share our posts.

GROUND UP.  Please reply.  Hope to add YOU as a contributor. I'm proud of you. 

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Going over Comic Sans and how Cyndi Lareau was hired as Dan Gilbert's personal assistant.  It was quite a lesson.

More coming.

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