OMG! Just found the most WONDERFUL book for my proposed "Developing 21st Century Literacies: Integrating Visual and Verbal" class.  CHECK IT OUT!!!  I'm putting it on the required texts list right now!! http://www.mollybang.com/Pages/picture.html

Here is even a teaching PowerPoint to go with it!  I haven't looked at the entire PowerPoint, but the first few slides are from the book. BEST DAY EVER!!!
http://www.nhsdesigns.com/pdfs/graphic_ss_picture-this.pdf

Shout out to Fibers friend Penny Burton for locating a site and an artist who meshes BEAUTIFULLY with my Econolgy unit! Nancy Judd is her name.  She is an artist/environmental educator and creates fashions from trash like recycled lseat covers from airlines and as shown above, CRIME TAPE!  (What does the material say about the dress?? ) Check out her work at http://recyclerunway.com/fashions/  This would be an AWESOME art making activity for kids, too. The fashions are said to last at least 100 years!

Great new VTS find!

I'm always on the lookout for great VTS images and had to share these!

May have to use the first one with the BWC next year!

"Sea of Fog, 1818" David Friedrich Caspar

"Woman with a Veil" Lisette Model

"Untitled"  Garry Winogrand

TED Worth Watching!

I think, pehaps, I'll try to DANCE MY PhD!  Check out the following link!  (Includes a little arts advocacy, too!)
http://www.ted.com/talks/john_bohannon_dance_vs_powerpoint_a_modest_proposal.html

The Nomadic Museum presents "Ashes & Snow"

S. Lamme, one of my awesome VTS II students, posted this website on her blog and I was so blown away that I had to share! Like her, I can see AWESOME VTS discussions coming from these images AND Big Ideas lessons. Check it out!

http://www.ashesandsnow.org/en/vision/

Modern Day Intrigue in our own backyard!

FASCINATING ARTICLE about this painting, Henry Block of H&R Block, deceased heiress Hugette Clark, and the Nelson-Atkins Museumof Art.  I think I actually SAW this painting during the grand opening of the Block Building (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art)!!

And I love how the lawyers "handed the painting off"....Someone's going to write a book or make a movie about this!

Check it out at:

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/15/10693680-the-10-million-degas-ballerina-heiress-huguette-clark-and-the-tax-man

Reverse Graffitti Artist Alexandre Orion

While in New York, Amber and I went to the Museum of Arts & Design (MAD) and saw an exhibition entitled "Blown Away."  All works in the exhbition were created using dirt, dust, and/or ash.  There was a video of Alexandre Orion's work.  I've included the video and 3 images below. This artist's big ideas and images could easily be used at the elementary level.  Pretty amazing!
http://alexandreorion.com/ossario/video.html