Art Show!

It's the best time of year in the Sunshine Library! Stop by any day between 8am and 4pm until March 21. See amazing global artwork from students ages 3 through grade 8.

Happy Spring Break

Comments overheard today as the art show came down. 

It's so ugly in here. 

Your walls make my eyes hurt. 

It's over? Already?

At least the Upper School students like the color and fun of younger kids' artwork on their walls. They also recognize all of the work that goes into making the art, matting the works, taping everything up, and taking everything down.

The highlight of my day was the Manatee County Library Foundation Author Luncheon with Adriana Trigiani. She's hilarious, and I can't wait to read her books now. 

Shhhh....summer reading books aren't announced this early in the year, but here's a sneak peak. Mrs. O'Neil will be sponsoring one of her books, and Adriana has agreed to Skype in for the discussion. It will be fabulous. 

Here are two of our freshmen readers who attended with us. (They brought the average age down by about fifty.) Polo Grill is a nice location for a banquet. Looking forward to Senior Dinner.  

Happy spring break!

Last Two Days for 2013 Art Show

We need to get the artwork down before spring break, so it's not damaged by the sun. There's a reason this is called the Sunshine Library, and while I imagine it partially has to do with original funding, this is definitely a sunny space. 

Yesterday, we had some fun during advisory time. Well, I had fun watching my advisory, and they're good at humoring me. If it's not clear from the photos, they were tied together to complete the tasks. All for packages of Peeps...

Sample questions:   

Who created an Einstein doll?

What color is Pixi Stix cat  mask's mask? 

Which macro bug is most likely to kill you? 

Stewie and Brian are hiding in what traditional American painting?

In whose treehouse will you find a stealthy fighter? 

Visit before 4 tomorrow to see if you can find the answers. 

2013 Art Show in the Library

The Lower, Intermediate, and Middle School Art show is now taking place in the Sunshine Library. We had a fabulous art opening celebration with over a hundred attendees. There was a drum performance and yummy snacks to entertain the families. 

 Stop by between 8am and 4pm sometime this week. Make it a part of conference day!

Lower, Intermediate, and Middle Art Show Opens today in LMC

I love spring! The library has been transformed yet again by art teachers Leslie DeZiel and Ruth Gross. The opening reception is Monday afternoon from 3-5pm. Stop by for treats and art!

(Just a preview)

The library will also be open during regular school hours and one hour prior to South Pacific next weekend. I hope to see you sometime over the next two weeks.

Arts Education in Japan

There was an Arts Education seminar on Tuesday morning that I didn't attend because I attended the environmental education seminar instead. The arts education seminar was led by Mr. Chihiro Tada, the Arts Education Institute Director. I kept hearing compliments about his presentation all morning, so I got notes from an art teacher who attended his presentation. Art teachers, this one's for you!

Tada believes that art education should be conducted when children are very young because art enhances creativity and imagination. Art produces the ability to express and becomes the sensibility of a person. "To know is not even half as valuable as learning to sense." But, Japanese education stresses learning by knowledge and memorization, and more emphasis is placed on science and math education than on arts education. In part, this is the tradition of Japanese education, but in part it's because industry and engineering respect knowledge more than creativity. Tada thinks that this needs to change and worries that if it doesn't, the arts will become an elective course of study in Japan. He also cited research on scientists who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics; the research showed that the winners spent a lot of time drawing as children. Drawing teaches you to see details. Tada has also created the Tokyo Toy Museum this past year. It sounds like a fascinating place, and I've included a link to the article at the end of this post. And let the comments begin with creativity, brainpower, toys, and car navigation systems....

"Children are ingenious players by nature. They can easily be excited by playing with a mere stone or sandbox," said Chihiro Tada, 47-year-old head of the Tokyo-based nonprofit association. "But nowadays, high-tech games and toys offer children little opportunity for being creative, and those high-tech games have significantly undercut their ability to play." "It is just like a car-navigation system. Once you start using it, you won't use the atlas anymore to find where you are," he said.

Here's the link to the May 15th Japan Times article.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080515f1.html