Break Time!

So, it's been a very long time since I've felt like blogging. But now with the semester wrapped up and Christmas upon us, I am here to post a little something something.

My job has been quite stressful but rewarding as of late. This semester I took on two large projects for my art classes. I was overflowing with excitement and ideas for each of them at the start. As we got started and the projects reached the "I sure hope this turns out because it's not looking quite like I'd envisioned" stage, my anxiety level rose. I began to feel quite vulnerable and under a lot of pressure. The projects were of the permanent nature and being completed on school property. All of the school staff and community patrons will see them for decades to come! I felt so much pressure to make sure the students did a good job. Not only that, but the ideas fueling the projects were mine, and they felt a little out of the box. Basically, when I proposed my two ideas to the administration for approval, I just got these clueless looks and a parental sounding, "Well, we trust you." I think I subconciously translated that as, "Well...okay...but don't mess up."

The journey of working on these projects stirred a lot in me and made me reflect on a lot of things, but to make a long story short, here I am on the last day of the semester, and I'm thrilled with how each project turned out (and I think my bosses are too)! I feel like I let out a huge sigh of relief as we wrapped them both up today. Here are pics of each one.

This first one is a mural painted in the band room. We painted over an old mural (very ugly) which had been there since the early 70's. It was time for an update! Two of my classes studied grafitti (it's different uses, varying styles, etc.) and then each student designed and painted their own music term. They loved having permission to "vandalize" and are truly excited to leave their mark on the school (in a positive way). And I loved bringing a little rebellious, inner city culture to the rural farming community.

This second project was completed by my other art class. It is a tile mosaic composed of over 4000 little tiles! This project began when our school maintenance man was trying to recruit me to lay some 12x12 ceramic tile in the 3'x6' space you see above. He was wanting me to try to match the surrounding floor tile, but I found that rather boring and a poor use of the opportunity for an unconventional canvas. So, my creative wheels began turning and I asked if my sculpture class could do a mosaic. The students helped come up with the design (our mascot is the Rams), I drew it out and ordered the tiles. Then we went to work placing all the little pieces for about two weeks. This past week, we installed all the tiles and grouted them. Voila!

With that said, I am super excited about celebrating Christmas and about having some time off of work. The break is finally here! Have a Merry Christmas!