Loved it so much I had to share it

"Never let anyone define what you are capable of by using parameters that don't apply to you."
-Chuck Close

I found this video from the blog Art is Basic in her post "5 Fabulous Things".  The video is part of a series of entitled "Notes to Self" featured on the news show 'CBS This Morning'. The person they were featuring was artist Chuck Close.  If you are familiar with Chuck Close then you already know what an amazing and inspiring artist he is and how his love of art has given him the strength to overcome obstacles in his life that could easily stop most people in their tracks.  I had originally learned about Chuck Close from my high school art teacher in 12th grade.  Two years ago (12 years after graduating high school) I had the good fortune of attending the NAEA conference in NYC where he was a keynote speaker (along with another of my favorite artists Janine Antoni).  His words and philosophy on art-making are profound and honest.  This short video is chock-full of quote worthy mantras to not only use as artists and art teachers, but also as words to live by.  I love Chuck Close!

Youtube.com: "CBS This Morning: Artist Chuck Close Writes Note to Younger Self"

Roll a Monster-A Halloween Activity

 

Three of my classes had finished their projects early and had a little extra time.  Being that it was Halloween, I thought it would be nice to do something easy and fun.  I used the template above that I had found online and borrowed some dice from our schools math teacher.  The kids really liked the activity, but I noticed, as they played that the heads of the monsters were drawn on roll 4, which was silly because the eyes, and mouths were supposed to be drawn on the rolls before.  If I do this activity again, I'll probably make my own handout, but nonetheless, it was a cute 15 minute time filler for Halloween.