Preparing for The Show

It's the Show! It's the annual school district show. All of the teachers from across the district are crazy matting artwork for as many of their kids as they can. Each of the elementary art teachers will bring literally hundreds of examples. Each of the high school teachers are supposed to bring about 40 pieces. We always bring more. I usually wind up with about 45 -50. One teacher always brings about 60. Then there's the hanging of the show on Friday. That is like a cross between a MMA cage match and the Oklahoma land rush. So far there has never been any blood left on the floor. All of this for a 3 hour show on Saturday.
The show is always fun. It is a community event where everyone gets to see kids as they proudly show off their work to family and friends. The show is always crowded but everyone knows everyone else and so it is a lot of fun seeing everyone and their families. The art teachers are on hand to direct everyone to their kids' art and officially proclaim their kid a prodigy.
Then we take down the show and go home.
Yep, that's all coming up this week. Here we go!

So, as promised, I went to the luncheon honoring the Texas "2010 Young Masters". While I was not surprised at what a big deal this is, I was totally taken aback by the level of the talent involved. The competitive level was fairly stratospheric. Texas is a pretty big place and now it is mostly urban. The Texas Cultural Trust picked 20 kids from across the state. I believe that about 5 recipients were visual artists, the majority being musicians and dancers, etc. All of these kids are amazing. Amazing.
Two of the former recipients gave short speeches along with several adult dignitaries. The two alumni were by far much more articulate and interesting to listen to than the State Representatives and Corporate types.
I think that the student with whom I worked was totally stunned at the implied responsibility and weight that came with this honor. She is now in some very heavy company. I confided with her father that while I worried about what this kind of import at this age would do to her head, it is definitely better to have this honor that not.

Tomorrow I will be attending a luncheon in Austin which honors "20 Young Masters" selected from across the state by the Texas Cultural Trust. One of my former students has been selected and has honored me by designating me as her "mentor" for this event. Pretty cool. It is an excuse to miss work and get fed. Since I doubt that this honor will come around very often, I am going to make sure that I go.

Today we have the unfortunate issue of explaining low grades to students who do not work in class. Somehow, one or two seem to think they should get high grades without any effort. The good news is that the large majority of my students are hard workers.
I will be sending a good group of painters on to the painting class next year. I hate giving up the painting classes, but with the Art History class and the Art I classes, I will have enough to manage.

Good Morning!

It is Sunday morning, April 18, 2010 at approximately 6:23 AM and it is raining. Seriously raining. I woke up very early and decided to work on the syllabus for the APAH course this morning. Then I became distracted as I am wont to do, and found myself making a blog. Never have been comfortable with the word "blog". Sounds bogus. Not a real word back in the day. But blog I shall.
That's all for now.