Iowa Arts Council Iowa Scholarship for the Arts

Iowa Arts Council Iowa Scholarship for the Arts

Iowa Scholarship for the Arts

Application Deadlines & Dates

The Iowa Arts Council must receive your application no later than 4:30 p.m. the day of the deadline listed below. This is NOT a postmark deadline. If the deadline falls on a state holiday or on a Saturday or Sunday, it will be extended to the next working day.

Application Deadline: December 10, 2007

Scholarship Amount: $1,000 to $2,000

Scholarships are for college or university costs that will occur during the following academic year: 2008-2009.

GO TO APPLICATION FORM »

AMERICAN MASTERS "Good Ol' Charles Schulz"

Chris, I know you're on vacation, so you may not even get this-

or ANYONE really interested in cartoning, this would be an awesome show that you would want to watch (or record). I will have parent/teacher conferences tonight so I will have to miss it.

Monday, October 29, 2007
9:00-10:30 p.m. ET

– From Charlie Brown to the Little Red-Haired Girl, Documentary Explores the Universal Appeal of the Artist Who Redefined the Comic Strip; Life and Work Intertwine in Cartoons, Home Movies, Original Animations and Interviews With Family Members, Real-Life Inspirations for Cartoon Characters and Cartoonists Jules Feiffer and Lynn Johnston –

Linus never sees the Great Pumpkin. The nefarious Red Baron always gets away. Good ol’ Charlie Brown never, ever kicks that football. Armed only with security blankets and vivid imaginations, the “Peanuts” gang endured unrequited love, loneliness, resentment and despair for almost 50 years — just like their creator, Charles M. Schulz. Every day for decades, Schulz poured out his heart on the comics page and helped us all laugh at life’s toughest struggles. Although characters like Snoopy and phrases like “Happiness is a warm puppy” became part of a billion-dollar global phenomenon, success failed to quell Schulz’s own doubts. “I can’t believe they think I’m that good,” Schulz said tearfully at the end of his last on-camera interview. “I just did the best I could.”

In “Good Ol’ Charles Schulz,” AMERICAN MASTERS presents an unexpected portrait of the man behind the most popular comic strip in history. The feature-length documentary premieres Monday, October 29, 2007, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET on PBS.

Read more here

In Memory

Any time you hear about an accident involving kids it's sad. When I heard that this accident happened so close to us, I was also nervous. My wife teaches at Mapleton, but I let it go when they didn't call her in to work (she's also a guidance counselor).

So it was terrible when I came in to school and Rena told me who one of the kids was. Bradley was an insanely gifted mascot. I had really hoped that he would continue on in high school but he struggled with grades and than his family moved out of our district. I had lost touch with him, but Rena has remained close to his sister, Nichole who cheer in both middle school and Varsity.

Heaven must need mascots. Bradley will be a great one.

Please keep Nichole and the Kline family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

Associated Press - October 28, 2007 7:24 PM ET

MAPLETON, Iowa (AP) - Two teenagers were killed and a third person was injured in a crash near Mapleton in western Iowa.

The Iowa State Patrol says that 19-year-old Michael Babcock of Odebolt, and 15-year-old Bradley Kline Jr., of Schleswig, were killed in the wreck on Saturday.

Twenty-1-year-old Scott Mau of Odebolt was taken by helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. Hospital officials did not give any information on his condition.

A patrol report showed that a pickup truck driven by Babcock left the road at a bridge just south of Mapleton in western Iowa.

The patrol says that two people were thrown from the truck and trapped underneath. The other occupant was found inside the truck.

The accident is believed to have happened about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. The truck wasn't found until 12 hours later.

The investigation was continuing.

Information from: The Des Moines Register, http://www.desmoinesregister.com

How sincere is your pumpkin patch?

Cartooning Reading List

Anyone who's seriously interested in cartooning might want to get their hands on one or some of these books. I keep copies of them in my classroom if anyone would like to borrow one. Chris H (House) has the McCloud one checked out from me right now. Both of the Eisner books are actually used as college textbooks.

Understanding Comics
by Scott McCloud
1994 Harper
ISBN# 978-0060976255

Cartooning
by Mort Gerberg
1989 William Morrow and Company Inc. NYC, New York
ISBN# 1-55710-017-9

Comics and Sequential Art
by Will Eisner
1985 Poorhouse Press Tamarac, Florida
ISBN# 0-9614728-1-2

Graphic Storytelling and the Visual Narrative
by Will Eisner
1996 Poorhouse Press Tamarac, Florida
ISBN# 0-9614728-2-0

The Everything Cartooning Book
by Brad J. Guigar
2005 Adams Media Avon, Massatchussetts
ISBN# 1-59337-145-4

Eight Days...

House: Caricature

A caricature is either a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness, or in literature, a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others. Caricatures can be insulting or complimentary and can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment. Caricatures of politicians are commonly used in editorial cartoons, while caricatures of movie stars are often found in entertainment magazines. (Read more about caricatures on Wikipedia)

When you think of caricature, you probably think of those people at the fair or in malls or tourist traps who sit there with an easel and draw funny pictures of people with small bodies and huge heads. But did you know there is actually a National Caricaturist's Network with their own trade magazine and conventions and everything? There's even an online museum of some of the greatest caricaturists of the 19th and early 20th centuries at www.greatcaricatures.com.

If you're REALLY serious about learning to caricature and improving your drawing and especially caricaturing skills, I highly recommend that you take a look at Kirk Bjorndahl's website and he'll walk you through several exercises and steps designed to help.

Before you get started drawing your own caricatures, you might want to take a look at a few of the better caricaturists out there.

• John S. Pritchett - a cartoonist first from New York and now Hawaii
• Al Hirschfeld - was one of the all time greatest caricaturists, he is best known for Broadway and Hollywood stars.
• Julia Suits - boasts a number of nationally prominent newspapers as subscribers, including the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle

Caricature Assignment #1 (Due Friday 10/26)
Google Image Search a decent portrait of each of the following;
Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel
Then, in your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of them.

Caricature Assignment #2 (Due Tuesday 11/6)
Google Image Search a decent portrait of each of the following;
Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and John McCain
Then, in your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of them.

Caricature Assignment #3 (Due Thursday 11/8)
Google Image Search a decent portrait of each of the following;
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson
Then, in your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of them.

Caricature Assignment #4 (Due Monday 11/12)
Google Image Search a decent portrait of each of the following;
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Brittney Spears, OJ Simpson
Then, in your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of them.

Caricature Assignment #5 -Last one, I promise! (Due Wednesday 11/14)
In your sketch book draw draw a caricature of each of the following;
A classmate, a teacher, an administrator, yourself

Whew! That ought to keep you busy for a while. Sometime between now and then I will post another "web-quest" for you on actual editorial cartooning- but the practice you'll be getting from this will make sure you're ready for drawing those.

Fire Prayer Request

As you might imagine, since we used to teach at Los Angeles Lutheran Jr/Sr High School, My wife and I are very concerned about our many friends, former students and former colleagues in Southern California. Can you imagine 250,000 people in 7 counties having to be evacuated? An area the size of Washington DC has been burned. From Malibu to Mexico is effected- basically an area the size of South Carolina!

The Buckweed and Stevensen Ranch/Magic Fires have us the me worried. Especially after that wild accident in the I-5 tunnel last week. Basically these fires are each on opposite sides of the Santa Clarita Valley. We used to go to Church at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Canyon Country.

Breathing, driving, and if it comes to it- evacuating are a major dangers that our friends are facing- let alone the possibility of losing life, home, and property.
I was disappointed by the coverage on CNN, so I turned to a local TV station there, KTLA, they had a terrific link to an interactive map of the fires from Google.

Please, it's not just a bunch of rich celebrities in Malibu Canyon, it's real people all over Southern California. If these fires aren't contained soon, this could become LA and San Diego's Katrina.

Please pray that the Lord would protect the residents in the fire's path and that He would guard, protect, and guide the many firefighters, both professional and volunteer and the National Guardsmen and women who help too. Pray that the 70-100 mph winds would die down and that moisture would come so that the fires could be contained and put out.

Thank you.

Yearbook; This week

Bonnie, Cody, Chris, and Jamie have until next Friday, Nov 1 do get their Fall sports pages done. Please include schedules, scores, records etc.

Olivia, Miranda, and Holli have their first InDesign layouts done. They, and Vicki can use 6th period as a study hall while Mr. Mallory gets Kensie, Kenzie and Megan started on InDesign.
Christine needs to finish her InDesign layout today.

If you're done with a layout or waiting for help, please use your time as a studyhall, ask permission to leave the room for whatever reasons. Thank you.

Ceramics; this week

Monday- glaze small slab boxes
Tues-Fri- Create slab shoes
Meanwhile- we'll start 2 people at a time on the wheel

House; Let's try Cartooning

So okay, 'House' as we'll call him here is a Senior. He's had Drawing and Painting and was interested in Drawing II but we didn't offer it this year, so we set up an independent-study "Advanced Drawing" for him. But he's not loving it. He's really disappointed that we haven't had a cartooning class for a few years. Alrighty then. Since House isn't planing on majoring in visual arts in college, and his drawing style is really expressive anyway, we'll throw something together here for the second quarter. Some of it will still be Drawing II stuff because it will apply to cartooning skills, but mostly, we're gonna switch gears and focus on the cartooning.

Here's the order I'm gonna go in for ya, House;

1. We'll start off with the grandaddy of all tooning, editorial cartooning. This is my forte' anyway.
2. Then we'll move into "Gag" or single-panel cartoons, this is the stuff of magazines and greeting cards. It's not near as easy as it looks
3. Next, we'll kick it up a notch and move on to the comic strip, the greatest American art form
4. Ultimately we'll gear up for comics and graphic novels. The may just be the most important form of literature and art of the 21st century.
5. Now, I'm not promising anything, but if there's time and you have a gift for things like Microsoft/Windows Movie Maker and/or Macromedia Flash- you might even have a chance to dip your toe into animation.

Now, to get you started, let's do a little bit of research shall we?

Read this introduction to Editorial cartooning from an Arizona State University course
Art Works- Political Cartooning

Lesson 1. Cartoons in Context

• A Historical Perspective of Cartooning
  
• The Purpose for Political Cartooning
  
• The Cartoon as Art
  
• Cartoons Then and Now

skip a couple of links and go on to

• Caricature: The Visual Foundation for Political Cartoons

Then do the exercises on the next link in your sketchbook.

• Caricature Exercise

It may seem like a lot for the first day or so, but I have some more challenging (and more fun) stuff for you to do once you get these done. Let me know if you think you need both Tues & Wed to get this all read and done. Otherwise I'll hit you with some new stuff on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, keep reading "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud.
If you think he does a pretty good job of explaining things, you may want to check out www.scottmccloud.com

Web Design; this week

Read pages 59-67
Review the vocab terms from last Friday's quiz and add these:

• Font
• Serif
• Sans-serif
• Monospaced font

All of these are found on page 64.

Tues-Thurs 10/23-25 you will have class time to work on your Case-Problem websites.
Friday you will each show the class what you have so far.
There will also be a vocab quiz this Friday too.

Next week, we will spend some time either in the book or taking notes Monday and have class time to work on YOUR final project websites Tues-Thurs, then you'll show them Fri and have another quiz.

Drawing; a brief practice in sighting

Mon-Tues 10/22-23
Read pp. 146-151 in DOTRSOTB
and complete a drawing of a corner doorway in your sketchbooks

Wed-Fri 10/24-26 (into Mon of next week if you need it)
Read pp. 152-155 in DOTRSOB
and complete an 18X24 drawing of a hallway in the school.

We will critique these together either Mon or Tues before going on to Chapter 9 (FACES!!!)

Cheer this week

No practice this Thursday Oct 25. Since Maple Valley has their Parent/Teacher Conferences are Tuesday and Thursday, I need to take Grace to Dance at Sheri's & Julie's by 4:30.

I know that everybody's sick, but it would be awesome if we could practice everyday Mon, Tue, & Wed since it is the last game and the last rally. Although, as important as stunting might be to you all, be aware that Kensie's MD thinks she may have pulled something in her knee, which is why it caused her so much pain last Friday.

As you know, we need to finish painting the run through and plan a pep rally. Two things to keep in mind besides Seniors are;
It's Woodbine (you could enlist either ex-twiner Straight or Johnsen if you like) and if VB wins on Tuesday there may be post-seasonal pep rallies.

DEAR; Book Review

Maximum Ride; Saving the world and other extreme sports

Posted by Mallory's on Oct 21, '07 5:49 PM for everyone

Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	James Patterson

This is Patterson's third installment in his mutant teen series. As usual, Patterson is an excellent writer, this book is action packed, fast and funny. Sounds like he has a fourth book coming out next Spring. According to an article in Variety, Patterson plans 12 books in total. The entertainment newspaper also reports on a Maximum Ride movie (or three), targeted for release in 2010 and 2011. They will be released by Sony Pictures Animation or Columbia Pictures. Sony Imageworks is responsible for Spiderman and the Polar Express.

Now, as much as I enjoyed "Saving the world and other extreme sports," it isn't absolutely without problems. You could easily read the second book without having read the first one- but I don't think that people who haven't read either of the first two books will get this third one. I also wonder a little bit about whether or not Patterson kind of pushed it a little too far this time, kind of "jumped the shark," as they say in Hollywood. The ending is a last third or so is a little contrived and the ending just a little anticlimactic. But then again, it isn't written for adults and after all, it is about a group of mutant bird-kids trying to save the world from NAZI style mad scientists. How can you possibly push that too far?

So it's guilty escapist pleasure, so what. Why shouldn't reading be fun?
If you did read either of the first two books then you've developed a connection with the characters. I really love and care about Patterson's most famous character Alex Cross, from books like 'London Bridges' and movies like 'Kiss the Girls' (Morgan Freeman make a perfect Cross), so readers who already know the kids in the flock, will LOVE this book. Patterson continues to develop Max's role as a leader/surrogate parent. He also heats things up a little between Max and Fang, and he shows us a lot more about Fang's character. We even find out more about Ari, the wicked 'Eraser' who Max thought she had killed. Fans can continue to follow the flock on the internet by reading Fang's Blog. Patterson also gives us a peek into who Max's mom is, and what the deal is with Jeb and the voice inside her head.

Read more of my book reviews at http://tmal.multiply.com/reviews

Tis the Season...

Yearbook; 'Archive' 08 Staff Picture

Since the theme is automotive, Editor Bonnie suggested we take our picture in front of her Buick!

Cody tries out his new "Air-Cannon" on Jamie.

Drawing; Proportions & Relationships

In chapter 9, Drawing students are learning about "informal perspective" drawing, including things like these where you have to record the visual distortions created when objects are extremely close to you. This only happens if you rectify the paradox of your knowledge (left brain) and your perception (right brain).

Drawing; Chair stare

After studying negative space, using view finders and choosing 'basic units,' Drawing students did their first large (18X24) newsprint drawings. Unfortunately for them, their exciting subject matter was my office chair. Woo hoo!

Ceramics; Trick or Treat

Brett works on his slab-construction creation. Ceramics students are working on "haunted housed" just in time for Halloween.

MS Art; Mosaic Collages

Drawing; From Kassi's Sketchbook

Yearbook; Color Senior Section?

$925 for 8 pages of color. The senior section is usually 6-8 pages. It might be mice to have Homecoming in color. So share that around 49 people and they'd all need to cough up about $20.

You understand those aren't sequential pages exactly, that would be like 35-37, 40-41, 44-45- other stuff would be in between, probably 38-39 would be Sophomores and 42-43 would be juniors. To get them all together like pp.40-46 we'd have to buy 16 color pages, which is $1,850.

Also, we would absolutely HAVE to have ALL the Senior Pictures in by Jan 1. I've already heard people talking about how they haven't even set appointments yet... I'm not dragging my feet, I'd love to have color in the yearbook, I'm just letting you know what some of the challenges will be.

_____________________________
Ted's cartoons, artworks, photos, and commentary at:
http://tmal.multiply.com

Web Design; Better check your notes

Here are three questions that you will need to review in addition to the new terms for this Friday's quiz. Remember, all of my quizzes are always open-note (hint, hint).

13) < name="value">
a) Code for an image
c) Code for placing an anchor, also known as
a bookmark within a webpage
b) Code for an "ordered list"
d) Code that will format text as underlined

14) The location of the Web page in the Web server's file system.
a) Directory Path
c) Domain Name
b) Object Name
d) Spot

20) < href="#value" target="_self">click here
a) Tags for including an image with an
external hyperlink
c) Tags for an ordered list using Roman
numerals
b) Tags for placing a hyperlink inside a
webpage so that visitors can "jump" to
another point within that page (an anchor)
d) Tags for an unordered list using bullets

Web Design; Information Architecture

Alright Web-Heads, here are your assignments for this week;

Remember that I post all of the assignments for this class on this site. Click on the "Web Design" link in my schedule on the right hand menu to see only posts for this class. You can always email me your assignments or questions if you have any at malloryt@boyer-valley.k12.ia.us

There will be a Quiz this Friday, Oct. 19. These are the terms you're responsible for (and where to find them in the book):

• Target Audience (p.50)
• End-user scenarios (p.54)
• Information architecture (p.56)
  
• Navigation system (p.56)
• Flowchart (p.57)
• Concept/Metaphor (pp.61-62)
• Hexadecimal color codes (p.63)

Here's the homework this week

• First we did these together in class for "Bob's Bait Shop"
• Second you'll have to do it for your Case Problem Sites
• Finally, you'll need to do it for your own site- this means that you'll need to turn in two sets of papers, one for your case problem and one for your own.

Create an end-user scenario 1-3 on p.55 (write at least one paragraph, using complete sentences) Please type this in Word and either print it out or email it to me.

Create an information category outline, follow 1-6 on p. 57 and turn in typed outline.

Create a flowchart, follow 1-6 p.58 and turn in your final flowchart/site map/graphic organizer.

Since you'll be gone Tuesday for the Government field trip, these three (really 6 since you each do them for two sites) will be due this Thursday, Oct. 18

Information Architecture Paper

Create at least two "End-User Scenarios."
This is the type of marketing report that you might have to present to a real-life client.

First- Review your site goals and your user profile. Create a character who might visit your website. Give the character a name and attributes such as age, gender, location, etc.

Place the character in a situation where he or she is accessing your web site. Write at least two paragraphs describing the user's surroundings and the user's experience with the site.


Second- Based on your site goals and end user scenarios, start an outline listing at least five categories, and several subcategories in hierarchical order. Break the subcategories into subcategories when necessary.

Finally- Create a flowchart based on your outline, taking into consideration your end user scenarios. The square on top should be your home page. Draw five squares in a horizontal row below your home page. These should represent you major sections, based on your site goals. Draw lines from each main category to your home page to connect them. Draw the subcategories below each main category.

Be prepared to present your marketing reports on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 18-19.
See pages 55-58 in your textbook for examples.

Check out 'Wild Art'

I just overhauled my art blog. When you visit it you can see;
1. My cartoons 2. My photographs & digital images 3. My paintings, drawings, and prints 4. Artworks or photos by some of my students 5. Some of my favorite paintings by famous artists and why I like them. And recently added... 6. Advice and links for elementary teachers who didn't major in Art, but want to teach it to their students. Please, click on the archives to look at more art.

http://malloryart.blogspot.com

Every week there's something new. This week, there's also a slick new look!

Happy October

One of the best websites I've found for Elementary Teachers who looking for ideas

The ArtsConnectEd Web site (www.artsconnected.org) puts you and your students in touch with images, information, and educational resources from the Walker Art Center and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
They'll suggest ways to make ArtsConnectEd a part of fun, student-centered learning.

Their "Tool Kit" is a great way to start learning about the elements and principles of design.
Artists use visual elements and principles like line, color and shape as tools to build works of art. Each title has three sections:

• Watch an animated demonstration
  
• Find examples of the concept in works of art from museums
  
• Create your own composition

Visit their Art tool kit at
http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/explore.cfm

Mallory's Milieu

You can see all of my cartoons (just MY cartoons) as well as all kinds of my artwork and photography. Not to mention book reviews, recommended links, and even some music and videos. All of it is at http://tmal.multiply.com

Digital Web Magazine - The Elements of Design

Digital Web Magazine - The Elements of Design
he elements of design are the basic components used as part of any composition. They are the objects to be arranged, the constituent parts used to create the composition itself. In most situations the elements of design build upon one another, the former element helping to create the latter, and the elements described in this column are arranged as such. We will be focusing on the elements of point, line, form (shape), texture and color.

Middle School Art; Anstract

Here is an old example by a student a few years ago of the assignment that 7th graders had to work on today. First, they had to find a photograph in a magazine then they had to draw it in 4 steps-

1. As realistically as they can manage
2. In a somewhat abstract manor; simplified and stylized
3. Finally as abstracted as possible- to the point that it appears to be non-objective.

Web Design; Assignments

Today, in class we worked through questions 1-6 on page 49 and 1-8 on page 51 in our textbook to begin planning our class project website for "Bob's Bait Shop."

We decided Bob's top priorities are to:

1. Increase name/brand identity/awareness for the shop
2. Sell bait & tackle
3. Offer information about boat sales, rental, repair and customization
4. Offer information on fishing, fish, bait & equipment, including lessons, licenses and guide services

Now it's your turn. Tomorrow you will go back to read your portion of pp. 42-44 to find out what you need to do for YOUR fictional web client-

• Shawn- Dr. Thompson's World Anthropology Society
• Chris G.- The Museum of Western Art in Fort Worth
• Chris R- Natalie Moore's Book Store in California

Please answer questions 1-6 on page 49 and 1-8 on pg 51 as they relate to your Case Problem client. Turn these questions in this Thursday, October 11.

Then answer questions 1-6 on page 49 and 1-8 on pg 51 as they relate to whatever mock client you come up with for your final project. Remember, you get to make the client up, it could be you, a band, a comic book or video game company- or even the company you made up for your FrontPage assignments. Please turn these questions in this this Friday, October 12.

Book Review; Slaughterhouse Five

Category:	Books
Genre:	Literature & Fiction
Author:	Kurt Vonnegut

One of America's most prolific 20th century authors, Kurt Vonnegut was also a WWII POW. He and about a hundred other American soldiers were being used as forced labor in a German meat processing plant when the city they were in was bombed by the allies. For some reason, the shelter they were in under the hog confinement was spared. They were the only people to survive the Bombing of Dresden in 1945. 135,000 people were killed as a result of this air attack using conventional weapons. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan only killed 71,379.

Slaughterhouse 5 was published in 1969 at the height of American involvement in Vietnam and is often considered a powerful antiwar book, along the likes of Josef Heller's "Catch 22" and Richard Hooker's "M*A*S*H."

Slaughterhouse 5 follows a character Vonnegut invented, who was one of the hundred Americans who survived Dresden along with him. "Billy Pilgrim" is a Forrest Gump sort of character. Billy is an under trained, unarmed chaplain's assistant sent over during the Battle of the Bulge, caught behind German lines, first sent to a concentration camp in a prisoner train, then to the meat processing plant in Dresden. That would be enough to give anyone Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but twenty years later he is the only person to survive a plane crash on his way to an optometry convention. Billy sustains a major head injury in the crash. Somewhere between WWII and the sixties suburbs Billy believes he is abducted by aliens and "un-stuck" from time.

As a result, the book follows Billy Pilgrim as he jumps from memory to memory in the war, the prison camp, and various other misadventures back home. You can imagine homeless Vietnam vets suffering from PTSD and having LSD flashbacks, but Billy is a clean-cut, conventional, soft spoken, upstanding member of the Rotary club.

If you're a science fiction fan, you'll probably love this. If you're opposed to the war, you'll probably find plenty of reason to like it. If you're just interested in a classic and influential work of American literature, Vonnegut makes you care about Billy and the people around him to stick with the abrupt changes in settings and time. He also makes you relate to the other characters around Billy- even the Germans, even the alien abductors, so you can relate to everything that's going on even when it's either tragic or surreal. We've all met people like Billy's wife, the soldier who saves his life, the English officers, and General "Wild" Bob.

TV Journalist Linda Elerbee has had a tag-line that she uses at the end of her reports for at least the last thirty years, turns out she may have copied it from Vonnegut. I never know what it meant until I read this book, it's actually a pretty sad and somber sentiment, "and so it goes."

This is a fast, funny, easy read that really makes you think. It is black humor, but it is a lot lighter than say "Night" by Elie Wiesel, but it certainly makes you think and even if it doesn't turn you into a pacifist, it will probably make you at least a little more empathetic to people around you. I hope.

And if you're ever in Cody Wyoming, just ask for Wild Bob!"

Click here to read more of my book reviews: http://tmal.multiply.com/reviews

Yearbook; Elements of Design » graphic:DESIGN:basics

I was looking for things to help Yearbook students with graphic design and layouts when I stumbled on this site that I think could be useful to Yearbook staffers, Web Design students, and probably elementary teachers too, and really anybody who's interested in learning more about art or design!

If you're really into graphic design, the author of this site is a designer herself and textbook author who offers graphic design basics, competitions, news, interviews, book reviews, and more.

Elements of Design » graphic:DESIGN:basics

Elements of Design

These are the ingredients to any design project, whether it’s a way to set up your garden to a map that shows people who to go from here to the moon. The ingredients, like those within a cake, often interact with each other to the point that the cake wouldn’t exist if one of these elements were missing.

Principles of Design

These are the tools that blend the ingredients for any design project. You can use all the design elements, but if you don’t blend them with rhythm, balance, contrast, etc., then you don’t have a cake.

Web; 5 basic rules of web design by Grantastic Designs

Here is a great site i stumbled on with some excellent advice for you web-heads.

5 basic rules of web design by Grantastic Designs
The most important rule in web design is that your web site should be easy to read. What does this mean? You should choose your text and background colors very carefully. You don't want to use backgrounds that obscure your text or use colors that are hard to read.
Read All 5 Basic Rules

Basic Art & Drawing: Lessons

COOL School; Online Drawing Lessons

This is an awesome site I found from the Oregon school system. If you want to learn about the elements of design or about drawing, this is a quick, easy fun website with simple, "independent-study" exercises you can do on your own.

Audience

Middle School to Adult

Goals

• Analyze art work using elements and principles.
• Opportunity to meet/exceed Art CIM standards.
• Expose students to a variety of drawing techniques and styles.
• Recognize, know meaning, and demonstrate art principles and elements in student's own art work.
• Students will critique their own art work and that of others, using elements and principles.
• Students will recognize and demonstrate the following: contour line, stippling, shading, crosshatching, gridding, 1-point and 2-point perspective, portraits, and proportions.

Drawing; Negative-Space Chair

Today most of you should've

• Drew in 2 inch margins and toned your format with graphite on your new 18x24 newsprint pads.
• Hopefully some of you also chose a composition with a viewfinder and selected a BASIC UNIT. That's key. Some of you even blocked-in the major contact points and intersections with a light gesture sketch.

The rest of this week you'll need to

• Start by drawing the negative-space shapes inside and around the chair
• Draw the positive forms, adjusting your proportions for cohesion
• Later on you'll want to concentrate on the surface aspects, including the shading, details, and textures- don't forget contrast.
• Expect us to critique these drawings next Monday, Oct. 15.

When in doubt, read Dr. Edward's directions on pages 127-132 in out textbook.

Web Design; This week

If you were taking this class for IWCC credit, midterm grades would be due, we'd also be hopelessly behind. Fortunately, we are free to proceed at our own pace. That's good since we're just now getting into DreamWeaver.

Please read pp. 42-44 and decide which "Case Problem Site" you would like to be responsible for:

• Vietnam Anthropology
• Western Art Museum
• Used Bookstore
• Sushi Ya Ya

Also be thinking about what type of DreamWeaver site you'd like to design for your own final project.

You are responsible for reading Chapter 7 (pp. 47-93) and we will begin completing the exercises in chapter 2 this week. Anticipate a quiz every Friday from here on out.

Yearbook; here's a couple of pictures from this week

Drawing; hard at work

Chris works on the skeleton for Senior Independent-Study Drawing II

Ethan gives himself a hand.

Jimmy Buffett for President!

"Indecision may or may not be my problem."

Sick Day

Mallory Sub Lessons Tues 10/3/07
Sorry, I'm sick.

1. Web Design —Last day to finish Microsoft FrontPage websites

2. Intro Drawing —Positive/Negative Space cubist hand drawing
(like 7th Graders are doing- example on board)

3. Planning Period — Enjoy a break

4. 7th Grade Art — Some need to finish their Cubist hand drawings. Others need to do a second one, find a new object. — 12:15-12:32 Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) time.
One student per table, SILENT reading. not homework, not talking, not watering plants- quiet and reading

5. Ceramics Keep working on coil pots (someone will need to get a key to open the kiln room for them, so they can get to the clay and their pots)

6. Yearbook Bonnie, Chris, Vicki, Jamie, Cody, and Olivia should start working on their pages in InDesign. The others can either look at and print proof sheets of Homecoming pictures or use this time as a study hall. Please remind them of the quiz on Friday.

7. Middle School Cheer Please send them to Study Hall

Varsity Cheer Please announce that there’s no practice today

PaperBackSwap

Looking for a good book, but you can't find it at Wal-Mart and you don't have the time or the ride to get to a Borders or Barnes and Noble's in Omaha or Sioux City? Don't have the credit card for looking online? Feel like you've seen everything you're interested in at your local library?

May I suggest you check out PaperBackSwap? All you have to do is offer to send other people your used books, and then you get to choose from some of theirs! Cheap, easy, actually kind of fun.

PaperBackSwap is a group of readers who share books with each other (NOT just paperbacks) for nothing more than the cost of postage! You can learn more about this exciting site by flipping through their PaperBackSwap book.

http://www.paperbackswap.com

Potent Quote

"You don't have to
burn books
to destroy a culture.
Just get people to
stop reading them."

~Ray Bradbury
(Author; Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles)

Anybody but the Yankees

Man, I want to root for the Cubbies- that would sure be historic. But I'd also love to see my Arizona Diamondbacks go up against Boston. Picture it, Randy Johnson against former teammate Kurt Schilling in the last game of the World Series. That could be almost as historic, right?

But if the Cubs beat us, then of course, I'll become a Cubs fan, no matter who they play- but especially if they play the stupid Yankees.

Harrison County Ambition Magazine

Harrison County Ambition Magazine

HC Ambition does not only have useful articles and information for our students, but also photos of events scattered throughout the publication. The magazine is FREE and you can pick up your copy all month from local businesses and common areas in your high school. Our web site will have digital copies of our magazine to view if you happened to miss picking one up or if you want to share it with family and friends who live out of our area!

Drawing; Negative Space

"Nothing
is so real
as nothing."
~Samuel Beckett

Drawing; the basic unit & negative space

I went and Googled "Negative Space," in order to come up with some ways to help explain it to you, or maybe find some exercises other than the ones in Dr. Edward's book and I came across this person's blog. This is a great entry to help you really SEE examples of basic units. Look for the blue shapes.

The Spaces In-Between
Drawing Basics from mydesignselfstudy.com

Chapter 7 of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain focuses on drawing the negative spaces of an image. Don’t draw the leaves. Instead draw only the edges of the spaces between the leaves. This takes the brain even farther away from its memorized symbols for images.

To aid with this exercise, Edwards introduces the “basic unit.” This basic unit is a shape, line, or unit within your scene against which every other line, shape, or unit is measured and compared.

Below is my first negative space drawing: I placed pheledendron leaves on the table and drew only the spaces between the leaves. I’ve highlighted one of the spaces in purple to help illustrate what I mean by “spaces”:

Below is my second negative space drawing: Here, I drew the negative spaces that exist around the positive forms of a chair. I chose the space in the middle (highlighted in purple) to be my basic unit. I compared all lines, shapes, and shape relationships against this basic unit. I didn’t quite get the drawing right. Drawing negative spaces is more difficult than it looks!

Computer Humor

Or, you could just cough up the money for a Mac.

Don't forget, your personal FrontPage sites are due tomorrow (10/3).

Yearbook; Vocab, Assignments & Responsibilities

Here are some vocabulary terms to look up either in your book or the glossary to study and have in your notes for a quiz on Friday;

• Gutter
• Columns
• Margins
• Bleed
• Point
• Pica
• Eye-line

Here, finally are some page assignments. Blank ones are still unassigned, so you may want to volunteer.
Due Date is November 2:

• 026 MS Football-
• 027 MS Volleyball-
• 055 Sports Division-
• 056 Baseball/Softball- Jamie
• 057 Fall Cheerleading- Cody
• 058-059 Volleyball- Bonnie
• 060-061 Football- Chris
• 062 Cross Country- Holli
• 080-081 Homecoming-

Here are some upcoming events and organizations that we need to get pictures of:

• Tues 10/2 JrHi VB- MacKenzie H
• Thr 10/4 Volleyball-
• Mon 10/8 JrHi VB-
• Thr 10/4 YrBk Staff - Have a good hair day and plan to smile!
  
• Thr 10/4 Band Group Pic- 3rd per. MecKensie J
• Fri 11/2 NHS Induction/Group Pic-
• JrHI VB Team Pic-
• JrHi FB Team Pic-
• JrHi Student Council-
• Choir Group-
• FFA Group-
• Voice Staff- (ask Mrs. Hanigan)
• Lots of 'PRNDL' pictures!!!
  

Ceramics; Coil Pots

Ceramics students are working on week-long coil pots. There are four things to set as goals for yourselves; How tall can you make it and maintain it's structural integrity? How wide (how much volume? Introduce non-horizontal coils and/or some non coils elements like spheres and wedges. This week try to use the banding-wheel so you can turn your pot as you work on it.

Pinch pots are being fired ans should be ready to glaze by Friday.

Drawing; Modified Contours

Here are some pages from the Drawing Class's sketchbooks..

Kassi did this beautiful rendering of the aloe plant in the art room when they weer assigned to pick anyview they wanted through a viewfinder.

Here are hands that we drew for an assignment. Above, Ryan is a surfer so he wanted to wave the peace sign at everybody. I thought both he and Ethan (below) had an awesome sense of composition.
Modified Contour Hand Drawing is in Chapter 6, pp. 105-110 in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain; a course in enhancing creativity and artistic confidence by Betty Edwards, © 1999 Tharcher/Putnam