Wear Your Art on Your Sleeve

Okay, let me just start this by saying I can be quite a dork. I like some pretty dorky things. You know what? I am okay with that. It is a big part of who I am, and, subsequently, how I teach. Being a dork has come in handy many times in my line of work. (In case you don't know, I am a 5th grade teacher.) Being a dork means that I follow a lot of things that kids follow, oddly enough, or things that kids will be following once I introduce it to them.  That is one of the perks of being a teacher- influence (insert evil, maniacal laughter here.)
I love introducing my students to random things and I love it even more when even just one of them takes off running with something I've shown them or that they've discovered while in my class.
One of the things I try to do is bring art into my classroom.  With state tests and standards and lack of materials and time, this is not always the easiest thing to do, but I try to do it anyway.
I have always loved going to museums and galleries, and I have always brought my daughter with me, from the time she was little.  She could point out a Degas hanging in the Getty and tell the nearest person who painted it by the time she was 3.  It was just a normal part of her little life because I made it that way.
I'm rambling a bit here.  The whole point of this is twofold.  One, I want to share this amazingly awesome museum geared towards kids that is in Tokyo.  I read an article on it recently, and immediately channeled my inner Liz Lemon (a'la 30 Rock) and declared, "I want to go to there."

image via This Is Colossal

image via This is Colossal
This was the Cat's favorite, as she happens to like the book The Invisible Man.

image via This is Colossal

Here is an interesting article and more information on Torafu's Haunted Art Gallery for kids.  A trip to the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art has been requested by the Cat.

Second, I thought I would share with you some of the pieces I like to share with my kids, and the pieces I feel compelled to wear while we are doing a corresponding art project.  The American Gothic socks are totally doable, and I already have the Van Gogh Tardis shirt (dork!); but that Lichtenstein dress, at a price tag of a couple of thousand dollars, is just a little bit out of my nonexistent classroom art budget.  Oh well.

Van Gogh TARDIS Babydoll / Socks / Vincent van Gogh / "The Flinger Sunflowers" - Threadless.com - Best t-shirts in the world

\ I don't have that Van Gogh shirt, the one with him throwing a vase of sunflowers, but I do love it. Maybe that one will be added to my closet. I will just have to make sure to do these particular projects on Friday, when I can justify wearing silly t-shirts and socks to school. I can't believe it is Thursday already! Just two more days and then the weekend?! Yes, please! I'm hoping we are going to be able to squeeze in a trip to LA within the next couple of days; I am craving a croque monsieur from Joan's on 3rd, some banana bread pudding from Magnolia Bakery, and a dole whip from a place we just found out about called, appropriately enough, Whipped. Fingers crossed this happens sooner than later, cause my mouth is watering just thinking about all of that food!

 

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