About Me

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Lexington, KY, United States
Mrs. Ashley Baker is a sixth year Art Teacher at Jessie Clark Middle School. Mrs. Baker has been involved in the Arts and our Community through the Jessamine County Public Library and the YMCA of the Bluegrass. Scholarships and Awards include FCPS Teacher of the Month February 2014, Bluegrass Writing Project Summer 2013, Teacher Appreciation Award 2014, PTSA Community Partner Award 2013 and the Frankfort Arts Integration Academy 2014. She is currently working and studying towards her Master’s Degree at Georgetown College with in emphasis in the Gifted and Talented Teacher Leader Program. She can be reached directly through FCPS website or email at ashley.baker@fayette.kyschools.us.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Ceiling Tiles at TLC






My middle and high school Arts and Humanities groups designed and decorated ceiling tiles. The students had a great time with this and really enjoy being able to walk down the halls and show others what they did. It really shows a sense of pride and accomplishment! They did SUCH a great job! Plus it adds some color and spunk to the school hallways!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Marshmallow and Toothpick Structures






For a team building exercise, we divided into groups of 4 and built a structure out of marshmallows and toothpicks! The mission was to build a structure that could 1) hold the weight of three hard cover books AND 2) which one could be the tallest. We had a LOT of really awesome designs and structures! The tallest structure was 3 and a half inches! We had some great team work and many student were challenged enough to push themselves and use the whole class time in designing their structure.

Monday, July 26, 2010

BLUBLU.ORG

You HAVE to go check out this video! The animation and creativity is amazing!



I just have to make one! Kudos to the artist!! What I like best about this video and the style that the artist uses is the fact that he/she uses 2D drawing and painting which leads to 3D interactive objects found in the real world. It adds a whole new meaning to the picture coming to life! With just a few found objects, some paint and a wall!! Very cool!!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

This Too Shall Pass - Music Video



This video is really amazing! I would love to try this out in the classroom or even in my kitchen!!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Drawing with Glue



These are great to make in correlation with a Social Studies lesson on different geographical regions. We took a pencil a sketched out a design, then took another piece of paper and carefully drew our finalized sketch. Then, we took Elmer's glue and followed the line with the glue and let it dry. It usually takes about a full day. Then we took gold metallic paint (I tested several and Sargent's worked the best) and painted all over the paper, not too thick that you lose the dried glue design. Once the paint is dry, after a few minutes, we took ink and dropped some on the paper and took paper-towels and spread it all over to give it that old rustic antique look. We also made African masks in this same manner, the students loved making all kinds of different looking faces according to different animals and spiritual leaders of that culture. We then cut the faces out and glued them "pop-up" style on black paper and decorated the border with construction paper crayons. Everyone had a blast!!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

General Rubric for Art Lesson Plans

I found a nice rubric that can be modified to any/most art lesson plans. Click here for the link to the website. Here it is below also.


Name: Grade: Classroom Teacher: Score:

Date: Follow Up action (if any):

Elements and Principles

I planned carefully, showed an awareness of the elements and principles of design; chose a color scheme carefully, used space effectively

I applied the principles of design and used one or more elements effectively; showed an awareness of using space effectively

I did the assignment adequately, but it shows lack of planning

I completed the project, but it shows little evidence of any understanding of the elements and principles, no evidence of planning

Creativity/Originality

I thought of many ideas, tried unusual combinations, made connections to previous knowledge, demonstrated outstanding problem solving skills

I thought of a few ideas, or based my work off of someone else’s idea, made decisions, solved the problem in a logical way

I thought of one idea and carried it out adequately, but it lacked originality, substituted “symbols” instead of original thought, might have copied someone else’s work

I finished the assignment, but gave no evidence of trying anything unusual

Effort/Preservation

The project was continued until it was as complete as I could make it, I gave effort far beyond that required, I took pride in going beyond the requirement

I worked hard to complete the project, but with a little more effort, it could have been outstanding

I finished the project, but it could have been improved with more effort; I knew how to do the project but I didn’t finish; or I chose an easy project and worked carelessly

I completed the project with minimum effort

Craftsmanship/Skill/

Consistency

My artwork was beautifully and patiently done, it was as good as hard work could make it

With a little more effort, my work could have been outstanding; lacks the finishing touches

My artwork was of average craftsmanship; adequate, but not as good as it could have been, a bit careless

My project was below average in craftsmanship, showed lack of pride in finished project

Group Cooperation/Attitude

I was sensitive to the feelings of others, followed all classroom rules and willingly participated in class discussions

I am usually sensitive to the feelings of others, I usually follow all classroom rules and very rarely causes a classroom disturbance and participate in class

I sometimes am sensitive to others, usually follows some of the classroom rules, and occasionally cause a disturbance and sometimes participate in classroom discussions

I usually DO NOT follow classroom rules, consider the feelings of others or participate in classroom discussions. I usually cause a classroom disturbance.






Friday, July 9, 2010

we are paper toys!




I highly recommend the book we are paper toys! by Louis Bou. It features 30+ artists that make toys out of paper and they are ridiculously awesome! I printed off a template from one of the artist's website (there are several you can download and print off).

Click here for we are paper toys! book info and order from amazon.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Printmaking with Linoleum Blocks






These are prints from the Middle School and Up group. We used linoleum blocks and carving tools to create relief prints. Everyone had a great time and we didn't even have to bring out the First-Aid kit!! Impressive!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Francisco's Farm UK Art Ed. Activities















Francisco's Farm 2010! Go UK Art Ed. Department! We had a blast making paper hats, lightening bugs and pinwheels!

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Fabric Soft Sculptures










I was really impressed with our fabric soft sculptures class! We had sharks, cats, cupcakes, aliens, ugly dolls and more!! Everyone was SO creative and motivated! We did a straight stitch with the seams inside and/or out. We were inspired by Claes Oldenburg and it was Awesome!!

Soft Sculptures





The Art Alive classes went by way too fast at JCPL! We all had such a great time! For the last class we did soft sculptures inspired by Claes Oldenburg. The K-5 class decorated fish stencils on white paper with oil pastels and watercolor, tissue paper and mosaic construction paper designs. We had dolphins, horses, portraits, fishies and LOTS of fun!!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Printmaking K-5




We did printmaking with the K-5 class at JCPL!! I went to Home Depot and got a bunch of for rent and yard sale signs and we used the back of those. We spread washable printing ink with brayers on the back of the signs and then used popsicle sticks to draw our picture. We then pressed paper onto the image and when lifted up....wallah!! The kids had a lot of fun with this and the signs were really easy to wash right off and do another picture!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Coil Pots




4th and 5th graders had a blast making these coil pots and even more fun painting and adding the dots with all kinds of colored glaze! Thank you Q-tips for all your many uses!