Whole School Assembly @ Maryvale

I had a wonderful day sharing my art process with the whole school in the media center at Maryvale Elementary in Rockville, MD. I discussed how pictures have the ability to tell stories just like words do; my step by step collage process; the motivation behind my book Grandma's Purple Flowers and how artists use Art Elements to communicate mood and tone in their art. The children from Kindergarten through Fifth grade were smart, attentive and presented several thought-provoking questions.

Savoy in The Living World

Collages of sunflowers, colorful self portraits and narratives comparing themselves to something in nature, filled a collaborative banner entitled "We Are The Living World" created by third graders and Kennedy Center Resident artist Adjoa Burrowes. This banner along with students Haiku's, collages, accordion artists books and flag books will be on display at a celebration on Monday at Savoy Elementary. Students and their teacher created an interactive Creative Living World Museum to showcase their work in the classroom and during the residency.

Day 10 Sunflowers in the Living World

Students studied the life cycle of the sunflower with the classroom teachers. To conclude our residency we decided to add sunflowers to our banner of the living world.

Day 9 Finishing up collage portraits

Students proudly displayed their finished portraits.

What's In A Face?

Step by step, students learn how to make a likeness of themselves using basic shapes and color papers, some painted in earlier classes. Each portrait turned out as individual and unique as they are.

Special Guest Alfre Woodard

Film, stage and television actress Alfre Woodard made a guest appearance at Savoy Elementary school. Ms. Woodard is a member of Obama's President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities, in conjunction with the Department of Education, that aims to prove that failing schools can reverse it's course through the arts. Savoy is one of eight Turnaround Arts schools around the nation. 

Day 8 Self Portraits

In this 8th session, 3rd grade students learned how to make self portaits using basic shapes, They created clothes using the paste papers they painted in earlier sessions.

Day 7 Illustrating Haiku's

 

5.7.5. After writing the Haiku's, students illustrated them using crayon or cut paper.

Haiku and Flag Books

My other third grade class wrote their Haiku's in their Flag Books.

Day 6 Learning Haiku

Students worked in pairs identifying syllables in selected Haiku poems and later wrote their own based on a favorite season.

Day 5 - Creating Flag Books

Students learned how to fold and create artist's Flag Books.

Another class made Flag Books of
their animal found in the Living World.

One of the finished books incorporating collage and found objects.

Day 4 Painting with salt and plastic

Students created wonderful textural affects using watercolor along with salt and plastic wrap. These papers will be cut up later and used in collage projects.

A Great Partnership

Third grade teacher from Savoy Elementary, Ms. Odom and I pose with  some of the accordion books her students made during my residency with her students through the Kennedy Center.

Day 3 Savoy Bookmaking

Students at Savoy learned how to make an accordion book using texture, shape, color and line. They began by tracing leaf shapes from the paste papers they painted in the last session. 

TAI Preview Day

Teaching artists presented their newly developed residencies for feedback from their teaching partners and master teachers at Seven Oaks Elementary School in Anne Arundel County. 

TAI Visual artist David Cuningham conducting his test residency.

Master Teaching Artist Maria Barbosa and my teaching partner Mary Beth Bauernschub are pictured creating a circle composition during David's presentation.

Seven Oaks Elementary School

Some of the teaching artists set up their wares before the TAI (Teaching Artist Institute) preview of our new residencies. Pictured is a teacher at Oakland Terrace in Silver Spring and two students behind a set up of my children's books.

Day 2 Savoy Paste Paper

Students learned how to make paste paper in today's residency. These papers will later be used to make a artists book form. Students also learned that line, texture and color are art elements that artists use to create compositions.

Demonstrating how to mix paste using flour in paste paper. 

The Gift of Words

I read my illustrated book "Destiny's Gift" to a classroom of students at Sharpe Health's Read Aloud Day. Many persons in the community volunteered. The students were delighted to hear about a student who loved books in this engaging story by Natasha Tarpley.

Day 1 Introduction to residency

On the first day of my residency at Savoy, I talked about my art, my stories and what we will do together over the next9 sessions. We will explore painting, bookmaking, collage and creative writing.

Day One Savoy Elementary

Student drawing a picture of herself in her favorite season.

I have two third grade classes at Savoy Elementary School in SE Washington this fall through the Kennedy Center. Savoy is one of President Obama's Turn Around Arts Schools across the nation. 

Success For All Learners

I gave a presentation to teachers and paraprofessionals at Sharpe Health School in Washington, DC to address the question of how to adapt instruction to accommodate the needs of diverse learners, especially utilizing technology. It turned out to be a wonderful collaborative session. I talked about my existing Kennedy Center Art and Writing Residency and we brainstormed ways that activities such as painting, reading and collage can be made more accessible to students with disabilities. 

I shared some of my published emergent readers and we searched the publishers web site for lesson plans. Focusing on the book "Everybody Wears Braids" we explored the lesson plan online and investigated ways that students with hearing, sight and motor challenges, for example, can be successful. The solutions the teachers can up with were both creative and insightful. I look forward to more dialogue with Sharpe Health in the future about how we can address the diverse needs of their students.

Meet Your Teacher

Kennedy Center Teaching Artists met with their collaborating teachers at an orientation meeting at the Washington Opera Studios in Washington, DC.

I met with Ms. Tatum, a fifth grade teacher at Brightwood Elementary School in D.C.
I will be instructing her students during my residency this Spring season. 

To The Core

Awesome full day Teaching Artists Institute (TAI) writing workshop in Odenton. Teaching artists partnered with classroom teachers to complete their Residency outlines and to start lesson plans for Day One of their 3-day residencies that incorporate the new Maryland core curriculum standards. 

Teaching Artist Retreat

Dancers, Opera Singers, Painters, Slam Poets, Puppeteers and Actors and Actresses gathered for a 3-day retreat organized by Baltimore's TAI (Teaching Artist Institute). The main purpose was to get teaching artists up to speed on Maryland's new Core Curriculum.

Art At The Top on Display in Baltimore Harbor

Featuring the artwork of illustrators

 Adjoa Burrowes & Susan Detwiler

Through October 7, 2012

HOURS: Wed – Thur 10-6pm

Fri and Sat 10-7pm and Sun 11-6pm

World Trade Center, 401 East Pratt St., 27^th floor

Baltimore, MD 21202

Art At The Top: An Illustrators View

I'll have three illustrations on view along with other local children's book illustrators at Art At The Top: An Illustrators View, an exhibition organized by the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts Inc., September 12 - October 7 at The Top of the World Observation Gallery, 27th floor, 401 East Pratt Street in Baltimore's Inner  Harbour. Come "see" the story through the eyes of the illustrator. The exhibit runs before and after the Baltimore Book Festival.

Piecing Yourself Whole

Yesterday I presented highlights of my arts and writing residency "Clip, Cut, Paste: Piecing Your Stories Together" to DC Public School teachers and administrators. Comprising three main components, my residency explores art (collage, paper decorating, painting); bookmaking (learning various hand made book forms); and creative writing (developing personal narratives) that allow students to honor themselves, their families and community. My residency is part of the Kennedy Center's DC School and Community Initiative. .

Them Aint Scraps...

"Them Ain’t Scraps Just Pieces of Love Ready to Tell a Story: The Artistry and Dedication of Adjoa J. Burrowes" was the title of an abstract presented by Children's Literature specialist Nancy D. Tolson at The Children’s Literature Association Conference at Simmons College in Boston June14. Tolson is also the author of "Black Children's Literature Got De Blues: The Creativity of Black Writers & Illustrators".
http://books.google.com/books/about/Black_Children_s_Literature_Got_de_Blues.html?id=-WIfAQAAIAAJ

Branching Out Beyond the Paint

	A 90 foot-long mosaic tile and painted mural "Branching Out Beyond the Paint," will be dedicated on Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 11:30 am at the White Oak Community Recreation Center in Montgomery County, MD. The mural and mosaic tile medallions were created by Arts on the Block's Summer 2011 teen apprentices and led by artist Adjoa Burrowes.

What I Represent

Students at a juvenile detention center in Maryland created personal symbols inspired by adinkra symbols and arranged them like Kente cloth designs.