A.G.O. Field Trip

I always enjoy a field trip to the AGO. This time was especially amazing! It was a beautiful spring day, I got a warm welcome from some colleagues that I hadn't seen in a while and the students had a great time.

I brought my World Religions class to look at how Aboriginal spirituality has influenced art. One student chose the Raven Rattle above. This wonderful carved and painted wood piece is Tlingit from southern Alaska, from around 1860.

The Louis Riel quote above is always inspirational and reminds the viewer of the power of art and its central role in culture.

The Canadian Galleries.

And of course one of the favourites: Chuck Close's Kent - a massive photo-realistic painting that always captures the students' attention.

T.I.F.F. Field Trip

This term my Grade 12 Film Studies class along with an English class and a Writers Craft class visited TIFF to try the "Make a Movie In a Day" program.

We had a great time and the students got the chance to experience a high-paced version of the whole film-making process using industry standard equipment. They wrote screenplays in small groups, pitched them, voted on one, practiced and shot it and we received a copy of the edited final a few weeks later. 

This is a trip I will gladly do again!

Featured on the Blyth Academy Brochure

This month I am featured on the cover of the new Blyth Academy, Thornhill brochure!  This shot was taken in the fall during my first week as I was helping a few students with a computer problem.

Tree Mural Video

Last term, my Integrated Arts class painted a mural at our neighbouring Fun Community School. We enjoyed working on this project and I made the film above as an example of a high-speed movie for my grade 10 Communications Technology class.

Metalworks Field Trip

Last week I took my Communications Technology classes to visit Metalworks studios and institute to see how audio engineering is done at the post-secondary and professional level.

We were taken on a tour of the studio to see where artists record, where engineers use the million dollar soundboard to mix music, the post-production equipment and even the stage and lighting warehouses. We saw where musicians such as Rush, Prince, Feist, and Drake have worked and recorded and how many different kinds of jobs there are in the industry.

The million-dollar soundboard:

The sub-woofer that Prince gave the studio after recording with it:

The final production details are added in the final mixing room:

R.O.M. Field Trip

Last week I brought my classes to the R.O.M. for a guided visit  in the morning and a small group photography exploration in the afternoon. 

The museum offers such diverse exhibitions that there is something for every student's interests. 

Here are a few of the highlights: 

Graffiti in Toronto, Downtown Field Trip

The Torontoist recently posted an interesting piece about how the Mayor has selected a panel to judge whether grafitti around the city is art or vandalism. The city will destroy the vandalism and keep the art. There are so many different kinds of grafitti in our city and different standards of acceptability and legality. Here is the article: http://torontoist.com/2012/10/city-staff-will-decide-whether-these-murals-are-vandalism-or-art/ .

These photos were taken in Graffiti alley on a field trip with my art classes last week. They are a good example of the variety of graffiti that we have. Much of it is protected but who knows how the panel will vote.