It's a whole new school year

Dear Parents,

My name is Jean King and I am the art teacher at De Zavala Elementary. I want to welcome you all to the 2012-13 school year in the art room. If your student is returning to De Zavala, I want to welcome you back. If your student is new to De Zavala, I'm delighted to make you and your student's acquaintance.

We're beginning a new school year with exciting news!

The ceramics kiln, the oven used to cook clay, has been installed and is connected. There is one final step, a test firing, to make sure that the kiln is operating properly. We'll be working in clay very soon!

I spent a month this summer in Barcelona, Spain studying the works of Antoni Gaudí, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí. I've brought back many new ideas for the art room. I think you will enjoy what you see.

I'll be keeping you up to date in multiple ways. You can follow along on our class blog at www.newsfromtheartroom.blogspot.com. In addition, if you are on Twitter, you can follow our tweets by following @DZArtRoom.

If you would like to meet with me, please call the school and leave me a message at 713-724-1888. I'm available to meet with you during my planning time which is from 7:45 to 8:30 AM.

Remember you can stop by the art room in addition to your student's home room whenever we have a Parent Involvement time at school.

Watch for more news from the art room soon!

Artistically yours,

Jean King

It's that time again!

Summer vacation for teachers is coming to a close, and what a summer vacation it's been!

This last spring I won my third Fund for Teachers grant. This time I spent a month in Barcelona, the Capitol of Catalonia in Spain. I went to study the work of the architect Antoni Gaudí and artists Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí. Specifically, I was looking at their ceramic and mosaic work in anticipation of the 2012-2013 school year. It was an incredible experience.

I traveled to the Pilar i Joan Miró Fundacio and La Seu, the cathedral in Palma de Mallorca, Montserrat, the Salvador Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres, the Salvador Dalí House in Port Lligat, Cadaqués, Reus and Girona in my search for material and inspiration for this year's classes. I definitely found what I was looking for.

Our theme for this year is going to be mosaics. We'll be looking at mosaics and murals here in Houston and beyond. We'll be learning about world famous artists and creating incredible artworks.

I'm looking forward to this new school year and having the opportunity to create art with your students. It's going to be a really great year!