A much needed pick me up

One of my last posts was about being busy in grad school, and I am still just as busy. This year I started student teaching! It has brought me so much joy working with incredibly kind, talented young artists. I adore seeing the spark in their eyes, and the wheels turning when asked a question. At this point I am about to begin recording my edTPA segment to submit in December. I know that is right around the corner, and the stress is getting to me. Fortunately, there is a fantastic support system on my side, which I am very thankful to have.

As it is Halloween, you can find the pictures of my support system in all our fantastic costumes! My boyfriend, AJ and myself, dressed up as our idols, Molly and Arthur Weasley, and a few cohort members dressed up as: Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a llama, and Rachel from Friends. My cohort has been so loving and a great source of laughter in sharing weekly stories, and coming together for festivities. It has been so lovely to share this time with such an amazingly hard working group of artists and educators. And I have to say, they know how to do a costume party!

Amazing New Technology!

The pleasure of paper and the Magic of digital are finally united with the Slate by iskn. www.iskn.co

Things are pretty wacky with Graduate School and working full time! But I will still try to do my best and blog when I can. I think that Quote of the Week Wednesdays might have to end.... for now at least. 

I am in a New Media Class and we are working on digital drawing and painting right now so this is just too cool!

Cross the GRE Off the List

I successfully completed my GRE on Saturday! Because it is computer based the scores pop at the end and they were not too horrible! And to celebrate after, and because I was already pretty close, I drove out to Jones Beach. So that is one more thing off the list. I cannot believe that I am checking thing's off for graduate school. 

Yesterday I registered for classes, and I had a department meeting last week. It feels surreal to be getting ready to start up again. I feel like I am still in College on this extended break and at the same time, as if I have been in the "real world" forever. It will be challenging to be in the classroom full time and going to school almost full time. However, I am up for it! 

Next year, here I come.

New York State Teaching Certification Requirements Change - Again

If you are entering graduate school in New York for your initial teaching certification and you school did not originally require the GRE you are probably getting an email about now. It says surprise New York State just passed a law saying that if you want to be a teacher and get certified in graduate school you need to take the GRE and submit your scores before you start school! 

This requirement is a formality. As of right now these scores do not matter you just need to sit for the test and have the score recored. However, if your program did not originally require this test there was probably a reason for it. For example, your program is Art Education. Lots of people entering this program probably went to Art School for their undergraduate program. Testing their math and reading comprehension skills is not necessarily the best way to find out if they will be good art teachers. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

But at the end of the day, I want to be a teacher in New York State. So through the hoop I go. 

A Tour of The Met's Jewelry Antiquities

The class I signed up for with the Bard Graduate Center had its second session yesterday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had a private tour of some of the Met's Jewelry from Ancient Egypt, Hellenistic Greece, Etruscan, Ancient Rome, and Early Celtic Civilizations. 

Pectoral and Necklace of Sithathoryunet ca. 1887-1813 B.C.E.

We started out with this Egyptian Pectoral and Necklace of Sithathoryunet with inlayed with carnelian, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and garnet. Sithathoryunet was a princess in the 12th Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. The beads are arranged in a symmetrical pattern, however because the stringing material was not found it is unknown how the beads would have been strung.  

Gold and Amethyst Girdle 

This was not part of the tour but it was probably my favorite piece, also from Ancient Egypt. The Gold Lion Heads are stamped, hollow and then soldered together. The stone bead is amethyst. 

We then moved on to the Greek and Roman Wing where we stopped in to see some incredible Greek Jewelry. The fine details are enlarged to see the granulation and loop in loop chains. The Greeks liked to layer lots of floral motifs, human figures, and decorative elements all made from fine gold sheet, granulation, and wire. 

We moved to the Etruscan Jewelry Case where we were able to see some of the finest Granulation and Filagree ever to have been created. What appears in the center of the first gold disc is actually supper fine granulation. Even with today's modern technology, no one has been able to replicate the granulation quality of the Etruscans. 

The tour ended in the Hellenistic Treasury with these matching armbands. The two figures were made from Repusee and Chasing. At the top of the figures there are a series of loops for the bands to be attached to the clothing so it does not slip off the wearer. 

This experience was fantastic. To hear a doctoral candidate speak about the jewelry right in front of the tour was inspiring. There are very few people who choose this field of Art History and it is so important that people continue to investigate it because there is still so much to learn, especially from the Etruscans. 

Thank you Bard for setting this program up! It has truly been inspiring.