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Did you get a Kindle for Christmas and need a good book to read? Well, I've got another present for you! It's the eBook Project Flop and it's free!

Download Project Flop for Free December 24-26!
Click here!

The only class I ever failed in college was ‘Intro To Art Education’. Ironic, as I am now the Arts Department Chair at Apex High School. So why a book about failures? Because I believe I can’t take credit for my successes unless I take credit for my failings. There are hundred’s of books about classroom successes. This is a book about failures

Kindle Edition on Amazon 
Paperback on Amazon

All project start off with the best intentions. Whether you create the lesson from scratch or borrow it from someone else, in your mind you envision success. You write your lesson trying to plan for every situation that may arise. The supplies are laid out, a presentation and a demo are reviewed and practiced, and everything should go off without a hitch.

Then, be it fate, a misalignment of the planets or perhaps the art gods are angry, the lesson falls apart. Regardless of your preparation the students don’t understand. As for your enthusiasm, the class simply doesn’t share your zeal for the project. You try to pull it all together but in the end, for lack of a better word, it fails. Worse off, you take it personally. You feel like you failed. You will be happy to know that you’re in good company.

Project Flop consists of stories from some of the biggest failures that Ian Sands ever taught at Apex High School. Some projects were domed from the start, others appeared successful till an unexpected twist occurred.

Kindle Edition on Amazon 
Paperback on Amazon

Here are some of the best failed projects!


Monalloon:
I wanted a project that would out do any project we had done before or probably would do again. I came up with the best idea in the world. A giant replica of the Mona Lisa created out of balloons. Click Here to see The Monalloon!






Interactive Chalk Mural:
I was standing in the courtyard watching the students snap photos of their friends inserted in the art. I leaned over and asked the creative writing teacher what she thought, expecting obvious praise. “I hate it,” she said. View the Interactive Chalk Murals!






Expressive Skittle Portraits:
The project created a class full of students weary of gluing rows of candy, angry moms tired of purchasing Skittles, and a hungry mob that circled the trailer waiting for any chance that the door might open. View the Skittle Portraits!





Broken Kites:
March comes in like a lion and after having been cooped up all winter in a musky auditorium, I thought it would be fun to take the Art History class outside and let them feel the wind in their hair. View the Kites Project!

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With Sparkcon coming this weekend to Raleigh, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to release the first set of CD's from the  Sketch Song Project!

Back in the late 80’s I owned a Tascam 4 track recorder. Using regular cassette tapes, I was able to create multi-track recordings. I can compare the songs I wrote and recorded to that of an artist’s visual journal. These weren’t polished works of art by any means but rather rough sketches.

Most tracks were recorded in one take with mistakes becoming part of the song. All the songs chosen for this project hold promise. However, if one listens to the recordings with anything other than a sketchbook mentality, they will miss the value of the work.

In total there are 100 CDs produced for this project. I’ve selected 20 songs and created 5 CD’s for each song. Like all my artwork, all 100 CDs will be left somewhere to be found.

I plan to leave at least the first ten CD's at Sparkcon on Saturday. Hope you find one!!

This is the first song to be part of the Sketch Song Project. The title of the song, I used to be a Wombat is based on the name of a band I was a member of back in the late 80's. We were the Wombats and had fun playing clubs in NYC like CBGB's. All the lyrics in this song are made up of lyrics from other songs we wrote. I still find it interesting how well they strung together.

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When I got home I created this little Zonkey stencil out of a cereal box. Isn't it cute!


Then I spray painted the stencil on CD #1. The song is "Use To Be A Wombat" just in case you wanted to know.


This is the CD on top and the stencil once removed below.


Here is the CD in the case. It's almost a complete package. This little project has a lot of parts!

Stay tuned!!

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Progress on the Song Sketch Project is moving along slow but steady. The first three album covers are complete and I've started work on the next four. If you're aren't up to speed on the project, read about the idea and how it got started here.


This is the second set of images. These are done so next step will be to cut them out, fold them up and place them inside a jewel case.


Meanwhile, the 20 songs play list is completed and all songs mixed down from cassette tape to MP3. The quality is less than perfect but what can one expect from 25 year old magnetic tape...

Stay tuned!

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I got to thinking, it would be interesting to see what would happen if I put these sketch songs out there. How would people react? Listen to the song and laugh like one would at a blind contour drawing? Maybe they would throw it away? And the long shot, maybe enjoy them for what they are.



Today, I started work on the first two CD inserts. 1 of 100 and 2 of 100.


Each will be folded up and inserted in a jewel case along with a CD containing only one sketch song.


Here's a look at the first CD.

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Zonkey of the Great Wall of China:
Over time, many people have scratched their names as well as other images and symbols upon the Great Wall. See above, this Zonkey image's date is unknown but scientists believe it may be as old as summer 2014.


Banksy created this tribute to the Zonkey with spray paint on a wall in an unnamed city.

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That's right Coke, you know where it's at! Zonkey Cola!

Here's where I stop and pick up my groceries when I'm on my way home from virtually spray painting the rest of Apex. It's the Food Zonkey!

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A weekend excursion to Wrightsville Beach and some fun Zonkeys. Above, ate at 22 North. Yum!




Zonkey will keep the pool open! Go Zonkey, go!

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Found a few fun places that looked like they needed a Zonkey. Above, a doorway on the side of an outdoor shopping mall. This spot didn't look all that attractive yet it was right in a place where everyone would view it. Went with pink stripes to pretty it up!


They just leave these trains sitting all over the place. you think they would move them to a train yard or something but no. I was looking at some of the other graffiti and like the outline effect so i tried to mimic that with this Zonkey. I'll keep looking and working on that.

Tomorrow, i'll be in Wilmington and i'm sure i'll find a place or two that need a Zonkey!

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I'm not one to complain. In fact, I bet if you look through all the posts on this blog you won't find even one post where i'm complaining... till now :)

OK, here's the thing. It's 5:30 in the afternoon and your driving home from work. The traffic is heavy, stop and go type stuff and all you want to do is get home. Then, of all things the train lights turn red and the little bars come down so you can pass. So what's the big deal? It's just a train right? Well no.

You see, the trains in Apex for whatever reason actually stop dead in the middle of the crossing. The lights don't stop flashing, the bars don't go up, the train doesn't move. The trains in Apex literally block traffic in apex for an extended period of time right at the peak of rush hour.


Next, this is a photo of downtown Apex during Peakfest. Peakfest is an annual event where the streets of downtown apex are closed (I know, what's up with Apex and road closings?) and they have venders and food and bands. So what could be so bad about that?

Well, my band the Dead Hamsters applied to be on of the bands to play but we were rejected! That's right. My home town of apex rejected me and instead go some lame bands from who knows where that sucked.

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(above: Zonkey of the NCMA sign)

Yesterday, I stopped by the NC Museum of Art for their ArtScene 2014 Spring Teen Event. Three Apex student's work was accepted into  the show, which is pretty exciting. The Museum made a day of it with live bands, food, art activities that everyone could participate in and even free entry into the current exhibition: Estampas de la raza/Prints for the People: The Romo Collection 



I'd like to think I have a pretty good relationship with the NCMA. I've work on a few projects their including taking part in a think take group for their virtual Game Design class, leading a week long Street Art workshop and having an artwork selected for the Art of the Auction. With all that in mind, the NCMA makes a pretty good spot for a little virtual graffiti... don't you think?!



Did you know that there was a Zonkey born in zoo in Mexico this week?? At the same time, this exhibit about Mexican prints is opening up at the NCMA.. so doesn't it make sense that a Zonkey appear on this wall at the NCMA??

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Spent last Friday in Washington DC checking out the art in the National gallery and also the Hirshhorn Museum. The photo above is part of the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden. This is part of the bench that surrounds a fountain pond. In the back is a stabile by Calder. I choose the red stripes on the Zonkey to compliment Calder's red.





I really enjoyed the Hirshhorn's recent exhibit titled Damage Control: Art and Destruction. There was one work of art where the artist didn't like what he created so he burned it and baked it into cookies. How fun os that?! You know what else is fun? A Zonkey. So now the Hirshhorn has one. Their collection is now complete!

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Zonkey on a train in Apex NC



Zonkey on a wall at City Market Raleigh, NC

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Text Art by Emma


To celebrate this event, Apex Art Teacher Ian Sands has made three of his books available as free downloads!



Shellless

Jirst Bluefin's biggest problem is being ignored. Kacela Middleton is the one person in the world who is never ignored. Jirst is about to discover that sometimes it's better to be ignored for no reason than to become popular over nothing at all.

Free Sunday and Monday
Amazon Kindle, Download Now!

Tucker's Aunt Nyce is his mom's little sister only she isn't that little and she isn't that nice. He has to get used to it though because he's stuck working at her beach restaurant The Crab & Grab for the next two weeks.

Free Sunday and Monday
Amazon Kindle, Download Now!
Amazon Kindle, Download Now!

Text Art by Curtis

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Finally today, the vision of the 3D Zonkey was brought to fruition by student Megan. You may remember Megan from such classes as Art Two.

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All along Pacific Beach there are these ugly, cement barriers. One each barrier is spray painted, No Smoking. These are ugly. Zonkey makes them less ugly. Zonkey makes them beautiful!


We stayed at Tower 23 Hotel in Pacific Beach. Very contemporary. Very Zonkey!


Parking? No. Zonkey? Yes!


All the electrical boxes in San Diego are painted. I didn't have time to "paint" one but still managed to make it Zonkeylishus!

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The conference was held in downtown San Diego right next to the Gaslamp District. It was also pretty close to Pacific Beach (see photo above). I tell you what, I liked this place. Except everyone in California runs.. after a while I felt like yelling at them to sit down and take a break!


San Diego is not far from LA and there is a lot of famous street art in LA.


Now, there is a lot of street art in San Diego...

No, actually I created both these on my iPad on the plane ride back. Virtual street art :)


The People:


On Sunday Morning I joined the old gang for a Davis sponsored coffee Art 2.0 Meet Up. This is an amazing line up of educators including Tricia Fuglestad, Theresa McGee, Craig Roland and Art 21 Star Samantha Melvin to name a few..



Janine Campbell was there, participating in International Bring A Scone To Art Class Day.. keeping it international because she is from Canada.. well, Michigan, but close enough.



I also had a chance to hang out with a few of my Teaching for Artistic Behaviors friends like Katherine Douglas. Here I am sitting with Nan Hathaway. She is my new BFF as you can tell because she sat right next to me.


I also spent some time with the Art of Education peeps! Cassie Stephens who has a new art related outfit every day, Mr. E who has a new bulletin board every week, and Jessica Balsley to whom I send 4 new articles every month. Wow, I saw a lot of people!


The Presentations:



The one complaint anyone can have about an NAEA conference is that there are too many great sessions to choose from! I'll tell you upfront if there was one session that was my "Wow" session it was Art 21: Teaching With Contemporary Art. It reminded me of all the great things theme based teaching has to offer. So more of that to come! I also sat in on some great TAB/Choice sessions. So yes, more student direct teaching to come.

In between going to sessions I also presented. Above is from the ignite session. it was 20 slides in 5 minutes. The slides change automatically so you have to talk quickly.


Above are a few photos someone took from that same presentation and posted on Twitter.  Interesting, the slides chosen..

* Opening slide,
* International Scone Day slide,
* Nicholas Sparks same stuff inside different shell outside slide,
* and Picasso was a jerk slide.


Photo of the sun setting on the last night in San Diego...

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Love Is Better Than Pancakes is a monthly post of artwork that explores the temporary state of the subject matter. Each month, through a set of five images, a material will be explored. Each image, like the subject they explore, are temporary and will be replaced by the next month’s set.

February 2014:

The Samsung Galaxy phone incorporates swype technology. This allows the user to simply swipe a finger from one letter to another in order to produce text, eliminating the need to press each individual letter.

I wondered what would happen if I swiped the screen without putting any thought into what words I wanted to appear. I drew little zig zags and circles and then captured whatever words the Galaxy thought I swyped.

http://loveisbetterthanpancakes.weebly.com/

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As an Art History teacher, I've often thought of using my critters to recreate works of art. The piece my student stole was a cat so I thought I would start here. Death of Marat, by David, above.

I'm also working on Saturn Devours His Son. I've also almost got enough critters for a Last Supper.

stay tuned..

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