Rochester Children's Book Festival

The Rochester Book Festival is a free event at MCC where kids and their families can hear and watch presentations by illustrators and authors of children's book, from pre-school to junior high. I've visited the festival in the past and attended workshops on fantasy writing (Tamora Pierce and Bruce Coville), writing in general (Susan Williams Beckhorn) and how an author and illustrator work on a project together without ever meeting (Jane Yolen and Mark Teague.) I've also bought books and had them signed. If they have enough time, the illustrators sometimes will not just sign a book for you, but add a little special illustration in it, too.

One of the illustrators visiting this year is London Ladd, a Syracuse illustrator who has worked on a children's picture book about Martin Luther King Jr. Here's a video where he talks about his decisions for the book, "March On."

The annual Rochester Children's Book Festival, will be Saturday, Nov. 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on the campus of MCC. Enter from the side nearest I-390 and follow signs.

Meet Michelle Accorso

Michelle Accorso, a 1999 graduate of SOTA, is teaching seventh-grade visual arts rollover classes this year. She's one of several arts teachers working "out of certification" right now because of the budget cuts the school experienced. Though she's really a drama specialist, she has a background that includes digital media and writing.
Ms. Accorso earned a degree from Marymount Manhattan College with a concentration in writing for theater, film and television. After college, she worked in film and television production in New York City for nine years before returning home to become a teacher. She is working on a master's degree to obtain certification in drama, English and special education. This is her second year teaching at SOTA.
Ms. Accorso's other duties include teaching eighth-grade drama rollover classes, 11th grade costume design, and directing this winter's "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe."

Is it literature or art? Why choose?

I'm never quite sure what's better in a graphic novel, the art or the story. I guess it's impossible to tease them apart. Anyway, in honor of Teen Read Week, which takes place Oct. 16-22, the American Library Association has come up with a list of all-time great graphic novels, and a Teen Top Ten List you can visit here:

www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/greatgraphicnovelsforteens/ggnt11_topten.cfm:

You can also see the entire list through a link at that page.

Which would you pick for the top five?  Cast your votes in the comment space.

An affordable art class while your student waits

So, most seventh grade and eighth grade art majors don't actually have any art instruction at SOTA during this first part of the school year. Only those lucky enough to get art for their first rollover classes do and the rest have to wait.

What are the rest to do while they wait? Here's a suggestion: the Saturday Art classes at Nazareth College. These are classes taught by college students majoring in art education, under the direction of art professors. The class for students in grades 7 through 9 involve creating digital art on computers. There is a cost of $60, but it's a bargain compared to most private art classes I've seen. And because the teachers are budding art educators rather than the professional artists without training in teaching that you can get elsewhere, they can be great, enthusiastic instructors. 

Classes fill up fast and they only take registrations after Sept. 19 and before Sept. 23. (You can mail one earlier but they'll hold it until Sept. 19.) Classes run for seven Saturdays beginning Oct. 1. To find out more, go to this website: www.naz.edu/dept/art_department/artedu/saturdayart.cfm You can also call (585) 389-2532 and register with a credit card by phone.

FYI, they also offer this program in the spring, if you don't make it in this fall. Good luck!

Welcome to the Visual Arts blog!

Hi,
Thanks for stopping by to check out this blog. As time goes by your editor, Diana Carter, hopes to add news about upcoming events and about what you, as SOTA students and SOTA parents, can do to participate or help out art events.
You may or may not know that cutbacks over the summer and in previous years mean that SOTA middle school students will only get visual arts instruction as part of their "arts rollovers." That means just six weeks of visual arts in seventh grade and six weeks in eighth grade -- less than many other schools offer that are NOT devoted to the arts.
 It's important that parents band together to advocate for more instruction and help bring about other art opportunities through volunteering. In creative writing, we've been doing this for a couple of years, offering "retreats" and readings outside of school to provide more exposure to this particular art. We were even able to bring in a visiting writing for programming during the school day. Let's put our heads together and see what we can come up with for our visual artists!
There's obviously a place for protesting and criticizing district policy and budget strategies. It's my hope, though, that the SOTA Artist community will come together to find positive solutions to the challenges our school faces in visual arts.