New Art

I finally uploaded Claire's latest artwork to her website. She has several new pieces from this summer including this mosaic, and there are pieces from her fifth-grade year in the slideshow as well. Feel free to leave comments here or on her website; she loves the blue ribbons she earns for having lots of visitors to her website.

Two Talents

Claire showed off two of her talents last Thursday night. She participated in her school's talent show in which she played the piano, and she presented her architecture project with her SAIL class.

When the talent show was advertised to the fifth-graders, Claire immediately wanted to participate. She began working really hard on several pieces including Mozart's Turkish March, The Entertainer, and Minuet in G. Claire plays so easily by ear that a friend taught her the first song, and she learned the second by combining a kids' arrangement from one of her books with the original that's prerecorded on our piano.

Several weeks before the talent show, Claire started learning Minuet in G after she found one of my old books that I played from in high school. I did not play the song for her, nor did she hear a rendition of the tune to my knowledge. She just read the music and taught herself how to play it.

Claire practiced many hours on her pieces, but in the end decided to play only Minuet in G for the talent show.

Architecture has become Claire's newly declared, future profession when she grows up. She said she loved this architecture project because it combined so many of her favorite things--art, math, and science. She and her classmates took a field trip downtown to visit several historic buildings. The students chose which historic building they wanted to build a model of; then they measured the buildings, made exact models on a quarter-inch scale, and made electrical circuits to give the buildings light. Claire chose The Pink House because it's an art gallery today.

Her Style

Claire informed me on Monday that she'd determined the art area in which she was most gifted. She went on to explain that artists usually focus on one art area and that over spring break she'd discovered hers. Mosaics she's decided is her favorite style of art to do, and she's been obsessed with collecting paint-sample cards from home-improvement stores to use in her mosaics. Yesterday she told Mr. Morgan she'd "found her style" before giving him this picture.

Disappointed

Many of you have been asking about Claire's status at the School of the Arts. Well, I called the school today to see if Claire was accepted, but she was not. We'll pick up Claire tomorrow, so we'll be able to tell her then. Mr. Morgan and I are disappointed but not surprised really. There were hundreds of kids who auditioned for only 15 open spots in sixth-grade visual arts. I hope Claire won't be too devastated, and she can always audition again next year. Thank you to everyone who prayed for Claire's audition day! We're super proud of the effort Claire made, but we know the Lord is preparing a spot for her in another great middle school.

New Artwork

All Claire's new artwork from her SOA audition has been posted to her Artsonia page. Check out her new pieces, including the one above, and feel free to leave comments or join her fan club. She was so proud back in the fall when her artwork was first published, and she was even more excited to have more comments, views, and fans than anyone else in her art class. Thanks for the support!

The Artist

Claire's school now participates in an online art gallery for students' artwork. Claire loved seeing her artwork online when we first checked out the site. The cool thing is that friends and family can visit the site to view her artwork, and you can join her fan club and leave her messages on her homepage.

Here's how to view her artwork:
1. Visit http://www.artsonia.com/.
2. Type Claire2208 into the Find Artist/Student field.

Feel free to encourage our little artist, and I'm hoping to see more pieces uploaded soon!