The Year in Review: Best of The Art Teacher’s Guide 2009

Before stepping into 2010, I’d like to take a look back through the postings I made here in 2009 and highlight the websites, videos, tools, blogs and other items that rose to the top for me. So here, in no particular order, are a dozen of my favorites from 2009:

Best New Art App of 2009: Brushes. Comment: Check out the weekly sketch and video of New York City by Jorge Colombo, using the Brushes application on his iPhone.

Best New Art Curriculum Resource of 2009: Sketchbooks in Schools. Comment: While the aim of this site is to promote, inspire and enable the creative use of sketchbooks in primary schools in the UK, it can serve as a source of ideas and inspiration for art teachers and students around the globe.

Best New Music Video (inspired by an Art Medium) of 2009: Crayola Doesn’t Make A Color For Your Eyes by Kristin Andreassen. Comment: I included this category so I could post this catchy tune again.

Best New Art Video Resource of 2009: ArtBabble. Comment: Thanks to the Indianapolis Museum of Art and a growing list of partner institutions, ArtBabble is becoming the premier video-sharing site on the Web for art content ranging from historical to contemporary times.

Best New Art Museum Resource of 2009: ArtsConnectEd. Comment: This is not actually a new site as it is a totally revamped site. ArtsConnectEd offers art teachers and students access to thousands of resources in the collections of the Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which can be customized and saved in online presentations for later viewing.

Best New Art Advocacy Video of 2009: Talk About Art @ The National Gallery of Art (MP4 file). Comment: Although this video may not have been originally made to serve as an art advocacy resource, it certainly speaks to the value of art for a diverse group of people—old and young alike. In the sub-category of Best Student-Made Art Advocacy Video of 2009, I’d like to acknowledge Art in Translation, a student-made advocacy video made by Danielle Mulcahy, with the help of her peers, that shares a number of personal reasons on why art is important in schools.

Best Animation Video of 2009: Combo. Comment: While there are several possibilities to choose from in this category, this collaborative work by Blu and David Ellis is my favorite. In the sub-category of Best Student-Made Animation Video of 2009 I’d like to give a nod to Rotoball 2009, which continues to stand out for me as a prime example of international collaboration among K-12 art teachers and students. Kudos to David Gran for making this project stand out every year.

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo

Best New Art Teacher Blog of 2009: The Art Classroom. This art teacher blog, managed by Davidt Dunlop, highlights the daily workings of a secondary art classroom in Glasgow, Scotland. Although technically launched in November of 2008, this blog didn’t show up on my radar screen until early 2009. I’m glad it did. I always enjoy checking out the latest ideas, projects, student work, and resources posted on the site.

Best New Inspirational Blog of 2009: Thriving too. Comment: This is a community blog that aims to shamelessly prove the case for optimism by revealing the explosion in positive human thoughts, creations and actions from around the world. It certainly has done that for me. I always find something there that sparks a smile or inspires me to think in a new way.

Best New Student Art Challenge of 2009: Paint the World With Light. Comment: Lastly, I came across this photography project via The Student Creative. The Paint the World With Light Challenge is the brainchild of Matt Cauthron, Mike Skocko and David Gran, and promises to inspire light painting projects in classrooms around the globe in 2010. Check out the project’s website for more information on how to participate with your students.