Welcome! My name is Jennifer Gilbert, and I'm the art teacher at MDE. I am excited to join the MDE family of students, parents, and staff and share my love of art. I encourage you to come visit the MDE Art Gallery outside the Library to celebrate the students’ artwork.
PHILOSOPHY & CURRICULUM
At MDE all students Kindergarten through 5th grade have the opportunity to participate in Art Education. The art curriculum focuses on the Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE) philosophy. DBAE integrates four disciplines: aesthetics, art production, art history, and art criticism. This philosophy corresponds to the four basic strands of the Art TEKS: perception; creative expression/performance; historical and cultural heritage; and critical evaluation.
Just as words and sentences are the building blocks of reading, and numbers and operations are the building blocks of math, the elements and principles of art are the building block for solving visual problems. The elements of art are shape, color, texture, line, form, value, and space. The principles of art are emphasis, harmony, balance, variety, movement, rhythm, proportion, and unity. The art curriculum utilizes at least one element or principle in each lesson, encouraging students to experiment with new concepts and challenging them to build upon prior knowledge to solve problems in a new way.
Students have the opportunity to work in a variety of art media throughout the year including: oil pastels, watercolor, printmaking, clay, and fibers.
Each week students will be challenged to determine the identity of a mystery artist and the title of a particular piece his/her artwork through research. Students will be encouraged to participate in other art challenge activities as they come up.
GRADING
Students will be given two grades in art: one for conduct and one for performance (projects). The grades given in art class are E (excellent), S (satisfactory), N (needs improvement), and U (unsatisfactory). Conduct grades will be based on how many times a student has to sign the conduct book in the art room each grading period. If a student has not had to sign the conduct book, he/she will receive an E. Project grades will be based on following the objective of the lesson and the effort or craftsmanship put into the project. Students will be made aware of the criteria for each project and reminded of the criteria throughout production.
ART SHOWS
The Spring Branch art education program also has several art shows for which your child’s artwork may be chosen. If your child’s work is chosen, signed permission to display his/her artwork is necessary, and you will be notified in writing. Some of the dates are: January 15th Spring Branch Rodeo Art Show; March 3rd-29th Spring Branch Art Show at Memorial City Mall; and May 2nd Running for the Arts Auction.
A PERSONAL NOTE
As Pablo Picasso said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” In addition to providing students a language for visual expression, creating and analyzing art promotes visual literacy; critical and creative thinking; and problem solving, all of which enhance learning in ALL areas of the curriculum. The future depends on critical and creative thinking, and the young artists at MDE are the future scientists and mathematicians, philosophers and teachers, critics and leaders.
I am a native Houstonian, having grown up in Sugar Land. I completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography at Savannah College of Art and Design, where I also spent many hours studying art history. I enjoy spending time soaking up the beach or the mountains, shooting photographs, and reading novels. While I appreciate all art, some of my favorite artists are Georgia O’Keefe, Mark Rothko, Dale Chihuly, Andy Goldsworthy, and Joyce Tenneson. I also enjoy looking at how non-Western and women artists solve visual problems.