Thank you to all our loyal readers and guest authors as we continue to advocate for quality art education.

Faces iMake is a collage portrait creator with a clean, user-friendly interface, which makes it great for primary students to navigate.

The catchy music (you can turn off the music in the settings) accompanying the app encourages a happy mood while choosing colors, head shapes and objects for your portrait. A wide range of objects, grouped into different categories — such as food, tools, toys, kitchen, school, buttons, letters — provide the app-using artist a plentiful palette. You can even favorite your favorite objects for quick selection the next time around.

One feature we found helpful was that you can save finished portraits to a storage gallery where they can be assigned to a contact, saved to your iPhone photo album, emailed to a friend, or shared via Facebook. Or you can re-select your saved portrait and continue working on it.

As part of the interface, users can rotate objects after placing them on their portrait and easily layer objects above or below one another.

The only feature that seems like it is missing is the ability to scale objects, but as Piven explains, “It would have been very easy to scale objects up and down, but I wanted to have limitations that are real life limitations.”

The app’s included video art “lessons” are a great way to get started, and they’re presented in a style much like Piven’s own hands-on workshops.

Overall, the Teaching Palette gives Hanoch Piven’s Faces iMake app two thumbs up.  It provides an excellent way to explain assemblage and portraiture as an art form. And it’s a lot of fun to play with.

One disclaimer, Faces iMake unexpectedly quit on two of our iPhones during testing. A simple restart of the iPhones solved the problem. From what we understand, an update is coming soon to prevent this minor glitch altogether.

Watch the demo below to see how this app works.

Can’t see video above? Click here.

While many of us still have limited iPod Touch and iPhone access, here are some classroom/student integration suggestions:

1. Use your personal iPod Touch or iPhone and project images under a document camera for the entire class to see. You should definitely check out IEAR (I Education Apps Review) for additional ideas and tips for using Apps in the classroom.
2. Create a list of great iPhone apps for your students to try at home. An earlier post offers some great art app suggestions.
3. Talk to your school administrator, perhaps s/he would be willing to pilot an iPod Touch or (if you’re very lucky) a classroom set. Or try writing a grant.  You never know unless you try!  For a list of grant opportunities, click here.

Piven’s books are a favorite in our art rooms and among all grade levels. Our students are drawn to his illustrations. In fact, just last week, our school’s Media Resource Center had a waiting list for some of Piven’s titles.

With great anticipation for his transition to mobile publishing, the Teaching Palette recently interviewed Piven about his app, titled Faces iMake, and quizzed him about turning his unique illustration style into an app.

Teaching Palette: What motivated you to create an app in your artistic style?

Hanoch Piven: I’ve been doing my work for twenty years and for ten years have been doing workshops. The workshop has grown and grown. It started with me just going to kindergartens and schools when my books first came out. Then slowly more, and more people participated. The age of the participants went up slowly from primary school kids, to teenagers, to high school kids, to really even working with adults. And also the types of population that started to participate in my workshop really changed and expanded. People going through some trauma, sick people, people in hospitals to managers and CEO’s of companies.

So the workshops became something very important in my life, and I realized that there is something in what I teach that is so accessible. That really anybody can connect to it no mater what the age. They can connect to it because it’s really about play. It’s about really finding what it is to be drawing. Drawing… the way I see it, doesn’t have to be made with a pencil, or with a brush, or with a traditional drawing tool. But it can be made by moving objects around a plain; around an area.

Once the iPhone came out my partner (Eyal Dessau) called me and said he had, ’such and such idea’. It’s very accessible, very easy to do from the iPhone, very intuitive. But I didn’t want it to be just a game. I just wanted it to, sort of, be a workshop with me… a digital one. So it is very important that is not Photoshop. You relate to the objects the way you would relate to them in the real world. I mean, obviously, it is digital and not exactly this way, but you cannot change the size of objects. You cannot squeeze them. You can turn it, but that’s all about what you can do. So the relationships of size between the objects are true to the real world. Basically putting limitations. It would have been very easy to scale objects up and down, but we wanted …I wanted to have limitations that are real life limitations. And for me limitations have always been a great driving force. And a great set of parameters within which to work.

Teaching Palette: Yeah, I can see that if something doesn’t work, you have to think differently about the objects to use it.

Hanoch Piven: Exactly! And without going much further, the reason I started working with objects is because I had limitations. My drawing skills are not that good. It’s not a joke. It’s really the truth. I don’t draw very well. I draw OK. I draw OK for an amateur like if I compare myself to people who can draw, but within the professionals; compared to the professionals I’m not very good. I realized this when I was in art school and, for me, those limitations — that big limitation — was what sent me looking for my own way of doing things. Which end up being for me, obviously, working with objects. Interestingly enough this whole language that was really developed around my strengths and my weaknesses. Was supposed to be a very personal way; a personal language. So this very personal language ended up being a language that is so easily accessible by everyone. Part of the success of my workshops, and of the idea that other people look at my work and they want to make their own pieces, is that some how people can relate to the idea of, ‘Ok, I don’t know how to draw I usually don’t do art, but here is a way that I can do art.’

Teaching Palette: Yeah, I totally see it, and I love the way you add meaning to the objects in your books. They’re not just there because they fill the right shape.

Hanoch Piven: Right, so this is the second part of it because first I really talk about let’s play. Lets play and let’s play by looking at the world around us in a different way. In my talks, in my workshops, I talk a lot about forgetting what this object really is and just experiencing its shape. So that’s the first stage, just playing with the objects.

The second stage, which you really need also to think about the meaning of the objects, is that really drawing with objects is not only very easy, but it’s very communicative. So it’s the possibility and an opportunity to tell a story without words. So you can really tell something by the types of objects you choose to use.

Teaching Palette: I think that’s why kids gravitate to your art so quickly because it speaks their language. They see it, they understand it and it doesn’t matter what reading level they are.

Hanoch Piven: Those are sort of the principles of my workshop. And how does the application serve as a workshop, because there are some lessons in it. We recorded some videos of me working. I show certain examples of how I work and how all the things that happen to me when I work can be experienced also when you are working. Whether it is in real life or in the iPhone. The movies, the little video clips, are of me working with real objects, not of me working with the app. So it’s kind of like you come to my studio and you see a little bit of how I work.

Teaching Palette: Through your experiences with the workshops, do you have any thoughts on how your app is going to be used in education?

Hanoch Piven: That’s a good question. I think creative teachers can do a lot with it. For me, my experience has been that I can send some energy to the world by my work. And lots of the great things that have happened to me have been because someone has brought me back energy with an idea. So I think and I hope lots of interesting projects come from somebody else will think of them and they will come back to me. So that’s kind of the exciting thing that has happened for me.

I started doing therapeutic art workshops because an art therapist thought of it. And I started doing corporate workshops because some kind of corporate advisor thought of that. So it’s kind of interesting that this kind of energy goes out and comes back.

So I can think of putting out this tool and then I’m sure teachers would have all these great ideas. Obviously, I can think of ideas, which I’m sure you thought of them yourself, like the whole class doing a portrait of George Washington, now let’s do a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, now let’s do an angry face, let’s do a sugary face, let’s do a sad face and then write a poem to describe it.

Teaching Palette: Well, you’re already thinking like a teacher.

Hanoch Piven: Not because I’m so smart, but because I’ve been hearing those things. You know being around teachers I’ve heard of how teachers use the Smelly Dog book to teach similes.

Teaching Palette: Is there a spot on your app where you can write something that goes with the picture they made?

Hanoch Piven: There are letters you can use as objects. They’re pretty large so it’s more like you can write a name, but it’s nice because you can make a picture and write a slogan that goes with that picture, that compliments that picture, that explains something about that picture, that has a dialog with that picture. You can write, I would say, up to 10-15 letters. They are like magnets letters.

Teaching Palette: Very cool!

Hanoch Piven: They could be used if someone is smart enough, creative enough, they can use the letters as shapes and draw with letters.

Teaching Palette: When you finish an image in your app, can you export it to the photo library?

Hanoch Piven: Yes, you can export it to the photo library. You can share it. We have included 100 objects at this point, but we have photographed many more and it can grow and grow and grow and grow. So it’s really limitless. In my workshops I like to say we have on the table all the objects in the world.

Thank you, Hanoch, for taking the time to speak with the Teaching Palette about your iPhone app, Faces iMake, which is currently in the iTunes Store.

We have a copy of the app and were testing it. Look for a review soon.

Original CC licensed Image by Dylan on Flickr

Educating students (and lets face it, ourselves) about copyright and digital citizenship has become increasingly more important as more and more teaching resources are found online.  While creating original image content may still be the best way to gather images, it is not always practical or even geographically realistic. Copyright-free and public domain images often make the creative process easer by allowing for manipulation without needing to cite the source.  However, there are times when when you can’t find what you need in the public domain or want to teach a lesson on digital citizenship.  In these situations, searching for images with a Creative Commons license can be useful.  Our top ten list of imagery for creative use ranges from “no known copyright” (among the least restrictive) to Creative Commons (creative permissions vary).

1. The Commons This Flickr database contains collections from museums and libraries from around the world.  The images placed in these collections have “no known copyright” and therefore are free to use without attribution.

2. Public Domain Sherpa This is a one stop shop with a great collection of image sources mostly in the public domain. This site also does a great job explaining copyright information in layman’s terms.

3. Morgue File “Public image archive for creatives by creatives”  This fabulous site is full of easily searchable images that require no attribution.

4. Pics4Learning These copyright-friendly images have been donated by teachers, students, and amateur photographers.  Explore the other features and tutorials to help get you started.

5. PD Photo Most of the thousands of images on this site are in public domain, but not all.  Before using any image, read the license under each picture.

6. Creative Commons and Wikimedia Commons These databases are great places to access all sorts of media that you can incorporate into creative projects.  Since both public domain and creative commons images can turn up in a search, be sure to check to see if the image requires attribution.

7. Photos8 This site offers thousands of images free to use for any purpose. The site author doesn’t require attribution but would love to see the creative outcomes.

8. Creativity 103 This source contains images and video ranging from abstract design to architecture.  You are free to download and use any of the images as long as you credit the website.

9. Compflight and FlickrCC These two great tools can help you quickly find images licensed under Creative Commons on Flickr.  Another Flickr option is the advanced search to find images to modify or build upon. Download directions for use with your students here.

10. Google Advanced Image Search This search engine is useful for helping you find specific images such as line drawing or photo content with “safe search” filtering.  To find Creative Commons images, select the search terms usage rights “labeled for reuse” or “reuse with modification”.

Oh, and a couple of things that you will want to explore . . .

Creative Project Image Search We gathered many resources listed here along with a few others to create a custom search engine for public domain, copyright-friendly, and Creative Commons images.  This tool could be something you add to student bookmarks to make image searching easy.

If you still can’t find what you need, Copyright Friendly Wiki and Teacher Librarian Wiki are both excellent resources to find images to use.

Possible Discussion Questions:
1. What did you learn about visiting a museum that you didn’t know before?
2. Why might each artwork have different meanings to different people?
3. What type of art do you like best? Why?

Email from Hillary to Theresa (Labor day weekend 2008): “What do you think about starting a blog where we can post all our classroom management stuff ?”

Yea, we’ve come a long way since that email. Our primary goal was to favor quality over quantity (which also coincidentally matches our teaching styles).

So, we started with classroom management, music + art integration, and product reviews. It was a great focus (and we still try and discuss these topics often), yet we expanded even further. We invited YOU to join us. (Thank you to everyone who has been a guest author!!) We added lots of web 2.0 tools, advocated for the arts, and added things just cool and creative.

We have also expanded our readership (thank you everyone!). Our email subscriptions doubled over the summer. Therefore, since many of our new readers missed our infant stages (which we still think are useful), we decided to celebrate our 1st birthday with a few of our favorites from the archives:

Theresa’s personal favorites:
The Clean-Up Map – Inspired by Dora the Explorer (yes, kids CAN follow directions!?!)

Photography as Art and History – Just love the contrast in music and imagery over this 100 year span.

Hillary’s personal favorites:
The Magic Pocket Name – Love how this simple technique can be so effective in the art room!

American Revolution Portraitist – It’s exciting to make connections between American history, art and music.

Well, here it is… the creative spaces submitted by art educators around the globe and assembled into one Art Room Showcase (2009 edition). We hope art teachers will be inspired for their own spaces!

In addition to any comments you leave here, we’d like to encourage you to also leave comments in the flickr art room gallery.  Below is a nifty Flickr widget highlighting some of the art room entries.  Click any image for a close-up.

Thank you to the following art educators who shared images of their 2009 art spaces:

1. Laura Carey (winner, as seen on our home page – the shopping cart)
2. Myrna Ellison (winner, as seen on our home page – the castle)
3. Matt Cauthron (winner, as seen on our home page – the digital studio)
4. Lori Wilson
5. Elizabeth Burns
6. Frank Curkovic
7. Brooke Nicholson
8. Tara Conover
9. Tricia Fuglestad
10. Denise Pannell
11. Jessica Houston
12. Emily Valenza
13. Tana Puppe
14. Susan Bivona
15. Katie Balla
16. Keith Chapman
17. Matt Cauthron
18. Amy Kratochvil
19. Kristen Grzemski
20. Carol Frueh
21. Katie Jarvis
22. Myrna Ellison
23. Christy Branham
24. Katherine Malone-Smith
25. Maria Smith
26. Laura Carey
27. Julie Vladika
28. Theresa McGee
29. Hillary Andrlik
30. Brooke Nicholson

Do you have an art space to share? We can add it to our Flickr pool! Email photos to info@theteachingpalette.com

Today we discovered that Scholastic Instructor named The Teaching Palette one of the Top 20 Teacher Blogs!  A huge thank you to all our readers who have inspired us to keep writing about issues that impact the art education field!

Other blogs listed among the Top 20:

• Mrs. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog
• TEACHFOR.US
• Docere Est Discere
• Needleworks Pictures
• Integrating Tech
• Digital Anthology
• Science Fix
• Principals Page
• A Year of Reading
• Youth Voices
• It’s Not All Flowers and Sausages
• Regurgitated Alpha Bits
• Techno Tuesday
• Classroom solutions
• Just a Substitute Teacher
• Hooda Math Blog
• Learning is Messy
• The Jose Vilson
• Tales From the School Bus