when the cupcake wars project was introduced, cassandra and i wanted a theme to test our artistic abilities and still focus on nature. after a few minutes of brain storming, we thought sea life in an underwater/atlantis theme would be challenging and informative for our audience. we discovered a foundation focused on saving the almost-extint north american octopi, thus came our focal point for the structure. we began constructing the head by crumbling newspaper into balls to tape around a tissue box to create an oval shape. the head was then covered in paper mache and newspaper strips until we felt it was sturdy. once the paper mache dried, cassandra painted the head while i began constructing and paper mache-ing the arms (made of toilet paper rolls taped together). after days of painting the arms, body (a paper mached bowl),head, and attaching plastic lids to our flimsy tentacles, the next mission was our cupcakes. we decided on two flavors (red velvet and vanilla) and three decorations (coral reef, star fish, and an opened clam with a pearl inside). we decided our icings would be triple chocolate fudge, cream cheese icing, and green buttercream icing. over the weekend cassandra baked and frosted the cupcakes while i constructed the sandy base out of a 3 ft by 3ft board covered with a sand and paper mache mixture. the decoration phase consisted of coral reefs made of icing and dusted with pink sprinkles, clams made of circular peanut butter candies and candy pearls sprinkled with blue sprinkles, and iced starfish coated with chocolate and peanut butter chips. after the sea shells and cupcakes were placed on the plastic lid trays, the octopus underwater scene was finally complete!



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We chose to do the company Crayola and the process of their colored pencil making. For every tree Crayola cuts down, they plant a new one. We made a forest to represent the ones that Crayola cuts their trees down from. On the tips of the trees we put brightly colored cupcakes to stand for colored pencil tips. We used all recycled materials with this project. We used pop cans, old Easter grass, paper towel rolls, and parts of iPad boxes. Crayola is a great company and tries to help the wildlife as much as they can. 



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Our idea for this project is based on, not the idea of recycling and saving the earth but what we as humans have already done to the earth. We used all items that Abby found in her recycle pile outside her garage. All the elements are items that can be recycled but many Americans do not bother to recycle. The base of our junk pile was made out of cardboard and the main structure of our stand was made of old skillets and pots. In the center we have an array of items from hood ornaments to a broken up glass bottle. We did not glue any of the center items down because we wanted to give a better aspect of a junk pile and liked the way that the items fell wherever they wanted and were not forcibly placed somewhere.  Everything on the cupcakes is edible, including the cockroach. We iced the cupcakes in brown butter cream frosting and then rolled them in crushed up cookie bits. This gave the effect of the dirt in the junk pile. For the bugs we used a date as the body and a rolled out caramel square as the wings. The head is a dark chocolate m&m cut in half and we used more brown frosting as the antennas  For the grass cupcakes we used the brown frosting and the cookie bits  for the ground and then used green frosting and piped it on top. We then placed our cupcakes on our stand and finished our masterpiece. 



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Our theme for this competition was Earth Day. We chose to do trees because it is a relevant topic applicable to our community. To go about making this sculpture we used only bi-products from trees such as newspaper, cardboard, paper towel rolls, and wood. We used paper mache to put all the materials together. We painted it with a very basic, muted, color to emphasis the color of the cupcakes. The cupcakes we used were dyed to be green and blue, and the icing was also green and blue to go along with Earth Day. Each cupcake had a different design also Earth Day related. The thing that sets our set up apart from everyone else's is that we chose to make our display so high up, and to put so much weight on the top.



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For us complete our project, there were a lot of steps we had to take. The first thing we had to do was collect cans that we painted and stacked one on top of the other. Second, we had to pick up sticks from outside. Third, we hot glued the sticks to the painted cans to make it look more as a tree. Fourth, we painted newspaper green that Erica took home and shredded and used it for grass. Fifth, we arranged the cans on top of the painted cardboard and hot glued them down. Sixth, we put plain cupcakes on top of our display to see what it would look like. Seventh, we rolled out laffy taffy and cut it into leaf like shapes that was detailed to go on the trees. Eighth, we researched facts about trees and things about Crayola. Ninth, we started icing ten cupcakes white. Tenth, we created our shrubs by using a grass icing tip. and icing ten cupcakes green. Eleventh, we wrote little facts and hot glued them onto colored pencils that were dipped in wax. We  stuck the facts in the shrubs. Twelfth, we decorated the ten cupcakes tops  to look like colored pencil tops. Finally, we put all of our cupcakes on our finished cupcake stand.



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Our project that we created was based off the idea of coral reef depletion. The idea was to make people aware of the mass destruction due to human consumption and waste. As we mentioned in our presentation, there are several reason why coral reefs are slowly wasting away. Pollution, over fishing, and tourism are all leading causes. More than 80% of the worlds reefs are over fished. One-third of the world's CO2 dis fusses into the ocean which then raises the acidity. It has been estimated that in the next 30 years 60% of the worlds coral reefs will be completely depleted. While building our form we used a variety of supplies, we used a few natural resources, several recycled objects, and some miscellaneous items. 



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For our project we chose to do the BP oil spill. This was the largest oil spill in American history. To portray this we chose to make our project out of three records and three plastic wine glasses. All of our materials were recycled. We glued it together and made three tiers. We painted the tiers blue.The top was light blue and we shaded each level under it. We put hot glue on the wine glasses and we painted it black to make it appear like oil. On the top  tier we added a beach by making half the record sandy. On the very bottom we  glued cut up water bottles that were painted black. This helped portray the theme of oil dripping down. When we added our cupcakes, the project became unified. The cupcakes were different shades of blue depending on the layer it was on. The top layer cupcakes had brown sugar and black icing on them. This was supposed to portray sand. The rest of the layers just had gummy sea animals with oil. Everything was edible. 


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Students in 5th bell worked with Ms. Foster's drama students to create powerful images focusing on bullying in school. The collaboration was wonderful! There were underclassman and upperclassman working together and creating exciting and new connections. 

I was very impressed that in just four days, students found strong concepts, created powerful images and were able to present to their peers. I was moved by many of the projects and the ability for students to confront such large and sometimes uncomfortable images. 

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A student worked by himself to create this powerful image. He represented the common roles played by students including: bystander laughing at their locker, someone to stand up and stop bullying, a bully and a victim of bullying. 

For these photographs we used balancing elements. On each side of the picture there is a girl holding the sign. If you cut this picture down the middle it would be balanced. We also used framing. The girls are framed behind the window to help focus more on them.  We also cropped the picture to get the effects we wanted. 

For these photographs we used rule of thirds (fag image), perspective and leading lines (loner image) and odd numbers and use of space (tramp image). 

For these photographs we used perspective and birds eye view.

For these photographs we used:Color: We used color to make things stand out and to bring attention to the main focus of the pictures. 
Rule of Thirds: We used rule of thirds to build up tension in some of the pictures. It also provides interest to the pictures. 
Perspective: We took some of the pictures from the victims point of view. This gives it more meaning and gives you a sense as to how the person is feeling.

For these photographs we used perspective, leading lines, use of space and dominant emphasis.

We portrayed physical, verbal, cyber and self harm. For these photographs we used leading lines, odd numbers, use of space and balancing elements.

Our project represents the newly occurring debate on whether or not the dance team should become a part of the color guard and band to spare time at half time of football and basketball games. We have friends who have bullied and been bullied on this subject so we have a pretty good insight on the matter.  We used somewhat of a birds eye view perspective to represent that higher power unlike the other two pictures. 

Photography students were assigned to take photographs of the rules and guidelines of photography. They were given class time to take the photos and upload them, as well as encouraged to take photographs at home or places they encountered during their school week. I wanted the students to be aware of the difference between a snapshot and fine art and this assignment forced them to focus on what they were doing and their "staging" of a good photograph.

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