Easy Grading

What a terrific school year! With so many students and assignments it can be easy to lose track of grading and IB scoring, but not if you have a plan! This year I have been planning for a new course I am teaching, IB Film. I have always loved movies, I have seen so many and was lucky to spend time making movies with my friends growing up. Now I teach film, and it is so much. I am very very lucky.

I have been in a busy season of grading and preparing for IB Exams, both IB Film and IB Art.

I wanted to share an easy IB predicted score calculator, for calculating IB Film scores. You grade each assignment and the score will be predicted in a fair and balanced way according to the rubric.

You can find the calculator here

I am also starting to share other IB Film and IB Art resources. You can view them all here

SPARK & Woodrow

Spring of the 2023 school year brought immersive experiences for my classroom. We were selected to participate in a unique experience called Prismatic, sponsored by the childrens museums Spark.

The Museum had kids compete to design and create rooms of different colors, that would feel immersive and playful. The event was recently named by Dallas Observer to be the best kids pop up this year. This was a fun opportunity, that led to lots of extra time creating after school was out, but it was so worth it! See our rooms below!





News Article about Spark

Dallas UIL Art Competition

This year I was able to take 10 students from my class to the local UIL state art competition. I was happy that I had freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors competing in the competition. 9 of my students advanced to the next level, receiving a category of 4 which is the highest category. While we did not advance to the State level like last year, the students did a great job and were able to share about their artwork. So proud of my 2023 art making wildcat class!

Teaching across subjects, Art and Theater

I love partnering with other departments to make amazing things, and this was no exception. Woodrow Wilson’s theater teachers and I partnered to create backdrops telling the scenes of the play The Odyssey. Here are some of the images of the show.

The Odyssey play, done by Woodrow Wilson Theater Department

2023 starts with Galleries

What a great start to 2023! My work has been showing in the Fabrication district of Dallas, and my students work has been showing in Downtown Dallas. Thanks to Blue Print gallery for inviting us to showcase our top talent.

 

I’m happy to say that I’m back in the studio creating, and applying to open calls. Applying to open calls can be stressful, time consuming, and awkward. It requires filling out artist statements, sharing new work, processing ideas and putting yourself out there. I used to apply to an open call at least twice a month, which can be a lot of money wasted and time spent never hearing from someone. I don’t know if I will keep applying that frequently, I think i’d like to be more selective about where I send my art out to but i’m not sure yet.

 

I can’t wait to see where the rest of this year is headed, but so far its a strong start!

Visitor views artwork by Jessica Raff

Bringing back the sketchbook

Sketchbook page 2023

In undergrad at Fresno State I worked in a sketchbook nonstop. It kept my lecture notes, drawings, thoughts, inspirations, ideas. In graduate school I still kept a sketchbook but I was challenged to leave it, that it wasn’t necessary, and that I should work bigger and away from it.

I think this was a big mistake for me. Sketchbooks are tangible places where I can see the beautiful, weird creative things that fascinate me.

In bringing back my sketchbook, i’m bringing back weird ideas. Interesting characters. Research and concept lived there. I’m looking forward to bringing it back, documenting, storing things, and then turning those pages into pieces of art.

Art Walk West 2022, October 22


Last month I participated in Art Walk West in Dallas, it was a great day filled with visitors from the city of Dallas. I love being able to open my studio to visitors, they can ask about what i’m making how I make it, and check out what is new.

There were so many people who stopped by to see how art was made and talk with myself and other artists.

the Girl Scout Gold Award

This last school year I was able to work with an ambitious Senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas ISD who was going for the gold. The Girl Scout Gold Award is the highest achievement and requires leadership, creativity, and true dedication.

I was happy to see her project grow and impact an area of our city that is continually blighted with graffiti.
A mural was planned, organized, and fundraised for. Meetings were held with neighborhood stakeholders, as well as city officials. Now, an area that was covered in graffiti has a warm welcome that reads: Welcome to the Santa Fe Trail.

Being a Girl Scout Gold mentor was a terrific experience. Teaching young girls how to advocate for themselves is important to me as a teacher and a woman. I am happy that there are young girls who are willing to make a positive change in their neighborhood. We worked to develop their presentation and communication skills, I was so happy to share my experience with them and see them increase their comfort with delivering talks and ideas.

I hope to have this opportunity again and can’t wait to see what the future leaders will do.

Dallas Murals

This last weekend I had the opportunity to work on a mural at the Genesis women’s shelter in Dallas Texas. The mural will welcome women as they come in to receive counseling and helpful services. I am so glad the my friend Desiree invited me to participate in this, and I can’t wait to share finished photos. The ribbon cutting to open the building will be next month, and I’m hoping to share some images from that event.

The mural features two types of flowers, those that bloom in winter and those that bloom in sprint. My hope was that I could represent two different seasons of life, the winter and the spring. This is my first large scale mural at 25 x 12 feet. I can’t wait to do more large murals.

Adventures planned for 2016

I'm excited for this upcoming semester! I've got some new adventures being planned, and I couldn't be happier.

As an artist I think its important to take advantage of opportunities to learn new things. I'm excited to say that this next semester, I'll have some studio time with some talented painters who are willing to teach me the formal elements of painting.

My grandmother first taught me how to paint as a child, working primarily in oil and sometimes drawing with pastels.  Since then, I've spent a lot of my own time working with acrylics and water colors.  I love the fluid nature of water colors, and the medium has been one that I have found is quite relaxing and brings me a lot of personal peace.

 I've also been spending some time thinking about this summer, where I'll be and what I'll do with my free time once I'm through teaching. I would really like to spend some time in a national park that I haven't been to, I've been to quite a lot! Hopefully I can get a proposal accepted by a national park, and spend some time drawing, painting, maybe even printing. 

Regardless of where I go, I think it'll be important to spend some intentional time as an artist being surrounded by the outdoors. In John Pipers book Desiring God, he explains how God isn't fully exalted until we appreciate what he has given us. To thank him, admire him, and enjoy the goodness that he has provided. I think setting aside some intentional time could be great for the soul too, so maybe you'll see some more on these plans but till then I'll be praying about what will happen!

 

Art Conspiracy, A philanthropical grass roots movement

What is ArtCon, and why am I always blowing up your facebook/instagram feed with it?
Great Question!

The short story: 
Art Con/ Art Conspiracy is a non-profit organization that works to raise money for other non-profits. 

The long story:
The Dallas Observer has called ArtCon the art party of the year. And for so many good reasons!
They have live bands, food trucks, live auctions, and its normally housed in some type of rustic wherehouse with the Dallas skyline as its background. It's hard not feel edgy and cool there.

Every half hour a live auction starts, where bids start at $20 and everyone is invited to bid on a piece of original hand crafted art made on a uniformed 18 x 18 sized board.  There are normally around 150 artist, so you can imagine the diversity of pieces that are created! 

The money raised through the auction, through ticket sales, t-shirt sales, and all that jazz goes toward a chosen beneficiary. This year we sponsored a group call MAPS. Making art with a purpose. Last year it was a Ballet Folkloric Dance company, and we raised over $25,000! I'm not sure how much was raised this year, since it happened so recently, will update when I find out!

Here's some photos from the event:::

I was super excited to be able to donate a piece of art to the auction. There is no set theme for the event, so I made a piece inspired by my brothers new job at General Motors and Johnny Cash.  "One piece at a time" is the name of the song i'm referencing for those non Johnny Cash lovers.   

I look forward to ArtCon every year, and I really love what they are doing for the community.  I firmly believe that we are not fully living our lives to the fullest if we are not helping those around us.  It's a great way for instant community. If you have the opportunity to volunteer, or be an artist I encourage you to participate! 

Check out more about Art Conspiracy at
www.artconspiracy.org
 Or check out this interview they did of me!
ttp://artconspiracy.org/art-conspiracy-artist-story-jessie-martinez/

 



 

Learning new trades

 I decided to learn a new skill, upholstery! I took a piece of furniture my father had in his bachelor pad from the 70's and redid it for my modern bachelorette pad. 
Sewing, and hand tool skills were greatly improved during this learning session! 
Click through the slides below for its col new look!
There were definitely mistakes made, but nothing that wasn't fixable! 

Samples from my sketchbook 10/16

I love taking peeks into other artist sketchbook, so I thought I might include some samples of my own books for others to peek through!
In my classes, I request that students have a sketchbook with them every time that we meet.  The books are used for their own note taking, as well as turned in so that I can make sure they are participating in class and completing assignments on time.  This practice was developed in my class room as a positive experience I had in my first printmaking class.  Keeping a sketchbook is a wonderful and positive way to develop your skills quickly.  They can also provide a great resource!