Video Reviews
Pam Stephens
Creating Fiber Weavings and Baskets.
Glenview, IL: Crystal Productions.
DVD and VHS, 31 mins., $29.95.
Students of all ages enjoy weaving.
Creating Fiber Weavings and Baskets
provides step-by-step instructions that
guide viewers to create colorful and
unique weavings. The video is another
in the “how-to” series of programs
produced by Crystal Productions, and
features educator-artist Peggy Flores.
Flores offers a brief history of natural
fibers in art and gives instructions for
making woven objects on inexpensive
cardboard and clothes-hanger looms.
In addition, a more complex process
of using yarn-wrapped rope to create
baskets is shown. The video can be
used to introduce weaving techniques
to students, to provide supplemental
instruction for those who need review,
or to close a lesson. More advanced
students can use the video for independent study. Pre-service art educators will find the video helpful as they
learn to select age-appropriate production activities. Recommended for
upper elementary through secondary
art classrooms and teacher preparation
programs.
—Pam Stephens is associate professor of
art education at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.
Instructional
Resources
Tana Mendenhall
The Disciplines of Art: Posters and
Teacher’s Guide. Glenview, IL: Crys-
tal Productions. $14.95 per poster.
The Disciplines of Art poster set provides quick visual and text reference
for art disciplines ranging from art
criticism and aesthetics to history and
production. Each high-quality poster
clearly asks questions that will help
students to understand the varying
disciplines. A teacher resource guide
provides teachers with information
to guide students toward a deeper
understanding of art. The disciplines
covered in the set include aesthetics,
criticism, history, and production,
with helpful questions pertaining to
each discipline. When displayed on a
classroom wall, the posters offer quick
reference and ready reinforcement for
students. The resource guide provides
activities within the content to help
students grasp the meaning of each
discipline of art. Helping students
to remember and apply the four disciplines of art becomes less difficult
with the use of these posters.
—Tana Mendenhall is a student teacher in
the Northwest Independent School
District in Trophy Club, Texas.
Web Reviews
Rebecca Arkenberg
The Washington Post “Peep” Show
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/
photo/gallery/070402/GAL-07Apr02-
69859/ index.html
Every year, the arrival of spring is
heralded by the appearance of pas-
tel marshmallow peeps. In 2007,
the ubiquitous chicks and bunnies
inspired “Peep Show,” a diorama
contest sponsored by the Washington
Post’s “Sunday Source.” Twenty-two
entries from that year are spotlighted
in a slideshow on the Post’s site, with
themes drawn from historical figures,
books, television shows, movies, popu-
lar culture, and current events. The
visual arts were represented that year
by Luncheon of the Peeping Party, a
lampoon of Renoir’s painting. Readers
were invited to vote for their favorite
diorama, with Peeps Are a Girl’s Best
Friend, a take-off on Marilyn Monroe
in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes winning
first place.
—Rebecca Arkenberg is a museum consultant from Stratford, Connecticut.
