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Welcome to the 2015-2016 Art Website!

Please visit this website throughout the year. Use this website to learn more about the art curriculum, to view student work, to learn about special events, special requests and news. A link to each art class is listed in the navigation menu. Explore and have fun.

Visit Southern Hills to see your child's artwork hung in the hallway or displayed in the library on a rotating basis. If you ever have any concerns about your student or questions about the art program, please call my voicemail at 720-561-3463, or email me at karen.fennelly@bvsd.org.

This year, my website banner celebrates various ways that my students have reused materials to create lighting design. The night light lamps were made available thanks to an innovation grant from Impact on Education. See below for more information. The painting, 4th image from the left, is back lit using clear Christmas tree lights that were 50% off the day after the holiday-yeah! From left to right: Nested Lamp, by Annika; Armordillo, by Kai; Puzzled Lamp, by Carr; Circuit Board, by Brianna and Tree House, by Brooks.

Southern Hills is represented by six Scholastic Art winners this year. Mrs. Fennelly has entered her students the past three years, and each year they have brought home multiple awards. For the first time, Southern Hills has a National Gold Medalist, Kai Shen, who is in seventh grade.

Congratulations to the Scholastic winners, and to all of the art students who work so hard to create the amazing artwork at Southern Hills. Mrs. Fennelly is extremely proud of all of her students.

The winning artworks will be on display at the History Colorado Center from February 12- March 18, 2016. The awards ceremony was March 5, 2016. Southern Hills had a great turnout with five students and their families attending. Very few awards were given to Middle School students, so it was a very proud moment when each of my students went on stage to collect his or her award. Great job!!! View winning artwork.

More great news. For the first time, Southern Hills has had three art works chosen to be displayed at the Denver Art Museum (DAM). A special luncheon will honor each student. Congratulations goes to Kai, Annika and Carr for their sculpture pieces. Of over 6,000 Scholastic entries, we have three of the 100 selected works, and the competition includes the high school level. Amazing. Way to go Southern Hills! Click here for the DAM details.

1. Gold Key Award, DAM Selected Work and National Gold Medalist- Kai, Armordillo, Sculpture

2. Gold Key Award- Plex, Venus Untrapped, Ceramics and Glass

3. Gold Key Award & DAM Selected Work- Carr, Cantaloupe, Architecture

4. Silver Key Award & DAM Selected Work- Annika, Nested Lamp, Sculpture

5. Silver Key Award- Tiffany, What is Happiness?, Digital Art

6. Honorable Mention- Brianna, Circuit Board, Mixed Media

You've Been Framed!

Every couple of weeks I feature an artwork outside of the library. There are so many wonderful, dedicated art students at Southern Hills, so this is one more way to recognize our young artists. Click on this link to view the current "Framed" artwork.

Meet Your Teacher:

I am really excited to be back at Southern Hills for my fourth year with so many wonderful students, an experienced faculty and administrative team. Four years ago, I received my Masters of Education in Educational Leadership from Colorado State University with certification to teach art K-12. My previous experience working as an Industrial Designer for Hewlett-Packard Company and having had my own visual design business has been an asset in my approach to teaching. Experience in industry has given me the desire and understanding to create lessons that involve some degree of transfer both in life and learning within and outside the school. This can be done in many ways including problem creation and problem solving, individual and team projects, embedding STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), as well as history and language arts into projects. Also, I make a conscious effort of making students aware of how their newly acquired skills can be used in various careers. This year I became certified as a Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher in the Visual and Design Arts in grades 7-12.

It is important to me that each student succeeds. Students are not graded on artistic ability; rather working to one's potential. Also, one's behavior, work ethic and attitude are graded and important in maintaining a positive studio atmosphere.