Hello! My name is Mollie Katzin and I am an art teacher at an elementary school near Atlanta, Georgia. I teach what I live: creativity, positivity and a bit of humor. It is important to me to bring the magic of art to my students and inspire them both in and outside of the classroom. This blog is a place to reflect and record ideas and display the beautiful work my talented students create. Sometimes I’ll even share some of my own artwork and adventures!
Please enjoy this blog and please do not eat the artwork.
Connect with me!
Email: mhkatzin@gmail.com
Twitter: @artwithmsk
Etsy Shop
August 23, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Your classroom looks great! 🙂 I look forward to reading more about your adventures and projects with your kids! 🙂 Your enthusiasm is inspirational!
August 23, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Oh My Gosh! I love you blog Ms. K! You Look Like an AWESOME art teacher 🙂
October 12, 2012 at 3:18 pm
All of your projects are so inventive! You really know what you’re doing with your kids 🙂 Keep it up!
January 9, 2013 at 2:43 pm
http://artwithmsgram.blogspot.com/2013/01/premio-dardos-award.html
Check it out! 🙂 Left you something!
February 27, 2013 at 1:16 am
Molly! As I am making my art history lesson I found your Pinterest and now your blog! LOVE IT!!! CONGRATS ON GETTING A TEACHING JOB TOO! Me, you, Courtney, Mattie-we’re good!!! Hope all is well! Love your site. Go girl!
February 27, 2013 at 1:29 am
Hi Paige!! Hope all is well with you, will you be at art camp this summer? Thanks for the love; shoot me an email sometime so we can catch up! mkatzin@gmail.com
May 9, 2013 at 8:55 pm
Hi Mollie! I just recently received a nomination for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award and am now passing it onto you. Please visit this post for more details: http://wp.me/p2rZcZ-wu. I would love to nominate you as one of our favorite blogs! There’s no pressure to accept this award but I thought you would like to know you made our list. 🙂 Thanks for the great posts and happy blogging!
September 11, 2013 at 12:25 pm
Hi Mollie! I have been a HUGE fan of your site and would like to present you with the Versatile Blogger Award! You can view more about this award here: http://littlefingersbigart.com/2013/09/10/little-fingers-big-art-just-received-the-versatile-blogger-award. Please accept the award and pass on the good will! Many thanks!
June 26, 2014 at 9:27 pm
hey, wanted to discuss locating art ed job and see if you have any wise words! i’m so glad you’re doing well and doing what you love! email me if you find time: sjafari588@gmail.com
-sara jafari
April 27, 2017 at 8:39 pm
I am one of her students. We all love her!
April 28, 2017 at 8:44 pm
I am one of her students she is one of the best teachers in the world
August 25, 2019 at 6:16 pm
Ms.katzin have you had your baby yet.
December 1, 2019 at 1:52 pm
Hi Mollie! I love your page and have already found so many great projects to do with my students. I found this gem one that would be great to do during our rocks and minerals unit, however I can’t find the instructions for it anywhere! If you send me a message I’d love to inquire about the steps!
December 4, 2019 at 5:07 pm
Hey Abby, thank you so much! If you are talking about the crystals against a starry background, the post about it can be found here: https://artwithmsk.com/2016/09/19/my-first-art-show-classroom-updates/
This is my personal artwork, it is not something I did with students but I am still happy to share the process 🙂
I started off with some watercolor paper and looked at pictures of crystals online to draw them. After drawing the crystal shapes with pencil, I used a ball stylus tool and some masking fluid to trace over all of the lines. Once the masking fluid was dry, I painted over everything with watercolors. I tried to use similar colors for each crystal like dark green and light green or pink, purple, and blue. While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled it with some salt which creates a really nice texture.
Once the paint was dry, I carefully peeled back the masking fluid to reveal white lines. Then I cut out each crystal.
I had a bunch of small canvases that I painted with black acrylic paint. I used watered down white acrylic paint to splatter paint stars on top of the black. Once the canvasses were dry, I glued the cut out crystal to each canvas. I then added a little more white to the edge of each crystal to make them look like they are glowing.
I hope this helps. I am sorry I don’t have any pictures of the step-by-step process, I did not do this project with children, as it is a little too advanced and complicated for my students. Let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂
If you follow @teachandshoot on Instagram, you can find her post about doing a project based on this with students.