ART & ENGINEERING: A 3-D expression of Form and Balance

The 3-D thing just keeps on going. After wonderful experiences with the students AND an amazing workshop with fellow Art Teachers, I had the opportunity to hold the workshop with classroom teachers at the Arts For Learning: Tools for Teaching Conference at UNF. I am never disappointed at the creativity that is displayed from everyone who "tinkers" with sculpture. I wish I could show more pictures, especially of the finished products, but, alas, my camera batteries died. Trust me! They were FANTASTIC!

Wonders Never Cease!

No......your eyes are not deceiving you. This is Dee Dee with a paint brush in her hand. You did not know just how multi-talented she was! I appreciate all her help on the 3rd grade backdrop. She paints wonderfully straight lines!

3-D Problem solving at its BEST!

Often, when I think of doing Three Dimensional projects with my students, it usually ends up being clay. Clay is not bad.....it is just not all that there is with which to work. This year, we are breaking away from so many clay projects and we are moving toward using different materials. Below are some cardboard sculptures done by students with only a few instructions. That means, they had to tinker with the materials, experiment to see what worked, come up with some personal solutions and make some decisions. I did allow them to use hot glue guns, with parental permission, to make the process move more quickly, but otherwise, they came up with the final pieces themselves. Two of the pictures below are abstract sculptural pieces and one is a cardboard tube tree, with the "leaves" made from different found objects.

I have to admit, the students really liked this as they were fairly free to go where they wanted with the media at hand. Expect to see more pictures as they finish these :-)!

Worhal Pop Art Prints

What is popular right now?????? Definitly cupcakes, coke, cellphones, water plus many more objects that we see around us all the time. We decided is was time to look at POP ART and imitate the master, Andy Worhal. The students chose a "popular" image and carved it into Soft-Kut linoleum. This was a two ink process, focusing on complementary color combinations. When completed, they glued them on to one sheet of paper, forming the repeating pattern recognized in Worhals work.




As stated in an earlier post, this requires some backwards thinking.

Planning Day Workshop..Sculptural Success!!!!

This past Planning Day, I was asked to give a workshop entitled "Sculpting with things at hand". Art Teachers, many times, are limited to what they can use to create three dimentional pieces in the classrooms, due to budgets and space. In this workshop, we experimented with what could be sculpted with cardboard (which can be found in abundance) and found objects. Participants were give two hours to come up with unlimited ideas, and they really did come up with some great ones. I brought back some new ideas to try in my classroom.

Fun seemed to be had by all AND we contributed to the Green movement by recycling cardboard and all kinds of interesting donated treasures.

6th grade students coming back to glaze

We have been welcoming home our old 5th grade students, who have gone on to experience the world of middle school, to paint their "high 5" tiles for our upcoming Formal Five event. I must admit, it has been fun to see them again and its been a blast watching them react when they see each other. The conversation has been priceless! The interesting part is how the parents have commented how much they miss Chets Creek. I guess we do kinda have that effect on people!

5th Grade Watercolor Seascapes

Studying DEPTH and various watercolor techniques, produced exceptional work by these 5th grade students. We talked about wet and dry brush techniques, then how to detail with detail brushes and marker.

Do they make you want to go there???

Our After School art students are producing some beautiful work. Below you can see some of the landscapes that they painted on textured paper. They first glued on various textures onto their paper and then painted on top, adding interest and variety to the final piece.

Wild Cat Faces frozen in clay

This really turned out to be a wonderful project where every student enjoyed creating these wildcats in clay. We looked at pictures and noticed shapes seen in the faces and discussed how to put them in to "form" through clay. Using the pinch method, we pinched a thick bowl, inverted it, creating the armature for the face. Then we used clay attachment techniques to build the wildcat of choice. Some students put small holes in the lips, and then when fired, they cut and glued monofilament in for whiskers.

PRINTMAKING- and thinking backwards!

One project that really seems to bring about the "ooooohs" and "ahhhhhhhs" with students is PRINTMAKING. There is something about having an image magically apprear on the paper, when printed. Especially, when we do reduction process, where the students continue to print on top of the same picture 2 or 3 times, with different colors. Every pull brings new excitement as the image becomes more clear and detailed.

In this lesson, my 4th grade students drew a still life, which they choose from a variety of pictures, onto linoleum sheets. They then used the various gouges to cut the linoleum away, printing a different color as they took more and more off the surface. This really stretches their thinking as they have to think in reverse, understanding that what they carve away, will remain the last color they printed. Trust me........they really have to think!

2nd learns Radial Balance...and I am not talking about tires:-)

Second grade is one of the "tested" grade levels in Duval County, and one of the items on this test is Radial Balance. I love doing this project with these students, not only to teach them about radial balance, but also because they really turn out some beautiful art projects. Below are some examples from the first class to finish. More than likely, I will be putting more on later, so keep coming back to see what shows up!







LESSON PROCESS:
We discussed Radial Balance and looked at examples.
Students used a circle pattern, traced it on black c. paper and cut out.
We folded the circle in half (taco) than in half again (pizza slice) and then one more time in half (ice cream cone).

When unfolded, it showed the middle of the circle and eight radiating folds, on which to draw patterns, by repeating the motif in all directions, in each of the 8 sections.

We chose a color theory to use to paint in patterns and then embellished with oil pastels.

Later, these will be mounted on another piece of contruction paper for display

3rd Grade Georgia O'Keefe Flowers

These students experienced flowers O'Keefe style! They were give a choice from many flower photographs as to which one they wanted to reproduce in a larger than life format. After doing some practice drawings, paying attention to shape and detail, they were ready to put it on their final sheet. Then we used layers of drybrush painting to fill in the composition followed by oil pastel embellishments. The results were fabulous! Enjoy!

Drawings, Weavings, Round #2

I just get so excited about what my students do, that I have to share......even though you have seen similar projects a couple of posts below. The pencil drawings of cloth were done by 5th grade students and the weavings by Kindergarten students. These weavings have a little added extra - patterns by printmaking!

4th grade Jewelers

This was a fun project to do with my 4th grade students, and it was certainly popular with both the boys and the girls! Several comments were made about this being "the best project" and "my favorite project." It is always music to my ears, when I hear students excited about what they have created. The neat thing about this project was that every necklace was beautiful! Not a bad one in the bunch.

HOW IT'S MADE.......
The students made just about every part of the necklace, with exception of a few small plastic beads used for spacing and extentions. They made the paper beads, using magazine paper cut in long, thin, triangles, then rolling them around a wooden stylist (beginning with the thicker end and ending with the thinner end, gluing the 2nd half to seal the bead). Then clay beads were made into different forms, with various patterns and textures etched in to the surface. Lastly, students used some rectangular sample chips (that someone gave me thousands of - literally), created a design in relief using shirtboard, covered in foil, and aged with india ink, to create the center medallion. After painting the clay beads with metallic paints, the students strung their necklaces thinking about how to "balance" the beads on either side. Some students chose to go a little asymetrical with their designs which made for some very interesting pieces.