NH Art Educator's Fall Conference 2016!!

The New Hampshire Art Educators Association's (NHAEA) Fall Conference is one that I look forward to every year--"Clear the calendar! My Conference is coming up!!!" I love to connect with old friends, meet new friends, enjoy a lunch that is made for me and that I don't have to clean up after (hey, I do have four kids!), and get my artsy-ness on!! I purposely sign up for hands-on art making workshop choices. While I love me some lecture on art education theory, I don't get to make art as much as I would like, and art school was a-ways back in time, so any chance I have to create and learn new things I can take back to my classroom, I am game!

Interacting with the art at the Currier Museum...

This year's conference was fabulous and inspiring! It was held at the New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA) in Manchester, NH. Keynote speaker NH Artist/Illustrator/Author Marty Kelly spoke about his artistic process and how his multiple "failures" have been useful to his creative process. He urged us as educators to create a "culture of failure" in our classrooms where it is OK to make mistakes and take chances (leading students to further growth, risk-taking, exploration). He suggests that failure is part of the learning process and is essential to learning and growth. He encouraged us to change our attitude about failure as well as our students' attitudes about it as well. He explained that if we are afraid to fail we will be afraid to imagine, innovate, explore, and try. Having a classroom culture where failure is accepted and seen as an opportunity for discussion and growth also allows students to begin to accept advice and criticism and use what is right for them. He says that failure is a "pit stop along the road to success." 

Keynote Speaker: Author and Illustrator Marty Kelly
Photo courtesy: NHAEA website (www.NHAEA.org).

This is particularly useful to me as much of what we do in the middle school art room is moving away from product-focused, cookie cutter art to process-focused, student-centered work where the students are encouraged to problem-solve, explore and make the piece their own. This is a tough transition for some and some students struggle when they do not have a teacher-model to "copy" and are asked to try and explore and adapt. I've often have students come up and ask, "Is this an A? Am I done?" The first couple of times this happened I was floored, now I counter with: "I don't know, are you done? Take a look at the project objectives and talk to one of the other students in class to see if they have suggestions for further improvement (or to see if your piece is "saying" what you want it to say)." To me, this part of the creative process is a gradual release as the students' confidence and skill-level increases, ultimately preparing them for the independence and self motivation that high school will require. 

Session 1: Reinterpreting With Recylables. I went on a mini field trip to the Currier Museum of Art and saw the Mount Washington show that just opened. Mount Washington is the highest mountain in New Hampshire and is known throughout the world for its crazy weather. We went downstairs to classroom and Linn Krikorian taught us how we can use the art and artifacts within the Currier's collection as well as from life and other disciplines and have students reimagine them using recycled materials. Resources were shared for places to get interesting recyclables and for using this idea across the curriculum. Then Megan McIntyre discussed how art can be used to facilitate other ideas across the curriculum such as Science, Math, etc. This is particularly pertinent to me in my art room as I strive to develop lessons that are individualized and cross-curricular in nature. This lesson idea (and its spin-off ideas) will be helpful to me as I encourage the students to observe and reinterpret art and artifacts in class but make them their own. 

My take on a Robert Indiana from the Currier's collection.

Session 2: Structures to Sculpture (Bookmaking) This was a wonderful hands-on session led by Erin Sweeney, professor at NHIA (and her student helper Karen) taught us about a number of book-making techniques and led an open discussion amongst the creative educators present as to how we are currently using these structures within our classrooms and how we could potentially use them even more. Connections to other courses were discussed as well as connections to STEM/STEAM. While the pieces we made weren't complete (just the "bones" of the books and not fully developed within), the examples took the 2D linear idea of "book" and transformed it into 3D sculptural forms (easily!!) that could be used in our teaching in a number of ways (assessment, reflection, student mini portfolios, the documentation of a unit or the transformation of an idea, etc.). This was a VERY relevant workshop in that it allows a student to move from 2D to 3D in a seamless and accessible way while allowing them to reflect on a process or subject matter and use the 3D model-making techniques that we strive to teach them in class. This will definitely be applied to my future 7th and 8th grade classes next trimester! 

Busily working at the Structures To Sculpture Session led by Erin Sweeney.
Photo courtesy: NHAEA website (www.NHAEA.org).

After our sessions, we met back in the mail hall for closing remarks, a raffle (nope, didn't win anything this year), and a wine a cheese reception sponsored by NHIA. I went away physically tired, but rejuvenated and with so many great ideas that I can bring back to my students!

And here are some other images from the Currier workshop--the art of my classmates. ENJOY!

FREE ART BOOK GIVEAWAY!

We all can use a little inspiration, can't we?

I have some WONDERFUL news to share: SIX art ideas of mine have been published in the book "500 Kids Art Ideas" by Gavin Andrews published by Quarry Books! 

This soft-cover book is chock-full of great ideas that will really get your creativity going! There are eleven different chapters in the book that show full color pictures of a variety of art media and projects created by a wide range of ages. There are great ideas for working in felts, fibers, paper and book art, sculpture and 3D, technology and more!

It truly is a beautiful book! Each of the 500 projects has a full color illustration along with a quick list of materials used. While there aren't step-by-step directions for each project, there's enough information to get you started and art teachers, homeschoolers and creative kiddos will be inspired none-the-less.

Author Gavin Andrews is an art educator and artist who is currently employed at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. I love what is written about her on Amazon (on the "About the Author" section for this book), "She is dedicated to the role of art and creativity in people's lives, especially those of her two children, and strives to have people understand that everyone can be creative." I couldn't agree with her more!

Want a copy? Well, I have one right here for you! I'm giving away a FREE copy of the book "500 Kids Art Ideas" by Gavin Andrews published by Quarry Books in my first-eva giveaway! Here are the details:

If you would like to be entered in the drawing to receive a copy of the book, leave a comment below with your name, email address and let me know what book YOU can't live without in your classroom or one that you've read that inspired you. 

I will choose a winner at random on August 31st, 2015. Sorry, only those in the continental United States are eligible for this giveaway.

So, get to writing that comment below to enter! Good luck!

Sculpture with Grade 5? It's a piece of cake!

The school I was substitute teaching at was celebrating its 40th birthday while I was there. Naturally, I had to have the students create some yummy cake-themed art in celebration! I decided on a Wayne Thiebaud theme for two of the grades. Grade 5 made these awesome 3D papier mache and collage cakes frosted with (get ready) shaving cream mixed with Elmer's glue. Yeah, I know, kind of crazy--but it was AWESOME!!!

Let's get ready to PARTY! Cakes, cakes & more cakes!! YUM!

I got the idea for these cakes from Mrs. Hahn at Mini Matisse and the students had a blast creating these. This was a great project because it used up lots of little bits of paper, sequins, beads and more and allowed the students TONS of creativity. We received so many compliments on them and they truly looked good enough to eat! Definitely a keeper!

ENJOY!!

Check out these projects...

"Busy, busy," is the lament of the art teacher and mom at this time of the year! I've been running all over doing some super-awesome art projects with kiddos in Kindergarten all the way to 8th grade. I had been shying away from a couple of art projects because they were beyond my comfort level, but I made myself push on and try some projects I really thought would be worthwhile. Here are the projects I tried with my students with my notes on each project. I didn't get photos of any of these since I was very, ahem, engaged due to messes, etc. But check them out...

Kimmy Cantrell slab masks: So awesome and very engaging! I saw this project on Shine Brite Zamorano. I had never heard of this contemporary artist, but once I saw his work I knew my kiddos would love them. 

Pros of this project:

• Students get to work with clay--yippee! Who doesn't love that!? Learn slab techniques and "scratch and attach" method using slip to adhere clay pieces together
• Students draw out their masks before creating in clay. Great for them to work from a plan!
• Students learn about symmetry/asymmetry 

Cons of this project (for my situation):

• I don't have access to a kiln, so I used Crayola air dry clay. It works well, but it isn't as sturdy as fired clay. I've hot glued finished air dry clay projects to mat board for stability, that helps most times.
• I needed to transport these between home and school for the drying stage (I don't have a classroom) and I am super-paranoid that something will happen to these in transit or at my home. If you have a classroom, this is a non-issue, I guess.

VERDICT: This is a keeper!

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Marbled Paper Journals: I love Mr. E's site so when I saw his super-simple technique for doing Marbled paper using shaving cream and tempera paints, I thought, "I can do this!" I thought the marbled paper would be great as covers for art journals. What a unique keepsake for my "All About ME!" after school art class.

Pros of this project:

• Students get to learn about marbling and making a book. Wow!
• Students get to have a wonderful tactile experience with the shaving cream and get to do all sorts of experimenting with drizzling paint and choosing their own color combinations.
• The shaving cream smells good (teachers from other classrooms kept coming in to see what smelled so good!).

Cons of this project:

• I had an energetic group that had some, ahem, listening problems. This was a bad idea for them. Many of them would have been happy just playing in the shaving cream. The. Entire. Time. That's fine, but they were playing in the shaving cream that had paint mixed into it and it was dripping on the floors, the tables, their clothes, etc. And then when they "helped" to clean up, the water from the sink somehow poured onto the floor and we had GIANT puddles everywhere. It was a bit of a challenge. So that brings me to my next "con:"
• This project can be messy if not managed well. I take responsibility for the mess, certainly, but it's pretty bad when I go through an entire roll of paper towels and I have to ask the custodian for a mop and bucket and spray and spend 45 minutes cleaning with said items--and that was one class!
• This technique is very teacher-focused. I worked with three kids at a time and they made two prints each. This focus made it so some of my rowdy students had some time to wind-up and get into trouble. I felt like I was constantly juggling naughtiness and shaving cream. It was a great stress test! :-) I think I passed, but then I had lots of time to think about it as I cleaned up after class...Mr. E--you are a saint!

VERDICT: Not again.

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Kinder Rainbow Windsocks: I had my final volunteer art session with the Kindergarteners at Clark School in Amherst in May. I had done all sorts of wonderful projects with them using collage, printmaking, and paint (a bit), but I wanted to make the final project special. I knew I had my project when I saw these beautiful rainbow windsocks online at Kinder Craze. The windsocks have paint and streamers to create the most awesome and beautiful windsocks perfect for Spring! But 60+ kids with 6 different colors of paint and 30 minutes? Was this beyond my skillset? I worried, I planned, but it was awesome in the end...

Pros of this project:

• Paint! Rainbows! Streamers! Need I say more!?!?
• The children needed to use each of the colors to made large arcs on their papers moving from left to right. Great for hand/eye control, especially since subsequent arcs needed to touch the previous arc. Also, colors needed to be painted in rainbow order.
• Children saw that a 2D piece of art, could transform into a 3D form: a cylinder
• Children needed to share the foam brushes and practice patience. I placed a muffin tray in the center of each table with one of the six colors each well. One brush in each color. I had the first person start with red, paint their arc, and then pass the red brush to their neighbor who would paint and then pass the brush to his/her neighbor. This was repeated through the colors. I was worried this would take too long, but it was awesome.

Cons of this project:

• It uses 6 colors of paint and six colors of streamers, so it would be pricey if you were buying everything for this one project, but we had everything we needed already.
• Cleanup can be difficult. I had a helper who rinsed my brushes and trays, but I'd allow for 1/2 hour cleanup. It really wasn't all that bad at all. Those Kinders are awesome.
• It doesn't get done in 1 day. We glued the streamers on first, then painted and then put them on the drying rack to dry. The teachers then formed the pieces into cylinders and stapled them closed the following day. They said it was super-easy (I try not to leave the classroom teachers with anything to do once my visit is done).

VERDICT: This is a keeper!

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Jean Dubuffet Paper Sculptures: What could be easier-a sheet of white paper, some markers (limited color palette--2-3 colors, plus black), scissors, glue stick and a piece of black mat board--TA DA! Instant art just like Jean Dubuffet. I've had this one pinned for a while now, but never quite had the chance to get to it. Then, in Sculpture class, we had a little free time after painting our Kimmy Cantrell masks (see above) and I thought I'd try this project. I'm glad I did--it was perfect! See a similar project here at Art Smudge.

Pros of this project:

• Limited supplies (and the supplies needed are inexpensive).
• Limited teacher involvement--YEAH! This is great for a sub or if you are helping students finish up/clean-up.
• Children saw that a 2D piece of art, could transform into a 3D form.
• Allowed for creativity in the lines, pattern, color, and 2D and 3D shapes and forms.

Cons of this project:

• It is over quickly--I'd say, 1/2 hour from start to finish. That could be a pro, but if you are planning for it to take an entire class session, it's a con.
• They are relatively delicate. May not make it home on the bus and cannot be stored, really.

VERDICT: This is a keeper!

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I'm very happy I tried these projects! What projects have you been hesitant to do but, in the end, were glad you did? I'd love to hear about them!

Drawing American Sign Language Hands

My private art lessons are very organic-what we study ebbs and flows with what I think the student would be interested in or in an area they may need to develop further. One day, my student and her mom were discussing a piece my student had done (at home) and there was some, ahem, disagreement as to how readable the hand was in the drawing. After a little more discussion, my student admitted that, although she felt she drew hands perfectly fine, they were "hard" and she "hated drawing them." Hmmmm...well, never one to shy away from a challenge, I tried to think of a way we could practice drawing hands in a way that seemed fun. 

This spells "ART."

So, here's what we did:

The first week, we spent practicing drawing hands in different positions. I found this great tutorial online at Neon Dragon Art that I thought would work well to illustrate the anatomy of the hand as well as seeing a hand as a 3D form from the beginning. We worked our way through the different variations Jessica "Neon Dragon" Peffer presented, using our own hands as "models." It is quite difficult to draw something as complex as the human hand--especially when you don't want to! But we kept trying and trying. We had a couple shaky starts and we needed to keep remembering to look at our 3D models--our own hand, and draw what we saw, not what we thought was there.

Once my student was confident drawing hands in a variety of positions, I brought out the American Sign Language chart that shows the letters of the alphabet using photos of hands. We practiced the letters and she chose a word she wanted illustrate. At first she chose "CREATE" but the thought of drawing 5 more hands (one for each letter of the word) proved too much so she settled on "ART" instead.

She did a great job drawing the hands in pencil and then outlining them in Sharpie. For the background, she chose to do a Jackson Pollock-inspired drippy painting using watercolors and temperas that she drizzles and splattered all over. The colors were custom-mixed--she had a plan--they are her favorite colors.

Once everything was done, she brought the pieces together (making sure the hands were in the correct order). She was very happy with her piece (as am I!) and *hopefully* she'd say it isn't too bad drawing hands after all.

Walk Like An Egyptian Costumes

I just finished up week 4 of Egyptian Art with my after school kiddos. We created some great projects during our time together, and this was the final project: 3D funerary masks that you can wear as a costume.

The idea for making these came from the book, "The Ancient Egypt Pack: A Three-Dimensional Celebration of Egyptian Mythology, Culture, Art, Life and the Afterlife," by Christos Kondeatis & Sara Maitland. I picked this little gem up at a used bookstore for a couple of bucks and it was just perfect for my Egyptian Art class because it has all sorts of little pop ups and fold-outs that echoed the projects we were doing in class. One of the pieces that comes with the book is a 3D model of the famous gold Tutankhamun funeral mask that you can put together. My copy of the book did not come with the directions on how to put the mask's 25 pieces together, but I thought the children would love to create their own 3D models of the masks. Then, as I was doing research for my class, I saw a few sites that offered printable and wearable versions of King Tut's headdress, mask and the necklace/chest plate.

With a bit of downloading and printing, I was able to provide the children with printables they could color in their down time. I printed the pieces at home on white card stock and had the children use watercolors to add color to the pieces. For the gold, I had them use metallic gold acrylic. Colored pencils would also work, but would be super-tedious I think. During our last class, we assembled the pieces into wearables and they had fun posing in their unique creations.

This project could be done in many ways, if you have a bit more time or you wanted the children to have more creative input besides just coloring, you could make templates using the outlines of these pieces and have the children add their own details. The children had fun wearing the masks, as you can see below...I think it was a neat project to do and I will probably do it again (or some variation) next year.

Here are the sites you can find the printable elements of the Egyptian costumes. Thank you so much for the creators of these pieces! Give them some love and use their pieces in the way they intended (for free use with the kids in your life!). Enjoy!

Printable King Tut Headdress
First Palette has a great printable headdress. You can either print out version to color or one that it already colored and ready-to-go. They also have lots of other great Egyptian projects (along with lots of other great project ideas).

Printable Mask and Necklace
Alpha Mom has an adorable mask (complete with beard) along with a very elaborate-looking necklace. These projects are easy to print out and assemble. Very cool!

Easy-Peasy Pizza Sculptures!

I'm always looking for a better way to do projects. I had done pizza sculptures a la Claes Oldenburg before (see here) and I thought that my Modern Art kiddos would like them too. I had originally had students create the pizza form from two pieces of newsprint stapled and stuffed with crumpled up newspapers ad then paint the sauce and toppings. While that worked out OK, the pizzas got a bit muddy with all of those toppings being painted over one another before they were dry. So, I got to thinkin'...

YUM! Bacon, sausage and pepperoni pizza!

I bought some red and kraft-colored wrapping paper at IKEA this past Christmas and thought the weight and color of them would be nice for the sculptures. I thought the children could cut a brown triangle for the bottom crust part and a top triangle from red for the sauce part...however, I used all of the red wrapping paper at Christmastime. Oops! But I had a plan...

I had the children cut both triangles for the pizza from the kraft paper, staple & stuff and then paint the sauce on with red tempera. While they were drying, the children created their toppings from construction paper scraps. This worked out great for timing and they came out great--love the bright red sauce!

The toppings are a study in size, shape and color! I had some take-out menus from pizza places and we made a huge list of toppings the children could use on their pizzas. I also made my "at least three" rule with the toppings: the children had to create at least three different toppings for their pizza (not including the cheese). Most of them were happy to oblige!

So have a no-calorie pizza party for your class or family and have fun using up all of those paper scraps you've been hanging onto!

Easy-Peasy Pizza Sculptures

Supplies Needed:

• Medium weight paper (large sheets or a roll of paper)
• Triangle templates cut from poster board (bottom crust template should be about 5" longer than the top crust so you can roll the triangle up and make the crust of the pizza)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Newspaper or paper scraps to stuff the form
• Stapler with staples
• Red tempera paint (or white if you like a white sauce)
• Paint brushes
• Water bucket, paper towels
• Paper scraps for pizza toppings
• Elmer's glue

Directions:

1. Cut two triangles from kraft paper for the top and the bottom of the pizza slice. As I said above, the bottom crust triangle should be about 5" longer than the top crust so you can roll the triangle up and make the crust of the pizza.

2. Layer the two triangles on top of one another and staple along the two pointy, side edges or the pizza, through both layers. Leave the crust edge open, creating a pocket.

3. Crumple up newspaper, lightly, and stuff the pizza slightly, to give the pizza slice some dimension. 

4. Roll the open edge of the pizza slice inward a couple inches to create the pizza crust and secure with a couple of staples. You now have a giant slice of pizza!

5. Use tempera paints to paint the sauce on your slice of pizza. 

6. While it dries, you can use paper scraps to create toppings. To create the toppings you can rip, or cut the paper, or even use different punches as you see fit. To create multiple shapes (for mushrooms or other unique veggies), fold the paper multiple times and then cut through all the layers--you'll make a number of uniform shapes at once. Much better (and faster) than cutting out individual mushrooms!

6. When the paint is dry, attach the toppings to your pizza slice with glue. I had the children dribble the Elmer's glue in a zigzag motion over the sauce and then sprinkle the toppings on. Lightly press the toppings into the glue (the glue will dry clear).

YUM! Let's eat!

Lung Project Done

Many of you read about my experience watching my son make a 3D plaster cast of his body for a science project on the respiratory system...well, the project is done (and he got an A+!). This was a great project from a mom point-of-view: the supplies were cheap, it allowed for TONS of creativity on my son's part, and he could pretty much handle the whole thing himself--oh, and it didn't chew up a entire weekend! He worked on it one Saturday morning (taking breaks to go sledding and visit with company). And he was super-proud of it! That's my kind of project!

So here are the finished picts. Hopefully it inspires you to try something new!

The details of the project (in case you were wondering):

The plaster cast was made using three packages of plaster tape bought at Michael's. The strips were about 4" wide and 8' long--we cut them to size (some 4" strips, some 8" strips and some 12" strips), dipped them in warm water, and then applied them to my son's body (make sure you coat the model's body with petroleum jelly before putting the strips on).

The dried cast was painted with leftover house paint my son found in our garage (I am worried I needed that paint, but c'est la vie!).

The red stuff (used for the nasal cavity, mouth, trachea, and bronchi) is model magic--I think he used one standard size package.

The lungs are sponges that he used scissors to cut into lung shapes.

The bronchioles are made from some leftover moss we had that he sprayed with red and blue spray paint (which he also found in the garage).

The whole thing is mounted on foam core (from the Dollar Store) that was covered in leftover colored paper. He also went crazy using the hot glue gun on this project.

Fun Calder Fish

One of my private art students is open to any art project...while we work I talk to her about all sorts of art and artists and I've been letting her interests guide our studies. She had done the Calder Monogram Mobile project I posted here, but one of Alexander Calder's sculptures I showed her inspired her. So...one of our next sessions, I got out some wire (in a variety of guages and colors) and lots of different kinds of beads and I let her go to town! 

It was great talking about Calder's work with her and then watching her make choices for her fish mobile. This was also a great project for problem solving (How do you get the beads spaced evenly along the wire? And, How do you keep the vertical rows of beads still within the fish "frame"?). 

When she was done, we created a stand for her mobile using a cork with a clothes hanger stuck in it, glued to a piece of mat board (this is my standard mobile "base").

Enjoy!

More Giacometti Figures

Last fall I did a foil project with my homeschool kiddos where they learned about Giacommetti, figure drawing and sculpture and they created figures out of aluminum foil. Here's the original post.

"I'm thinking...I'm thinking..."

They came out great! So, I thought my after school Modern Art kiddos would also enjoy making the project. I was really surprised when most of the kids DID NOT dig this project. I presented the same way, but that day, my after school kids had a case of spring fever and this project wasn't able to hold their attention (even with a bit of charades, gesture drawing and squishing foil). One longtime student said, "I hate this project, can I throw it away?"

Despite the bad reviews, the children created some really interesting pieces. One student worked and reworked his figure and finally got the idea to recreate Rodin's "The Thinker." WOW!

Here are the results, enjoy!

Secret Code Monogram Calder Mobiles

There are so many great lessons on the mobiles of Alexander Calder, but in case you need another--here's mine! I tried this lesson with my homeschool students and they seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. It's a simple intro to mobile-making which can pose some issues to children regarding balance and construction, if they aren't used to working in 3D. We used the code found in the book "The Calder Game" by Blue Balliett in which the children in the book realize that the shapes Calder used in his mobiles are actually symbols for letters and make up a secret code. 

I first saw the idea of using the code from the blog Salamander Art, and have used it in another Calder mobile project. This project works nicely for monograms since most people have three initials so the children could use three shapes from the chart to create their pieces. It was a fun project and many of the children finished early enough that we were able to have a mini critique and I was able to pass back all of their work for the semester. A great last day project.


Secret Code Monogram Calder Mobiles

Supplies Needed:

• Code diagram and/or pictures of Calder's work for inspiration (see Salamander Art's blog for code chart)
• Pens/pencils
• Foam craft sheets
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Copper wire (I'm not sure of the gauge I used, but it was easy enough to bend by hand but study enough to hold its shape)
• Wire cutters
• Coat hanger
• Cork from wine bottle
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Piece of mat board or cardboard

Directions:

1. Write the first letter (initial) of your first name, your middle name, and your last name. Now, look on the Calder Code Chart for the shape that corresponds to those letters. Draw the shapes near the letters they go with.

2. Draw or trace the shapes onto the foam sheets. I magnified the shapes something like 500% and then printed them on card stock and then put a few on each table. The students moved around from table to table tracing the letters they needed. Cut out your shapes and punch a hole in the top of each using the hole punch. If your shape has internal shapes, take a bit of leftover craft foam, cut the little shapes out and glue onto the larger shape.

3. Cut two lengths of copper wire: one that is about 14" long and the other that is about 8-9" long. Curl the wire at both ends of each of the pieces to make a loop. Don't close it all the way just yet--you'll need to add some shapes. On the short length of wire, add a foam shape to each end. Then twist and form a loop in the center of this short length of wire. Slip the center loop of the short wire onto one of the end loops of the larger wire. Add your third shape to the opposite end of the large wire.

4. Check the piece for balance and make a loop in the middle section of the large wire to hang the piece. We found that our hanging loop needed to be slightly off-center toward one side in order for the piece to be balanced.

5. Glue the cork to the mat board or cardboard. Cut a length of clothes hanger wire and bend it gently and create a loop at the end from which to hang the mobile. Hang the finished mobile on the wire stand and enjoy!

Foil Giacometti Figures

This week, I had my students create sculptures with foil similar to Giacometti. Foil is inexpensive and easy to mold (and pretty addicting when you get twisting and turning). I also wanted to give the children an opportunity to learn the proportions of the human figure and practice gesture drawing.

Look at those muscles!

We were also able to talk about 3D versus relief and then I introduced Giacometti's work. We had an interesting discussion about how his pieces LOOKED (skinny, stick-like, like a zombie, like they had been burned up like a match-stick) and how they made us FEEL (sad, not sad, scared, uncomfortable).

I saw that another blogger, mccann at Doodles & Noodles, added another dimension to this project by having the children include the shadows of their figures. I thought that was an interesting idea. Not only does it look great visually, but it is interesting to compare the original gesture drawing of the figure to the 3D sculpture and the contour of the shadow.

Giacometti Figure Study

Supplies Needed:

• A few sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" copy paper
• Pencil
• A manikin, if possible (I bought mine at IKEA for $5) and a friend to draw
• 3-4' section of aluminum foil (I buy mine at the Dollar Store)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Matte board or thick cardboard
• One 9" x 12" piece of black construction paper
• Stapler
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Lamp (we used a flashlight but that moved too much)

Directions:

1. Warm up by drawing a few gesture drawings of the figure in different poses. I talked briefly about the shapes that make up the human figure and how to draw the figure step-by-step. As the students posed, I posed Manny, the manikin, into the same pose so we could talk about the parts of the body and how they were arranged in each pose. I pointed out how the parts of the body joined and how they bent. Many times, young students will add too many joints or make knees bend the wrong way (OUCH!). One of my students asked, "When did this become a science lesson?" And it's true, learning to draw from life forces us to study and learn the structure of objects and beings.

2. Choose a pose to use as inspiration for your sculpture. I gave each student a 3'-4' piece of foil. I demonstrated how to shape a figure from the foil. I suggest scrunching the foil lightly at first to get the overall shape of your figure down and then squishing the foil to be more compact once you have all of the parts figured out. I really encouraged the students to create the figure from the one piece of foil and not pull off bits of foil, make parts, and then try to join them into a figure. Once you have your figure, pose it in the way it should be, using your drawing as a guide.

3. Use the hot glue to tack the figure's feet to the matte board. 

4. Slip a piece of white copy paper under the foil figure's feet in the direction you want your shadow to fall. Place the entire sculpture in front of a lamp or bright light source so that a shadow comes from the foil figure and goes across the white copy paper. Trace the shadow onto the copy paper using pencil. 

5. Compare the contour of the shadow to the gesture drawing you originally made--how are they different? How are they the same?

The elements of the Giacometti Figure Study (clockwise from top):
Manny the manikin, the gesture sketch, the shadow tracing,
 and the completed foil figure.

6. Staple the white copy paper with the shadow on it to a piece of black construction paper. Using your pencil line as a guide, cut through both layers to create a shadow from the black paper. Remove the staples and glue the shadow to the matte board using a glue stick. Note: Make sure you glue your shadow down facing the proper way--some kids tried to glue their shadows on upside down! Also, make sure that you slip a bit of your shadow under the foil figure's feet--shadows start UNDER our feet.

And Yet ANOTHER Science Link: If you had the luxury of time and patience, you could trace your foil figure's shadow throughout the day (say three times?) and cut each shadow from a different color of construction paper and then layer them on the matte board to show the passage of time or how our shadows change as the sun's position changes...just sayin'. That would be pretty awesome! ENJOY!

"Running To A Friend By The Sea"

Big Mouth Gargoyles

This past week, in Medieval Art, we explored the 3D art of gargoyles and chimeras. We learned some neat facts such as the name gargoyle means "water spitter" or "water vomiter" which is quite accurate since gargoyles have a gutter where rain is funneled through and then exits their mouths (sometimes the water exits the nose or, ahem, other places). Sculptures that do not have holes for water to travel through are actually called chimera (ki-mare-ah). Gargoyles and chimeras do not have to be scary--we saw some that looked like elephants, sea turtles and even Darth Vader! This art form is a great way for children to explore clay modeling techniques while experimenting with telling a story and expressing emotion in their work.

Love the fangs and curly tail!

We used a technique where the children created a pinch pot with clay first and then flipped it on its side to create the mouth of their gargoyle. This created a large caricature mouth and immediately made their sculpture more expressive. The children then utilized the "scratch and attach" method of using slip (watered down clay) to attach their features to the gargoyles. Since these are made from air dry clay, I took them home to dry and my husband sprayed them with a metallic faux-stone paint to make them look as though they truly are gargoyles carved from stone.



Thus technique of using a pinch pot to make a gargoyle is different than my previous approach. I thought the pinch pot gargoyles were very expressive, and great for a younger group. 

And a big "Thank you" to one of my students who brought in a few gargoyles from his personal collection for us to see firsthand. Seeing gargoyles and chimeras in 3D really helped facilitate the discussion.

Big Mouth Gargoyles

Supplies Needed:

• Air dry clay (we used Crayola), about the size of a baseball
• Newspapers and a paper plate for work surface
• Little cup (for slip)
• Plastic knife
• Crayola Marker (one of the thick ones), color not important
• Toothpick
• Paint (acrylics, or faux stone spray paint), optional

Directions:

1. Knead the dough to get it more pliable. If it is too dry, dip your fingers in a bit of water. The dough shouldn't be goopy, but it shouldn't crack when you mold it either. Divide the dough in half and put one half aside for now. The ball of dough you are working with should be about the size of a golf ball or an egg. 

2. Using your thumb and pointer finger, gently squeeze the dough to create a pinch pot. The walls of the pinch pot should be thick enough to support its weight, but thin enough so that the piece dries properly (about 1/4" thick is good).

3. Place the pinch pot on its side on the paper plate. This is the mouth of your gargoyle. Feel free to gently manipulate the pinch pot so that the mouth is expressive: a smile, a grimace, a frown. 

4. From your excess clay, pinch off a bit, about the size of a large blueberry. Place it in your little cup with a couple Tablespoons of water. Stir the clay around in the water until it dissolves and makes mud. This is slip and it will help the clay pieces stick together better.

5. Use the rest of your excess clay to form the features and appendages of your gargoyle. Gargoyle parts you may need are: eye(s), ears, a nose (with crazy nostrils), horns, scales down the back, arms, legs, claws, fangs, teeth, tail, and/or wings. The list is endless! Some things to keep in mind when creating your gargoyle parts:

• Don't make any piece too thin--it will crack as it dries.
• Legs, arms, wings and tails should touch the pinch pot and/or rest up against each other for support. Parts that stick off the pinch pot too much will get damaged. Have the legs and arms fold up like your gargoyle is crouching and make the tail wrap around the body. Look at pictures of real gargoyles to see how the sculptors handled this challenge.
• All "parts" need to be attached with slip. To do this, scratch the area you'd like to attach the "part" to the pinch pot, add a dab of slip, and then press the part onto the pinch pot. This will form a nice bond between the pieces of clay. I'm not sure if there is a formal name for this technique, but I use "scratch and attach."

I have my students use the tools they have to create all of the pieces for their gargoyles. The plastic knives are helpful to some students, the toothpick is great for scoring and poking little holes such as the pupils and drawing scales or adding a furry texture to the piece. The Crayola markers are good for rollers (the outside of the marker shaft) or to create circles for eyeballs (the end of the cap). I remind my students to add all of the parts they want to during this session, and when they think they are done I remind them to take a look again and make sure they've added details in the mouth (teeth & tongue), the top of the head (horns and hair) and the back (scales and texture). They can choose what they want to add/disregard, but I want to encourage them to add detail.

6. Once the piece has all of its "parts" on it, put it aside to dry for a few days. 

7. You can leave the sculptures as they are, or paint them. Before painting, I do a once over and hot glue any bits that seem to be falling off. Acrylic paint works well on the dry clay and you could always use a limited palette such as grey, black and white and have the students create their own faux stone look. I had a 50% off coupon for Michael's craft store and wanted to try the faux stone spray paint, so I picked that up. My husband is the spray paint guy, so I had him spray the gargoyles for me.

Note: One can of stone spray paint covered eight sculptures. I think the color we chose (a metallic stone) looked more silver than anything else. I would have liked a more "plain stone" look. Also, this paint is expensive. $5.00 for 8 sculptures is probably a bit much if you were doing this with a large group, but worked with my smaller group.

Great expression--love the two teeth in front!

Cyclops with big claws on the toes. The wings are resting against
the gargoyle's haunches so they are supported.

This student was inspired by some of the animal gargoyles we looked at.
This elephant has lovely ears. It has a trunk and tusks, too
(sorry the picture is kind of blurry).