Out with the old! Art catalog magnets

So, are you feeling the urge to organize your classroom, your paperwork, your art space? No, me neither! Just kidding!

But if you are throwing out some old magazines and art catalogs, here's a great project that you really should try (I know you've probably seen it everywhere)! Take a couple of those great art catalogs from last year (Crystal Publications catalogs are my favorite for this!) and grab a few inexpensive art supplies and get crafting! The reason I love the art catalogs is that they have tons of little images of art posters that are the perfect size for this project. It's sort of addicting once you get started--it's so fun to create your own gallery of art magnets!

You can also use magazine images and text (Family Fun magazine is another favorite of mine) if you like more random images and funky text for your magnets. You may be able to use your own images--just make sure they are laser color copies and not inkjet since the ink will bleed when you brush on the Mod Podge.

These make a nice little gift when you display them in a unique way. I had my art students attach them to a piece of card stock and slip them into a zip-top bag, but I've seen people put them in an old Altoids tin. The would be nice on a card that looked like a fancy frame (or maybe a whole bunch of little frames with one magnet in each frame)--really the sky's the limit on how you can present these. They are great gift for the artsy people in your life! (hint, hint!)

Art Catalog Magnets

Supplies Needed:

• Old art catalogs or magazines
• 1" clear glass "blobs" from the dollar store--these were bigger than the standard 1/2" blobs that I use for other projects
• 1" circle template (see below)
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Mod Podge
• Foam brush
• Palette for Mod Podge
• Newspapers for work surface
• Circle magnets (I bought mine at Michael's for $7 for a pack of 50 magnets, I think)
• Super glue (I tried jewelry glue but, WHEW! it stunk--serious brain cell killing going on with that stuff!)

Directions:

1. Create your template/viewing window: I used a 1" circle punch to punch a hole in a scrap piece of white card stock. I then used this 1" hole to view my art catalog images and select the images for my magnets. Clear, bright images work best. I also suggested to my students that they take one of the glass blobs and place it over any images that were questionable to see if they would read easily--most are fine.

2. Once you find an image that would work well for you magnet, use the template and pencil to trace a circle onto the image. Cut out using scissors.

3. Use the foam brush to brush a bit of Mod Podge onto the flat side of the glass blob. Place your image face down onto the Mod Podge and brush another coat of Mod Podge onto the back of the image. Set aside to dry thoroughly.

4. When you are sure the image is completely dry on the glass blob (give it a couple hours), add a dot of Super glue to the back of the glass blob and place a magnet on top. Allow the glue to dry according to manufacturer's directions before using.

5. ENJOY!

Surrealist Collages with Scouts

Today I had a great time talking to Webelos Den 5 in Amherst! I gave a talk on being an artist, showed them my graphic design & illustration portfolio and we did some art! 

One requirement for the day was to create a collage. I immediately thought of a project I had seen on the blog Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists! She had students use photos of famous places as backgrounds and collage magazine pictures on top. The results were pretty awesome and easy! I thought a bunch of 10-year-old boys on a Sunday may want to try it out.

We only had 1/2 hour for the project because they had 4 or 5 other projects to do in the two hour period, but this was fun, fast, and I loved that they were learning about art. But, SHHHHH! Don't tell them that!

Here are some of the results:

"Drawing With Light" at the NHAEA Fall Conference 2013

It's that time of the year again! Fall colors and the NH Art Educator's Assoc. Fall Conference!

I love going to the conference and connecting with art teachers from all over the state! It's truly inspiring! And this year was no exception!

My morning session was "Using Photography in the Elementary Classroom." This session was led by Katie Poor, a teaching artist currently working at the Providence Children's Museum. She began by describing a lesson on cyanotypes that she teaches. Then she walked us through a very interesting lesson where she teaches children to "Draw With Light" using flashlights and digital cameras. She brought in some digital cameras of her own and we spent the remainder of the session experimenting with the technique.

She showed us a few examples--the most famous, I guess, would be Picasso from LIFE magazine in 1949. Check out the link to see all of the inspiring images...

We experimented by making shapes, squiggles, letters, drawing images (which are actually harder than it looks), and entire words...while we played, I think we all started thinking of ways this could be used across the curriculum.

My session partner and I experimented with using the white board and a dry erase marker to draw the idea first (either an image or a word) and then use the flashlight in our hand to "trace" the dry erase marker lines we had made on the board. You can see an example of this further in this post (the "art rocks" image) and a few more of our experiments on Katie's blog (link below). We were MUCH more successful doing our "drawings" this way versus trying to imagine an image and draw it freehand in front of us like Picasso did. After trying to draw freehand, I REALLY appreciated Picasso's drawing with light images!

To check out the photos from the session and see what we did, click on Katie's link:
http://photographerintheclassroom.tumblr.com
And just look for the most recent posts (there are two that contain our examples).

I was fortunate to bring my camera from home to the session (it was in my mobile art closet/minivan so I was able to grab it). I had Katie advise me on setting my aperture and shutter speed and, although my camera isn't as fancy as the ones she brought (her cameras allow for 30 seconds of exposure, but mine allows only 16 seconds), I was able to go home and have my children "Draw With Light" a bit.

This is such a fun lesson, I really think I'll need to get into a classroom and teach this soon!

Thanks, Katie, for the great idea!

This should say "art rocks" but my my camera only allows for
a shutter speed of 16 seconds--I bet I could have traced the whole
word if I had tried again (the more successful attempt is on Katie's blog).

3-year-old draws a circle

6-year-old tries for a square
(it's harder than it looks!)

6-year-old tries for a star

Three Recycled Art Projects in Progress

I haven't posted in a few days, but I have been busy. My students have three recycled art projects in the works! All three I've seen floating around on the web, but they are super-cool and my students seem very excited about them (as am I):

Abstract Sculptures (wire and pantyhose)
These are seriously awesome! You can't make just one! I've seen the idea in a couple of spots, but most recently on A Faithful Attempt. The basic idea is to insert a metal coat hanger into a wooden block. Twist and turn it & cover it with a knee-high pantyhose. Twist and turn some more & coat in gesso, then paint. Seriously cool. I'm doing this with one of my private art student (she's thirteen). Right now her sculpture is sitting in gesso. Next class, she'll paint it and we'll sketch it with charcoal from a variety of angles.

The abstract sculpture in gesso
(we used tempera paint mixed with Elmer's glue).

Sole Pendants
Also cool! I saw this on www.dickblick.com and thought my boys would love to make them. Now I'm making them with my Recycled Art class after school. My goal with this class is to get the children looking around and being inspired to create art from everyday object. These pendants get their funky texture from the soles of the students' shoes. How great is that? These were molded last week and this week we'll paint them and string them on a cord to make necklaces.

Some of the pendants in the drying phase.
The texture is made from the soles of our shoes.

Magazine Bowls
Ah...the humble magazine! Great for collage and now used as the structural component for a funky bowl! Once the after school students were done molding their Sole Pendants, I had them start prepping their magazine strips as suggested on the blog Mini Matisse. This week, we'll start coiling the strips into the form that will magically transform turn into the magazine bowl.

My magazine bowl demo with some of the strips cut from
National Geographic Magazines.

WHEW! Lot's going on here! I'm loving the energy and creativity of my students! So what are YOU working on?

Kandinsky Media Study

For my after school Modern Art class I wanted to try something a bit different. I usually do a Kandinsky project inspired by Art Projects For Kids using watercolor and crayon resist, but I thought I'd mix it up a bit and try not only experimenting with color, but also with media. I had each child create two 3" squares using the following media:

• watercolor and crayon resist
• collage
• colored pencils
• collage (using magazine pages)

This piece was created by a 13-year-old student I teach private lessons to.
Feel free to vary the amount of squares depending on the
age and ability of your students. This project looks great with
four, six, eight, nine, twelve squares, or more!

The lesson is perfect as an introductory project when getting to know students or as an assessment project. Originally, Kandinsky created his circle compositions as color studies, so we can too!

I set up four stations in the room, explained how to use the media at each station properly and then let them go. I timed about 10-15 minutes per station (they created 2 squares at each station). About two-thirds of the students were able to create the necessary squares in the allotted time. I think I would break this into two class sessions in the future and have them do watercolor and marker the first week and collage and colored pencil the next. Or, maybe have students just do one square each (for a total of 4 squares).

The finished pieces were glued to black construction paper. Lovely color and media studies! Thanks, Mr. Kandinsky!

Kandinsky Media Study

This project is designed to be worked in four stations. I'll describe each individually...

Station 1: Markers

Supplies Needed:

• 3" squares of marker paper (marker doesn't bleed)
• Pencil with eraser
• Markers (We used Sharpies)
• Newspaper to protect workspace

Directions:

1. Use pencil to write your name on the back of two squares. 

2. Draw concentric circles on the paper using pencil. The circle can stay within the box or go beyond the box slightly.

3. Color the rings in with various colors of markers. 

Marker Example (Using Sharpies)

Station 2: Colored Pencils

Supplies Needed:

• 3" squares of drawing paper
• Pencil with eraser
• Colored Pencils

Directions:

1. Use pencil to write your name on the back of two squares. 

2. Draw concentric circles on the paper using pencil. The circle can stay within the box or go beyond the box slightly.

3. Color the rings in with various colors of colored pencils. You can use light or heavy pressure to vary the intensity of the colors.

Colored Pencil Example

Station 3: Collage

Supplies Needed:

• 3" squares of drawing paper
• Pencil with eraser
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Magazines or paper scraps

Directions:

1. Use pencil to write your name on the back of two squares. 

2. Cut a 3" square from a solid-color section of a magazine picture. Adhere to the 3" square of drawing paper.

3. Cut rings of various colors of magazine paper and glue to your squares.

Collage Example
(Using Magazine Paper)

Station 4: Watercolor Resist

Supplies Needed:

• 4" squares of watercolor paper (note the larger size)
• Masking tape
• Piece of cardboard
• Pencil with eraser
• Crayons
• Watercolor paints & brush
• Water bucket, paper towels

Directions:

1. Use pencil to write your name on the back of two squares. 

2. Tape the two squares to the cardboard or to the table. Tape a 1/4" border all around the squares--this will keep the paper from buckling as it dries.

3. Draw concentric circles on the paper using pencil. The circle can stay within the box or go beyond the box slightly.

4. Using a crayon, trace the pencil lines, pressing hard enough to leave a nice, thick pencil line.

5. Color the rings in with various colors of paint. You may not want to paint the rings in order since painting two sections that touch could cause the paint to bleed.

6. Let dry thoroughly. Trim squares to 3 inches.

Watercolor Example

To finish:

Mount all squares, touching, in a pleasing arrangement, onto black construction paper. Most squares will adhere nicely using a glue stick, but the watercolor paper may need tacky glue to stay glued down properly. Enjoy!