"Found" art & Watercolor Silhouettes

I cannot believe how much artwork was produced this week!  The ideas were FLOWING!!  On our last day, I had a "back-up" project that I wasn't sure would work.  I've been collecting "junk" for a few months that I hoped would end up getting a new life within a piece of artwork.  The collective imagination of my students this week was such an amazingly pleasant surprise.  See for yourself!

an old earring

a Sharpie cap

shower curtain rings & red plastic moon (above) and shower curtain ring & plastic knife handle (below)

 

Here, students created a watercolor wash on donated mat board and cut out silhouettes (of any style) from the black paper we had left over from the mirror/negative image project.  Comments to wrap up the week follow pics.  On to week 4!

"I think it's really cool we used all recycled stuff."

"Drawing eggplant is hard."

"I liked the neon colors of the splatter-paint project.  They look cool together."

And this week's winner comment:

"This isn't new for me; I've always gotten hand-me-downs."

Kandinsky & Still Life pastels

It is SO nice to have clean white mat board to draw on for our abstract "Kandinsky" pieces!  We used watercolors & oil pastels for these lovely works.  Below, students got a 5 minute tutorial on how to use hard pastels for mini still life drawings.  Information goes in, beautiful artwork comes out!  So glad I saved the small scraps from the b&w cut-out work earlier in the week.  Yet another benefit to being frugal!!  And the last fun (and messy) project of the day was our handprints and a quick paint splattering for an introduction to Jackson Pollock.  These kids created so much work this week! Student comments after pics (if you read up on Kandinsky, the comments make more sense!):

"Some people can see sound & hear colors."

"...like Fashion Designers..."

"Nazis stink."

Retro TV sets

Not much time today to post, but I think these retro TV sets featuring commercials aimed at "bettering the planet" speak for themselves!!  More tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by our blog!!

B&W and STANHOPE!

Yesterday after class, I dropped in to visit Stanhope Framers to see if I could get any scraps of mat board before they were thrown into the recycling bin (last week's rainstorm put a damper on my efforts to go 'recycling bin diving' on collection day).  Stanhope's generosity will allow every one of my students for the last 3 1/2 weeks to have a clean sheet of mat board to draw on (most likely for every project).  We are so grateful!!  THANK YOU, Stanhope Framers!!

And with the remaining scraps I had from other projects throughout the year, my 10 students this week created some great mirror/negative image b&w cut-outs. Student comments will probably confuse today, but that just means you'll have to check back to see what tomorrow's project is all about :)

"It's funny that Crystal is trying to make us look back into the olden days."

"The old TVs are classic."

"...Brings you back to the old times when x-ray glasses were only 99 cents."

Theme of the week- BALANCE

I'm particularly fond of the theme of the week because I feel humans need to be more in 'balance' with nature.  I wasn't sure if today's new class was going to appreciate my Eco-Art Mission but as you'll see by the comments that follow the pics, I've got yet another class of fantastic (and VERY well educated) students.  


Today, we got to take a stroll around the grounds to see some of the sculptures. The newest installation by DeWitt Godfrey is one that I feel perfectly exemplifies how inspiring the relationship between art and the environment can be:

When we returned to the studio, we made our own 3D sculpture-paintings from paper towel rolls, cardboard box pieces and metallic acrylics.  I love that each student went in a different direction even after seeing the sculpture above:

  

Here is a taste of what we were working on as we left class today.  Will post pics of finished pieces tomorrow and wonderful student comments follow:

"I think if everyone did this (reused & recycled), the Great Pacific Garbage Patch might not expand."

And quite possibly my all-time favorite comment:

"I think it is cool all our products are influenced by this mission and it shows you can do good things for the environment and do fun things too!"

"Flies on the Wall[paper]" & the Bubble Guy

Today, the Bubble Guy showed up to the deCordova, and I must say- teaching Art with the Bubble Guy around is like trying to nail Jell-o to a tree.  When I got the kids corralled again, we finished up most of the projects from the week and used scraps to create "Flies on the Wall[paper]".  We used whatever we could find in the scrap pile and cut out any type of bug the kids could come up with.  We glued our creations onto pieces of wallpaper from the sample book.  It was a really fun way to end the week.  Below are a few straggler pics of projects finished today, the Bubble Guy, and our bugs.  Student comments follow.  Bring on Eco-Mission, Week 3!!

*This was a fantastic project that unfortunately doesn't photograph well, but another wonderful teacher gave us the idea.  You can do this one at home with just a few supplies.  See link here: Tinfoil Project

Miró & Paper Bag Safari

Some mornings, I go to work anticipating a tough day and it is often these days that the children amaze me.  I taught Joan Miró and Surrealism today.  At first, the students didn't seem to understand that there are varying levels of abstraction in art.  After taking a half sheet of leftover paper and laying down a watercolor wash in the colors of their choice, students were asked to obscure a subject (person, place, animal, etc.) in a pencil sketch. The challenge was they had to create their subject using 3 particular elements in their work:  bold lines, black dots and geometric shapes.  I repeated the directions again and again, explaining in as many ways as I could. The hard work paid off!  I'd say the kids were REALLY successful:

The second assignment of the day was the "Paper Bag Safari" and students had to draw wildlife that is not indigenous to our area.  We used charcoal pencils and blending tools to get a nice rustic look.  Once again, the kids shocked me with their talents.  These are some of my favorite projects of the summer.  See for yourself!  Student comments follow pics.

"I love working with charcoal because it really emphasizes what you are working on."

(A personal favorite comment:)

"Working in the style of Miró lets you put your feelings into your drawings."

"I really don't prefer abstract art."

"Abstract art allows you to color outside the lines!"

Mondrian, Eco-Heroes, Miró & Markers

It was a HOT one today, but the kids did a great job.  I filled their brains with a LOT of information about how a successful line is drawn.  We studied the distinct and clean lines of Piet Mondrian and Neo-Plasticism (aka De Stijl). Students were asked to create their own version of "Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow" and they were also asked to continue the "line" theme of the week within the blocks of color.  Fortunately, I had a enough clean sheets of paper saved throughout the year to cover this project.  

The second project we started was an illustration of an "Eco-Hero" cover page.  I had a few long pieces of mat board that I got from the recycling bin at a framing gallery- so every student got a nice 6x8" 'hardcover' to work with.  The kids were asked to come up with the outline of a character who would be the hero of an illustrated book.  The main character had to have an eco-mission of their own and it was the students' task to illustrate them with a nice clean outline and one accent color.  They were really successful, and I love that everyone created such different characters.  Student comments follow the pics.  Great day in the air conditioned classroom!  Miró tomorrow!

"Today's projects were my favorite so far."

"I love the simplicity of Mondrian's artwork."

"I really liked being able to draw the cartoon characters in black and white and only doing an accent color."

Tuesday- updated Cityscapes with cut scrap paper

On Tuesday, students used what was left of the cardboard and scrap paper from last week and created their own version of the Cityscapes.  This week's version with the cut paper windows are particularly striking.  Because we are studying "Line" in artwork, we tried to make the cityscapes more crisp and realistic.  Take a look at the works in progress! Student comments follow pics~

"Using scrap paper for the windows was time consuming but worth the results."

LINE- theme of the week

Start of week 2, and the kids got an introduction to Wassily Kandinsky and his abstract artwork. We used pieces of mat board that I was able to recycle from a framing gallery (will name later if I get permission from the manager). The theme this week is "Line" so students were asked to draw geometric shapes and change the colors wherever lines were intersecting (...sneaking a math lesson in here too!). The amazing thing about today's class is that when I mentioned that Kandinsky had the gift of "Synaesthesia Cognate", one student actually knew what I was talking about. Smart kids!!

We outlined shapes in oil pastels and filled in larger areas with watercolor paints. Unfortunately, we are all quiet on the 'student comment' front today (I wasn't able to take a pic of the comment board before the instructor for the next class erased it). I'll be quicker tomorrow, I promise!