Together We Can Make a World of Difference

Here is how we kicked off the school year... I am so thrilled to have FINALLY created a collaborative project that also reflects my philosophy as an art teacher. I have been wanting to create something, anything with whole school. Since this was the first year attempting, we keep it to K-8. Next year, perhaps we will go for K-12!

Kim, the 7th and 8th grade art teacher did a beautiful job explaining the project...

The students in kindergarten through 8^th grade created artworks of their hands from recycled materials, and combined them all together to make an artwork of the world.  Each hand artwork is unique and created with thought and care, just as each of our students are unique individuals.  All of the hands were combined into an artwork of the world, visually conveying how we all can join together and contribute to something bigger than ourselves.

Through this creative process the students were able to explore the many repurposed journaling materials and treasures that can be found in the art rooms, which are perfect materials for creating unique and sustainable art pieces. The art program at Woodlawn provides students with the tools, knowledge, and inspiration to incorporate sustainable practices and materials into their own art.

Below are pictures of the “Together We Can Make a World of Difference” collaborative art piece.

The final product...

Yay for recycled art!

food face...

Last year I went to the National Gallery in D.C. and saw an awesome exhibition on Giuseppe Arcimboldo. His paintings are incredibly detailed and super interesting. I have been dying to do a project that relates to his art.

Finally, the time has come. 3rd grade is studying botany. They had a whole bunch of veggies brought to school and they studied, drew, dissected, and tasted all the different vegetables. When they were finished examining the veggies, I had them brought to art class. We learned about Mr. Arcimboldo and created some faces from the vegetables! So cool. It was also a great exercise in working groups and to get another use out the vegetables!

The final product... (all waste was composted and will be used in the school gardens!)

 

Artwork at the top of post:

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Vertumnus, 1590

re-butt... what!?

So I have this friend name Amy... she is a total rock star!!! Anyway, Amy over heard a conversation in which two college students were talking mad smack about art degrees.... Well that is just unacceptable. This in turn got Amy to create a book project called Artistic Rebuttal. Here is a quote from Amy on the project...

"Now I’m not naïve, I realize that this really is what some people think about art who don’t live artistic lives, but people this young? I thought the youth of this country were more appreciative of art as a lifestyle and a valid career choice. Their sentiments enraged me (and what I have realized about myself is that it usually takes a bout of anger to get me moving), so, in artistic fashion, I want to make a book full of rebuttals to the “art is worthless” debate. That is to say, a book full of “Oh yeah! Art is worthless? Take this!” But with a bit more research and validity, of course :)"

I think this is super important for everyone especially our young generations and just a flat out awesome idea. I asked Amy if some of my students could participate. And of course she said yes... maybe there will even be a children addition!!!


ANYONE CAN SUBMIT A REBUTTAL... if you are interested please check out the website!!!


If you have tons of money and want to help get the book published donate some monnnney!!

Here are a few rebuttals from some of the 229 artists who have contributed...

my rebuttal :)

I had all of my students K-5 and some of my upper school students decided to also participate... Here are a few!! (Please note that I did not assist them at all with this...)

http://artisticrebuttal.tumblr.com/

reticule...

Third graders are on a covered wagon trip across the country.... What do they need?? A reticule... in case you don't know what that is... (because I definitely did)...

It is a woman's small bag or purse, usually in the form of a pouch with a drawstring and made of net, beading, brocade, etc. used in 18th and 19th centuries. (thanks thefreedictionary.com)

Anyway... each kid designed their own reticule (and yes I left out the fact that it was a woman's purse so the boys would want to create one.)

We used fabric and puff paint to color in the designs. And finally, the kids sewed the sides together...

This was a cute and quick little project...

The kids are going to use their reticule in class to hold their covered wagon note cards.

portraits...

3rd grade is studying Jamestown!! And what goes along with Jamestown?... POCAHONTAS AND JOHN SMITH!!!

So... we created John Smith, Pocahontas, and Powhatan portraits.  The kids are writing a report in LA on one of the these three. They draw a portrait of the person they were writing their report on.

I think 3rd grade is a great time to introduce portrait drawing. I did a demonstration on drawing the correct face shape and breaking the face down with lines. It is very difficult for some kids to get the face shape right. But have them keep working at it. I had pictures of the 3 people for the kids to look at.


Once the kids finish drawing out their portrait... we made it look old!

Last year, I had this great cream colored paper that made the portraits look old. I do not have anymore of this awesome paper, so I thought we could use white paper and "antique" it. To make it look "antiqued" I had the kids crumple up their paper.

It was so cute seeing the kids nervous to... "ruin" their art. After the kids crumpled up their art, they watercolored with blue or brown over the entire paper.

 

After the portraits were painted, I ironed them to dry them out. Lastly, the kids traced over their drawings to make them darker.

Here they are...