dreams...

So, I am the type of person who has the cra cra craziest dreams ever! Ask any of my many roommates... most mornings I wake up and say " I just had a really weird dream."

So... on this particular day of summer camp I had one of those "I just remembered my dream" moments. Thus this little project was born.

I had an age range from Kinder to 3rd graders in this group at camp. I was not sure if this project would work... but of course, I showed no fear and went for it.


The kids had to choose a dream they could remember and create a mixed media collage. I was surprised and very happy that even my kindergartner had a dream she remembered! Some kids were concerned with the fact that they could not remember everything. I told them to make it up if things were a bit hazy!

I let them use magazines, paper, tempera, watercolor, wallpaper, and other stuff I can't remember right now. They could use really anything 2-d they wanted.

Art inspired by kid dreams...

 Kinder

 3rd grade

3rd grade

p.s. this is not the last you will hear of my weirdo dreams!

thanks....

droid for an awesome app that makes photos look super duper cool...

Abandoned Faith
Amalia, VA

queen city....

Last but obviously not least... here is the final piece of art created from local communities: Charlotte!!!

The kids got to go on a walking tour of Charlotte. How fun to get to experience a big... ok...well small city, but big to a 3rd grader. Anyway, they walk around looking at the buildings and monuments and statues. Oh my!

In art class, we all decided on creating the Gold Rush trolley that Charlotte has for public transportation. The kids drew out the Gold Rush (they were allowed to take come creative liberties on how the trolleys actually look). Next, the students colored with color pencils. And finally they tissue paper collaged...

I love the tissue paper collage. It's a huge mess but very fun. It definitely takes patience and a certain level of skill using their little fingers.


Gold Rushhhhhhhhhh...

president...

busts!!!!!

Oh my... 

So my first year teaching (3 long years ago) I decide to take on a monstrosity of a project. Call it a novice mistake or call it youthful thinking... but this project was big, messy, and took forever....

BUT IT WAS NOTHING SHORT OF AWESOME. 

Here it is... the presidents of the US (bust only) create by my 5th graders (of 2008).

Vocabulary:

•Three-dimensional - Having height, width, and depth

•Sculpture - Artwork that is three-dimensional

•Form - Forms are 3-Dimensional. They occupy space or give the illusion that they occupy space.

•Bust - The head and shoulders of a person

•Realistic – The representation in art or literature of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form.

•Positive space:  The space a form occupies in an artwork. The actual material of the sculpture

•Negative space:  The empty space in and around an object that helps define the sculpture.

Background Info:

Sculpture is the creation of three-dimensional forms. A sculpture is a three-dimensional object, which means that you can walk all the way around it and see many different views. A form is an object defined by height, depth, and width. Sculpture is created through three basic processes: carving, modeling, or assembly.  

Each student was doing a report in LA/SS on a president. They had to create a paper mache bust of that president. We used thin and thick cardboard for the shoulders and neck and a balloon for the head. We paper mached the entire thing and added cardboard facial features.

So it only took about 3 month to create these bad boys... worth it? I think yes. Will I do it again? Perhaps I will muster up the courage....one day...

 

one day of school last week....

makes getting back into the swing of things kinda hard.... This surely does help though...

Artist: The Heligoats
Song: Fishsticks
Album: Goodness Gracious

working together...

is oh so awesome.... I am super excited about this little collaborative ditty we are doing with the first grade.

First, the kids each created a fantasy fish... I told them the sky is the limit when making your fish... I let them color with markers.

Once they finished creating their fantasy fish... they can go and create a background. I laid out long two long sheets of rolled newprint. They were probably 5 to 6 feet long. I have twelve first graders, so there were six kids to a background. The paper was big enough that each child had room to work. I gave them freedom on the background.... and they went crazy!!!

Once the piece had enough going on (which it quickly filled up)... they colored with crayons and then watercolored with blue over the entire paper. Last, we glued down the fish. I have the kids glue the fish with space between each. This way I can cut up the final piece and each kid will get to take home their fish with a collaborative background.

Check it out!

 Details:

every art class needs....

a mini Van Gogh and Starry Night...

These little guys sit on my windowsill... the kids love them!

mosaic with meaning...

Ok Ok so here is the third piece of art created from local communities: Cornelius!!!

So way back when there use to be this bad to the bone tree in the middle of Cornelius. This was the meeting place of town-folks to get the daily gossip and info on the goings on around town.  The tree of knowledge was chopped down... and guess what was put there instead??? A gas station. Oh gee how nice...

For this project, we create a tree of knowledge paper mosaic. We look at many different examples of mosaics. To mix things up a bit, I let them come to the board and write up different materials mosaics are made from.

I tell the kids they have to imagine what they thought the tree of knowledge would have looked like. I did a demo on how to draw a non broccoli tree. I also showed the kids the size of the paper chips we were going to use. They need to make sure they draw big enough so the paper pieces will fit into the branches. They have the choice of season and background for this mosaic.

The kids first sketched the trees and then went right into mosaicing.

I think 3rd grade is a good year to attack the paper mosaic. It takes some time, but they have enough fine motor skills to use smallish pieces of paper, but it's still a bit challenging for them... The mosaics are just so charming though!!

*** Make sure to demo the gluing process... AND remind them often!! I looked up a few time and there was glue explosions!!

Here are the mosaics...

Artwork at the top of the post:
Unknown Artist, Mosaic Alter, Church of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha, 685 AD

darling i'm tired...

sleep sweetly with this song and rain drop bouncing around your mind...

Artist: Margot and the Nuclear So and So's
Song: As Tall As Cliffs (Live on Conan)
Album: Animal

tribute to a chief...FINISHED!

So... the tribal shields and masks are complete. The 5th grade did a very nice job making these bad boys look authentic....

We are now currently working on the performance art piece. I was nervous to introduce this part of the lesson. We looked at the blue man group (which the kids loved when I pulled up youtube) versus the Nutcracker. I was unsure if the kids were going to be able to understand the difference and point of performance art. But to my surprise, they understood beautifully and are creating some really neat performances.

patience children...

You will finish... eventually!

Here it is... the pointillism project! Whoot whoot...

This project to great for the 4th grade because:
1. they have enough skills to produce a nice drawing
2. they are impatient and this teaches them they can not rush
3. it is a great way to remind them of foreground, middle ground, and background
4. they like to see all the tiny dots in the paintings

So first we talk in depth about the art "isms" ... I have them name as many as they can... Almost everyone knows about impressionism, so it easy for them to understand that pointillism was developed from impressionism.

I go into detail about why these artists use dots, how the colors are applied next to each other and the eye blends them, even that the name pointillism was making fun of the art (back in the day)... I show many examples and details of the paintings.

The students must:
-create a landscape
-have foreground, middle ground, and background


We use markers to make our pointillism pictures...

 The finished product...

Artwork at the top of post:
Georges Seurat, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884-86


P.S. If they complain a lot just tell them it took Mr. Seurat two years to complete the one painting. That will make them think for at least a minute.