Summer Challenge

Connecting with kids in the summer...a great thought but tricky in our rural area.

But if I do say so myself, I was struck with a GENIUS idea. I think...

This summer, I started an Art Challenge on my school's awesome Facebook page.

Each week, an artist focus will capture attention with an exciting art challenge for them to do if they wish to earn a BIG PRIZE.

On Wednesdays, I post a new art challenge. Student artists will have until the next Wednesday to post or have parents post photos of their work in the comments section of the challenge.  Each week they post a photo, I enter their name into a drawing for a set of gel pens.

I can just see myself now at the Fall Open House with a large audience of people waiting, waiting, waiting to hear the two names I draw for the BIG PRIZE.



Social Anxiety

  The starter challenge I will post today speaks to the fairy garden in all of my students. In the 80's, while visiting the Chicago Art Institute, I fell in love with Charles Simond's Little World in the cafe of the institute. His work became the impetus for the first ever PC Summer Art Challenge. Create a little world! 

Below: The challenge I posted

"Artist Charles Simonds created Little Worlds. You can see one of those Little Worlds at the Chicago Art Institute in a brick wall in the cafe. The Des Moines Art Center also has a Charles Simonds little world in their collection made of sand, brick, and sticks. Little worlds are places Charles Simonds has seen or imagined. He then took his ideas and  made them into tiny 3-D worlds. Think of his little worlds like a fairy garden, or a copy of a place you have been, but made really tiny. You can see how tiny the worlds he created are when you look at the pictures and especially the one with his hand in it. Your first challenge is to be like Charles Simonds and.....Make a tiny place of your own! You could create a little world in your sandbox using little people, twigs, leaves, or cars. Other ideas are to create the little world in your house, pool, backyard, the park- anywhere! Use natural or man- made materials( or both together). Anything goes, the only requirement of the challenge is to create a tiny place of your own. Pictures of your work should be posted in the comments below by next Wednesday when I'll have a new challenge for you."

A few pictures of what kids sent in!

Tent and campfire-Sixth Grade Student

 



The Eiffel Tower-First Grade Student

Ball Field- Third Grade Student

#socialmediaisgoodforsomethingeducationalandandartistic

Happy Summer!

Kusama Pop Art Pumpkins

Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkins have become one of my students' favorite projects. Why, just the other day as I was rummaging through my file cabinet filled with inspiration, a few of my students were elbow deep in there with me. Suddenly one of my examples of a Kusama - Pop Art Pumpkin emerged to shouts of, “Hey, Mrs. C-G, this was my favorite! Can we do it again?”

I encouraged them to keep digging, and the entire time, the three 10-year-old archeologists kept reminiscing of last year when they created their own versions of Kusma’s Yellow Pumpkin in Naoshima.

This, I will admit, is one of my favorite lessons to teach, for so many reasons.

1 - I love teaching this lesson in the fall when the students all think we’re drawing pumpkins that will turn into jack-o-lanterns.  After all, what else would you do to a pumpkin? I then tell them we're going to cover them with dots. They think I've lost it. We plan, work tirelessly, and as projects begin nearing completion, we all start seeing spots.

2 – her avant-garde work lends itself to interpretation for elementary students. It’s bright, colorful, rhythmic, and encourages them to think outside the box. We add to this project the exploration of wax resist with liquid watercolors, which brings a new level of excitement during production.

3 –my mini galleries were introduced, years ago, during the first launch of this lesson. (See example below.)

Now, I’m not taking credit for inventing this idea, that goes to some other amazing art teacher out there. I am taking credit for not letting such a cool idea go by without using it. I love these not only for introducing the art and artist, but they're perfect for hanging with a hallway display to educate the viewers about the art and artist too.

4 – it’s a project in which everyone finds success! 

      …and they want to do it again. If only I’d let them.

Kindergarten Magic Art

In the last few weeks of school, I teach a Kindergarten theme called Magic Art. Surprises and experiments are a fun end of the year way to keep students interested while teaching the elements of art. My students love combining literature and play with our art works.  Below are the lessons and books I use with the magic idea, along with the materials list. 

Abracadabra! Art is made.

Magic Line

Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson

White crayon resist with white oil pastel lines on white watercolor paper make a beautiful line base.  When students brush watercolor paint over the white crayon, it causes magic oohs and ahhs. You can add salt and lemon juice for more magic fun!



I am so thankful to have a kindergarten teacher who makes room for artwork outside of her classroom!

Tissue Paper Dye Spring Flowers

Beautiful Oops by, Barney Saltzberg (two art periods)

Apply tissue paper to large watercolor paper with brushes and water. The magic occurs the second art period when they peel away the tissue paper to reveal beautiful color. I gave them a long narrow piece of watercolor paper, and then a bigger piece of paper for a second artwork. I knew they would be done quickly with the first paper, and they were! It does make a large dyed mess, but I always have wipes on hand and you can protect tables before the project starts. You definitely need a large area to dry them.

Mouse Play Dough Mix

 Mouse Paint, by Ellen Stoll Walsh

I pass out the colored play dough two primary colors at a time. Many kindergarten students will mix them all up at once and make a brownish color. My goal is to make sure they could merge the two primary colors to make secondary colors. Of course, as they are squishing their play dough, we pretend they are little mice, mixing up their colors before the cat sees  them.

 

A Twist on Teaching Line

Kooky - crooked - spirals - wavy - bending - zig-zags - twirling - repeating - weird - wiggly. 

These were just a few of the adjectives that filled our art space discussion, as the third and fourth grade artists studied the art element line the other day.

Sure, you can always grab some drawing tools and have them draw lines, but this year I wanted to take our lines to another level. We made 3D lines using bright and colorful quilling paper. It's narrow, long, and easy to manipulate for the most part. A few Band-aids later, from all the paper cuts, my new approach to line study appeared to have been a success.

We curled, we bent, we rolled, we stretched - not only paper strips, but our imaginations. Our 3D sculptural lines and forms came alive with each new idea. My little artists were thrilled with the variety of lines that were emerging and interacting with other lines as our study continued. It appeared as if there were an endless supply of movement found in our creations and around the room as everyone wanted to share a new way they discovered to shape their lines. Gotta love collaboration!