I am surprised that I am up posting right now as today was an exhausting day. The kind of day I would not trade for anything but I am tired. The art room was double booked all day today and will be again tomorrow to make sure that all of my 1-5 grade artists are able to meet Will "Kasso" Condry, Muralist, to view him painting a mural in the art room "live" and to participate in a collaborative circle painting project that I am running. Busy, busy, busy. All that were in the art room today know one thing with certainty--->Will Condry is quite incredible. Before I fall asleep, here are a few photos from the day.
Update: June 28, 2013. This blog post has been VERY popular due to Pinterest and has generated thousands of page views for this blog since Dec. 2011. If you create a project inspired by this post, please share your results and link back! Have fun!
I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE THESE CIRCLE PAINTINGS
.....and now..... Kasso mural sneak peek...and he's not nearly done....
He painted in these expressive circles the "skeleton" for this section of the mural in minutes.
student asks a question to Will Condry while he paints
Starting next week and lasting for a few days, Will "Kasso" Condry, founder of S.A.G.E Collective, a group of phenomenal mural artists responsible for dozens of incredible exterior murals in Trenton, Philadelphia and New York will be working with a small group of students to develop ideas for a mural in the art room. Students and staff at Bear Tavern will have the opportunity to watch Mr. Condry paint the final mural live and insert the student created designs.
S.A.G.E Collective recently completed commission work in Hopewell, NJ on the Highland Farm during the Hopewell Tour Des Arts. See below for a video of the two days worth of painting!
We are looking to commission Mr. Condry and S.A.G.E Collective to do an exterior mural this spring and to bring the Bear Tavern students, staff and families together to assist with the painting-a true community project. Stay tuned...
I mentioned that all students would be able to view Mr. Condry painting live next week. While Mr. Condry is painting, we will be doing collaborative circle paintings.
I first learned of the Circle Painting organization a few years ago and love, love, love their work. The spiritual nature of circles/self coupled with working on a painting as a group is awesome.
Although the Circle Painting group is not coming to Bear Tavern (yet), we are going to do our own!
See below for a nice clip on Circle Paintings
Here's a peek at the celebrity portraits Art Enrichment is working on. They are doing a fabulous job! The kids are working to draw the other half of a celebrity face they chose for themselves. By attempting to match the face they are going to learn a ton about how to draw accurate faces.
Key concepts for day 2:
1. Be patient when drawing realistically
2. Use your judgement-if it looks funny, it (facial parts) probably are off
3. Proportions matter and the eyes matter even more
4. The Element of Design VALUE is critical when making people look real.
5. Look, really look before you draw. Don't assume, look and draw
I am so impressed with how day 2 of this project is going. The kids are really measuring proportions well and creating a great outline foundation for the faces that will be shaded later.
What do the 4th graders and I share in common? We love these functional art repousse boxes that we are making!
After discussing metal work and copper tooling, I hope students appreciate the skill it takes to make intricate designs in metals of all thicknesses.
After creating a sketch of a sun or flower, students followed step to create a nice repousse design. Day 2 was to paint the boxes with metallic paints
Eva N.
.
We discussed the outside of the box and how to make it more ornate. One 4th grader suggested utilizing the scrap metal to add metal designs in areas on the sides of the boxes. What do you think I said? YES! Let's go for it! So students have the option of utilizing the scrap metal if they choose.
5th graders are finishing up the Name Pyramids project that reviewed the Elements of Design: line, shape and color that I blogged about earlier this month.
Here are pictures of the ceramic Garden of Hope mural we put up at the end of October for Breast Cancer Awareness. All students helped to install the mural.
3rd graders are wrapping up their 'Monster Mama' portraits this week and beginning new projects. I love this lesson for a few reasons:
1. It was shared with me (and the other elementary art teachers over the years) by Linda Bradshaw, Retired Art Teacher from Hopewell Elementary School. I really enjoyed working with Mrs. Bradshaw and find her to be an extraordinary teacher and person.
2. It is a great example of how to blend art and literature
3. The kids love this project!
I started out by purchasing a copy of "Monster Mama" by Liz Rosenberg on Amazon.com. I was lucky and got a copy of this hard to find book at a great price. I couldn't wait for the book to arrive as this lesson MUST be taught AFTER reading, looking at and discussing the story and accompanying illustrations.
Next, we worked on drawing a screaming face of correct proportions followed by smudging the skin with oil pastels. The following week we had a blast adding the hair using watercolors and straws to blow the crazy hair.
From the time you receive your brown paper assignment bag in art class until the due date listed below, it is your job to collect 50-100 "little things" from everyday life. You will select ONE type of item and then collect 50-100 of the exact same item. (Small variations in the item are okay)
Tara Donovan is a Sculptor that creates huge sculptures using everyday objects in an interesting way. Because she uses tons of the exact same object to create her sculptures, the sculptures are very interesting and help you to appreciate the everyday "little things" better.
"It's not about how many, it's what they come together to create"
Some examples of items you can collect in your bag are: pencils, pens, buttons, paper clips, hair ties, little caps, straws, ....you name it. Think about a tiny everyday object that you come across a lot. If you collected 50-100 of them, will they ALL be small enough to fit in your bag? Can you alter the size so that they do fit??
Would the object be interesting to create a sculpture out of?
You will be using your "little things" in art to create a fantastic sculpture that will be simply "genius"
See below for more information on Tara Donovan!
P.S. If you can find "little things" that you would normally throw away, save the environment and use those "little things" in this art project!
Person standing UNDER styrofoam cups installation! They look like hornet nests, or hives don't they?
Tara Donovan is an inventive young sculptor whose installations bring wonder to the most common objects of everyday life. Donovan’s site-specific, sculptural works transform ordinary accumulated materials into intriguing visual and physical installations. Choosing a single object – such as a transparent drinking straw, scotch tape, a Styrofoam cup, or a paper clip – Donovan experiments with assembling it in different ways. Sensitive to the specific needs of her materials and the nature of her exhibit spaces, her installations are often arranged in ways reminiscent of geological or biological forms.
Pencils!!
Thank you to....
Eve. A fabulous 2nd grade artist who inspired this grade level project when she recently shared a Tara Donovan inspired project with me that she created at The Met.
START COLLECTING NOW- you have a little over one month!
I've been branded by the term "ROCKS" and thought I'd start this post explaining why I use the term a good bit.
When I was teaching over at Timberlane, the middle schoolers used the term "rocks" a LOT. Well, now it's 2 years later and although I am no longer at Timberlane, the term has stuck.
At Bear Tavern and Toll Gate we LOVE clay. It's awesome... it rocks!
Here are the place mats that I made last year for use while creating ceramic projects and/or glazing them. I just took them out and will be using them a ton.
Abigale working on her guppy @ BT
On each place mat there are ceramic vocabulary terms highlighting handbuilding methods, the kiln, glazes and tools.
I want my students to have a good art vocabulary and will be working to increase their working vocabulary in several ways.
It's important for students to develop a concept and work through an idea for entry into contests. Last year I sent off a ton of entries for the annual Doodle for Google national contest and we had one student who made it to a State Finalist. Our annual Yearbook cover design contest is more intimate and submissions are reserved for 5th grade students. Although I am not in charge of the Yearbook contest, I do take the time to talk with each 5th grade class about creating a clear, legible and interesting design.I also provide paper and supplies as needed. Every single entry will be printed in the yearbook because they are all awesome!
In house contests are very difficult to judge because I truly liked every single entry! From over 20 submissions, 8 were selected by a panel of 5 judges for students to pick the winner. And here it is:
2011-2012 Winning Yearbook Cover Design by Chelsea G.
Here are a couple other entries. I will post more soon!
Check out the barrel/basket of apples my 4th graders made. The 4th graders are super pastel blending machines and we'll refine skills as we go.
We looked at several of Cezanne's Still Life with Apples and practiced drawing circular shapes and drawing from simple shapes.
Last week I posted that Grounds for Sculpture was having an Iron Pour. It was incredible! Witnessing sculptors of heavy duty and industrial materials work is amazing and I have a tremendous amount of respect for these sculptors. Think about it... melted metals like iron being poured to create incredibly large and/or intricately small works.
Leading the pour was local Sculptor Rory Mahon. See the pictures below of the funace, the molten hot iron being poured into molds and other images. In the museum building @ GFS, Rory and others have iron work on display along with some sketches I really loved of Steve Tobins' Aerial Roots.
Steve Tobin working on a roots sculpture
Coal to heat furnace
furnace... boy does it get hot!
Rory's wife, Ayami Aoyama who sculpts from stone like heavy duty granite was also there along with a whole gang of incredible sculptors. A fantastic day.
Liquid iron being poured into mold
The scratch molds. Nice designs!
Rory Mahon, Sculptor.
Look @ all of his protective clothing!
LOVE this Sumi-E sketch by Tobin
My Tots on Tour group checking out Aerial Roots
Random, un-assembled sculpture on Johnson Atelier property. Large sculptures are created in pieces that join together. Makes transporting and creating them easier
