Art for a Rainy Day/ Long Weekend

Here's a durable, easy project that is a lot of fun to do on a rainy day like today (or at any point over this 4 day weekend)

MELTED CRAYON ART

In our art room, we have one by the sink. It has held up quite nicely over the years to touch, splashes, etc. My daughter and I used hot glue to secure the crayons to a board (you can reuse a piece of cardboard or any strong surface) and a hot blow dryer to melt the crayons. It will take close to a full minute before you see the crayons begin to melt and drip. 

Crayon projects have been quite popular recently. The original straight line-up of crayons, like the one we did 4 years ago, have now turned into pretty awesome designs. 

Very creative!

Try using a stencil and mask out the area you do not want coated in crayon for a cool result. You can use a piece of contact paper cutout of a letter or shape to help or a piece of reused cardboard taped down well.

 If you have an silicone muffin pan, you can cut up crayons to make new, shaped crayons as well! Google "melted crayons art" and have fun!!

Here are a few links:

http://www.kidskubby.com/melted-crayon-art-projects/

http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/17374/wax-crayon-art

Also of interest for this weekend is the annual ART ALL DAY. Art lovers can tour artists studios and have a fun artsy day this Saturday, November 8th. 

More info and a schedule of events:

http://artworkstrenton.org/art-all-day

Happy Creating!!

(All photos courtesy of the Internet.)

Grade 5 (and Art in the Park) Candy Paintings

Fifth graders are finishing up candy wrapper paintings right now. The focus on these has been...sweet! 

I will post the images as they are finished but wanted to share photographs from this past summer when I taught a similar lesson during Art in the Park.

We began by selecting a wrapper that had a composition that appealed to each student and had awesome colors. 

This summer at Art in the Park, we did not have access to computers so the kids worked from real wrappers vs. my 5th graders had time to use online resources to find a wrapper from present day or decades ago.

My 5th graders cropped their wrapper down and enlarged the image onto to their paper. 

We spent a full class period observing and drawing the enlarged design followed by fun times painting in the wrapper as realistically as possible. 

Yummy, candy wrappers drying in the summer air

Students hard at work carefully painting in their drawings

Stay tuned for more delicious results!

Clifford Ward and Indigene

Just wanted to quickly say that I now have a 4th favorite ox, "Indigene" by Clifford Ward.

I'll be honest with you, I didn't need to see this ox to know it would be amazing... Simply because it is by Clifford Ward, a Sculptor who I have had the pleasure to meet numerous times at Grounds for Sculpture (where I have worked for the past 13 years and where he has a pretty awesome studio space).

His work is incredible. Inspired by tribal designs from African, Native Americans, Aboriginal cultures. Love the high contrast designs. 

Enough ox talk for now. 

Cover Ox

Just had to say, "Aww, how sweet!"

I just saw the cover of this years BT school directory and it's Oxie on the cover! What a neat idea and great surprise for the day. Our PTO at Bear Tavern is so clever and creative. 

Lauren in the main office was excited to show me that on several of the pages there is a little snapshot of different parts of Oxie. 

Thanks again and again to the BTPTO for this cover spot. 

Art Enrichment: Altering Maps post 2

 The altering of the maps is going along well. I am really impressed to see the creativity happening as the Art Enrichment students cut and paint and collage their maps for the backgrounds of their tree project with no limitations on what they can create.

Check out the first post on this journey here 

2014-15 Yearbook Cover Design Contest

Ooh la la... take a look at the yearbook cover entries for this year by our fabulous fifth graders!

Mrs. Prosser spent the morning hanging the entries in the display cases. 

Our school community has the next two weeks to vote for their favorite cover. Hard choice, so many great ones!!

 Here is a small, random sample of the entries

Great job 5th graders and look luck!

Update: 10/31/2014
The winning entry was cover #2 by Liam

The Best Things in Life....

Great news for our school community today. We get to keep our Ox! The 5th grade committees from 2014 and 2015 worked together to fund the generous gift. Dexter Philip Oxford, III "Oxie" went for $1,700. What a huge gift!

A colleague just texted me that we won the ox and here's my response:

I do feel pride and relief that our ox will stay at home in front of the school but more so than that, I genuinely appreciate the connectedness of those in our school community who made this happen. I felt that the gift, was already given once I knew that the 5th grade committees were planning to bid on and win the ox. 

The bigger picture, the connectedness, is the real gift for me. Knowing that the painted ox meant enough for others to bid and win this piece of sculpture for our school. It means a whole lot to me. 

The best things in life are definitely not things...the best things in life are people...it's memories and being connected with those around us.

It looks as though all of the schools will be keeping their oxen as well. Huge relief for us all!

A special thank you to the 5th grade committee and Britt Dominick for making this happen for our school. 

Our Art Enrichment Journey Begins with Maps and Trees

 I am really excited that a new year of fifth grade art enrichment began this week. It is through this after-school class that I get to know each student differently and explore ideas and art in general together as a class.

Our journey began this week with a drawing of a tree that we are watercolor washing. My students really seem to be enjoying the free nature of drawing a tree and adding character to the tree with texture using lines created with permanent marker. Watching the kids pull from techniques for drawing branches last year with the van Gogh 'Almond Blossoms" lesson was awesome to see. The delicate nature in which many students added branches that stretched and twisted and grew in all directions was personally fulfilling. 

I have been slowly collecting maps and atlases for a couple of years.. Tucked away in a tupperware container I have maps that were in some glove compartments well over a decade ago. As a child, I enjoyed reading maps as we took family trips. I wonder if maps are even for sale on the racks at pit stops anymore now that technology has diminished the paper versions.

Using watercolor, I painted a map of the Greater New York area. Next week, my students will alter the maps by not only adding color to their own but by cutting them in a way that can create a beautiful, mixed-media background. 

 

My main interest in maps has been the collage potential while using them and the pride that I took as a child in having a good sense of direction and being able to read maps well. A longtime colleague of mine from Grounds for Sculpture, Aylin Green, has used dress pattens in her gorgeous mixed media contemporary art that I have always admired the quality of.

Aylin Green

When I saw the work of Australian artist, Loretta Grayson, I felt the same interest in the quality of her work and the use of beautiful, collaged papers to communicate to the viewer. The colors of the maps coupled with the arrangement of the assembled portions is simply beautiful.

Loretta Grayson 

Loretta Grayson

Stay tuned....