Imagine Art Exhibition

Tomorrow the pinup screens are moved into the exhibition space for Imagine!! I am looking forward to getting all the art work up. It will be one big task but have lots of great helpers. Photos will be posted asap.

ART BLAST Exhibition Fremantle

The 2010 Art Blast exhibition is up and fantastic. The four day art display represents the best art from 30 plus schools in our district.From preschool to year 12 the variety and creativity displayed is awesome. Our school has been involved for 11 years now and I am proud to say we continue to shine. It is a result of our students having visual arts taught by a specialist from preschool ( 5 yrs). With a rich arts focus in our school it enriches the total learning experience our children are given . I will put up photos in a couple of days after we have our Professional development based on the art exhibition. It is a bit of a show and tell session. And we learn so much from each other. I always come away inspired.

The Imagine Art Auction is up and Running

All my Blogger friends - you are welcome to have a look at my schools Visual Art Silent Auction art works which the students and I have been working on for three months. I finally finished the last mounting and framing today. The display is all set up in the front office at school. I have just finished posting all the art works on the school Exhibition blog site

Imagine is the exhibition name.

Here is the link to the blog site -

http://beeliarartauction2010.blogspot.com/

There a re lots of ideas and new techniques .

The auction is only for our school community.

Cheryl

2d Cardboard Bird Houses -3d Birds- Clay Year 1/2

I recently uploaded an Image of my 3d bird houses. I was also due to upload the 2d images-forgot too so will do that when I retake the photos after having problems with my camera. I have to acknowledge Patty from Deep Space Sparkle for the inspiration. I also found these absolutely cute cardboard ones on the Fem Manuales blog . Scroll down quite a bit to locate them.

http://manualescanigo.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-05-19T19:12:00%2B02:00&max-results=15

So I have to say these were such a great project for the little ones- Years 1/2 .

I used thin cardboard that was inside the middle of the calendars my friend gave me. We then drew the shape of the bird house in Black permanent marker and painted them with pastel shades of acrylic paint. We then embellished them with gold and silver paint and retouched up with the black pens. To finish we cut them out( some littles found come parts of the cutting out difficult)

I intend to display them like Cristina on a large tree shape painted white on black paper.

We also made the

Organising blogs - I need to have up to date links

I love blogging but does any one know how to have the links with pics and have them move up the links list when they are just updated. It would save me so much time. I am sure someone out there knows how.

Franz Marc Tigers

Its the Year of the Tiger-and although it is drawing to a close , I thought it was time to show off a few examples of the Year 7's multimedia art works based on Franz Marc's amazing art work. Franz Marc artistic legacy is formidable despite his life being cut cruelly short with his death in World War I. My students began by drawing tigers and then simplifying them into sharp angles with a ruler. This design was then transferred into a collograph printing block. The outline shape was then transferred onto the background. That area was painted in yellow or orange with tempera block paint. The rest of the background was drawn up using a ruler to create a landscape. The students then used a combination of warm / cool colours. The students then printed their tigers using a black ink. To complete the artwork black crayon was applied to outline the background shapes and apply tone.

Cats ceramic - Faux Blue Porcelain Glaze

After visiting a very large private school exhibition I was inspired to create these ceramic cats with my year 2/3's. The Owl and the Pussy Cat was the idea. You have already seen the owls so here are the cats. The heads are made with a small ball of clay (golf ball size). The body is made from a slightly larger ball of clay . Push thumb into ball of clay and gently squeeze it down around the thumb to shape body. Join on head with water or slip. Use a large skewer to slightly hollow out the inside of the head. Shape ears and nose. . Draw on nose and whiskers. Roll tiny balls of clay for eyes. We made small sockets first . Join eyes onto head with water. Roll a small tail and attach. I used a phillips head screw driver to texture the body. We did not bother with creating legs. After firing we painted the cats with a watered down acrylic paint. We used cobalt blue. Experiment with the dilution to get the desired result. The thinner it is the more translucent in appearance. I have used an aquamarine colour previously to create a celadon effect. Allow to dry and spray with a clear gloss varnish. I could also imagine this would be perfect for creating the gorgeous Egyptian Hippopotamus.

Cute clay owls

I have just finished gluing paper clips on the back of my kids cute clay owls. I found the technique at http://4crazykings.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-make-quick-clay-owl.html. It was very easy and fast. Once fired they were coloured with crayon and then brushed with Sumi-e ink. Hope you find this lesson a great 3D addition to your 2D owl lessons.

Check Out a couple of my older posts re Wild Things and Bird Houses

I have just updated a couple of older posts with some photos. I am so delighted with the results of the kids art. The clay work is fantastic. I will upload some new work over the next week or two as I enjoy a small break mid semester.

Warhol Cats Years 1/2

I have just finished mounting the cat drawing and paintings my 1/2s made earlier this year - the exhibition is only 8 weeks away and hence the need to get as much mounted and velcroed before we break in 4 weeks time before the onset of 4th term and the craziness it brings. Inspiration for this book was the beautiful cat drawings 'Sam' by Andy Warhol. After reading the children the book Uncle Andy's Cats by James Warhola I handed out examples of his cat drawings. They drew them so beautifully in their art diaries. We then drew over them with a black fine line Pen. I photocopied them onto quality paper as they were just so good. They then painted the p/copies with tempera paint - in similar colours to Andy Warhol. They just didn't look complete- so we finished them using Sumi -e ink and chinese calligraphy pens ( very cheap on Ebay). Check out the results- remembering these kids are only 7 and 8 years old.

Where the Wild Things Are 2D and 3D Art -Brilliant

The Classic Children's Book Where the Wild Things Are is a fantastic starting point for a combined Literacy and Art Lesson. I have 6 classes all in the early Childhood part of the school ranging over 3 different ages groups. We have mainly split classes ie Year 1/2 or 2/3 which makes planning and how to cover something these students didn't have the previous year. Solution I do not repeat any lesson for quite a few years.

So I began the lesson with my year 3yrs and here is their results- just awesome. We used black crayon to draw the main shape, green, orange and purple crayons to add pattern. We then used the complementary colour dye to complete the Wild Thing. The monster was cut out. We painted the black backgrounds with acrylic paint mixed with a little white to add opacity. When dried we glued on the monster. Year 2/3 . Same monster idea but this time we used tempera paint on the black paper. Much more effective.Year 1/2 Same monster idea but we used oil pastels on green, purple or orange paper. _ - effective but students did not use the oil pastels well very smudgy and rather scribbly.

Last group 2/3- more of a challenge. We cut out our monsters from plain coloured card and then used the complementary colour as patterns which we cut from scrap card. The students then used colour burst pens to further embellish their monsters. The back grounds???? More to come on these ones.

Year 3 Children have now made the Clay Wild Things - We have now started our 3D clay monsters using pinch pot hollow forms. These kids are really going to enjoy this. The Clay Wild Things are a fantastic success. We use crayon to colour the clay- yes!! It was a technique I saw in one of the Art Education magazines I will follow this up and attribute it to the wonderful art teacher who wrote up the technique- Who needs to glaze? It takes up too much time and cost.

-To finish we used Sumi-e ink- I assume Indian ink might work but the sumi-e has I lovely shine to it. It is simply brushed over it . Make sure the kids apply the crayon as hard as possible to get a good solid coverage- if it is done too lightly the black ink overpowers the colour.

Thanks to the world of blogging- I have learnt so much this year - and it has certainly inspired me.

Bird Houses 2D and 3D Grade 2/3

I loved the gorgeous bird houses Patty Palmer had on her blog Deep Space Sparkle. So we created our own. We dyed our backgrounds with edicol ( food colouring). The Bird houses were painted with tempera paint block paint and finished them with sumi-e ink.

I alway love to make 3D artworks with the students and so came up with the idea of using a milk or juice cartons . I trimmed the top of and retaped them to create the bird house shape. I cut and glued a seperate roof onto the top of the carton . ( this takes up quite a bit of time as the students cant do this. I had the help of a high school student who is in work place training. Using a very thick white acrylic paint painted the cartons white. The students then painted and decorated them in bright tempera paints. . My next problem to solve was how to display them- I have come up with two ideas. Using very large Popsicle sticks ( more like tongue depressors) which are set in a plastic cup of plaster- a hole is cut in the bottom of the carton just big enough for the tongue depressor. They may require gluing using a hot melt glue gun to hold in place. This is suitable for small cartons. The large ones I have decided to hang for display with fishing line.

Mini Miros Yr 2/3s, 7- 8years age

Ever have one of those days you don't know what to do. Searching through my favourite blog sites I came across an art lesson on Joan Miro- posted on Deep Space Sparkle.

Not many materials required, art appreciation included and just enough time to get started. I have some good resources I collected over the years including calendar images which I purchase in February when they go out at least 1/2 price and when my friend who has a calendar shop gives me the ones she has not sold for free. I had great memories of the fantastic retrospective exhibition of Miro's held at the Centre Pompidou Art Gallery in Paris in 2004. It was the highlight of my trip along with Monet,s garden which was blooming in May. The children had lots of fun creating their drawings in draft form on cartridge paper and using felt pens. I searched my storeroom and found some offcuts of Mattboard used for making picture matts/frames. I cut up enough for each student and handed out black fine liners to the children. They drew their lovely whimsical characters and other little icon Miro shapes such as stars, suns, moons and eyes. To colour the main shapes I handed out metallic markers and the Faber Castell Colour burst pens for them to complete their works. I then mounted them onto to some black card for display. The photo shows some of them as display at our annual district art display ART BLAST - which showcases the artwork of thirty primary and secondary schools.

Graduation Canvas Year 7/s 12-13 yrs

I began a tradition 5 years ago that when students leave our school to enter high school they create a canvas which incorporates their image and also some graphic work incorporating their name in a unique style and words that may describe them. I started off by photographing them and then Photo shopped their faces into Warhol style black and white images. Originally I would cut stencils but found as the school grew this was too huge a task and now we carefully glue a photocopy of their face onto the canvas.
Over the past few years the project has evolved where now the students have selected their own lettering style- I use Dafont.com as a source for funky fonts. The three examples demonstrate 3 completely different approaches to the canvases and individual style.
To complete the project the students paint the backgrounds with a quality acrylic and I seal with a clear polymer.

Tyvek Pirates 6-8yrs

PIRATE FOLK TYVEK
I just love pirates as a theme for my little ones. When the classroom teacher told me she was using it as her theme for literacy I jumped on board literally. We completed some drawings but I knew that the Tyvek soft sculptures would be a hit.

By Luke age 6 years

Materials
Felt for hats or fabric for bandanas, wool tops unspun sheep’s wool, or knitting wool for hair, acrylic paint, sequins, leather scraps , wire soft to make hook, thick -wood skewer/dowel for peg legs, permanent markers/sharpies . template of female and male pirate, And template for hat - PVA Glue/ hot melt glue gun, Fibre fill for stuffing.
Tyvek- White For those of you who don’t know what this is (a plasticized paper fabric made by Dupont- used in construction insulation and for throw away overalls etc. It is fantastic for kites etc. Can be painted (wipe off if a mistake is made. Use permanent markers on and it can also be glued or stitched. It is strong and tough. -approx ½ metre or yard per child. I used an A3 template which I drew as a guide. Costs about $4 per metre /yard in Australia and is very wide.
Technique –
1. Cut out template and trace enough fronts and backs for students. I cut out the pirates for the children due to they age.
2. Inspire students. Best book around but it is an oldie is by Colin and Jacquie Hawkins- Pirates. Plenty at Amazon plus many other books.


3. Students to paint their pirates front and back to match each other- this can be challenging but worth pursuing. Use the acrylic paints and allow drying. Don’t ask them to paint facial features. These are drawn in afterwards with felt pens. While these are drying begin pirate maps.
4. When dry glue front and back along edges with PVA. Teacher or helper needs to do this. Leave opening for filling. Students then draw in details of faces, hands , jewellery etc,
5. Make hooks from leather see template. Glue wire onto one side of leather with hot melt glue gun. Then glue onto arm with other side using PVA
6. Make peg legs if required from leather and skewer. In similar way to hook arm.
7. Decorate head, with beard, hair etc. I found some gorgeous lumpy knitting wool for this plus the black wool tops etc. Glue on with PVA
8. Use sequins for jewellery- May need Hot melt glue for this.
9. Cut out Hats from felt and decorate- Glue on front and back.
I found some pirate skull fabric and cut that out to decorate hat.
10. Once decorated fill with stuffing and glue together. Use a clothes peg to hold together while drying.



These will be a huge hit with the younger children
Use this same idea for making scarecrows, and fairies, elves, self portrait soft sculptures animals, Monsters etc.

Paper Molas Year 4/5s 8-11yrs

Wow these paper molas really extended my students. After showing the students real molas we practised making small ones based on traditional designs of the Kuna culture with the influences of the modern world. Mola art developed when Kuna women of the San Blas Islands in Panama had access to bright colour fabrics.
How to make.
Colored card
Use primary and secondary to create Complementary colour schemes.
Glue sticks,
Images of traditional designs.
Scissors.
Step one students draw or trace around templates of animals etc using a primary colour.
I made about 15 animal -bird , fish shapes - but more capable students could create their own,. Once traced - cut out and glue onto an A5 size piece of paper . Students can choose its complementary colour as the background. Students then trimmed leaving about 4-5mm or around 1/4 inch.
Glue the animal shape onto a rectangle of black paper A4 size.
Stduents then decorated the the animal and filled in the background with small rectangles, paper punched dots as required. etc

Amate Painting.

Thankyou Patty of Deep Space Sparkle fame - For inspiring me with your ornate bark paintings. The kids just loved this activity and led me on an incredible journey discovering Mexican paper crafts. My husband brought home from the US a couple of original Amate paintings and we researched on the internet lots of images for the students to use.

Here are four artworks the kids created. To finish our works off we embellished the paintings with Faber Castell opaque pens- In the United States they are called colour burst paint pens.

Papel Amate

Finally on a couple of weeks holiday and ready to start putting up my first blogs and the fantastic art work my students created

Our theme in the first term middle grades has been Celebration and in particular Latin America. I discovered the paper cutouts of the villages in the Otomi Community San Pablito in the Sierra Norte in Puebla.- the following links provides the essential information

http://www.festivalofmexico.com/sanpablito.html

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~kering/amate.html

See below the artworks my students made.

How to make them

Brown paper A4

Wax candle

Clothes iron

Black A3 cart for display

Glue

Brown edicol dye or food colouring

Basic template of figure

Step 1

Fake Amate Paper

Rub brown paper with wax candle using it ion its side. Ensure a good waxy coverage.

Crumple paper well to crack the wax coating. Open out and smooth ready to dye. Dye with brown dye and iron flat between two layers of newspaper.

Step 2

Paper Cutting

Create the figure using a strong piece of card see template .

Fold the brown paper in half lengthwise. Fold dyed side to the inside and trace the figure onto half the paper. Add the extra shapes which could be fruit shapes , leaves animals etc- check website for ideas. I printed out lots of examples for students to use.

Carefully cut out keeping paper folded to create symmetrical figure.

Glue onto black paper for display.

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Wait for it!! Ole and Hola

Welcome to my new blog.

I have the privilege to work in a wonderful school on the west coast of that country Downunder- Australia - Our school is Beeliar Primary Oh I have just spent the last two months reading and watching all the best art blogs in the world!!

I now believe I have so much to share with you all. I have 2 weeks holidays coming up and I am going to start putting up some of the work I have just completed with my students this term at school. What I have done so far. With the theme of Festivals of the World- I wanted to immerse my students in the various cultures that have strong arts and crafts in their communities. With a school fete due to be held at the school I collaborated with the music teacher. We created a program rich in the music and arts and crafts of Latin America-, we raised money for the Victims of Chile and for our sister school at Siem Reep in Cambodia ( a rubbish dump school.

With a family Pinata competition we attracted of 40 gorgeous entries which reflected authenticity, originality and a high level of skills. Congratulations to our winners. Photos will be posted soon.

Just to list a few things we have made so far in 9 weeks

Amate Paintings, Paper Molas. Papel Picados, Amate Picados, Costumes, Year of the Tiger, sumi -e paintings. Franz Marc Tiger paintings, Printmaking collographs of Tigers,
We celebrated the birthday of Dr Seuss and have also begun looking at the art of Kandinsky in reference to his circle paintings and how he painted his Rain Composition- co-incidentaly I began the artworks on the day our city Perth was struck by its greatest know storm with golf ball size hail, flooding and a mud slide.