Paper Sack Scrolls

Colored pencil on paper sack.
This is work done by fourth graders was created during our study of the eye. If you click on the photos you will get a close up look of find wise eyes looking at you.

Salamanders

Second grader Jasmine Crowell gave me the most amazing gift, a baby blue spotted salamander. He was the cutest and sweetest little salamander! The picture of me with the salamander was taken on the day I sent him back to his real home among the decaying leaves. I read The Salamander Room
to my students and then we drew pictures of salamanders. These colored pencil drawings were done by kindergartners. The book emphasizes that salamanders belong in the words, so I had Jasmine take him back to nature. I miss my little spotted friend, but the beautiful drawings are a wonderful reminder of him.

The Eyes Have It

The first graders made collage eyes in the style of Renee Magritte's "False Mirror." The students in Mrs. Elliott's class wrote, "Today we learned how to draw an eye." Art teachers are concerned about preserving a child's "creative self expression." As educators we are in a constant struggle to provide skills and knowledge of art terms without corrupting the child's unique creative impulses. However, even by the time they are in first grade their perceptions of creative expression has been corrupted by cultural influences. We have to explain what the atmosphere is and that the sky is not a blue stripe at the top of the page, the earth is not a green stripe at the bottom, bodies are not circles or ovals with stick lines emerging from them, bodies have mass and dimension. Eyes are not dots or circles, they are almond shaped. The concept is challenging, because all knowledge is.
Study of the eye was reinforced in science also. In science we learned about: the sense of seeing, the parts of the eye, the basic function of the parts of the eye, dysfunctions of the eye, light, color, and UV light.
Life isn't all science so we considered the proverb, "The eyes are the windows to the soul." Hopefully, these young people will recognize that there is much to see, know, and express about life.

Whirling Beginnings

The first project of the year was a service project. The whole elementary school made pinwheels for the Neal Singles Run. The run happened to fall on International Peace Day. To demonstrate their appreciation for the work done by the education foundation and their concerns for peace not only in the world but in the school, community, and the home, the students created Pinwheels for Peace.
"Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two Art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, who teach at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida, as a way for students to express their feelings about what’s going on in the world and in their lives. The project was quickly embraced by their students and the entire school community and by millions of art teachers, teachers, parents, children and adults who desire peace in our world" (http://www.pinwheelsforpeace.com/theproject.html).
The students contribution made the day of the race very special indeed.

Chihuly Style Flowers

Close-ups of the Chihuly flowers on a sunny day.

Art is Springing Up

The fourth graders constructed Chihuly Style flowers from pop bottles and bed springs. Bottles were cut, melted, painted, drilled, and attached to painted bed springs. On a foggy morning the flowers were installed in the lawn looking like alien flowers. Fun times.

Dandelions

Dandelion Fields by Walker in Kindergarten

I don't often teach projects that can be done in one day. Usually, I choose projects that take several weeks to complete. The benefits are that the students' persistence, attention span, and their ability to conceptualize are strengthened.
But, at the end of the year, it's nice to have quick and uncomplicated projects.
Using a variety of green crayons, fingers tips, and yellow paint students made a field of dandelions.

Coloring the grass, and using restraint in painting dandelions was harder than you might think. I really press my students to do their best work, and in the end they are proud of their efforts.

While walking around praising and giving suggestions to students I over heard a quiet student named Walker remark to his table mate, "My mom is going to love this." As soon as he had finished saying these words he noticed that I was listening to him. I said, "Your right!" which caused Walker to get a big smile on his face.

I love that he was able to identify that his work was done well, that he was certain it would be appreciated by others, and that he felt pride in his work.
*Sigh,* another example of the transformative powers of art.

Positive and Negative Tulips

The positive and negative concept was a challenging concept for the kindergartners to grasp. However, many were amazingly skilled at drawing a tulip, cutting it out and reversing the image.
The students' work was used to demonstrate the concept, and more than a few adults said, "I learned something."
For those of you that are unclear about the distinction between positive and negative space, well, generally positive space depicts recognizable objects. Negative spaces are unoccupied areas. Color has nothing to do with "space."

Made by Teacher

At a workshop we made the cutest tiles of ourselves. I finally got around to painting mine with water color. All the kids like my art.

Another Testimonial

The mom and me project made quite an impression on at least one student. Remember the girl who thought recycling was another word for making art? Well, Kayle's dad commented to me that since the Mom and Me project he could tell that how Kayle draws people has changed dramatically. Awwww!

One of my student's mom came in the art room and saw the pictures hanging and asked, "Who made that one? That's nice!" Can you believe it was her own child's work.

Mom and Me

With the Guyton visit behind us I have turned my students attention towards Mother's Day. Student's were told about Whistler's Mother, and about various works by Mary Cassatt who painted beautiful images of mothers doing daily tasks with their children.
My students created portraits of "Mom and Me." Done in a caricature style, students used pencil, colored pencil, paint, markers, and chalk to color a bright and cheerful picture.
The picture layout began with a U, one small and one large. When all the details were laid in place the coloring began.
Students were motivated to do well for their mother. For me the results are so sweet and charming they make me a little teary eyed. The three above were done by students in kindergarten.

Harvest

I call myself "Art Gardener," because I am busy sowing the seeds of inspiration. This time of year I am harvesting what has grown out of my "art sprouts."
The weekend of April 18th was the all school art show. We had a wonderful show! Afterwards much of the work went right to the Stair Library for the Community Art Show, which was established to welcome internationally recognixed artist Tyree Guyton. Guyton is the artist responsible for the Heidelberg Project in Detroit. The project is a neighborhood embraced in symbolism and art. Intended to draw attention to the problem of urban blight, the neighborhood is thoughtfully clothed in discarded objects and paint.

For Guyton's visit I conceptualized a sculpture and with the help of many students, in middle school and elementary, constructed it out of cardboard, paint, brads, photos, markers, colored pencils, rubber cement, hot glue, and plastic caps. A photo of each student and staff member was taken and colored with markers, cut, and placed in a milk cap.

It was an honor to have the sculpture placed by Tyree while he spoke at the library about his art.

Guyton is an eloquent speaker with a big soul. It is heartwarming to know there are people aggressively working to make out world a better place through their art. We need more people to follow in Guyton's example.

Trophy People

Wrestler
Ballet Dancer
Champion Cruncher
Champion Napper
Basketball Trophy
This is one of my all time favorite projects. I love that, in the mind of one of my students, napping is an activity deserving of an award.

Recycling is another word for . . .

The Story That Made My Day

My colleague John Craig (a first grade teacher) stopped to give me a box of plastic lids. He went on to tell me how he lives in the country and that the cost of garbage removal had gotten too expensive, so his family has begun recycling. His daughter Kayle (a first grader in Mrs. Jarrell's class) is a student of mine and was very excited about the idea of recycling, but the first trip to the center proved to be a big disappointment for her. She thought her family was going to recycle "like Mrs. Drake."
In her mind recycling was just another word for making art.

Fruit Cup Species of Jelly Fish

The third graders had a really good time making these jelly fish.
It's always nice to expose students to a collaborative installation project.
Fruit cups
Styrofoam packing peanuts
Fishing line
Tape
Lasagna noodles
Unused laminate (what's left on the roll)
Plastic wire coating
String
Dyed Sheet
Cardboard
Brads

Ceramic Wish Balls

Wish Balls
Fourth grade students made hollow clay sphere rattles.
1. Make a large clay sphere
2. Cut the sphere in half
3. Hollowed out each half of the sphere with a spoon
4. With removed clay make small clay balls
5. Write a wish on small strips of paper
6. Wrap your wish around the balls and put inside one half of the sphere
7. Attach the sphere halves together with the slip and score method
8. Make impressions in the sphere exterior with shells, buttons, etc.
9. Fire
10. Sponge acrylic paint onto surface
11. Wipe another layer or two onto the sphere making sure to get dark colors into the impressions.

Every time you shake the sphere you are sending your wish out into the world.

Art and Science

This summer I went to the Ann Arbor Art Fair and saw so many extraordinary science related artworks. A young lady from Ohio made enameled copper plates of magnified cells. My friend, who loves biology, was able to identify many of the cells. There were blood cells, muscle cells, double helix, and many more. Seeing this amazing art put an idea in my head which all came together on a visit to the Scrap Box in Ann Arbor. At the Scrap Box I found round white cardboard disks. One day I had fourth graders look through microscopes at magnified objects and then they drew what they saw onto the cardboard disks. When the disks were finished I glued them onto a paper to make one large art piece of smaller art works.
I love the results.

MORE PRINTS

Mouse Hole

Food Chain

I stressed to the "artsprouts" that they should try to tell a story in their art. This can be hard for them. They feel like there isn't a story in their head.
To make things easier I had the students think of an object(s) to go with each letter of the alphabet. We talked about what are boring objects and what are exciting objects. Apple, dull. Anteaters, exciting.
While creating the list students usually get inspired by some creature. The "difficult" part of conceptualizing is suddenly over. Helping children to conceptualize is a difficult task. The beauty of art education is that the visual thinking skills are constantly being challenged and strengthen. The hope is that, eventually, the children become people who can't find enough time to create all that they design in their imagination.

Multiple Plate Prints

The fourth graders are working on multiple plate prints. This is a challenging concept for them, but I found that if one student grasps the concept then the others will quickly follow.
The poster with the cat is my teaching tool. The red race car at the bottom is an example of my student's work. There will be more, wonderful prints in the future.

Art from Recycled Objects

So the cafeteria ladies saved the trays that the syrup containers come in. The students painted the trays and then glued objects into the recessed circles. The center example has little tooth in it.