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.

Paint Masking Portraits

DK, K, First Grade
First students drew their portraits. Then they traced over their lines with a colored pencil pressing hard to make a crease in black construction paper sandwiched between their drawing and corrugated cardboard.
Onto their creased line impressions students stuck small bits of masking tape. When the taping was complete students painted their skin, hair, clothes, and the background.
Cute!

More Organic People

These are examples of remarkable accomplishments made by my fourth grade students.
First there is the flamboyant Mardi Gras Lady, followed by the Jamaican lady.
Lastly, there is the church lady in her pill box hat with Bird of Paradise flowers on it.

What Art Teachers Do On Snow Days

My bunny Snowflake.

Movable Designs

The DK, Kindergarten, and first grade students made movable designs. First students traced circles, then they colored patterns/designs in each circle with markers. When the circles were colored they cut the circles out. Using a push pin the students poked holes in the circles and attached them together using brads. The resulting art is eye-catching. The project required a lot of fine motor strength, and all the students rose to the challenge.

Yahoo! I'm Back!

There was a glitch in my computer which wouldn't allowed me to update posts. I just repaired the problem. I had to turn off my pop-up blocker.
So, there will be about two months of updates coming your way.
Anyway . . .
How do you like the cute Valentine boxes? There were a few Valentine box competitions in the school so I created some examples for inspiration.