Under the Sea Week: A Coral Reef Relief Collage

 Yesterday, as apart of our Under the Sea Week, we created Coral Reef Relief Collages! If you want to create your own, grab the following supplies:

And now, let's create:

This one is so much fun and the possibilities are endless. 

If you want to join LIVE art class today, here's what you'll need! You can find me LIVE on my Facebook page, my Instagram or join the fun later by tuning in to my YouTube channel. Be sure and subscribe, new videos are added all the time! 

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Under the Sea Week!

 Hello, friends! Who's ready for Under the Sea Week? I'm so excited to kick things off with a selfie that we'll be bubble printing on! 

In case you don't know...you can join me for live art class on my Instagram page or my Facebook page. If you miss a class, no worries, I always post the lesson the following day to my YouTube channel. Here's what's in store this week:

Last week we explored a bunch of collage techniques for our hamburger. I thought we'd continue that by creating a Coral Reef Relief Sculpture!

Y'all know it wouldn't be a week of Art Class with Cassie without some salt dough clay, right? If you are low on supplies, any clay would work from Model Magic to Play-Doh. 

What do sharks snack on? Let's draw what we think they might enjoy with this fun pop-out!

The kids have been BEGGING for a mermaid project so here we go! We'll do a fun printing technique for the background to create a tie-dye effect. 

And here's the line-up! If you know some kiddos who would enjoy, please feel free to share. Also, big thanks to our sponsors, Art to Remember and Ticonderoga!

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Snacktastic Chef's Week: Hamburger Sculptures and Chef Selfies!

If you missed yesterday's art project, don't worry! The video is now here. This one was an Art Class with Cassie favorite. The hamburgers the kids created were AMAZING! I hope you have fun. Here's the video:

Also, if you missed the Chef Selfie project here you go:

Join me LIVE today as we make a slice of pizza! We'll be sculpting our own pizza made from salt dough clay. Here's the supplies you'll need:

To join us LIVE, you can find me on my Instagram, my Facebook or just catch the afterparty the following day on my YouTube channel. I add new videos every day (sometimes more than once a day!) so you might want to subscribe so you don't miss any! 

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In the Art Room: Charley Harper and van Gogh Mash Up!

Hey, friends! I'm excited to share this fun lesson that I've started with my sweet second grade kiddos. Before fall break, I had a couple of classes that were ahead of the pack so I decided to introduce them to Charley Harper (a fave of mine) and a little guided drawing. THEY LOVED IT! They were so excited about their wee raccoons that I decided to create a lesson from their drawings. Feel free to use this lesson in your art teacherin' and creating world...all I ask is that you give me a shout out when you share on your favorite social medial. This helps folks find their way back here to enjoy the lesson as well. 

 For this project, we are using a ton of different media! Here's what we are using:

* Faber-Castell Oil Pastels Full disclosure: I work with Faber-Castell frequently and create lessons for them using their supplies. That being said, I do enjoy their oil pastels for a couple of big reasons: they are sturdy. Unlike many other oil pastels I use, they don't break as often. They don't roll! I love that we aren't constantly chasing after them rolling off the tables. AND they are big...some oil pastels are very small and hard to hold for my students. Not to mention, they wear through them quickly. For all those reasons...and the fact that the colors are fabulous...I would definitely recommend these oil pastels.

* Brown Watercolor Paint This is for the light wash used on the raccoon.

* Texture Rubbing Plates or Burlap Don't have texture plates? Burlap makes for a great rubbing surface!

* Construction Paper I love Tru-Ray because the paper doesn't fade and seems stronger than most.

* Tempera Paint 

* Tempera Cakes My new favorite discovery: painting with tempera cakes on construction paper. Like, whut?! The colors stay true and I just love it! 

I will say this about my latest videos: I'm trying ot make them shorter. For my second grade, I only see them for 30 minutes so I need to keep instructional time brief. 

 Here's a breakdown of the lesson in 30 minute increments: 

Day #1: Drawing the raccoon together. After enjoying some fun Nat Geo videos about raccoons, of course!

Day #2: Light wash over raccoon and paint scrapping for the tree.

Day #3: Creating the sky background. Rubbing and painting with tempera cakes. 

Day #4: Assembling our collage!

 By the way, I am thinking of having each of my four second grade classes create a different woodland animal collage inspired by Harper. So stay tuned for more! I'll be certain to keep you posted on how these beauties turn out. 

 So far, so cute! And what a fun way to review the elements of art. 

 Sharing with the kids information about raccoons also got them inspired to create. I'm telling you, Nat Geo is where it's at!

One of my sweet students did tell me at the end of art class that her raccoon was "not my best work". Bless. The beauty of having a recorded video is that the kids can follow along and make another one the next art class! When drawing together, I very rarely let them start over...it's an important time to teach about a Beautiful Oops! And for them to let go of the notion that their artwork must be perfect. I always tell them that the following art class, if they are still unhappy, they can try again. Often times, they keep their original creation.

Can't wait to see these little bandits complete! 

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In the Art Room: Collage Landscapes with First Grade

Hey, y'all! Please pardon my absence. I know some of y'all were with me at the NAEA convention in NYC. I had all of these big plans to have blog posts and videos ready to roll while I was gone and then...time slipped away from me. Or maybe I just procrastinated my pants off as that is my nature. Regardless, I missed chatting with you here. I'm back now and, hopefully, back into the swing of things. If you'd like to see what my NAEA trip looked like, I don't plan to blog about it because I shared so much of it here. 

So let's kick things off with this fun collage landscape project I just wrapped up with my firsties! 

What I love about this project are all of the wonderful tie ins: we learned about pattern and how to create them, we worked with watercolor and tempra paint, we explored texture, went on a "cloud hunt" outside, learned origami and collage...and landscape. All while chatting out folk artist Kerri Ambrosino. Whew! That's a whole lotta artin'. 

Kerri Ambrosino is a Mexican folk artist. This is not the only project the kids are doing that is inspired by here. We are also creating these still life pieces. I love this artist's colorful work and I really thought she'd be a great way to introduce my students to pattern. 

Another reason this project was so successful was because of the supplies we used. Let me tell you what we used and the steps we followed to create these happy landscapes:

Supplies:

Day 1 and 2

* Gallery oil pastels in florescent by Sargent 

* Crayola Mixing Colors watercolor paint

* 18" X 6" sheets of white paper

Here's a collection of the painted pattern papers drying. I loved them just like this!

I have 30 minute art classes, twice a week. On our first day, I had folded the paper lengthwise in 8 equal sections. The kids used their pastels to draw a line down each one of the paper creases. From there, they drew a different pattern inside each section. The following art class, we had a reminder on how to use watercolor paint properly and used yellow, turquoise and magenta paint to explore oil pastel resist. 

Supplies:

Day 3 and 4

* 12" X 18" construction paper, any color

* Blue and white tempra

* Bristle brushes

* Texture tools. We use random things found at the Dollar Tree: dusters, sponges, scrub brushes, you name it.

On Day 3, the students were exploring tints and textures. We went "shopping" for a sheet of 12" X 18" construction paper in any color the kids liked. They applied white paint first in good sized globs on their paper. Then they added smaller paint puddles of blue. From there, they used their texture tool to blend the color, create tints and texture. This kind of painting is always a blast for the kids. 

On the following day, the kids were instructed to TEAR their pattern paper lengthwise. This was to create hills and valleys for their landscape. I had a handful of kids use scissors instead of tearing and the results were just as beautiful. 

When gluing, I tell the kids to put glue on the bottom straight line of their landscape and have that edge align with the bottom of their paper. From there, they add glue to the long edge of the other paper, pull back their front hills like a giant and place the other torn sheet behind the front one. This is a great way to introduce kids to foreground and background.

Then we went on a Cloud Hunt! This was so simple, short and effective. I simply marched the kids outside chanting "going on a cloud hunt!" We looked up at the sky and spent no more than a hot minute or two tracing clouds with our fingers. When we popped back inside, drew clouds in white oil pastels and traced them in the colors of our choice. 

Early finishers could create patterned suns and sun rays. I love a good spike-y sun, not even gonna lie. 

On our final day, we did some origami! I did directed origami and in five minutes, we had our houses created. The kids then returned to their seats and used paper scraps for the doors and windows. Polka dots were added with paint and Q-tips. 

Their sweet little origami houses drying. 

Today the kids added their houses and any other details they might want. They are just the sweetest thing ever and they put me in such a happy spring mood. Love to hear about your favorite landscape lessons!

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In the Art Room: Monsters of Creativity

Fall means art teacherin' conference time which I so totally love. What I don't love is prepping and planning for taking those days off. I mean, I gotta create content that's educational and engaging both for the sub and the kids all while using materials that aren't too difficult for someone who just might not have an art background. I recently shared with y'all a bunch of my sub videos. Because I'll be out for the next couple of days attending an art conference in Wisconsin (can't wait, y'all!), I created this lesson and thought I'd share it as well.

 It's been my goal this year to introduce my students to contemporary artists with a focus on street artists. I recently did that with our wings mural project. This go-round I wanted my kids to meet the street artist who goes by the name Phetus.  

I think my students will love his colorful and humorous monsters...and hopefully be inspired to create their own!

 My hope is to display their monsters in a grid-like manner such as this. We're calling our display Monsters of Creativity. This will be showcased right outside the art room. Kinda fitting, no?

 I had so much fun creating my own examples for this project. I just love these!

Tomorrow, in Art Teacherin' 101, I'll be sharing with y'all just how I prepare for being absent and what I believe to be the essentials for a sub. 

Fingers crossed my subbo has a great time and that the kids create monsters...and not behave like them. 

 I'll be certain to share a follow up to this blog post and let y'all know how it all goes. Until then, put that tongue back in your mouth and...

Make something monstrous!

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Art Scouts, Tennessee Camp 2016

Well, hello there, strangers! My sincerest apologies for how quiet it has been on this here blog over the last week (let's be honest: you enjoyed the peace) but I've been super duper busy with my buddies Jennifer, Laura and Ginger getting ready for the Tennessee Camp of Art Scouts! 

Laura and Ginger arrived in town on Wednesday afternoon from Ohio. Jen and I  had just enough time to show them around our favorite place: Franklin, Tennessee. Franklin is a small town with a big history just 15 minutes south of Nashville. The downtown has a lovely Mayberry-esque vibe. After a stroll up and down Main Street, we took them to a local fave, Pucketts Grocery and Restaurant. The food was delish but the best part of the meal was when we walked in, Jen's husband Miguel and two sweet daughters were there. What a happy surprise! It was so fun to pull up a table and chairs to join them.

On Thursday morning, bright and early and fueled up on coffee, we began to set up Camp for our Scouts. Thankfully, we had the help of our art teacherin' friends Stephanie Preston and Jennifer Staples to get ready for the next couple of days. Those two girls were our right hand gals during Scouts and we just can't thank them enough for all they did for us and the Troops. Thank you, sweet friends! Also, a big shout out to my buddy Mr. Joe for hanging out with a bunch of wild and crazy art teachers for a couple of days. 

Friday morning, folks started to arrive and, after breakfast, chatting and a super secret Art Scout ceremony (sorry, y'all. Must be present to get the scoop), we dove right into the art of making big messes!

I have to tell you, we simply have the nicest folks attend Art Scouts. We had teachers from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, California, Florida, Alabama, Virginia, the Carolinas, Texas (and I know I'm even forgetting some)...we were blown away! These sweet, kind and dedicated art teachers are a gift to their students, faculty and staff. 

 Not to mention, some seriously talented (and funny!) artists.

I mean, when is the last time you saw folks having this much fun at a professional development? And we had just as much of a blast hosting them. We were so lucky!

We had a little over 50 Scouts in attendance. Laura and Ginger lead 25 Scouts on their quest to earn their painting and clay badges in my art room. They created over three clay projects and multiple painted paper pieces during their first day with Troop Leaders Laura and Ginger. 

Now, y'all know that Laura is the master of all things painted paper and collage. Having the chance to learn her approach is so much fun...and I speak from experience. I had that opportunity at Tennessee Arts Academy last year. We've been friends long before that. I love and respect what she does for her students and the art education community. Not to mention, she's funny as all get out! 

 

 I loved the variety of creations that I was able to sneak a peak of when I popped down to my art room.

Ginger had folks working with Amaco's air dry clays because it has a very similar texture as kiln fire clay. Ginger is such a jack of all trades but, unlike me, she's a master of all. When we were brainstorming ideas on what badges our Scouts would earn and what we'd like to share, Ginger is so versatile, she could teach it all!  She did such a fab-o job sharing fun clay projects with our Scouts.

I so wanna do this with my students, I know they would have a blast!

Ginger is also our Mural Maven (if you've not seen the time lapsed videos of her students painting murals, go here). The Scouts worked on this scene of the Smoky Mountains that Ginger drew. This helped every understand her simply and impactful method of teaching mural painting to children.

I love how the colors pop on that black paper!

Back in our territory, Jen and I shared everything we could pack in on fibers and printmaking. Jennifer shared such a fun assortment of printmaking projects that are not your usual carve-into-block type of thing. What I love about what Jen shares is that she brings her bright and cheery personality to each project. The sunny sun prints and the colorful wax crayon prints are a true reflection of how colorful the projects are which she shares with her students. 

Because Jen has 30 minute art classes with her kindergarten through fourth grade kids, she was able to share how she breaks her projects down into bite sized bits. She also enlightened us to some fast and easy clean up tips!

 Marker prints were also thrown into the mix!

 We also had a big time exploring Gelli Arts printing plates!

Those printing plates are so versatile and fun. I mean, check out these effects!

These look fabulous just as they are...however the Scouts turned them into beautiful flower collages.

 Love this orchid collage by Stephanie.

And this one being cut out is fabulous. I love that the Scouts swapped flowers to add variety to their collages. 

Now all y'all know that needle felting is my jam. So when I shared that we'd be taking a stab at it (wink, nudge), the Troops were thrilled. And shocked at just how easy needle felting can be. Check out the cute lil palette hair clips we made!

Because I'm secretly on a mission to have ALL art teachers dress like CRAZY art teachers. 

 We also learned how to do some of my favorite weaving activities, circle loom and tree weaving, to name just a few. 

I always love the variety of paintings created on something as simple as a paper plate.

I mean, I wanna paper my walls in these beauties!

Remember: you can circle loom weave on anything round! Hula Hoops! Embroidery Hoops! CDs! Just make sure you have an odd number of warp threads. 

To earn their fibers and painting badges, our Scouts created three printing projects and three weaving and one felting masterpieces. We were busy, y'all.

 It's been such fun getting to know these new friends of ours. One of my favorite things was seeing all of the fun images shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Here's a collection of what was shared by our Scouts.

P.S. THAT PENCIL DRESS!! Beth, you know I love that dress, girl!

I love this collage of art teacherin' fashion that Rina created...so glad I made the cut! 

 Painted paper fun!
Happy faces, fun projects!

Just one half of the Scouts wearing their needle felting palette hair clips!

I love this photo collage created by Scout Brandi!

We had so much fun sharing out passion of making big messes with little people...with our new best friends, the Art Scouts!

We couldn't have done it without our Ohio friends Ginger and Laura! After our Scouts left Saturday afternoon, we broke down and put our feet up. 

 Because I live just 4 miles from my school, I had the gang over to my place for some dinner and chill time. We're already brainstorming ideas on plans to bring more Art Scouts Camps to our future Troops...and we couldn't be more excited! 

To keep up with us, you can follow us on Instagram! You can also join our Facebook group where you'll find a ton of more images and be able to make inquires and chat with attendees. 

Here's to more art making fun! 

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