While I was attending NAEA, I created a sub plan for my kiddos introducing the artist James Rizzi. When it came time to create a backdrop for our superhero city, I reminded my students of this artist. Using bingo daubers filled with diluted India ink and construction paper, they created these fun cities. They made the most epic backdrop for all of our superhero projects.
Here's a time lapse of our big night!
I feel like I've been in go-mode every since returning from the art teacherin' conference in March. We hit the ground running with clay projects right after spring break. Normally, I create instructional videos for my clay lessons but this time around, I just didn't have the time. So...I'll be sharing the projects with you but just know that more details are to come.
To kick off our superhero theme, my second graders created onomatopoeia plaques. We have 30 minute art classes so on the first day, we created the background piece and painted it with glaze.
The following day, we added the middle piece and the lettering. Once out of the kiln, we glazed the lettering and fired again. While waiting for the firing, we created Model Magic beads for the hanger of our plaques. More details on this project to come!
My second graders also created these sweet superhero selfie statues!
I had two classes come at once so that I could have an hour of art with my second graders. We created these in that amount of time.
Complete details (hopefully with video!) to come, promise! We used cone 06 Amaco clay to create these. Once out of the kiln, we glazed with Amaco's Teacher's Palette glaze.
I only have three rules when glazing: do not glaze the bottom, NO WHITE SPOTS and be sure and glaze everything a minimum of three times. I love that this superhero has a sidekick!
Third graders created superhero CARS! This was easily my favor project to teach and see come together...each one is so different and so fun. I cannot wait to share with you just how easy this project is. Every kiddo was completely excited and engaged!
From drag race cars to sports cars, jeeps, limos and more, they came up with everything. I had originally planned for them to also create a 3D pop up city to display their cars in...but we simply ran out of time.
One fun thing we did was add alphabet noodles to the license plates of the cars (or anywhere else the kids wanted). This was a fun way for the kids to personalize their cars. The noodles burn out in the kiln, leaving behind their impression.
Don't tell...but this AMAZING drag race car is my absolute favorite thing of all time! The imagination and invention on this kid...such a show stopper!
Some of us created self-portrait style bobble heads...
And some of did not. And I love both!
Every year, I love these bobble head projects more and more.
Now don't you go telling anyone, but the first grader's projects just might be my favorite.
And they were easily the most excited bunch. We started by creating super cities in our 30 minute classes. After they were fired, I dunked them in diluted black tempera paint and the kids added metallic paint on top. We also used clay to create a flying super selfie!
These were painted with tempera cakes and sealed with sparkle Mod Podge.
Super shields were also created...I cannot wait to share with y'all the details of those projects. But that will have to wait. Thank you so much for letting me share our Superhero portion of the art show!
In case you haven't noticed, things have been a lil quiet around this here blog. It's not because I've not been busy...in fact, it's quite the opposite. I've been so busy with art show prepping (and other life stuff) that I found myself unable to keep up with my usual three posts a week. This has NEVER happened before...and I think that's because this was our biggest and most time-consuming art show yet!
For our school-wide art show, we showcase EVERY piece of art that EVERY student has created all year. What that means is that the halls are filled from floor to ceiling with two-dimensional pieces. I'll be sharing that portion of the art show (complete with video tour!) in an upcoming blog post. Today, I thought I'd take you on a tour of the three-dimensional displays of the art show that I showcase in the art room. Here's a tour:
Yes, I know, my art room is very large! It used to be the school library before a remodel that happened well before my time. Why do you think I wanted to be at this school so badly?! I'm fortunate that my administration gives me the day of the art show "off" to set up my art room like this. My specials team also helped me out by taking some of my classes to allow extra set up time. You never realize just how long all of this takes until you start pouring weeks, days and hours in to it!
I thought I'd give you a closer look at all of the projects and share links to videos and/or blog posts in case you'd like more details. We'll start with this fun and easy kindergarten project!
All of our clay projects were created with Amaco's low fire cone 06 clay. We also used Amaco's Teacher's Palette Glaze, which we loved. The colors are so vibrant and shiny. The art class following our clay project, we worked with the three primary colors of Crayola's Model Magic Clay. The kids had to create the secondary colors and make them into a bead of rainbows by adding them to skewer sticks.
From there, we used pipe cleaners to add them to our plaques with a little pony bead in between!
The art show 3D displays were set up in four parts: kindergarten plaques, the superhero displays, the pizza pillows and, my favorite, the Art Supply Store!
After learning about the artist Lucy Sparrow, I had each of my first through 4th grade classes create an art supply. My third graders and some of my second graders created these crayons. Complete lesson and video here!
One fourth grade class created these glue bottles and also made little pencils. This project was so easy, it was kinda crazy! Here's the lesson with video.
Not only did we create these glue bottle sculptures but we also had to come up with a name for them! These were a hit at the show.
A couple of my other fourth grade classes created these tubes of paint! I'm telling you, creating these art supplies was not only fun but a great lesson on recycling as most of them were made with a toilet or paper towel tube base. You can find out more about this project here.
One project I never got around to blogging about were the making of these second grade scissors and glue sticks. These were super fun and easy to make...my favorite part was reading what the kids decided to call their "product" and price it.
And that wraps up our art supply store! Join me tomorrow and I'll take you on tour of the rest of the 3D displays of our art show...or watch the video for the complete tour.
I'm one of those horribly annoying people that get a whole bunch of ideas at eleventh hour. Prior to said eleventh hour, I tend to suffer from severe Idea Constipation. How do you know if you suffer from Idea Constipation? Warning signs may include: slack-jaw staring at walls for extended periods of time; the watching of exactly three dozen cat videos on YouTube; the sudden urge to clean an entire kitchen just to avoid real work (this is only in the most extreme of cases as everyone knows that cleaning a kitchen is STUPID.) I am a victim of Idea Constipation. Only at the very last minute do I have exactly One Million Ideas and little to no time to bring them to fruition. I like to call this the And-And's (mostly because Idea Diarrhea sounds disgusting) and I suffered a severe bout of both just prior to our thematic school-wide art show.
You see, once I settled on the idea of having a kid-created 1950's diner, I got the idea to have them create diner signs. Of course, this was just mere weeks before the big day and we were in the thick of finishing projects (I seriously had one fourth grade class inform me, "We CANNOT start any new projects, Mrs. Stephens! We have so many to finish!" They are so bossy, y'all). So, like, we had no time atall (please read that last word with a British accent as that's the only way it is meant to be read). Then I got this IDEA...
Due to reasons too boring and annoying to share, our end-of-the-school-year statewide standardized testing was cancelled just days before it was to be given. This meant that our third and fourth grade teachers, who had planned to test all week, now had to scramble to come up with lessons for their students. Well, that's when I stepped in. I volunteered to make them a video of this project for them to show and teach in their classrooms. This benefited me because the kids created these fab-o signs and the teachers because it gave them something fun and educational to do with their students. SPECIAL SHOUT OUT to my awesome colleagues who took on the challenge of being the crazy art teacher for a day. I seriously work with the best people.
And just look at the results! These classroom teachers are giving me a run for the money. I provided them with the supplies and just a day later, they delivered the kids' masterpieces to me.
Of course, we then had to use puffy paint to neon-ize our signs. That final step we did in my art room...because I like to watch the usage of puffy paint like a hawk. Kids love the puff...almost too much.
In the video, I had the chance to chat with the kids about the history of diners and it's influence on artists and their work. We chatted about Edward Hooper.
George Segal and his diner sculpture.
Local and contemporary artist Diane Davich Craig and her paintings of, among other things, diner signs.
Not too far from our school is the world famous Loveless Cafe (those of you that visit Nashville, don't be fooled into thinking that Loveless is in Nashville. It's actually quite far from it and usually has a line that snakes around the building). Many of my students have been there and recognized the sign. The video worked well to introduce the concept of diners to them, artist influence and get them excited about the art show AND making their own sign!
The kids and their teachers were very proud of their work. A couple of the teachers even made their own signs along with the kids.
I kinda wanna make one too.
And I really love how the parent volunteers paired the student's diner signs with the diner ads they created (another eleventh hour idea).
In other news, in order to prevent another bout of Idea Constipation, I've already started plotting and planning the theme for next year's art show!
For as long as I've been at my current school (closing in on 15 years, y'all!), we've had an end-of-the-year/school-wide/hang-everything-up-that-every-kid-has-made-all-year art show. Along the way, I've learned many a thing which I've shared with y'all here and here. This year, I learned that I have The Best parent volunteers in the world (thank you Molly, Terri and Donna for making sure every child felt like a mini-Monet!) and that deer mesh and clothes pins were a match made in Art Show Heaven. Last week, I shared with y'all the clay display portion of the art show in our 1950's style diner. This week, I thought I'd take you on a tour of the halls of my school (with links to the projects shown) which were PLASTERED from floor to ceiling with masterpieces. Like, y'all. We didn't have a space to spare. Which truly is my style of decorating. So, let me show you around! Let's start in Kindergartentown.
I see my kindergarten students once a week for forty minutes. Our clay tacos from the diner can be seen here. We worked on lines at the start of the year and built on that knowledge throughout with lessons on abstract painting, shape castle drawing and collage, winter landscapes, self portraits and guided drawings to name a few.
One of my favorite lessons came from my buddy Laura Lohmann of Painted Paper. Those Model Magic flowers were so fun!
I love doing guided drawings with my younger students throughout the year. That pigeon is an example. We read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, which is short and awesome, draw together and work in watercolor paint. This reinforces line, shape and color. Not only that, but guided drawings build confidence in my students. If you've never done guided drawings with kids or are new to teaching art to children, I've really learned a lot from this book over the years.
Of course, selfies and abstracts are something that kindergarten has down, y'all. Here's a link to my fave self-portrait lessons.
With kindergarten, I usually stick with the same lessons, unlike all my other grades. Although, I do like to change the lessons up a bit. Here is an altered version of our winter landscape lesson.
First grade comes to art twice a week for thirty minute blocks. I don't know how they did it, but first grade ended up with the most amount of work out of all the grades. I mean, that's ONE class, y'all! AND that's not even all of their work.
Occasionally, if we are between projects or simply have one art class before heading into a break, we'll create a guided/painted project too. That's how these Party Pandas came to be!
Second grade has the same schedule as my first grade: twice a week/thirty minutes. They were also super busy this year!
Many of you have asked about the deer mesh and Gaffer's tape. You can see the tape at the bottom in this photo. More tape is used across the top just so the mesh does not sag. Then the tape is hidden behind artwork by my super crafty mama helpers.
My third grade students come to art once a week for an hour. this means we do longer projects. We end up with less work...but bigger/greater things, says me!
By the way, my early finishers worked on decorating the clothes pins that we hung the artwork from! They loved doing it and it added an extra layer of kid-created to the show.
My husband snapped many of the photos of the art show as I was swamped with young artists in my art room. He said this lesson was one of his faves. I realized I've not shared it with y'all...so stay tuned! I'll have a video of this lesson up soon.
We finished off our stitching with metallic frames that added a bit of pop. And, of course, we created exactly ONE MILLION prints to achieve those printed landscapes.
Third grade's answer to Rousseau were these painted paper tiger collages inspired by the art lessons of my buddy Laura!
Fourth grade not only created clay food and pencil/crayon sculptures, but they stitched, collaged, painted and chalked just about everything they could get their hands on.
Instead of doing woven pouches like we usually do, our fiber arts alternative were these string art pieces. I really love them on those round pieces of cardboard and may have to do that again next year.
The abstract pieces the students created with artist Hannah Lane was also one of my faves.
Another crowd fave were these diner signs and advertisements we made for the art show! Snapping these photos and creating these pieces was a great way to build excitement for the show. You can see the video lesson of those diner signs here.
I mean, check out all that cheesiness! If you give a kid a mustache...isn't that a book? It really should be!
Every year, I make a lil list of what I plan to do differently. Here it is in short order:
1. Start matting and framing work earlier (like, as they finish the work!)
2. Don't let the children of the parent volunteers EVER leave our school.
There! Done and done.
If you'd like to see Art Shows of Years Past, here you go!
