In the Art Room: First Grade Landscapes

 My first grade artists finished off these fall landscape collages inspired by the artist Eloise Renouf...and the artists (along with this art teacher) couldn't be more proud. In this lesson, we learned how to mix a tint of blue, create textures in wet paint, print with a variety of tools, learn the parts of a landscape, use proper scissor use, collage and more! The kiddos were sad to place these on the drying racks as they were so excited to take them home. Not until a display in the halls for all to see, says me!

These pieces were created on 12" X 18" pieces of paper. My students spent the first couple days of art class this year creating a variety of painted and textured papers. I do this in a similar manner as my friend Laura at Painted Paper Art. In case you are curious how I go about doing it, as I don't cover that in the video, I thought I'd share:

1. I start with giving one grade level (I see two first grade classes back to back in 30 minutes, no break between) one color and white. I focus on the words TEXTURE and TINT. I tell the kiddos that they are to apply the color to their paper in large plops. Then they clean their brush on their messy mat by sweeping it back and fourth. 

2. White plops are then added and mixed with the color. Viola! Now you have a tint! Let's create a texture.

3. Using a variety of scrub brushes, dusters, paint scrapers and more (most found at the Dollar Tree), the kids then add texture to their tinted papers. Once finished, they place it on the drying rack and grab another sheet to more more papers. No names need to be written on the papers as they are going in a communal stack to be used later.

4. The following glasses are given a different color and white...this makes it so we end up with a rainbow of papers!

Hopefully that makes sense and helps clarify the painted and texture paper making mayhem. The kids LOVE making the papers and creating with the results. Here's the instructional video I created to share with my students:

Week One: Like I said, I have 30 minute art classes, twice a week...and those minutes go by in a blink. So, on our first two days together, we spent one day cutting ovals and talking scissor safety. It seems silly...but it was necessary. Ovals cut were placed in a community stack for the following day's printing activity. Here's a video of me teaching the first day portion:

From there, we printed! One day we printed with white paint and the next, black paint. 

Week Two: After another day of printing, we had a nice stack of painted trees. Those we kept for our own, we did not share. We learned all about landscapes, horizon likes and collage the following day. We then cut a piece of land and added it to our chosen sky background.

Week Three: We talked a lot about overlapping, variety and composition the final day before we glued our trees down. I did alter the lesson in that, after the kids glued the trees down, I had them use black and white oil pastels to add the trunks, not paint. Less mess on our last day. 

 I've not matted and framed them for the halls yet, hence the curled edges. I'm looking forward to popping all of our landscape projects up in the halls very soon. Now that these guys are finished, we can move on to our next big undertaking. Just don't ask me what that is yet!

I'm just gonna sit back and admire the view. 

 I was so excited with how these turned out (and now excited the kids were) that I immediately popped them up onto my IG page. 

Imagine how excited I was when our artist inspiration, Eloise Renouf, posted below...it seriously made my day! I cannot wait to share her message with the kiddos!

I love how social media makes our world just a little bit smaller...

And more colorful! 

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In the Art Room: Collaged and Printed Landscapes

I'm launching a ton of landscape projects with my students this fall. I shared the Claire West inspired landscape project my fourth grade is working on here. This week, I'll be rolling out my third graders' landscape lesson. Today I thought I'd share with y'all the Elouise Renouf-inspired landscape collage that my first graders will be doing! Here's the video'ed lesson that you are more than welcome to use in your art teacherin' world:

I was recently asked how I share these videos with my students: do I show the video in it's entirety or just in bite sized bits. Definitely the latter: I share what we will be working on that day. I share the opening, of course, as an intro to the artist...and we dig deeper into the work of the artist in LIVE format (meaning sans vid). The first day I taught this lesson, I didn't have my video ready for one class so I did it LIVE. I managed to get some footage of me teaching and thought I'd share:

Once again, what's my take-away? I TALK TOO MUCH! Seriously, filming myself teaching has really helped me grow as a teacher. I know what it is I'm doing wrong (so many things!) and what I need to improve upon. I also see what I am doing right and what the kids are responding too. It's painful to watch but super enlightening.

If you've not explored the work of Elouise Renouf, you really should. I love everything she creates and found so much inspiration. 

I will definitely share the progress my first graders make on this landscape adventure. Until then, have a great week, y'all!

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In the Art Room: First Grade Fish UPDATE!

First grade just finished up their clay fish sculptures and before they get placed in our art show display, I thought I'd share them with you. This was a fun project where we used speckled glaze (Jungle Gems by Mayco) and a metallic watercolor. Here's how these cuties were created:

I see my firsties for 30 minutes twice a week. On the first day, we created the base, complete with a starfish (Patrick!) and seaweed. After the kids left, I added a hole in the base and their names to the bottom. On the second day, we created our fish. I did the same thing to the fish...it was tricky writing their names on such a small surface, but I managed to get it done. 

 After the pieces dried for two weeks, I fired them in the kiln. I then dipped the bases in a gold watercolor to completely cover them. From there, the kids used metallic watercolor paints for the seaweed and starfish. Glaze was used on the fish. I encouraged the kids to use at least three coats of glaze for complete coverage. 

The speckled glaze really is the coolest. And the kids love the surprising change they see once their creations have come out of the kiln. 

After all of that fun was done, I had the pleasure of gluing the pieces together. I used chopsticks (I had a donation given to me) that I broke down to a smaller size. After gluing a couple of tall fish, I realized that they might be more inclined to tip over and break than the shorter ones. 

They are much more stable with the smaller sticks. And super cute, I might add. I want one for my home!

The kids had a lot of fun adding texture to their fish which really turned out beautifully with the glaze. 

By the way, when first adding the holes to the bottom of the fish and the base, make sure you wiggle the stick back and forth a bit. Clay shrinks as it's drying and the wiggle will keep the clay opening the right size for the stick. 

Our Pet Shop themed art show is next Tuesday night...I'm slowly getting the art room ready for the transformation. I can't wait to see these fun fish on display. I'll be sure to share!

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Art Teacherin' 101: Episode 33

If you are anything like me (and bless, as we say in the South, if you are), then you prolly got that art ed degree of yours without being a total pro in all forms of media. I didn't take a single printmaking or ceramics class in college and I got a C in textiles (which is a fave but at the time, I was huffing too many paint fumes, er, REALLY into my painting class, to be bothered with warping that freakin' floor loom). What I did get is a two year degree in oil painting because...you know, that's something we teach to the 10 and under set. Ahem. All that to say, we are expected to be at least somewhat knowledgable about the media we share with our students. But, let's be honest, a lot of times, we are learning right along with the kids. 

Now, I've been at this art teacherin' game for sometime now (18 years but who's countin'?) and I have learned a thing or two along the way. One thing is for certain: kids LOVE clay. However, it can be frustrating to teach if you lack experience. Since I've been around the art teacherin' block a time or two (wink-wink, nudgenudge), I thought I'd share some of my fave art teacherin' clay hacks with you. Here you go:

 Let's talk about some of the things I've shared and just where you can find them. 

* Clay mats. I mentioned The Clay Lady and her clay mats. I seriously have had mine FOR YEARS. They are worth the cost of $2 each. 

* Toothbrushes and doggie bowls. Seriously, what would we art teachers do without places like The Dollar Tree?! Toothbrushes are perfect for teaching scoring and doggie bowls are awesome for holding slip while preventing spills. 

* Texture! A visit to your thrift store will provide you with a good stockpile of texture for your clay adventures. Placemats, cable knit sweaters, burlap, stamps, you name it. If it has a texture, your clay will capture it.

* Skewer sticks. Perfect for cutting, drawing and carving into clay.

Something I failed to mention: what to do with those projects that kids work on for more than one class? To store these effectively, I have a stockpile of old and large zip lock baggies. The kids write their names on the bags in Sharpie, wrap their project in a damp paper towel and place gently inside the back. I tell the kids not to zip their bags shut as that usually traps air inside. Instead, I tell them to push the air out and tuck the opening of the bag under their project. This will keep their clay workable for about a week. 

If you would like to continue this clay chat, you are in luck. All throughout the month of May, I'll be hosting clay chats (and craft nights, so come armed with clay!) right here, every Wednesday at 8pm CST. You can work with any ole clay you like...however, I'll be using the clays made available in this kit which you can purchase here. For more info on what we'll be up to, check here. 

And now, I thought I'd share with you some of my fave clay projects over the years (many with video links!) for you to take back to your own Art Teacherin' Town. LOOOOOVE to hear your fave clay projects and words of wisdom. Please feel free to leave in el commentos below. 

This clay project was one that I did with my second graders FOR YEARS. They love it, it's a great way to introduce texture, slab, coil and glaze. It's also a quickie and with my short art classes, it worked very well. 

This was a fun project my third graders did one year. If you've taught clay before, then you've probably done the coils-in-a-styrofoam-bowl project (I know I have!) a different spin on that is having the kids use slabs of clay to create flowers. We had a spring theme one art show and these fit in beautifully. 

I almost always do a clay project that emphasizes texture with my kindergarteners. I'll share all of those projects...but this one is always a fave: texture butterflies! 

This is another kindergarten clay project with an emphasis on texture. This project is also shared in my clay book...but with homemade clay! 

These clay fish by my first graders always crack me up! They had so much fun creating the silly expressions on these a couple years ago. If every glaze is not an option, here is a fun alternative: florescent oil pastels and watered down black paint! 

Inspired by the painted elephants in India, my fourth graders created these fun guys one year. 

Funky frogs were created by my fourth graders one year. They had so much personality! This was a project we worked on over the course of a couple of art classes...which really allowed the kids to get creative. 

One year, to go along with our Asian theme, my fourth graders created these fun pandas. Each had their own wild and wacky personaltiy. 

To go along with that theme of Asia, my third grade kiddos created these Chinese dragons which they had a great time doing.

So I might have a thing for animals and clay...what do you think? My kindergarten and first graders created these pinch pot pets a couple of years back when our art show theme was to raise money for a local animal shelter. And, what do you know, animals are our theme again this year! 

That year, my second graders created this version of pinch pot pets: two pinch pots put together to create the body of their animal. 

And my fourth graders created these! Definitely a favorite by both me and the kiddos. 

Yet another spin on pinch pots and animals: using the pinch pot as a container. Our school mascot is the tiger and this particular year, second graders created tiger pinch pot containers. 

 Now last year, I decided to go for a food theme and create the art room into a 1950's style diner. These projects were not shared in detail like my others because...I was in the middle of writing my clay book and these projects are all featured in that book! The book is written to be used with no kiln fire clay...but, as you can see, you can use kiln fire clay as well. You can scoop up your book here. 

 My first graders served up these coffee and donut delights. 

 Second grade backed up cupcakes. Y'all better believe the retro lover in my totally enjoyed decorating for this art show!

 Third graders made hamburgers and fries...complete with all the fixin's. 

While others made pancake containers with hand painted paper plates. 

A kid and crowd favorite were the pie containers. The kids had so much fun googling pies and sculpting their favorite. 

While other classes did pizza containers. I reached out to a local pizza place for the boxes to display the pizza in. 

This year, we are back at it with an animal theme! We are transforming the art room into a pet shop. Third grade is in charge of the reptiles. 

Fourth grade had a blast creating these bobble head pets! 

But a crowd favorite so far are these fun and funky birds by second grade. They crack me up! 

Many more clay projects are coming up so stay tuned. However, if you just can't wait, you can see a handful of clay projects that have not been shared here but are on my YouTube channel. I always upload there first...so if you'd like to stay up to date, you might consider hitting subscribe. 

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