In the Art Room: Clay Heart with Wings Update!

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to lead the amazing teachers at my school in a clay session. It was apart of a team building experience and my trusty admin was open to just about anything. I decided to go with the theme of love as the teachers I work with are truly some of the most loving and caring folks. We chatted about how we love our students and give them wings to fly...and that was the message behind our creations. This morning, I took these beauties out of the kiln and I was so excited, I thought I'd share and give y'all and update!

If y'all recall, the teachers made and glazed these all in about 45 minutes. I had a lot of questions about glazing greenware (fresh clay) and I wanted to chat about the pros and cons. The reason I had the teachers do it all in one sitting as I know that our schedules are so crazy that I'd only have one shot to get everyone in the same room at the same time. The pro is that glazing greenware allowed me to do just that: get every masterpiece completed. The cons are that glazing greenware provides a more pastel look to the glaze coloring as the glaze mixes with the damp clay and dilutes it. Knowing that, when a glaze that didn't look complete in coverage, I added another coat before popping them into the kiln. I also had the help of my specials team who slapped clear glaze on all the pieces and helped me load the kiln (have I ever told y'all how much I love my team?!)

Knowing that I'd have a packed house that day, I decided to create a video that would walk them through the process. This made it so everyone could see and hear my directions while watching the video on my big screen T.V. Here is the video, feel free to use it!

By the way, this is low fire clay, cone 06 and Mayco's Stroke and Coat glaze. 

If you know me and my clay habits, you know I love me some textures in my clay. And I really love how the teachers each used them in their pieces.

 The texture on the heart on the right was from a freebie placemat!

 Several folks opted to leave their hearts all white and I really loved that look as well. The scrolls were created by some teachers...the plan is for them to write a message on the scroll in Sharpie.

 Check out this show stopper!!

I can't wait to have the teachers come and pick up their hearts tomorrow! The plan is for them to use cooper wire as a hanger for their heart. 

 I love how each artist put their own creative spin on their heart.

 The look of this one is so pretty. 

 I had so much fun leading this session...and I heard so much positive feedback from the teachers. I think everyone finds it relaxing to sit, chat and create. It was a fun way to return to school after the winter break. 

Speaking of my team, there's a few of them right there! Love these folks to pieces. 

In the Art Room: Stitched Monsters!

Going LIVE tonight, Wednesday at 8pm CST to talk about some art teacherin' issues! Hope you'll join me over here. See you real soon! 

As my fourth graders are wrapping up their Candy Heart Sculptures and drawing, I'm thinking ahead to a fun fibers unit for them. Last year, this group explored embroidery and did a really fabulous job. I know they will love expanding their knowledge and creating these fun stitched monsters!  

I wanted a stitching project that would introduce them to the following: pattern cutting, pinning, sewing, stuffing and embellishing. I also wanted a fun contemporary artist tie-in and I found the artist behind Cotton Monster, Jennifer Strunge, to be perfect. 

Aren't her monsters just the most amazing thing ever? I need one in my life, stat. 

Here's the video I created to introduce my kiddos to Jennifer and all things stitching! Feel free to use it in your art teacherin' world. I think it would be perfect for 3rd grade on up.

We will be using the following supplies:

* 9" X 12" sheet of Smart-Fab or felt

* Additional felt for arms, legs and details

* Tacky glue

* Sharp tapestry needles

* 4 pins per student

* Scissors

* Embroidery floss or crochet thread

* Paper needle threaders

I anticipate this project will take my students 3 one-hour art classes. When I share my video, I show it to the kids in short bursts. I then allow them to go work and set my timer for the amount of time I expect it will take them. When the timer goes off, finished or not, all kids report to the floor for the next video viewing. 

On Day 1, we'll learn about Jennifer Strunge, cut out arms, pin them in place and, hopefully, stitch one side. The following day, we should be able to wrap up the stitching, turn inside out and start working on the face. We will pulling out our Monsters of Creativity collages and looking at those for inspiration! 

Day 3 (and, let's be honesty, probably Day 4) will include gluing the parts of the face down, stuffing and stitching closed. 

I'm thinking of tasking my early finishers to think of themselves as toy creators and their monsters as their creation. As such, they'll need to think of their monster as a product. Who will it be sold to? How will it be packaged? What will be the price? Why should people buy it? I'll keep you posted on this adventure!

Have y'all done stitched monster projects with your students? Love to hear what you've done! And if you do this project, please be sure and let me know, I'd love to see your student's creations. 

DIY: Enchanted Tiki Room

If you know me, you know I love Disney(land, preferably) and I love all things retro. So it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that I love the Enchanted Tiki Room. I know, it's so cheesy, you better bring the Ritz crackers but I just can't help myself! When I was a kid, my grandparents would take me, my Aunt Judy and my cousin Ang to a little place in Florida called Tiki Gardens. While the grandparents got all sorts of happy on Mai Tais, we explored the faux Hawaiian terrain, squawked at the parrots and picked out oysters to have pried open for pearls. I have such happy memories of that time and such a love for that sort of kitschiness, that it inspired me to create a wee corner of my crafting room into an Enchanted Tiki Room. 

True Confession #147: I often buy things at the thrift store because I find them interesting/inspiring/neato-mosquito but don't have a clue what I'll end up doing with them. Case in point, those faux bamboo frames. I think I've been hoarding them for at least four years just waiting for the perfect project. And I'm so glad I did. They inspired this Tiki-Tastic corner! 

My other inspiration came in the form of a trip for toilet paper to Target. You know the story, walk into Target for t.p., walk out with $146.76 worth of stuff that you JUST HAD TO HAVE. That's exactly what happened when I spotted these fun round frames at Target. Did you know they now have a "craft" isle? Y'all. I am in SO.MUCH.TROUBLE. After flipping through my Tiki Pop book for inspo, I threw back a glass of my version of Mai Tai (red wine, anyone?) and started blocking in this painting. Man. How I've missed painting. 

 After a couple of nightly painting sessions, Blue Bernice was starting to take shape. I have currently been inspired by Vladimir Tretchikoff  which is why Bernice is that lovely shade of blue. If you follow me here, you've seen the nightly progress. 

True Confession #148: I did struggle with painting that cleavage. Mostly because I don't have one and I was all, "what is that SUPPOSED to look like?!" In other news, I love painting, have I mentioned that? I'm just using craft store grade acrylic here. In college, I got my degree in oil painting and I love to slap that paint on. I don't have the patience for the dry time or tolerance for the smell of oils but cranking out these acrylic paintings sure does scratch that itch. 

Once Bernice was complete, I moved on to a shameless copy of the Disney image of the Enchanted Tiki Room. 

Just a wee process photo. I start with a super quick sketch and then a blocking in of the colors. I always limit my color palette because I LOVE ALL THE COLORS and therefore want to use ALL THE COLORS. So limiting that temptation is for the best. 

 I sit entirely too close to my paintings which means they get all sorts of crazy up close. 

I tried not to get carried away with detail knowing that I would be viewing these from a distance that was not six inches. 

Since those two previous paintings took quite a bit of time, I was determined to bust out the two tiki paintings. I pulled together a few of my favorite colors and did some dry brushing in the background. 

Once dry, I lightly sketched out my tiki head and then just set about painting with not too much of a plan in mind. 

 Most tiki masks found online were pretty scary looking. I wanted mine to be of the friendly variety, so I painted them kind of silly/happy. I just imagined them being at Disney...and came up with these cheesy faces. 

 Originally, I was going to hang them square but when the moms came to visit this weekend (we had a double dose visit of my mom and Mitch's mom), my mom suggested hanging the squares like a diamond. I really liked that idea. It added a bit more fun and funk to the arrangement. 

This guy was painted in the same way: dry brush, one color tiki mask painting. 

Currently, these bad boys of tiki town, hang in my craft room, right above my favorite vintage chest of craft supplies. For more of a tour of my crafting space, check here and here. Until next time, kids! 

In the Art Room: Happy Hearts Inspired by Chris Uphues

Hey, friends! Second grade-land has just finished off a fun project with a strong focus on LOVE. My theme this year has been kindness and with Valentine's Day right around the corner, I really wanted to focus on all things love-y. Because, let's face it, the world could use a whole lot more love right now! 

And if these happy hearts don't help spread the love, I don't know what will! 

Another focus this year has been to introduce my students to more contemporary artists and also street artists. During my search, I discovered the artist Chris Uphues and completely fell in love (sorry, I had to) with his work, especially his happy hearts! 

If you aren't familiar, Chris is an artist based out of Chicago whose heart murals can be found there as well as in New York and Los Angeles. When I discovered his work, I was immediately struck by how happy it made me! I knew the colors, energy and joy in his work would really resonate with my students. Y'all should really check out his website...I love that his hearts can be purchased in the form of reasonably priced prints, patches and pins. I've got a cart full! 

I would totally cover a wall in my house in these! I mean, who wouldn't?! 

For the Happy Hearts pieces that my second graders created, we used the following:

Day 1:
* Black and white paper, 12" X 18"
* Tag board heart stampers
* Paint in yellow, magenta and turquoise

Day 2-3: 
* Painted papers, construction paper, scrap papers for hearts
* White paper for eyes
* Black paint
* Scissors and glue

Day 1:

I see my second grade kiddos for 30 minutes, twice a week. On our first day together, we chatted about Chris and his work. I introduced the kids to printing and we printed a black paper and a white paper full of hearts. To see how the heart stampers were created, watch the first 5 minutes of this video. 

On day 2, students learned how to cut out hearts. Many students knew how to do this already...but I had several that didn't. This was a great introduction to symmetry! I also offered them oval, circle and other shaped templates for the eyes. Once those were glued down, black paint was available for the artists to paint the faces. I had printed off several sheets of Chris' hearts to give the kids ideas for expressions. 

By the end of the second day, we had a ton of these! I love how happy and fun they are. 

Over the next couple art classes, the kids created more hearts and began adding them to the printed backgrounds. They so enjoyed creating these expressive heart faced characters. This project was a huge hit with them! 

Each kid was super engaged in creating their heart collages. When I told them that we'd be moving on to another project next week, each class shouted "WHY?!" They couldn't stop making these hearts! I just might have to give them one more day to keep on heartin'. 

As they worked, the kids had stories about each heart and how they interacted with each other. We had heart moms, dads, babies, grandparents, you name it! 

As they worked, the kids laughed at their hearts, showed them off to friends and pulled ideas from one another. 

Before gluing, we did chat about composition, overlapping, emphasis and scale. I wanted to remind the kids of these thoughts as they worked...but made sure not to weigh in too much as I really wanted to see where their ideas would take them. 

 Because, I mean...look at how fun and funny they are!

I'm so looking forward to showcasing these throughout our school along with all of our other LOVE-based projects. Just a quick scroll through this blog and you'll find half a dozen love-based projects we are currently working on in the art room. 

The best part is, I've tagged Chris Uphues on several posts showcasing the kids' hearts on my Instagram and he's been so sweet to respond! The kids have loved hearing his positive feedback. 

It's made us feel all...happy! Like this. 

 

If you are looking for a fun lesson for your students that introduces printing, symmetry, expression, collage and the amazing contemporary artist Chris Uphues, I strongly recommend this fun lesson! Love to hear from you if you give it a go!