Embroidered Pillows

Students have loved this embroidering and sewing project. They are so proud of their work!

This project began with students embroidering a design on fabric using large, blunt needles and embroidery floss.

Photo credit: Fritz Senftleber  

Gratefully, the art room proudly owns a whole class set of embroidery hoops now. Students could choose any design that appealed to them, and sketched it on the back of the fabric. 

Sewing has to be about the most therapeutic thing in the art room. It is like a form a meditation. Students become so immersed in the stitching, and really have to give it all of their attention, and the room just quiets naturally.

Photo credit: Fritz Senftleber 

It also brings students an huge sense of accomplishment that they have finished making a tangible, usable object for their homes.

Photo credit: Fritz Senftleber  

Some students even brought in sewing projects they are working on at home, and many students spoke about the members of their family who sew. Several students identified how the skills learned in sewing something like a pillow would be useful to know in practical matters like fixing clothes.

After the embroidery was finished, the fabric was pinned inside out and two edges were sewn with a running stitch.

Photo credit: Fritz Senftleber  

The fabric was flipped right side out, stuffed with pillow fluff, and pinned again so that students could finish the side with a whip stitch.

 Adding buttons, bows, or both was optional. Some artists pulled the buttons tightly to tuft their pillows.

These second grade artists really amazed me. Handstitching is no easy task to master, and necessary to learn before graduating to a sewing machine. Even with a sewing machine there are times things must be handstitched. Learning knots to secure thread to the fabric and to do a basic running stitch are the first steps!

Drawing Abstract Forms

Fifth grade students have created drawings inspired by two artists, Filipino painter Hernando Ruiz Ocampo (1911-1978) and contemporary American painter Adam Daily.

Ocampo described his art as an investigation of flora and fauna in "abstract compositions of biological forms that seemed to oscillate, quiver, inflame and multiply." (Wikipedia) Students noticed how his paintings had depth, and that the images felt like spaces which could be entered, despite the lack of "real" visual anchors in the abstract compositions. His bold colors, illumination of the spaces, and organic shapes inspired many students. 

Beefsteak, 1953, Hernando R. Ocampo

Students were also introduced to the dizzying abstract work of Adam Daily, to whom they also wrote questions about his work. That is an enormous plus of studying contemporary artists, we can write them a letter and they may just answer us!  Mr. Daily did write back, and his replies did not disappoint.

M3, 2013, Adam Daily

Here are the questions that students asked, and Mr. Daily's responses:

1. "What inspires you?"

My work is not inspired by a specific outside influence. I have come to my current work through experimentation in my studio, particularly drawing. I find that time spent without a clear end goal or objective can lead to creative discoveries that build into a body of work.

2."Why are the shapes rigid with hard edges?"

The shapes that I use all fit on the same grid. I create a library of shapes in isometric perspective that can be moved in space and still align with other shapes in the same space. This rigid hard edged structure comes from the necessity of having a modular form.

3."Why do you choose such bright colors?"

I love exploring pigment and color. Some of my earliest experiences in art were getting lost in the art supply store and buying colors with no particular plan for what to do with them.  My current paintings allow me to use this color in its fullest without dilution or reduction of intensity. I want to show how powerful color can be and show its interactions.

4."Is your work violent in some way? It seems sort of crazy, or aggressive."

This is a very observant question; I do not intend to make violent work. I am a passivest and opposed to violence. However, my compositions are intended to control and exert force upon the viewer, to make them see what I see, this is perhaps a violent act. This is the reason why there are no empty spaces. Once the viewer has entered the space I do not want to let them out. The space is intended to be both shallow and deep, open and closed, energetic and fixed. There are many interesting interactions of color and form to be found if you look but there is no place where you can rest. Everything is figure and everything is ground, there is no on or off.

5."Do you copyright your artwork?"

No I do not. My work is all hand made. It cannot be reproduced accurately with digital methods.

Armed with so much information on visual, abstract, three-dimensional forms and spaces, students began to make work of their own. Instead of making shapes, they created forms, and the forms were lighted with a specific directional source of the student's choosing to create convincing dimension.

The results are varied and fantastic. Some students found themselves more attracted to the organic forms of Ocampo's style, and others found inspiration in the more severe geometric shapes of Daily. 

Many of the works students created embodied the frenzied movement and vibrations of the inspiration artists, while others has a quieter and weightier presence.

Work will be on display in our upcoming winter art night! 

Stained Glass-inspired Watercolor Paintings

Third and fourth mixed-grade homerooms looked at the art of Louis Comfort Tiffany, an artist known best for his work in stained glass, especially his lamps.

Tiffany loved the lower quality of glass from the bottling industry, full of bubbles and impurities.

These impurities led to a naturalism in his stained glass, full of more varied shades and tints.

One major focus of this project inspired by Tiffany's stained glass was to create a variety of tints and shades of at least one color.

Artists began with drawing vases of plants and flowers from life, including ones from the EES landscape such as ferns and crab apples.

Zooming in or out with hands as view-finders let students explore composition.

After the observations were completed, students added backgrounds and borders before moving into outlining with black glue.

When the glue dries, it leaves a raised surface that acts like a tiny retaining pool for the watercolor as it is applied.

 Some artists applied salt to create the bubbling, speckled effect of the glass.

In addition to traditional watercolors, these artists tried watercolor pencils as well, which are applied like a regular colored pencil then liquified with water on a brush.

Capturing Light on Pumpkins!

The first grade science curriculum’s light unit asks students to evidence their understanding of how to make a shadow, using a light source, object, and surface.  In Art class students are exploring this idea. Last year we painted trees in landscapes in support of showing their science knowledge.

We began by looking at objects under a flashlight. Artists noted how shadows always fall opposite the light source. After identifying that the things needed to create shadows, students began sketching their pumpkin and a light source on paper, then painting with shades of yellow, orange, and brown. We discussed how to blend the colors and paint in the direction of the curves of the pumpkin to show its form. Students worked to make their pumpkins look realistic by showing the light coming from a specific direction.

Tiny pencil sun with arrow to where the pumpkin would be brightest!

This artist chose a lightbulb instead of sun.These are how they looked at the end of the first class.

  At the start of the second class, students cut out the pumpkins and glued them to a background paper they selected. Artists used oil pastels to add light source, ground, and shadow.

In the third class, artists used cut paper collage to add faces, and could choose to add additional details with oil pastel.

This candlelit pumpkin emerged out of a whole spooky graveyard scene on the third class!

      It empowers first grade artists to "show what they know" about science through the making of an artwork- that is the essence of true integration of content!

   

Across each pumpkin, you can really see the visual evidence of how the color moves from sun to shadow with shaded transitions. As artists added a light source and a surface on which the pumpkin’s shadow would fall, and details and faces, true seasonal magic grew!

These are displayed on the first floor bulletin boards, stop by to see them anytime school is open.

Back-to-School Collaborative Art Quilt

EES Art Quilt!

Welcome back to EES art class! 

These last three months are the longest I have ever taken off of the blog since it began, and it was a creatively refreshing summer.

I couldn't be more thrilled to show you the paper quilt students have made during art over these last two weeks. Isn't is gorgeous?!

Each of us has our humanity in common, but what we bring and feel to situations makes us so different. This quilt is intended to highlight the ways that we are all alike and yet unique.

Each child began this project with exactly the same four shapes. One six-inch square, one triangle (half of the square), and two rectangles (6"x1.5").  Students were challenged to use no more and no fewer than those pieces to create a six-inch quilt block.

These are a culmination of separate ideas and approaches, collaboration, and a willingness to work through different approaches to make something good, together.

"We may have all come in different ships, but we're in the same boat now." 

Dr. Martin Luther King

"Wait... That's All?" Why That End-Of-Year Art Portfolio Isn't Thicker

One of my greatest fears as an art teacher quickens my heartbeat each June. Children make their portfolios and I begin handing out a year's worth of artwork to go home, and... wait... where is it all?!  That cannot possibly be all that we made this year, right?! What did we do with all that time?

Turns out I am not the only one wondering- so are students and their parents! That's why it's so worth talking about.

Why don't art class portfolios have more in them?

In most places in the U.S., if kids have art class (note: not all places do), they have it once per week at school during their elementary years. Some students are super lucky and have it twice weekly, but that is pretty uncommon.

This year, my Monday classes had art thirty times, while my Tuesday classes had it thirty-five times. Mondays run into national holidays and long weekends, and lose several class periods. Now, factor in field trips, snow days, and random school assemblies, and it is lucky to see a class even twenty-eight times in a year.

My own schedule is unusual, to be sure- I see Kindergarten and first grade weekly, and grades 2-5 three times every two-week rotation.

It might be easy to assume, therefore, that there should be perhaps fourteen or more finished and beautiful projects. Or at least ten? It seems like there just never is that much work in a portfolio. Where did the time go? Where are the projects? The feedback I most dread is the "it couldn't have taken them long to make that, right?" comment.

To help explain, here is an example project breakdown, day by day:

This is a first grade landscape. It took a month to make. Four classes. How on earth could it take a whole month?! Let's explore what went into this rather average-length project.

Class 1: We look at examples of skies in photos and paintings, and have a class discussion about how a person can tell the time of the day by looking at the sky. What celestial objects are in it? What colors are visible?

Students make a choice about the time of day and the light source that they would like to use. Artists paint just the sky, leaving little white lines behind to add trees later. Some students don't finish painting it, because everyone has a different work pace.

Sunset

Class 2: We experiment with light and shadow. We use the projector to look at how light hits objects, and figure out what we need to show- objects, light source, a surface, shadows, lights and darks on the object itself... whew.

Now, students who didn't finish the sky last time begin with that, and kids who did finish begin trees, implying the light source on the trees using lights and darks in their paint shades. Often, students finish only the tree trunks that day.

Class 3: Today we quickly review how to imply light direction, noting that darks and shadows always fall opposite the light source. Most students are working on their leaves or pine needles, stippling the brush to show lots of texture. (Or... some are still working on their sky, because they were absent, are particular, or find it challenging. Missing a class is significant, and catching up is hard.)

Class 4: On this day, the students use oil pastels to add a surface, shadows, and details, and often add a light source as well.

Most students finish this day, and it might look something like these when done. Being science-integrated, this lesson has also just done the double-duty task of demonstrating what they know from pieces of their classroom Light Unit.

                     

 

I would be happy to break down any project this way.

There is also lots of work which doesn't fit into a portfolio, and goes home earlier in the year, or doesn't go home at all, like a group mural or outdoor chalk drawings.

The cardboard beast of the winter which took most groups ten classes? You won't see that in the portfolio, these already went to recipients selected by the pair of artists who made each work.

The insect prints which took most children seven sessions? The card sets went home for Valentine's Day. Single prints will be in portfolios.

All of the clay work? Many students took these home on Art Night, or in the weeks afterward.

First grade magic wands? Casting spells on your homes since October!

We also painted rocks for the Fleming Museum Project! Gracing homes around the community and helping increase museum access.

Yes, art is (partly) about making really beautiful work to hang in your home. But my classroom is not a craft factory, we are working on creative problem solving, art history, and more, with equal weight.

But it is also- perhaps foremost- about the process: learning, connecting, mistake-making, and sketching ideas.  Not the product alone.

So, if your child's portfolio is looking a little thin, dig deeper with him or her. You might ask: What tools and materials did you use to make it? What was the hardest part? What was the process like? Circle back to the projects which might already be at home. Slow down, notice the details, and celebrate the work of what your artist has come to show you!