Keith Haring Lower Gym Mural

Sometimes schools get into a bit of a bind in terms of space. That's why teachers are constantly moving classrooms, even teaching out of trailers and off rolling carts. One space issue that EES has been confronting is Physical Education space on rainy or cold days. The EES gym is multipurpose, and gets used for lunch each day.  On rainy days, that means that P.E. classes go to the Lower Gym. For a long time, this is what the lower gym has looked liked:

Geesh.

Not the most inspiring athletic space. It  has no windows, and we couldn't redo the floor, and some ceiling tiles still need replacing.  But kids are flexible, so they make it work.  And The Most Flexible and Kind Colleague in the World, P.E. teacher Tyler Sessions, has made it work. But the idea that this has been her workspace for years made me, well, a little sad.

So, we hatched a plan. The kids would repaint it.  It wouldn't change the facts of the space, but art has many jobs. Sometimes, art fixes things.  Sometimes, art draws attention to problems that need fixing, by initiating a conversation.

Few artists in history have done that as well as artist and activist Keith Haring. His work straddled the worlds of street graffiti and fine gallery art. But in all of it, he worked to use art as a vehicle to engage his viewers in conversations on difficult topics.

Keith Haring, 1986, Logo against Family Violence

His work was a terrific jumping off point for students. Immediately accessible, colorful, energetic, and easy to relate to. Students used his style as the starting point for sketching dynamic, physically active figures.  Everyone submitted an idea, and the grade voted on their favorites to become part of the finished work.

After the work was chosen, seventeen figures in all, students and I prepped the walls by painting big washes of background color and transferring sketches to the wall with the help of an old-fashioned overhead projector. And then, they painted!

And painted...

and painted...

and painted...

and painted!

It was marvelous to see students so excited to change their own environment, working together.  To make it a little better, and to draw attention to the space.

The finished work was outlined, motion lines added.

Mrs. Sessions has been raving about her revamped classroom, and kids are enjoying it tremendously, too, trying out mimicking the poses they painted. Here are the talented artists!

And the lovely Mrs. Sessions, top left, (grinning!) in her repainted classroom.

Leaving their world better than they found it:

"Art is not a thing, it is a way." 

-Elbert Hubbard

Energy! Wood Sculptures on Physics Concepts

Fourth graders here at EES do a unit of study in their classrooms on potential and kinetic energy. What better classroom-to-art room connection than to bring in the fabulous Alexander Calder to the conversation, as a jumping-off point?

Students looked at his mobiles and stabiles, and considered how his work used energy. In their own work they were charged with the job of "evidencing your understanding of potential and/or kinetic energy through an abstract wooden sculpture."

It's funny how with some kids, that problem statement is broad enough to be actually upsetting, because there was no "right" answer. Hands went up, right and left, all asking basically the same thing: "But what should it look like?!"

"Well," I kept saying, "I don't know exactly how yours will look. It depends on how you choose to make it."

For other students, this was exactly the kind of problem they love.  The tools. The tinkering. The open-ended problem-solving over a dozen iterations of their design to create stored energy or actual motion.

"But what if I am afraid to use the tools?"

It's true, we used real tools. Handsaw, hot glue guns, sandpaper, wire snips, dowel cutters. And a drill. I didn't tell students that they had to use all of the tools, (but most chose to) but they did have to find a way to cut and assemble their design. With lots of support, safety checks, and guidance, students quickly grew to feel comfortable with these tools.

One of the most exciting parts to me is the number of young artists who, due to their new interest, decided to take an after-school woodworking class with Sawmill Studios.

Did all of the artworks function as the artist planned?  Of course not, that isn't how design work usually goes, especially not on the first few tries.  But eventually, artworks all around the room were rolling, springing, and spinning into motion.

The parts of this project which were especially marvelous were that:
 1) each artwork was significantly different than any other,
 2) students took it so seriously and were so invested that there were virtually no management issues,
 3) it was wonderful to see students flexibly try so many variations of an idea instead of mentally committing to a design and being unwilling to change it, and
 4) students gained comfort and confidence in a new and challenging medium.

Students loved it, and asked to work with wood again, so for next year the main change I would make is that I am buying a small vise!

Crazy Colors Lidded Coil Pots

This year I have really missed teaching sans kiln.  Kids love clay so much, and it's a material that offers so many benefits to strength and fine motor skills.  I can offer airdry clay and tons of play-dough, but the working properties are quite different. Throwing on the wheel at BCA is also super fun, but what I would really like to focus on more is clay handbuilding in the lower grades.

These gorgeous, vivid vessels were made by grade 2

The work above is made from Model Magic air-dry clay, which comes in both primary and neon colors, which yield a rainbow of exciting hues when mixed.  No glaze needed for color, but also not food safe since they are not actually ceramic.

The cost of airdry clay is no joke, either. While a 50lb box of clay costs around $17, a 2lb tub of Model Magic goes for about the same price. Once a clay program is in place, the costs of running it are quite manageable.

News which took me by surprise last month is that BCA is moving their art studios out of downtown before the end of the year, due to structural safety concerns and construction at Memorial Auditorium.

If you are thinking that it sounds like a good time for EES to get a kiln, stay tuned!       

I am brainstorming ideas to fundraise next year for one of EES' very own. 

BCA Clay Days!

It was a total pleasure this week to take my third through fifth graders across the street to Burlington City Arts to throw pottery on the wheels!

Each class had this experience thanks to our fantastic Edmunds PTO fundraising to make the trip possible.  Students arrived excited to get their hands dirty and hear expert clay teachers at BCA give how-to's on the basics of throwing on a wheel.

Students practice their "crab claws" to pinch and pull up the side walls with teacher Alissa Faber

Most of my students have been here before- it's an annual school tradition.  This year students could choose to make a basic vessel, such as a cup or bowl. One student made a flower pot, and there were a few vases in the mix as well.

Centering clay is by far the hardest part, so students arrived to pre-centered clay lumps at their wheel, from which they could alter the piece.

Pulling the floor of a bowl.  And such steady, strong posture for throwing!

Every single student made a finished piece. These will be returned to our artists in a couple weeks after they are fired.

You can tell from kids' posture how totally rapt their attention is on BCA teacher Kate.

Students were excellent guests in the space- engaged, polite, respectful of the hundreds of fragile artworks drying on shelves all around them.

This short video really shows how laser-focused artists were. 

What a treat for all of us to go!

A BIG THANK YOU to BCA staff and the Edmunds PTO for making our field trip possible!

Amazing Printed Animal Portraits- EES grade 5

Rawr!

Have you ever asked a group of kids what printing is?

Well, given where we are technologically in this world, this is a pretty good answer, actually. It would be pretty weird and surprising if kids started shouting out terms like "linocut" or "lithography," because this isn't a hundred years ago. All of the above, however, fit into the same category- images that can be reproduced multiple times. All of those prints can be nearly identical, or they can change in positioning and colors.

Squids

When you dig into it, though, printing is basically this:

Splat!

Distilling printmaking down to a handprint is really useful for my students. It helps them understand that anything, really, can be printed, whether it is a leaf or a string or a potato.

Suddenly, (and sadly, just as they are outgrowing being my students) my fifth graders really, really get it. And they are loving printmaking so much that they are begging to stay in at recess to do more. (Disclaimer: I cave easily at this. Who wouldn't indulge kids who want more art in their free time?!)

                

 This print post needs a shout out and a thank you to Mr. Stoller at Thomas Elementary Art for the amazing lesson idea. This is truly the best styrofoam printmaking lesson that I have ever done with elementary kids, and are definitely on a level to compete head-to-head with carved linoleum or vinyl works (and minus all of the hand-stabbing that comes from sharp cutting tools.)

                 

 

 These sweet prints began with drawings that the kids made. We discussed portraiture and focused on the head and shoulders of a favorite animal. Students were encouraged to both draw from their imaginations and also use visual resources such as animal encyclopedias.

Pulling a print. Magic!

 After students drew their animals, they printed the outline in a warm color on two papers. We talk about outline basically being the same thing as perimeter, which helps kids grasp what I am asking for. Another way to show outline is to ask kids to think about cookie cutters.

 Next, students added details to their animals, and cut away the background styrofoam.  The animal was printed in a cool color, right on top if the first prints, as you see above.  Here are a few examples of what they looked like at that stage:

Yup, the work looked amazing at this point, but it is the final highlight color that really brought the "wow" effect. Students cut out a part of the animal that they wanted to print in a third color layer, and rolled ink onto it separately from the other pieces, and printed it a final time.

Because putting lots of brains together on an idea yields better results than thinking solo, students proposed that their prints have different highlighted areas on different prints. I loved this idea, and it helped really bring to life the prints as diptychs, like the elephants near the top of this post, and these puffins, below.

                   

Elephants, you might have noticed by now, were a popular theme:

                 

Here, the artist highlighted the spikes in both images, but the change in color is lovely:

                   

 

Finally, we discussed the format printers (the humans kind, not the machine kind) use to label their artwork.  At the left of each print, artists wrote their series number (print number out of the total, such as the first of two in the edition, written as "1/2"). In the center, artists added a title, and on the right hand side, the work was signed.

These young artists took it very seriously, and felt quite professional when they finished matting their prints on black paper.

You can buy art styrofoam designed for this use, or you can just save a tray from the grocery store, and make your own by cutting off curved sides and using the flat bottom.  Try out some printing magic soon!