The other day, I had to take a day from school. I created a sub plan video for my sub to use with my first through fourth grade classes. My younger kids worked on 9" X 12" paper because they have 30 minute art classes. My older students worked on 12" X 18" pieces of paper since they have an hour. I created this video and a simple handout. When I had returned, the students had gotten as far as tracing their designs in Sharpie. They were SO EXCITED to continue working on these that I put their current projects aside to let them finish. Here are a handful of fourth grader's pieces that have been finished and are in process.
I'm loving each and every one! Since this was such an engaging lesson for the kids, I thought I'd share it with y'all. If you are going to NAEA this coming week and in need of a lesson, you might consider using this!
In addition to the video I created for my sub, I also made these handouts. That way the kiddos would recall a simple breakdown of the lesson. Feel free to reproduce for your art teacherin' world.
I also had a production of a James Rizzi cityscape as well as some images of the Nashville skyline. The kids were told they could create ANY city they wanted: real or imagined. Many of my students are interested in the buildings of Nashville since we live so close so that's why I included that visual.
My students were also allowed to use my how to draw books which is why you'll see some recognizable cartoon characters on the buildings. Several of them also used my mirrors so they could create self-portrait buildings or simply see how to portray different emotions.
I did notice that some students got a little lazy when it came time to create doors and windows. So I reproduced a doors and windows idea sheet from line drawings printed from the internet. This really helped encourage more creativity.
So many of them just went wild with this lesson and they really loved it!
When I returned, I introduced them to Vincent van Gogh and we spent a lot of time learning about him, looking at his paintings and chatting about his brushstrokes. Then we looked at The Starry Night and used that as our inspiration for our skies.
For that we used both oil pastels and markers. Once our skies were full of dashed lines, we simply added water!
From there, we used the warm colors (ahem, well, some of us did) to add color to the sides and top of the buildings. Afterward, water was added. This was a super non-mess way to create a vibrant and creative masterpiece.
Unfortunately, my kiddos are in various stages of finishing. Why have we not been able to invent a All Finished At The Same Time Machine yet?! Ugh, the worst. So here as some spectacular almost-finished masterpieces.
This is easily a lesson that ALL of my students adored, from first grade all the way up to fourth.
And certainly one that a sub, even if not an "art" sub, could handle.
I know a James Rizzi lesson isn't anything new...but I thought this was a fun and SIMPLE take on it that even a sub (or us...when we are nearing spring break and need that easy project that also keeps them engaged!) could use.
Speaking of sub days...who is going to NAEA?! I'm so excited, I've never been to Seattle before.
I won't be leading any sessions but I will be doing TWO meet-ups and I'd love to see you.
You can join me on Friday in the Activa booth where you can make and take one of these cuties! Or just hang out and chat.
Or come hang out on Saturday with me and the podcastin' gang from AOE! Tim will be there along with the AOE team so it will be super fun.
I've been teaching for many a year and it's always just been my assumption that kindergarten is loud. Like REALLY loud. It wasn't until recently, when I popped into a kindergarten classroom, that I noticed that they aren't ALWAYS this way. I walked into this room and they were working...calmly. Quietly. Like, frighteningly so. As if they were up to no good or plotting the next time they were coming to art and going to drive me bonkers with their incessant jib-jab. When I asked the teacher why they were so quiet, she was all, "what do you mean? They're working. They always work this way." SAY WHAT NOW?!
Not long after that, @art_with_mia who I love and follow on Instagram, shared that she recently started using something called Quiet Critters in her art room. Now I've heard of teachers using stuffed animals as quiet incentives before...but these small sparkly pompoms seemed like an easier alternative. With the noise level in my art room with kindergarten on the rise, I was determined to give it a shot. And, you guyz, IT WORKS.
If you read my last post, you know that I've named each of these critters after an artist. Every other art class, I'm introducing that artist to the kids. This one is Andy (Warhol). When a student earns a critter, I simply place them in their table caddy. I do think this would work with slightly older grades...but my older kids already use the clip system (which is what the clothes pins are all about. You can read about that here.) Since it works for them, I'm not about to reinvent the wheel, you know. However, I'm super stoked to find something that works for my wee ones, yay! Finally, I can hear myself think! Do you use something like this in your art room? I'd love to hear how it goes!
If you are looking at my blog right before bedtime, lemme just go ahead and apologize for this nightmarishly frightening image. But I had so much fun creating this mess-terpiece from a $1.50 thrift store frame, that I just had to share it with you! Here's the process:
The idea started last week when I introduced my kindergarten to something called "Quiet Critters"...I'll be sharing more about those magical beasts later this week (tomorrow, I hope but we'll see how life goes). The short story is that my Q.C.'s only come to the quietest and hardest working tables in kindergarten. Here's what they look like:
Giant pompoms with eyeballs, feet and antennae glued to the them. I JUST started using this system with my kindergarten as they are my noisiest crew...and, so far, they are working wonders! Each Q.C. is named after a famous artist with the plan being that I'll introduce one of those artists every other art class. Last week, we met Mona Lisa! Here's a short video of that I shared on my IG:
It went over so stinkin' well that this weekend, I knew I'd need to create another Your Face Here painting. This time 'round, I went with van Gogh! We've been talking about him and perseverance a lot lately...so he seemed like the obvious choice. Here's a snippet from our most recent chat:
I've been sharing short clips of myself teaching over on my IG. One of my most favorite things in the world is to watch others teach...I thought I'd share a little glimpse inside.
When creating these frames, here's what I look for: something cheap, without glass and with a heavy card or foam board that I can paint directly on. This allows me to just "gesso" over the painting (and by gesso, I mean just paint it white) and go to town on the new one. It's super fast, super fun and I'm so excited to bring van Gogh to my students. I won't be painting myself a beard as I just don't feel like wearing a beard for several days straight. I am the proud owner of a nice red fake beard that I can easily slide on before introducing van Gogh to the kids.
I plan to make many more of these. My friend Ashley made a ton for her students' art show and I LOVE that idea! I think I might have to have them out as a photo op for the big night.
I have been oversharing this lesson so much on my Instagram because I LOVE IT! My second graders learned so much in the making of these kindness prints: how to create a printing plate, make marker prints, pull ink prints, burnish their printing plate with spray paint, steel wool and aluminum, use Model Magic to mix colors and create a heart and...last but not least, pick a word of kindness that best resonates with them. DID I MENTION THAT THIS LESSON PACKED A PUNCH?! Holy cats! But, y'all. I'm in LOVE.
So, how did we create these masterpieces? I created a video to share the process. I thought I'd break it down class-by-class what we worked on. Keep in mind that I have 30 minute art classes with my 2nd graders...so I'll be breaking down my lesson in baby bites for those of you that have hour long classes. Just combine my two days and you'll know what you can accomplish in one class of an hour.
Day One: Chatted about Robert Indiana, looked at his LOVE sculpture. From there, we switched gears and began drawing the designs on our printing plate. First with one color ink pin and then a different color to insure that we made the lines deep enough. Day Two: Continued tracing and then started coloring our designs with water soluble markers. Early finishers pulled the first of the marker prints.
Day Three (week two): We spent the class pulling marker prints. Once you print one, you simply recolor and print another!
Day Four: EVERY ONE'S FAVORITE: INK PRINTING! These kids loved ink printing...and pulled a million amazing prints. The key is having a tray that is rectangular (so the kids only roll up and down; I'm using the lid from my tempera cakes) and using ink. Sorry, no skimping here, paint just won't cut it.
Every two kiddos shared an ink tray and a brayer. I used the same ink and brayer for two classes, back to back. No issues with the ink drying...prints pulled were still beautiful!
Day Five (week three): I've had the idea of the kids doing something with their printing plates for some time now...and I really thought they would be great embossed. Here's the key: the prep is a little on the heavy side. I laid all of the plates on a large sheet of paper, gave them a shot of 3M spray glue and covered them with inexpensive foil. Then I sprayed them all with the $1 a can matte black spray paint from Home Depot (this is the ONLY paint to use when doing this kind of project, it burnishes off the easiest!). Then the the kids burnished off the spray paint and they were amazed with the results. Some even wanted to add color:
While pretty, I would recommend skipping this step. It just about killed my Sharpies as the tip of the marker was ruined by the spray paint particles.
Day Six: We made Model Magic hearts! The kids could pick any two primary colors and white. They rolled them, twisted them until they got their desired color/design. Then they shaped them into hearts. They had to also decide upon their word of choice...so they would know where to place their heart. Their heart would act as the dot to the I or the O.
Day Seven: LAST DAY! We used strips of 4.5" X 1" pieces of paper to create our words. They were glued down. Then the kids picked a construction paper frame and decorated it with sparkle tape I found at the Dollar Tree! A long project? YES. Did they learn a lot of new styles, methods and techniques? YES-YES! I would definitely do this again...I can't wait to hang these in the hall!
I see my kindergarteners for 40 minutes, once a week. I knew they'd zip through the alphabet painting...so I shared with them a super fun Chicka Chicka Boom Boom video from YouTube and challenged them to make a painting of upper and lower case letters. This resulted in beautiful black and white paintings of letters. We piled them on to the drying rack and were done for the day...two masterpieces complete!
Once the ink is dry from the bingo daubers, my students are going to "hug" their letters with water soluble markers. Then they'll add just water right over their marker lines for this fabulous result!
Another alternative to having them paint over their lines is simply spray them with water! Once class only had moments left so we did this trick and, while I like the other result better, these still look great. Just a tip: when spraying with water, less is best. The colors will bleed if given time.
And there you have it, two great literacy projects for kindergarten in one!
Teaching kids how to make a paper heart can sometimes make you question your life's choices. And that is ESPECIALLY true if you teach kindergarten. The week of Valentine's Day, I wanted to take a break from our usual projects and teach this skill. Knowing that it might be a bumpy ride, I wrote this poem. It helped me so much, I wanted to share. Feel free to use in your art room with any age group of kids!
So, how does this poem work? I recited it during my demo with the kids and had them repeat after me. I do call and response ALL DAY LONG in my art room so they are used to this routine. Here's a glimpse into my art room with kindergarten:
By the end of our 40 minute art class, each student had successfully cut out many hearts. We also chatted about the artist Chris Uphues and added fun faces to these. The kids were beyond excited to create and take these home with them. Just had to share!
Hey, y'all! During my final weeks of summer, I had the chance to hang out in the home studio of Nashville fiber artist Shana Kohnstamm. Shana is, first of all, amazing! How kind of her to take time out of her busy creative life to have me over for an afternoon of wet felting! AND she's a wealth of knowledge on all things felting, both wet and needle felting. Just hanging out with her for an afternoon made me feel like I'd just had a crash course on all things fibers...and this from someone who is no stranger to felting.
Shana shared with me a fun process on how to create a wet felted adjustable headband. I filmed the process so I could share it with you. I know very little about wet felting...so it was great to learn from a pro. I really enjoyed learning all about her supplies and how she sets up her space for wet felting. Here's the video!
I mean...isn't she the best? Also, she's just a fun person to be around and that totally shines through in this tutorial. BIG thanks to you again, Shana!
Shana is such a prolific fiber artist...and does things with felt that I didn't even know were possible. I've done my slight share of wet felting and a TON of needle felting. But was really blown away with the possibilities of this medium that Shana shared with me. However, let's first talk about this studio space: so tidy, organized and perfect for a fiber artist!
And you know that epic stash of wool roving had me all starry-eyed! A lot of the roving, Shana dyes herself in her backyard! Can you imagine being her neighbor and seeing those rainbows of roving hanging out on the clothes line?!
When I first met Shana, she shared with me a necklace she'd made...which lead me to believe she was a jeweler. Then, when I got to her home which, by the way, is FILLED with her art (as well as her collection of other artist's works), I found that she's a fibers jack of all trades.
Sculptures, light fixtures, weavings, jewelry, you name it. In fact, if you live in the Nashville area and are interested in learning more about felting, you should look her up. She can be found teaching classes on felting!
I had so much fun hanging out with Shana. A person who understands my love of felting! Gah, I'm starring at those weavings and itching to create one, so fun.
The sculptural felting was what really caught my eye. Her pieces and gradients of color were just stunning.
Not to mention solid. If you've felted before then you'll appreciate the amount of time and patience a piece like this requires.
A lot of Shana's work put me in the mind of Tim Burton, like this amazing light she created the shades for. Seriously, her entire house was a work of art. So much to see and take in.
Shana, thank you so much for letting me hang out with you! It was a blast and I learned so stinkin' much!
Labels: elementary art, vintage clothing
art class,
art day,
artist,
cassie stephens,
james rizzi,
rizzi city,
starry night,
sub plans,
van gogh,
van gogh lesson
