Modern Art 4 Kids

Modern Art 4 Kids at CHA Winter Conference & Trade Show

2012-01-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

I'll be at the CHA Winter Conference & Trade Show tomorrow. I'll be there to cover the event for Mamiverse and of course, Modern Art 4 Kids. I am super excited to get on the floor and meet the people and companies who make all of the great art and crafting supplies that I use on a daily basis with my children and in the classroom, such as oil pastels, craft paint, watercolors and craft glue. And collage scrapbooking papers. And clay. And Mod Podge. And art markers. And color pencils. And....you get my drift!

We use so many different mediums at Modern Art 4 Kids that I'll be like a fat kid in a candy store! That said, I can't wait to get my hands dirty and take part in all of the fun make and takes, new techniques and tutorials! Keep your eyes peeled for all of the upcoming posts when I share about all the really cool things I'll discover over the next few days. I'm a total rookie when it comes to craft conventions, so I am prepared to have my mind blown.

Yay me.

The image above is an adorable hand-painted rock from one of my art students. She gave it to me for Christmas. Can you tell what it is? It's a paint palette!

Our Pumpkin Book Project: Dogzilla

2011-11-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

During the last two weeks of October, my son's third grade class was assigned The Pumpkin Book Project, which is project that transforms a pumpkin into a literary character from the Clutter-Free Classroom. At first, I was slightly annoyed that we had to use the pumpkin theme. I mean, I understand it's October and all but why not just be creative and work from the original book? But, my son was into the idea of working with a pumpkin so I thought, ok, this is his project and not mine. Let's see what we can do. In the end, I really liked it and our project turned out really cool. My son was so happy with it!

When both your mom and Dad are artists, projects like these can take a life of their own. I say, oh oh ooooh we can do this! and then my husband chimes in and says, yeah yeah yeeeeeah and we can do this, too! And before you know it, we are really into it and our child is fast asleep on the sofa.

Heh.

In all seriousness, they do help with their own project. I usually let them brainstorm and take part in the planning, they paint backgrounds, help cut out shapes and they are handy with the glue. So I can't totally claim this entire project. Ahem.

Cyan decided that Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey would be his literary character. We love Dog Breath and Dragon Gets By, and Dogzilla is no different! Pilkey's books are age appropriate, funny and really creative. His book choice was a no-brainer for us.

We decided right away that we didn't want to use a foam pumpkin. My idea was for a relief sculpture in cardboard, with each piece mounted on top of each other so it had a 3-D effect much like our Frank Stella project. Luckily, all we had to do was go into the studio and pull elements from past projects that we could recycle. We used a large piece of cardboard (about three feet high and two feet wide) that once served as our display boards for open house, pieces of felt, acrylic paint, paper and a hot glue gun.

We wanted to feature the part of the book when Dogzilla comes out from the cityscape because he lured by the tasty bbq smell that the mice are preparing. My son decided that Dogzilla wasn't being bad, terrorizing the mice. He was just being a dog. The green plume is his toxic dog breath wafting in the breeze. The background is painted, so are the buildings, the pumpkin and the green breath. Everything else is felt (LOVED the wagging pink tongue!) and cut out letters. My only regret is that we should have completely covered the pumpkin shape in grey felt. Then I think it would've looked more like Dogzilla. Also, I think a few mice scattered about would have been really cute!

The cover of the book. We didn't want to use the cover idea, that would be too easy!

That white stuff behind Dogzilla is a plume of smoke. We achieved this by pulling apart a piece of white felt.

How do you think we did?

Día de los Muertos Calavera Collage

2011-11-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

And the Día de los Muertos festivities just keep going and going, right? It's not even noon yet and I have another art project you can do that is super fun and creative, too.

I promised I would share a Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera calavera collage and here it is. If you don't know what a collage is, it is simply a cut paper assemblage. What I love about collage is, you can do anything with some colored paper and scissors. No wonder Henri Matisse called it painting with scissors!

I have bins and bins filled with multi-colored cardstock, paper and tissue paper. Most of it is scraps from other collages I've done. I just hate to throw anything away. Yes, I am that teacher. But really, any cut paper that is left over is perfect to be used again in another collage. Hence, my rather large collection.

So, again I ask you...who needs paint when you have paper and scissors?

I decided to try this collage with my eleven year old son, Sol. It started out as a couple of skeletons, or calaveras, but somewhere down the line it changed to Frida Kahlo (my muse) and her beloved Diego Rivera. Frida is easily recognizable in almost any art medium but Diego was a bit more of a challenge since his most recognizable trait, his large body, can't really be duplicated on a skeleton!

You will need multiple sheets of cardstock in lots of different colors. The size is dependent on the size of our overall collage.
You will need one large sheet of paper for your base. We chose a 12 x 12 inch sheet in blue.
Sharp scissors
Glue stick. Anything else will cause a huge mess because liquid glue takes forever to dry. More experienced students can use rubber cement, but make sure you have proper ventilation. That stuff stinks!
If you have older students, consider using tweezers to help shape the smaller details. My son was frustrated by some of the small cut pieces of paper sticking to his fingers, which got lots of glue stick on them.
When working in collage, start with your large, basic pieces as your foundation. Sol lightly traced his skeleton shape with a pencil before cutting it out. Everything else, we just eyeballed.
I helped my son with the finer details of this collage, such as Frida's hair, dress and her jewelry, and Diego's shirt.

If you give your students consistent guidance while they are working, their finished projects will turn out amazing! I say "consistent guidance" because there are always students who want to rush through the project. Or there are those who "don't know what to do". If you take your students through the steps of laying down their foundation shape, then they are more likely willing to continue working on building their skeletons. Sometimes, a blank piece of paper is just too daunting.

Hope you have a blast creating this Día de los Muertos collage. We certainly did!

The artwork above was created by my eleven year old son (with a little help from mom).

Free Día de los Muertos template

2011-11-02T00:48:00.000-07:00

¡Feliz Día de los Muertos!

Woohoo!

The day has finally come. Today, we will be painting our skeleton faces, complete with decorative flowers and swirl designs, putting flowers in our hair and we'll be heading downtown to our local Day of the Dead celebration. What about you? Do you have anything exciting and/or creative planned for you and your students?

In honor of Day of the Dead, I thought I'd share a very cool sugar skull template for my readers to download for free! Yep, that's right, it is one of the coloring pages that I'm offering in my Dia de los Muertos Activity book. And it's all yours to use in the classroom. Free. Gratis.

Some fun things to do with this template:

You can color the sugar skulls and embellish them with glitter, puffy paint, marker, crayon or oil pastels, whatever you'd like.
Maybe you can add some bling to your sugar skull and glue rhinestones onto it.
Or you can fashion a few flowers from colored tissue paper and glue to the top of the sugar skull. Oh, you fancy huh?
Finally, cut out your mask and glue to a popsicle stick.
Voila! A really cool mask you can use to celebrate Día de los Muertos with your family or your art students.

Day of the Dead in the classroom

2011-11-01T00:22:00.000-07:00

I did one of my first Day of the Dead art workshops of the season last week. It was so much fun! Sometimes I forget how amazing it is to teach art to children.

Some of you may be thinking, really? Are you trying to pull my leg?

No, I'm being totally serious.

There is something about creating art and working with children who have uninhibited creativity. They are very free, unafraid to take risks--they really lose themselves in their art! All that energy is contagious.

Sadly, adults aren't like that at first. It really takes a while for people to let go of themselves.

Anyhow, I was reminded of this fact this week. I taught a simple Day of the Dead art lesson to a group of awesome third graders, one of which was my son Cyan. I shared a brief history on how they celebrate this day in Mexico, we read a really cool children's book about the subject (which really made me have a thought--more on this later) and then we got to work creating our own sugar skulls with oil pastels. My son's amazing teacher even let us listen to the Lila Downs Pandora station, so we could really get the whole Dia de los Muertos vibe going.

The kids drew, colored, were very inquisitive and I got the chance to road test my Day of the Dead Activity pages that I posted about a couple weeks ago. They loved all of the cool shapes. The punk rocker was a fave, so was the large sugar skull. As a thank you, the teacher gave me some really pretty jade-ite skull earrings. So sweet.

Each one was so unique!

Love the bright blue around the eyes.

Markers on the Sugar Skull template looked like so much fun, I wanted to join in!

The punk rocker was in high demand.

Working hard at creating art.

The school girl calavera coloring sheet.

The teacher hung all of our creations on the classroom wall and it looked amazing!

Everyone used the same template yet they all came out very distinct and colorful.

Still wondering what to do with your students on Day of the Dead? Grab your Day of the Dead Activity book or come back on November 2nd when I'll have a really cool Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera calavera collage for you to share with your classroom!

Day of the Dead Activity Plan

2011-10-17T02:22:00.000-07:00

Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is quickly approaching on November 2nd.

Of course, as a Mexican folk artist and teacher, this is my favorite time of the year! I love everything about it--the cool night air that Fall brings, the smell of copal (incense) burning, the sweet sound of rattling shells on the ankles of the Aztec dancers and the colorful sights of the altars, the sugar skulls, the face painting....and of course, the artwork.

I am so excited!

My kids are equally excited about this day because I usually have an art activity planned for them, in addition to the other activities of the night. There are so many interesting and exciting aspects about this day, culturally and artistically--it's so much more than "Mexican Halloween". It's a holiday steeped in tradition and every year its influence spans wider and wider.

In response to the demand, I've decided to create an activity plan to share Day of the Dead on the interwebz. It is perfect for the classroom--whether it be a traditional public school classroom, the charter school hybrid, private school or a group of homeschoolers. It's suitable for all ages, and it's supported by twelve quality links for you to explore.

What makes this activity plan different from others you've seen is that I've created six custom coloring pages for teachers to share with their classroom. That's right, I've infused my own Day of the Dead style of art into these coloring sheets and they can be used in a variety of ways and incorporated into several art lessons for your students.

When you order this 10-page activity plan, you'll receive:

Summary of the origins of Day of the Dead
Vocabulary words
Six unique black and white calavera coloring sheets that you are free to reproduce as many times as you wish*
You can choose from a Frida Kahlo calavera, a dancing couple, a punk rocker, skulls with roses, a school girl and a large sugar skull (which you can use as a template to create a mask).
In addition to several other ideas for you to celebrate this holiday with your students, there are 12 interesting and educational links for you to explore.

I can't wait for you check out my activity pages! The image above is a sneak peak of the first page. My own children have been coloring them with markers for days now and they are really enjoying all of the organic designs, especially the punk rocker and the Frida Kahlo calavera.

Modern Art 4 Kids will email a printable pdf file for a Day of the Dead 10-page activity plan for just $25. Click the “Buy Now” button below to access PayPal for same day delivery to your inbox.

*All images on the activity pages are meant solely for personal use and use in the classroom. Do not reproduce for sale in any form.

3-D Papier Mache Sculptures

2011-09-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hello, fellow lovers of modern art. Long time no see.

Where have you been?
Me? Where have I been?

Touché.

I've been around, brewing up some crazy art projects. Hopefully, I'll get to share them with you soon! A while ago, I posted this really cool Claes Oldenburg project we did creating papier mache sculptures of letters in the alphabet. Here are a few of the images from the project.

My far, this was the most time consuming aspect of this project. Constructing the letters out of cardboard, styrofoam cups, paper and tape. Making sure everyone's letter was just so. It was fun but you need several hands for this if your students are in the younger grade bracket.

The start of the papier mache process. It usually starts off so nice and civilized.

My husband and son, trying to show the students the proper way to apply their papier mache strips onto their sculpted letters so they don't end up with a starchy mess.

I love the fact that every time I introduce a new project, I hold my breath for any glitches. I've had plenty of moments where the tape didn't stick right, a print didn't even come out, or the you could barely see the paint or the students finished their piece in under fifteen minutes. LOL Even though I make samples and try techniques out at home, stuff happens. In this case, I was really hoping the cardboard base would stand up to the papier mache liquid, especially with the students and their overzealous papier mache techniques, slopping it on and whatnot.

A little soggy, but nothing a few hours in the sun couldn't dry out.

All of the letters turned out so cool!


Some could even used as weapons. :)

Once they were dry, I thought it would be easier if I took them all home and painted a coat of primer on them myself. Until it was almost midnight and my hands were covered with white primer and I still had a huge pile to finish. Why do I always get myself into this mess? Story of my life!

So creative and so fun! And the hard work is always worth it in the end.

If you want a step-by-step instructions on how to complete this project, you can check out my Pablo Picasso papier mache project for papier mache basics. Or, you can go to Art Projects For Kids for another 3-D Papier Mache Letter. Have fun!

Summertime art in the works

2011-06-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

It's summertime.

Yay!

Posting about art projects have been a little slow around here but I've got a few projects lined up to do with my kids in the near future. I'll be be sure to post them here on Modern Art 4 Kids soon.

Until then, I thought I'd post the latest artwork created by my son Sol. You know, since this blog is about modern art. And kids. And since Sol is a kid....

You get it, right?

Right.

Just thought I'd preface this post with a picture I took of Sol when he was six years old. We set him up on a wall in our garage with paint and brushes. He ended up sitting there for nearly four hours, painting peacefully on the garage wall.

I should have known then that he had a gift.

This is his latest piece, his third Bob Marley portrait. What can I say? We love us some roots rock reggae.

Sol painted this piece on wood panel with Nova Color acrylic paint. You can't see from this photo but there is a really cool gold accent around the dreadlocks.

Pretty freakin' sweet. You can read more about Sol's painting here.

The birth of an artist

2011-04-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

This was originally posted at Pearmama's World on February 13, 2011.

The one question Michael and I always get asked after,

are they all yours?

and

how old are they?

is most definitely

are they artists just like their mom and dad?

When the chil'rens were really young, we didn't know how to answer that. We were just your typical parents who ooohed and aahhed over their child's cute drawing. They didn't really show any particular promise. We just hung it up on the fridge anyway.

But now that my son is ten years old, I'm beginning to really see Sol's artistic talents starting to flourish. It's a beautiful thing to contemplate that my son is an artist. Michael and I get excited when we see his work and we realize, he's going to be ten times the better artist than we are!

The kid is amazing. And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mother.

Heh.

At ten years old, he paints, draws, does graffiti, designs his own vinyl stickers and can operate the vinyl cutting machine and he is learning how to use computer programs like Photoshop. Oh, and he knows how to airbrush, too.

Shoot, I was doodling on my Peechee folder at his age.

When I saw this video of Ernesto Yerena of Hecho Con Ganas, a young Chicano activist and artist, I couldn't help but think of Sol and his art. I let him watch the video and I saw his eyes light up when he heard the soundtrack. And really, how could he not? It was RATM! He was very interested to learn about this young man who grew up working with his father in the garage. When he got to see Ernesto share his creative techniques, Sol was inspired by his fellow artist.

I told him, "Mijo, you could do all of these things. You are a gifted artist. Imagine what you'll be creating when you are this dude's age!"

Which is approximately twelve years or so because Ernesto is a youngster himself.

And Sol just smiled that little Sol smile, dimple and all. I love my little king. I'm in awe of my son. Here is some of his artwork so far:

Mixed media collage with oil pastels, color pencils, tissue paper and magazine clippings, a project we created on Modern Art 4 Kids.

His first try at painting Bob Marley. My Dad literally pulled it off my livingroom wall and took it home.

Sol's workstation. He's working on another Bob Marley painting.

Sol and his 10th birthday present: a respirator to use while he uses aerosol cans. Most kids just want a new video game, right? Not Sol.

The artist, working on a wood panel.

While I'm working on my own painting in the background, Sol is working on an airbrush portrait of his Dad in our kitchen/art studio.

A piece in Sol's black book.

A Frank Stella-inspired relief sculpture he did in art class.

A Van Gogh-inspired still life drawing made with oil pastels.

Sol found these random wood shapes in the garage, so he decoupaged drawings he liked onto the wood, then he added some color to it with paint and/or marker.

Working on a painting of Frida Kahlo to augment the report that he did for art class. I helped him out with the drawing and then he painted it.

I really felt the need to document some of Sol's artwork. He's gonna want to see this someday. And what can I say? Sometimes a mother has to brag about her kid's efforts just a little bit.

Tall painting video

2011-04-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

I recently saw this video via Stumble Upon. It is amazing. But do you want to know the thoughts I kept having throughout the entire three minutes and twelve seconds?

That is a whole lotta paint.
I wonder if they are using cheap paint.
What if they are using expensive paint?
That is a whole lotta paint.

I know, I have issues.

Homage to Vincent van Gogh

2011-03-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Vincent van Gogh's birthday. He was born way back in 1853. We love Vincent van Gogh around these parts. I don't know what it is that draws me to certain artists more than others but van Gogh was the business.

So, my son and fellow art-lover Cyan thought it would be fun to recreate one of van Gogh's notorious ear-bandage self portraits. Apparently, van Gogh snipped off a piece of his ear in a fit of rage.

Ouch.

Pulling a few random elements we had laying around the house, this is what we came up with.

All three images were taken using the Retro Camera app.

What is your favorite Vincent van Gogh painting? Mine is most definitely A Starry Night, as cliche as that might sound. That painting is absolutely amazing.

More art lesson plan ideas

2011-02-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

I am always on the lookout for inspiration regarding lesson plans. Let's be real: sometimes I just straight up "jack" the idea and maybe tweak a few things here and there and make it my own. I guess jack wouldn't be a good term considering that when people are posting their ideas online, they have an understanding that other people will take and use their ideas.

There are some ideas that I wish I would have thought of, I will say that much.

That said, if you know of any amazing sites with really cool ideas, please link them in the comments so I can check them out. There are just some days when I can't bear to teach another Van Gogh Starry Night project, or cut another Henri Matisse collage without wanting to tear my hair out.

Whew.

And, scene.

The Gustav Klimt-inspired artwork above was created by a fifth grader.

Papier mache sculpture--giant cell phone

2011-02-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

One of my students did an oral report on Claes Oldenburg, and part of his presentation was this large-scale sculpture of a cell phone.

It wasn't something we did in class, but it was so cool and amazing I thought I should share it with my readers!

They used the simple papier mache instructions from our last project and applied them to this creation, an old school cell phone. I wish I could show you how large the phone actually is--all of my students couldn't keep their hands off of it. This would be a really fun rainy day project to start with your kids. All you'd need is a hair dryer to make the papier mache dry faster, but the possibilities are endless.

If anyone ever creates something amazing and fabulous from the lesson plans on this blog, please feel free to share them with me. I'd love to see how you let your creativity flow!

The artwork above was created by a third grader.

Claes Oldenburg: Large Papier Mache Sculpture

2011-01-20T02:09:00.000-08:00

Claes Oldenburg is the perfect artist to share with children. Who wouldn't love his giant ice cream cone leaning precariously over the edge of a building? Or his monumental swiss army knife? And what about his huge floor cake made out of soft fabrics?

My students loved it all! Drawing inspiration from Mr. Oldenburg himself, as well as a lesson from Art Projects for Kids, respectively, I thought we would create our own giant letters from papier mache. It was most definitely an ambitious project, especially when your class is only one hour long and you don't have a sink in your classroom.

But anyhoo, we overcame our obstacles and completed this papier mache project in four class sessions. The classroom was loud, a little chaotic and messy. This is definitely the day when you will need to find several mom helpers to assist you because you will need as many hands as an octopus to ensure you finish each step when you should.

Since you can easily find step by step instructions for papier mache here and here, I won't reinvent the wheel but I will share how I broke down this project into manageable stages.

Collect as much cardboard, newspaper, computer paper and masking tape as you can haul with you.
Day #1: This class should be dedicated to drawing, tracing and cutting out your letter from cardboard using scissors. Use your letter as a stencil and create a second letter. Cut it out. We decided to go with a bigger sized letter (around 11 X14 inches) so it could stand up to the papier mache process.
Start constructing letters using styrofoam cups and masking tape. Wrap in computer paper and tape it with masking tape in preparation for papier mache.
Day #2: Time to papier mache. Make sure your student takes special care to get into all the bends and folds of their letter. It will look neater in the end.
Let dry.
Day #3: Paint one coat of white primer paint or spray paint them with a white primer color.
Let dry.
Begin to add color by painting your letter. Base colors first, to ensure even coverage. Smart Craft paint is inexpensive craft paint that comes in a huge variety of colors. And it costs .99 cents, so what is there not to love?
Day #4: Finish painting fully constructed letter with acrylic paint.
You can use an old hairdryer to speed the drying process. Once its dry to the touch, you can add patterns, multiple colors, you can design on it with markers, or in the case of my art student, you can splash paint all over it.

The sculpture above was created by a fourth grader.

New artwork, new banner

2011-01-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

I decided to make a new banner for Modern Art 4 Kids. You could say I sort of have a prejudice against computer-generated art. Sure, Photoshop and Illustrator and all those programs are fine and dandy and yes, it takes a great deal of skill and talent to create magic with them but....there is something to be said about art that you make with your hands.

I always encourage my children to draw instead of just making something up on the computer. I feel if they cultivate their drawing skills, then it will only add to their technical skill on the computer.

I was working with some paper the other night and so I decided to make my own Modern Art 4 Kids banner out of cut paper--a collage. It was fun. I love that you can still get the tactile sense of the paper cut and glued onto paper. This is what happens when you buy a huge box of scrapbooking squares on clearance at Michael's for $5.99. Yay, me! It's been screaming at me to open it.

The original artwork is fairly small, around 8 X 11. I wanted to make it small enough to fit on my scanner. So, what do you think of it?

Art Workshop: Dissecting a mural

2010-12-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

Modern Art 4 Kids recently worked with Today's Urban Renewal Network for their annual Parent's Night Out at Christmastime.

We even got a little mention in our local newspaper, which was really cool.

During this art workshop, we offered two stations: the children could create collages (with glitter pens, which were a huge hit), as well as draw with markers. On the outside patio, Michael offered a paint workshop, which was the second station.

Needless to say, the kids made a beeline for the patio so they could paint with actual spray paint. I have no hard feelings. I don't blame the kids for wanting to experiment with spray paint!

We laid out a large square of canvas material. The children had the opportunity to paint with acrylics and brushes and/or spray paint. This is an activity that requires adequate ventilation as well as face masks. For this particular event, the word "Hope" was drawn on the canvas, so the children could have a starting point. There is nothing more defeating than staring at a blank canvas.

After so many eager hands touched it, the painting took on a life of its own, as all really good art projects tend to do. They added black at the end, to define the shapes and give the piece a finished look. Once the painting was done and it dried, Michael cut it up into large squares. He then stapled each panel onto its own individual frame. Several of the kids who worked on this project from beginning to end were rewarded for their efforts and got to take a painting home. They were extremely proud and happy with their accomplishment.

When you work with middle school aged children and up, you have to be prepared for a certain amount of attitude. Lots of times, they are perfectly happy to bypass whatever it is you have planned to teach them. They would much rather text or talk to their friends. But what I noticed was, the minute some of these kids became invested in their project, their attitude just vanished. They were really into their artwork, they were quiet, at peace, and focused. And that is quite a breakthrough. It also displays the power of art and creative expression in a person's life.

Filling in the canvas with shapes and color.

Painting with aerosol cans is much more challenging than you'd think.

Hope.

Adding the black really defined the shapes.

After the paint dried, Michael cut the canvas into squares. Then they stretched each panel onto its own individual frame. In this pic, they are attaching the canvas to the frame with a staple gun.

The final result. Michael, with several children who participated on this project. They were extremely happy and proud to be a part of this event.

Open House art display

2010-12-13T00:20:00.001-08:00

The fall semester at my homeschool co-op is just about over (one more class--wooo hooo!) We've had a great semester thus far. I had a whole new crop of students this time around. I'll admit, not seeing all the little familiar faces that I've grown accustomed to made me a little wistful. But by the end of this semester, I grew to love my entire class. They are an awesome group of little artists. They made my job easy.

Displays are always a challenge because there is always so much stuff. What I decided to do was pare down to the most interesting projects and display those.

Overall, an awesome night and an even more awesome fall semester.

I took the best projects from each lesson we covered. Klimt, O'Keefe, Oldenburg, and Van Gogh were a few of the artists we studied this semester.

My students were also assigned a presentation on their favorite artists. I plan on featuring that really cool cell phone sculpture soon. Also, I totally loved the Bob Ross report. Completely unexpected but so much fun. "Happy little trees..."

My son decided to do his report on Frida Kahlo. Okay, okay, I have to admit I had a little bit of influence on his decision-making, but it turned out really well.

A few of the papier mache letters that took us nearly a month to complete!

Amazing collages, sculptures and drawings.

Brotherly love and fun on open house.

My two sons and budding artists, Sol and Cyan, who took my class this semester.

Amazing collage video

2010-11-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of collage. There is something about manipulating paper into whatever you want it to be that is so hugely satisfying. Whenever we do collage projects, I get really into it and I experience a meditative state where my mind stop racing from one topic to another and I can hear all of the sounds around me.

Whenever my kids have projects due for school, my go-to technique is collage. Not only because it is simple and inexpensive, but I have already amassed a large collection of supplies (scissors, #11 x-acto blades, glue sticks, rubber cement, colored paper, magazine cut-outs) so I never have to go out and buy anything. Visually, it is very interesting and makes quite an impact.

I have a huge bin of scrapbooking paper that I can't bear to throw away. Each and every time we make a collage, the scraps just end up being put back in the bin. Added to that are pieces of patterned paper, interesting things I've torn out of magazines, hand-painted paper that I've cut into pieces.

I saw this video recently and it made me wish I'd thought of it first. My kids loved watching it. It is so amazingly creative!

Wax Resist: Batik

2010-11-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to try and create a project that had a batik effect. I love the look of batik, the way little cracks of the wax create a very unique design on the fabric. No two batik designs are the same.

I've learned the actual batik technique back in college, with the hot wax and dye baths. It was so fun and amazing. I still have them floating around my house. I think I wanted to build a career in batik but then reality set in and I figured I really couldn't do much with a degree in batik, you know? Heh.

So I wanted to try something with my students that is way less complicated than hot wax and dyes but would sort of give the same effect, using a wax resist technique.

Finding the right kind of paper is key. You don't want to use a thick watercolor paper because when you get to the crumbling step, it will rip and tear in the sharp edges. And you don't want to use a super flimsy piece of paper because it won't stand up to all the oil pastel you will put on it. I settled on some Canson (student grade) watercolor paper. Choose whatever size you'd like. We used a 9 X 12 size sheet due to time issues, but I think a larger size would be more interesting visually.
Most students will want to use a pencil to sketch out their design. Just encourage them to use light strokes. I found that drawing organic, natural shapes (round, large and wavy) worked best with the batik technique.
Be sure to instruct students to allow space in between each shape. This white part of the paper will mimic the effect of the wax in the traditional technique. It's very important that they leave a space in between their shapes.
When the students begin to color in their shapes, make sure they are pressing down with the oil pastel crayon. This will ensure that their colors remain vibrant and true. They should use a variety of colors, but using monochromatic color scheme will look great, too.
Once their entire sheet of paper has been filled in and colored, have each student crumble up their paper slowly. Some students will really get into it and crumble it up and abuse the process, but make them do the crumbling softly, or else they will rip their paper.
The students should straighten out their crumbled paper. Repeat the process. The goal is make cracks in the oil pastel because this is whats going to give it the wax resist look and feel.
Flatten out the piece of paper as best you can. You might want to have your students lay their paper under a heavy book or their heavy school folder for a few minutes while you read them a story about batik.
Now they are ready for the next step: watercolor. I used a very light gray watercolor in my example, and for some reason it didn't really show up in the scan of the image. You could use black, which makes for a very dramatic effect. Dark blue works well, too. The watercolor will seep onto the non-colored parts of your design.
Lay out your batik-inspired designs to dry.
As the watercolor dries, you will begin to notice how the watercolor has seeped into the fine little cracks of oil pastel, creating a really cool batik effect.

I created the design above as an example for my 3rd-6th grade students.

Surrealist Collage

2010-09-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Surrealists liked to paint as if in a dream world. This is why Surrealism doesn't always make sense. Surrealist paintings even create an unsettling feeling with the viewer, much like dreams do. I've always been haunted by such paintings by the artist Giorgio de Chirico, such as The Mystery and Melancholy of a Street.

The thing just gives me the heebie jeebies. Heh.

I wanted to give my students the opportunity to create wacky, Surrealist-inspired collages, minus the haunting, melancholy feeling. These are elementary students, you know. A good way to find images that can be juxtaposed in an interesting way is to use magazine cut-outs. Finally, all the magazines I have laying around my home that I never want to throw out because you just never know when you're gonna need them have been put to good use.

The cut-outs, along with regular pieces of scrapbooking paper gave this project that authentic randomness that is Surrealism. The collages turned out really cool. The students had a blast going through all of the magazine scraps and reinterpreting them in their collage. Oh, one handy tip is to be mindful of the magazine cut-outs that you allow your students to look through. I didn't just toss stacks of magazines in front of them. I went through each mag, tore out what I thought would be great to use and collected a pile that way. InStyle ads are very suggestive, and you don't want to pollute the minds of the very young, now do we?

Since you'll be somewhat censoring the ads you are presenting to your class, it'll take you a few days to prepare for this lesson to collect everything you need.
Some things I collected were giant pics of food, skateboards, animals, interesting backgrounds, make-up ads, random body parts, etc.
Though the students could create a perfectly good collage comprised of all mag cut-outs, offer pieces of multi-colored collage paper as well.
I prefer to use good quality glue-sticks when creating a collage. It is just tacky enough to put your images down, but it doesn't make the whole process overly sloppy. I don't recommend Elmer's Glue because the students get carried away with it. Rubber cement is great, as long as the container has a brush inside. It's actually much more archival than a glue stick.
The collages can be created on poster board, Bristol board, construction paper, whatever paper you have on hand that is sturdy enough to take the weight of the cut-outs and glue. Also, the size is completely up to you and the time frame you have available. In my 45-50 minute-long class, a 9 X 12 is large enough.
Encourage students to be neat with their cutting skills, taking their cuts all the way down to the edge of their images. It just makes the overall appearance that much nicer.
The finished collages were so amazing and very humorous! We had a good laugh at some of the random ideas that were generated from this project.

The collage above was created by a 5th grader.

Henri Matisse: Collage

2010-08-02T17:45:00.000-07:00

Henri Matisse was a printmaker, a sculptor and most notably a painter from France. Matisse created paintings that were bursting with expression and discordant colors. After an art show in 1905, critics started calling him a "Fauve", which means wild beast in French.

Later in life when his health began to fail, Matisse took to his bed and began to create large-scale collages, which is cut paper on canvas. See the post about Henri Matisse, Painting with Scissors.

I decided to create a project plan inspired by Matisse's Beasts of the Sea. This is a great lesson for the small classroom and the larger classroom alike. It's also a wonderful homeschool activity for the kinesthetic learner. Students really enjoy this hands-on activity!

I can email a printable pdf file with instructions for Matisse's Beasts of the Sea lesson for just $5. Click the “Buy Now” button below to access PayPal for same day delivery.

The artwork above was created by a 7th grader.

Carmen Lomas Garza: Watercolor cactus

2010-07-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Carmen Lomas Garza is a Latina narrative artist who created images about the everyday events in the lives of Mexican Americans based on her memories and experiences in South Texas. Although she wouldn't be considered a "modern artist" because of the time period in which she was working, I thought it was important to share with the students that Garza validated styles classified as "folk art", and that her imagery was powerful, even in it's simplicity.

I was inspired by one of her pieces, Prickly Pear/ A little piece of my heart because of it's illustrative quality. For this project, I kept the materials to a minimum, so that the students could really explore the creative and technical skills they've acquired while working with paint and color pencils.

Hand out 9 X 12 sheets of Bristol board or Canson watercolor paper. When you are using a wet medium and applying a dry one, you need a paper that can hold up. A floppy piece of construction paper/poster board/drawing paper will simply not do.
I had several pictures of different varieties of cactus and I showed them to the students, so they would be inspired by all the shapes and colors. They picked their favorite and completed a light sketch.
Remind students that whenever they are going to use watercolor, any/all of their pencil lines will show through. So they should practice with a light hand.
After students completed their sketch, they painted their cacti using watercolor paint.
Once that was dry, they painted a watercolor wash over the background, using several different colors, to give it a rich look.
I handed out prismacolor pencils to the students so that they could enhance the shape of their cactus. Forget using cheap student grade color pencils. All they will do is break down your paper and possible create holes. You will never get any sort of vibrant color from them so toss them out and invest in a good quality student grade and/or artist grade set from Dick Blick. Personally, I am a loyal fan of Prismacolor pencils, but I understand that they are a little too pricey for the classroom. I've had a set for the past fifteen years that are still in great condition.
Last step is to give the watercolor a tactile edge by cutting out pieces of scrapbooking paper to create the spines/thorns of the cactus. Encourage students to be very sparing of the glue, or else they will make a mess! I prefer stick glue to liquid.

The artwork above was created by a fifth grader.

Henri Matisse: "Painting with Scissors"

2010-06-21T01:45:00.000-07:00

Over here at Modern Art 4 Kids, we are no strangers to Henri Matisse, the most beloved Fauve of all! When Matisse was nearly 72 years old, he became ill and it was difficult for him to stand and paint. However, this did not damper his creativity. He began a new technique, which he called, "painting with scissors", which was painting large sheets of paper with different colors using gouache, an opaque watercolor. He would then cut beautiful, organic, free-flowing shapes with scissors. "Une seconde vie”, a second life, was what Matisse called the last fourteen years of his life, working on his collages, or cut outs.

Here is where it gets good.

He used several assistants to be his "arms and legs", moving and arranging his cut outs along the walls of his studio. I decided to try our own painting with scissors workshop, with each student taking a turn being the artist, while the rest of the students became the assistants.

"Move it a little to the right."
"To the left!"
"Ok, a little more...a little more. No! Go back. Tilt it. Ok, that looks good."

Needless to say, it was harder than it seemed! Trying to convey your vision as an artist is quite challenging when you have to rely on someone else to help you bring it to life. But it was alot of fun. We all shared a good laugh that day. We also learned just how tenacious and dedicated Henri Matisse was, to continue his creative work well into his 80’s. Matisse’s cut-outs are among the most admired and influential works of his entire career.

I used an inexpensive poster board and painted each sheet in a different color using tempera paint. Tempera paint is very similar in texture and consistency to gouache paint.
I tried to use a wide variety of colors.
After each sheet dried, I cut shapes out myself. You don't have to be precise or crazy analytical, just think organic and free-flowing, just like Matisse.
If you have the time in class, you can have your students take care of this step. Cutting out shapes is fun. Since I wouldn't have the time in class, I did this step at home.

After all the paint was dry and I cut various shapes into the poster board, I arranged the shapes into piles, according to color and laid them out on the table.
This made it easy for each appointed artist to find what they were looking for.
The colors were vibrant and the shapes themselves took their cue from Matisse's work.
I made sure to show the students several examples of Matisse's cut out art.

Each student took turns being "artist".
Since we have several students in class and not enough cut out shapes to go around, I had the students mount their shapes up on the wall using small strips of masking tape.
This made it easy to move around and to remove at the end of each student's design.
I contemplated using push pins, but I didn't want to make a bunch of holes in the cut out shapes--I also didn't want to poke holes in the wall (since we rent the building!).
The tape ended up working just fine.
Each artist had to speak clearly and had to know exactly what their vision was. The assistants just had to have patience. :)

The finished projects came out beautifully. They were simple yet had the same visual punch that Matisse had. This is definitely a project that I would consider doing again. It was fun to use such large shapes against the wall. Its so boring to use the same, small pieces of scrapbooking paper in our collages. This time we got to use bold and graphic shapes. I also recycled all the shapes for the next week when I let each student create their own smaller-scale collage. No assistants this time, just their own hands and artistic abilities.

Henri Matisse in his studio, working on his famous cut outs.

Marc Chagall: stained glass windows

2010-05-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

I promise that I'll update this blog more often. Its Spring here in So Cal, and it feels good to be out in the sunshine instead of sitting in front of a computer screen!

As I've said before, this blog might venture a little off track in terms of modern art. This year, we've focused on lots of fundamentals, so what we've been creating in the classroom is a little different from what we've done in the past.

But back to some fabulous modern art in the form of stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. Chagall was a wonderfully whimsical artist who was a born in Russia. Being Jewish, many of his paintings reflect a religious overtone. Chagall is most known for his vibrant use of color, as well as the stained glass windows at the Metz Cathedral in France. He was entranced by the way the light reflected through the stained glass, and how it was constantly changing. This was a project he took on while he was in his 70's!

I wanted to create a paper project that had the similar effect of stained glass. Taking cues from that old elementary school project of melting crayons between wax paper, this project involves torn colored tissue paper and matte medium.

Consider setting up three work stations: one to sort through the tissue paper and lay out design, another to glue down design with matte medium and a third to iron the designs.
Before class, I went ahead and cut the wax paper to mimic the shape of a rounded window. Each student
Instruct your students to create a design using torn pieces of colored tissue paper. I bought the big pack of tissue paper that contained a huge variety of colors. Also a wide, shallow rubbermaid bin to contain all of the torn pieces of tissue paper you are bound collect. Discourage the use of scissors because you want the overall feel to be a whimsical, organic one. Some children will freak out by this, enjoying the control scissors can bring. They need to loosen up! Also, inject some thin pieces of black construction paper because they will mimic the look of the lead in a authentic stained glass.
I experimented with what I would use to adhere the tissue paper to the wax paper, since we aren't working with sticky wax. Glue would be a little too sticky and goopy, so I decided to use some watered down Matte Medium. You know me and my Matte Medium! I think decoupage glue would work just fine.
After the students have laid out their tissue paper in a satisfactory design, allow them to lightly coat it with the Matte Medium. Yes, the tissue paper will move around some, it might rip too, just remind the students of the potential for creative greatness in moments like these!
Once they've finished coating their design with Matte Medium, it's time to sandwich it with another piece of wax paper. Then its off to the ironing station.
Please have one of the classroom helpers help your students with the ironing of their stained glass window pane. We used it on the lowest setting.
Before your eyes, the heat will melt the Matte Medium and it will dry your tissue paper design.
While I was preparing for this project, I cut several "frames" out of black construction paper. The students can then sandwich their project in between two of the frames, glue it together with stick glue and then use scissors to cut any excess wax paper. This way they will get a nice, neat and round stained glass window.

Enjoy!

The artwork above was created by a fourth grader.

Jim Dine: Watercolor Resist Hearts

2009-10-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

Hello, fellow art lovers! A few months have passed. I had a great summer doing absolutely nothing! And now, in the thick of the Fall semester, I've been slammed with schoolwork and projects to keep up with. My art classes have changed somewhat, although I still have quite a few projects I'd like to share. I'm now teaching about the Renaissance era, specifically the great masters.

Can I get a snooze button?

No seriously, after you've studied the Modern Art masters and all the fabulous, visionary, amazing art these artists created, the "Mona Lisa" seems a little plain. However, I understand the importance of learning foundational subjects. And without Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa", we might not have gotten a Picasso "Weeping Woman". So there you have it, this is where I am right now.

I was inspired by this project over at Art Projects for Kids a few months ago. So the students and I delved into studying the artist Jim Dine. He was an artist that found a icon--the heart-- and then explored it for many years, in several different incarnations and mediums. We artists are funny like that. This project requires watercolors, oil pastels and rubber cement.

Hand out a 9 X 12 sheet of watercolor paper. You are going to need something sturdier than drawing paper as you will be creating a watercolor resist painting and it needs to hold up.
Encourage students to draw a pattern using hearts. They can be repetitive shapes, overlapping, formed in a grid pattern. You may even want to create several heart templates, for those students who need some help with their drawing skills. The templates will provide them with the confidence to lay their design down.
As usual, encourage students to be neat about their sketches, making sure not to shade with the graphite.
They should then color with their oil pastels. There is a rule in Mrs. Pearmama's art class: thou shall press down hard when using oil pastels. None of this feather light coloring in my classroom! These are oil pastels, not cheap crayons! Encourage your students to blend their oil pastels and create interesting patterns with their colors.
The students then painted a light watercolor wash over their drawing. At first, they are very reluctant to paint directly over their freshly created oil pastel drawing. But then they discover that the oil pastels resist the watercolor.
Have all students take a turn by the hair dryer to dry their watercolor washes.
Once they're dry, hand out small bowls of rubber cement. I have a favorite brand, but imagine my surprise when I opened up the 16 oz. can to find that they don't provide a brush attached to the lid like the smaller cans do. That said, you will need to designate a few cheaps brushes that you don't mind throwing away after this project.
Have your students brush on the clear rubber cement over their drawing, making sure not to leave behind any clumps. Teach them to use flowing strokes.
The rubber cement dries fairly quickly and is slightly stinky. Make sure you have fans blowing and/or windows and doors to your classroom open.
Lastly, students are to paint another watercolor wash in a contrasting color over the entire paper once again.
There you have it, a watercolor resist painting a'la Pop artist Jim Dine.

The artwork above was created by a third grader.

Louise Nevelson: Found Object Sculpture

2009-06-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of American sculptor Louise Nevelson. She appeals to my love of symmetry and found object sculpture. She is well known for assembling "crates" grouped together to form a new creation, then painted in a uniform color to unite the objects.

"When you put together things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life – a spiritual life that surpasses the life for which they were originally created."--Nevelson

As is my custom, I've been mulling over a Nevelson project for quite sometime now. I found an interesting take on the project here, but I had my own ideas to take the project to another level, to appeal to my older students.

I have six children, so broken toys, mismatched legos, naked dolls and bits of junk abound. So what I did was, with my kids, go through all of their toy bins. We pulled out stuff they no longer played with, multiples, etc. etc. This was a good way to clean up their stuff, so I totally killed two birds with one stone.

And now I had a collection of things for our sculpture. I wish I had a pic of the sculpture that was created with a doll head that I sawed in two, but it came out completely blurry and the student took it home. Boo hoo. It turned out fab, though. And the doll heads cut in half were big ticket items the day we spent assembling sculptures, to be sure.

Heads up: This was a project that I had to extend into two class sessions. There is too much to do in one class period, even with classroom helpers.

Acquire some sturdy cardboard as the base for your sculpture. I used the backing from all of my Canson Value Artist pads because I had so many laying around. They worked out perfectly. Of course you can used regular old cardboard and cut it down to the size you wanted to work with. We worked with a 9 X 12 piece.
Arrange your classroom so you have three working stations: one to assemble, one to glue with hot glue gun and the third for painting. This will make life easier for you because there are always students who rush through their work, and others who are very meticulous.
The fun part: after showing students examples of Nevelson's work, they got to dig into my found object/toy graveyard piles and pick out objects they wanted to work with. Break up the squabbles over the coveted doll heads and airplane parts.
Encourage students to explore different arrangements just as Nevelson did.
Then its off to the hot glue gun table. Yes, it might be a little time consuming and I usually melt off half of my fingertips, the end result is much neater and more sturdy compared to basic white glue.
This is the point where I end the first part of the project. Now I get to lug home all of these sculptures. Yay!
To prepare for day #2, you will need some white primer. Any primer will do. Students will need to paint a coat of primer over their sculptures so that the paint will adhere to the toys/buttons/dominos/matchbox cars, etc. I also mixed up my own shade of charcoal gray. I believe matte looks best.
On day #2, let students go to town priming their sculptures. The challenge is to get into all the little nooks and crannies of the toys. Primer dries fairly quickly, but if you want to speed along the process, break out with the hair dryer.
After the primer coat is dry, they need to paint using the charcoal grey color. I choose this color so it would look similar to Nevelson's pieces. Several of the students asked why they couldn't use blue or red...so feel free to use whatever color you want. Use the hair dryer again.
IMHO, the charcoal grey made the sculptures look very dynamic.
At our open house at the end of the semester, these sculptures were one of the most eye-catching displays.

The sculpture above was created by a third grader. As you can see, he couldn't quite get the paint into the thread spools and lego nooks. Still looks cool, though!

Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers

2009-05-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

The artist Vincent Van Gogh has provided us art teachers with a wealth of styles and techniques. I had many great aspirations to have the students create sunflowers with actual seeds, black beans, etc. But when I thought about it, I decided to work with oil pastels because the rich color and texture would mesh well with Van Gogh's Impressionist style. I went out and bought a big, beautiful sunflower so we would have an actual still-life to work with. And of course, what is a Van Gogh lesson without the students asking if he really cut off his ear..and was he really crazy?

So I always tell them...he only cut off the lobe...and yes, he was really crazy. How else would be have created such works of art? Surely a sane mind couldn't produce quite the same caliber of work.

We artists, we're crazy! Teehee

This is a lesson that takes almost zero preparation, but yields a great result.
As always, show students examples of the artists' body of work, so they have a grasp of what the artist is about. I have several large Van Gogh books that were passed down to me by my uncle, who was a modern art lover as well.
I set up a still life with the giant sunflower in a humble little vase and handed out a 9 X12 piece of drawing paper or Bristol board.
Instruct the students to lightly pencil sketch the still life.
When they are ready to start coloring, encourage them to use a little bit of pressure, to release the oil pastel's rich color.
I gave students the liberty to be creative with their vases, so they didn't come out the same.
As a final touch, I had each student sign their vase, just like Van Gogh did.
As always, I was impressed with each students take on the sunflower.

The artwork above was created by a third grader.

Keith Haring: "Graffiti Art"

2009-04-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

I wrote "graffiti art" in quotation marks because Keith Haring's artwork is considered graffiti art, but in reality, aerosol artists were already wreaking havoc on subway trains and walls in NYC before Haring was ever called a graffiti artist.

But you can still put Haring in that category because the art he created was, in essence, the same thing those young vandals were doing on the walls in the middle of the night. While riding the subway, Haring noticed the billboards that were in the process of being changed were left with a black, matte board. That was when he began creating transitory rhythmic, line drawings on them, in white chalk. Sometimes creating as many as 40 a day!

I thought this would be a fun project to do in markers, to give the students another chance to work with the colorful markers.

Hand out 9 X 12 drawing paper or poster board.
Have a discussion about family and friend relationships. Haring devoted much of his time to public works that carried social messages. We decided to work on a family/friends theme.
Each students lightly sketched their drawing, making sure to use Haring's iconic heart shape.
Encourage each student to use a variety of colors and to fully color in their design, outlining in black for the colors punch through.

The artwork above was created by my son, who is in the fourth grade.

Edvard Munch: The Scream

2009-04-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

Edvard Munch's painting is one of those very recognizable works, akin to Van Gogh's A Starry Night and Grant Wood's American Gothic. Everyone knows "The Scream". So what I did was bring the image to class and we had a roundtable discussion about how Munch's work of art made us feel. Munch was an Expressionist, and his purpose was to express a certain feeling, an emotion to the viewer. So I asked the students how it made them feel. It was unanimous, no one wanted this painting hanging in their bedrooms--they said it wasn't scary, but it made them uncomfortable.

That said, I think Munch made his point. "The Scream" makes you feel something, even if you don't know exactly what that is--it's still an unpleasant feeling. So our goal for the project was to create their own "Scream". This is one of those projects where the emphasis is on the idea behind the artwork, as opposed to technique.

Hand out 9 X 12 sheet of drawing paper or Bristol board.
Let students lighting sketch their design. We began by creating a horizon line, then there was a short lesson on perspective before students drew their bridge. I gave the students liberty as to how their main figure should look.
I love oil pastels because they are so versatile. Students can use them in a similar way as crayons, they can also apply some pressure and blend so gives it a painted effect.
After the students colored in their backgrounds, I had them outline in black, to give the colors a chance to pop.

The artwork above was created by a third grader.

Joan Miró : Assemblage

2009-04-07T17:07:00.000-07:00

Joan Miró is one of my all-time favorite artists. Wait. I say every artist is my all-time fave, don't I? LOL But this abstract artist from Spain really is. I love his carefree, child-like style, his colors. They just make you feel good looking at it. I've long wanted to interpret Miró 's abstract style, and this project was alot of fun. I incorporated an assemblage technique, just to give the students something tactile to work with.

Make sure to bring some of Miró's artwork to show to the students, so they can get a better idea of Miró and his abstract style. This is such an important step in teaching modern art. Its hard to understand and/or visualize the concepts so being able to look at each artist's work is imperative.
Hand out 9 X 12 sheets of watercolor paper and make sure each student has a palette with 2-3 different watercolors.
It's important that the student use a large watercolor brush, to give the background an appearance of washed color, as Miró did.
Encourage them to blend their watercolors nicely because this is the first layer that we will be creating our assemblage on.
Once they are finished painting, bring out the trusty hairdryer so the projects can be done within the hour. No one likes to watch paint dry!
Once it is dry, encourage students to draw abstract shapes with oil pastels. They can also cut interesting shapes out of scrapbooking paper.
Once students have laid out their abstract design, they can add their final touch, which really brings a graphic punch to the project.
Black yarn! Of course, students could have used a black oil pastel or a black Sharpie, but I though using a spool of black yarn would be fun!
Each student created designs with a bottle of elmer's glue (just supervise them carefully or they will get glue happy and create a mess!), then carefully placed their black yarn on top of it, snipping off the end with a pair of scissors.

The artwork above was created was a third grader.

Frank Stella: Relief Sculptures

2009-03-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

Frank Stella is an American Minimalist painter and sculptor whose work spans over five decades! He's one of the first artists to use shaped canvases. I really like Stella's bold use of line and shape. All those clean lines and graphic shapes make me happy. He really charms this slightly obsessive compulsive artist's little heart! I've been stewing over a Frank Stella project for a couple of years now, not really knowing how I would flesh it out. After getting a few ideas online and gathering it with some of the classroom experience I have acquired, this project was really fun and manageable for the students. And me! I decided to explore Stella's relief sculptures. This translated nicely with simple cardboard shapes, paint and a hot glue gun.

A few weeks before class, gather a bunch of cardboard scraps. Perhaps you have some left over from your papier mache project. I used cereal and pasta boxes too and they seemed to be alot easier for the students to cut with scissors.
You will also need paint. My students didn't like the way tempera paint was flat, so we used some Smart Craft and Tulip paint instead. It was much more bright and vibrant.
I began by showing the students some of Stella's sculptures, for inspiration.
To get the students going, I had them sketch some simple shapes onto newsprint, which they then sketched onto the cardboard.
I will admit the classroom was a bit chaotic, since there were students in different phases of the project. I had three tables going: one for cutting the cardboard, the second for painting and drying (with my handy dandy hair-dryer!), and the third for assembling/gluing sculpture together.
I helped each student with their concept. Some students were inspired by music, sports and aliens.
It is important for each student to create a base for their sculpture, so they have something to build their shapes upon.
After each cardboard piece is cut out, begin the painting phase. Since there was no time to primer them, each piece needed a couple of coats of paint. Here is where the hair-dryer comes in.
Encourage students to create designs and patterns on their cardboard pieces, which will make the overall sculpture more intricate and eye-catching.
When all pieces are dry, instruct students to play with their shapes, arranging them in the most visually interesting design. This was fun!
Now the trick is to remember how you originally laid it out so you can recreate it while laying it down with a hot glue gun!
I didn't feel comfortable with the students handling a hot glue gun, so I just sat down with them and had them instruct me where each piece went so I could glue them down. You could also use basic Elmer's glue but it would probably take a long time to dry and wouldn't be as sturdy. Of course, older students can use a hot glue gun.

I was really impressed with how they all turned out. The students were really involved with each process and once again, I am amazed at their creativity! So give this project a try, it was alot of fun and there are lots of ways you can adapt the overall concept.

The artwork above was created by my son, who is in the 3rd grade. Here are a few additional sculptures made by my students.

Wayne Theibaud: Repetition

2009-03-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

Wayne Thiebaud is an American artist associated with the Pop movement and he was famous for his paintings of cafeteria-style food. He used heavy pigment and lots of repetition in his artwork. I thought it would be fun for my students to draw some whimsical ice cream cones they could create with whatever color they desired.

Hand out 9 X12 sheets of drawing paper.

Make sure everyone has their own pencil and oil pastels. Oil pastels are great because their color is so rich and bright and the consistency is just a giant crayon!

Encourage the students to color in their entire drawing, making sure to press down with the oil pastel so that the color is vivid and looks finished.

The students can use multiple colors, they can create patterns and outline their backgrounds.

Instruct students how to blend with oil pastels.

Everyone had fun creating their own flavors and toppings.

Andy Warhol: Pop Art

2009-02-26T21:34:00.000-08:00

If you've never heard of Andy Warhol, then you've been missing out on the one of the queerest, most avant garde, most groovy artists of the 60's. He believed that you could elevate something as mundane and common as a soup can and it could turn into something visually interesting. He began to experiment with silk screening, and his celebrity portraits--most notably, Marilyn Monroe--are some his most beloved works. I decided to have some fun with this project, and we embarked on our own Pop Art portrait.

This project requires some preparation beforehand. Before the students left class for the day, I had them line up against the wall one by one, and I took a black and white photo of them.

Then I copied and pasted them four times, to form a grid pattern.
Once I have uploaded and cropped all of the images, I then proceeded to play with each individual portrait on photoshop, upping the contrast and then posterizing them, giving them a paint by numbers quality.
After printing each one, I got to serious work.
Each printed portrait now has to be decoupaged onto a piece of watercolor paper. Decoupage is basically a gluing technique.
I use Matte Medium for all my collage/decoupage projects.
Decoupaging will prepare the surface and will give it a matte finish.
It's up to you, whether or not you want your students to decoupage on their own. Since I have a time crunch, I decided to do it at home beforehand. I also couldn't bear the thought of the students sloshing their way through my beloved bottle of Liquitex Matte Medium, which costs me $19.99!
That afternoon before class, everyone had their black and white portrait of themselves primed and ready to go!
Encourage each student to be creative within each grid, using contrasting colors and patterns but following the basic posterized shapes.
Each student was given a palette with 4-5 colors of acrylic paint in each well. Make sure each student has their own water container as well, it just makes it easier for each student to keep their brushes clean and their paint from getting too muddy.

This is one of my favorite projects because this is a technique that I employ in alot of my personal mixed medium paintings. You would not believe some of the stuff the students came up with! Although it involves a good deal of preparation, the results are worth it! Every student was excited to take their portraits home. And for once, this was a keeper!

The portrait above was created by a seventh grader.

Sonia Delaunay: French Abstract Artist

2009-02-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

Finally, another female artist! Sonia Delaunay is the wife of Abstract painter Robert Delaunay and interestingly enough, their work is fairly similar in style. Throughout her career, she explored the concepts of geometric abstraction and Orphism. I thought this would be a great way to introduce repetitive shapes, using a compass and a ruler, and coloring with markers. Everybody loves markers!

At least they do in my house.

We had fun with these markers because I bought a few scented markers in the mix. So throughout the entire class, we were sniffing marker tips--which I only recommend if they are non-toxic, of course.
"Oooh, this is root beer!"
"This smells like chocolate."
"Blueberry!"
"Mmmm, cherry!"
and
"Ew, this smells like window cleaner."

I bought several inexpensive compasses and rulers and passed them out to the students. They also got a 9 X 12 piece of drawing paper.
Make sure to instruct your students how to use a compass, and make sure they don't poke huge holes in their paper.
I brought several packages of Crayola washable markers because they had so many rich, color options and they flowed smoothly.
After showing the students some of Delaunay's work and they were sufficiently inspired, we got down to drawing.
The students were instructed to use the compass so they could draw circles of various sizes, careful not to overlap the shapes.
After they were finished laying out their circles, they used a flat ruler to dissect their drawing.
And then it's time to get to coloring! Instruct students to use the same color in at least two other places so there can be some sort of cohesiveness in the design and color scheme.
Give the children tips on how to color with the markers, taking care to use the tip only when doing an outline. Teach them to color by using the sides of the marker, which makes it look more neat and smooth. Then you don't injure the tip of the marker.
A big plus to using Crayola markers was there was literally no smell. I love Sharpies as much as the next person, but they stink up the classroom to high heaven.

This was a nice change of pace. We will definitely be using markers for our projects again.

The artwork above was created by my 8-year old son.

Happy Birthday, Jackson Pollock!

2009-01-28T00:36:00.000-08:00

In honor of Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock's birthday today (1/28/12), I thought I would share a project that is beloved by all children--action painting!

Pollock would lay down huge tarps of canvas onto the floor. Then he would literally "step into his painting". With buckets of paint, sticks, hardened brushes and even basting syringes, he would drip paint onto the canvas and create these beautiful abstract paintings.

The students love the idea of dripping paint pretty much anywhere. In my experience, the high schoolers love it more than the elementary students! Either way, take care to either do this project outside where a few splatters of paint won't be a big deal, or do yourself a favor and lay out a blue tarp and/or vinyl tablecloths. I also gave fair warning to the students about the messiness of this project, so I encouraged them to wear old clothes and shoes for the day of this project. Thankfully, we were using washable tempera paint.

I thinned my tempera paint with some alcohol, to make sure they had the right consistency. Adding water would have broken down the clarity of the pigments. That said, I'm not sure how the alcohol affects the washable quality of the tempera paint. Maybe I should check into that before recommending this, right?

Pass out sheets of poster board or Bristol Board. The larger the paper, the better.
Make sure everyone is spread out and has some elbow room. I'll admit, I attempted this project with a classroom of nine students. I don't know how it would have worked out with a larger class. Pandemonium, I'm sure!
Pour tempera paint into plastic cups. Give each student a variety of colors and few paintbrushes.
Students can either drip paint directly from their plastic cup onto their poster board, or they can dip their brushes into the paint and drip and flick away.
I also considered ketchup/mustard squeeze bottles, those might work well.

Overall, the students really had a blast doing this project. And there was hardly any wasted paint, which drives me nuts. One small hazard, once the tempera paint gets several coats, it tends to harden and crack off, so encourage students to keep their drips moving and not concentrated on one area.

The above project was created by fifth grader.

Jasper Johns: Numbers in Color

2009-01-14T23:22:00.000-08:00

It is nice to finally introduce American artists to my students. Jasper Johns emerged as a contemporary artist in the 1950's. He is most known for his usage of classic iconography such as flags, targets, and maps. He liked to use everyday objects such as numbers and letters and elevate them to art.

I thought it would be good to get away from all the abstract artists we've spent time studying that was prevalent in the modern art world and focus on an artist whose work is more literal. Johns is one of those artists whose work commands millions of dollars. And as an artist with a spouse who is also a working artist, it makes me feel very good to know there were artists who went before us who were successful in their craft. A nice change from the whole starving artist story we are all so familiar with.

For this project, I brought lots of books about Jasper Johns so they could get a good look at his artwork. Many of the students were pleased to discover the had seen some of his work, specifically his American flag paintings. For this project, we focused on his painting titled, Numbers in Color.

Hand out 9 X 12 sheets of drawing paper, rulers and oil pastels. Also, make sure students have pencils to sketch with.
Instruct each student to measure out a grid of eight squares on their paper.
Within each square, students should lightly sketch their numbers. Encourage them to be creative with their shapes. They do not have to be confined to traditional number shapes. They can make them as organic and/or geometric as they want.
When students are ready to begin coloring with the oil pastels, teach them to use contrasting colors within each square, perhaps create an outline around their numbers, they can create a pattern of some sort, or they can blend two colors together.
In other words, let their imagination go wild!

I was very pleased at the outcome of this project. Everyone created their own unique design, no two looked alike. For the younger children, it was fun to experiment with new number shapes and patterns. The students are also becoming familiar with the oil pastels, so they are trying their hand at blending two different shades.

The artwork above was created by a middle schooler.

Self-Portrait

2008-12-15T11:27:00.000-08:00

My posting will be a little bit slow during the holiday season, since we are on vacation and we haven't done any new projects. But after the first of the year, this place should be bumpin' again. Until then, I leave you with this, an oil pastel Modigliani self-portrait that one of my junior high students created. I love when I have a student in class that shows so much promise. He really gets it.

Projects like these make it really fun to be an art teacher!

More Gustav Klimt collages

2008-12-10T23:46:00.000-08:00

I think this has to be one of my favorite projects we did this semester. I couldn't resist showing a couple more of what I think were the best projects in class. Both of these were created by 14 year-old homeschooled students.

Pablo Picasso Masks: Papier-mâché

2008-12-08T21:01:00.000-08:00

This is a project that the students seem to go crazy for. Beware, it's also the messiest. The technique of Papier-mâché has been around for a very long time. Although the process seemed very intimidating for me at first, there are only a few components needed to get an awesome result. Once you get the hang of it, it's very simple and fun!

I shared my love of Pablo Picasso with the students today. Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso was a child prodigy and he could paint pain-stakingly beautiful portraits and charcoal drawings as a young child. His father was an art teacher, so he was exposed to art at a very early age. I think this is what freed Picasso to go further in his art, to explore different ideas and techniques. When you can draw and paint like a master at the age of eight years old, what else is there to do? Murals, abstract art, bronze sculpture, found object sculpture, Cubism, African-inspired art, etc. And this is exactly what he explored during his 92 years of life.

Supplies you will need to mix Papier-mâché: inexpensive bottle of liquid starch, water, newspaper, cardboard pieces, masking tape, scissors, egg crate pieces, old paint trays.
Mix liquid starch and water in a 50/50 ratio. Pour into old paint trays.
Encourage students to rip newspaper into strips.
Explain to students how they can build their sculptures by using cut cardboard pieces and egg crates pieces. They sculpture can be secured with masking tape. This will all be secured with the Papier-mâché mix.
Once they've built their sculpture, they can start the Papier-mâché process.
Dip a newspaper strip into liquid starch mix. Make sure you squeegee off excess liquid. Start laying wet strips onto your sculpture in a smooth, flat fashion.
Keep laying down the wet newspaper strips until the entire sculpture is covered. Working around noses and eyes can be a little tricky, but teach your students how they can form their sculpture with their hands by shaping the wet newspaper.
This project is usually done over a two class sessions. During the first session, the sculpture/Papier-mâché phase has to be completed.
Since I can't store my supplies in the classroom, this means I have to take some 20-something partially wet masks. Yay me.
When I have them at home and they are completely dry, I paint a layer of white primer on top. This will create a uniform surface for the students to paint designs on. It will also keep their paint true to the original color so they won't have to use several coats of paint. If you are in class, you can have your students primer their own masks.
During our next class session, we paint, glue feathers, beads, raffia, twigs and whatever else the students want on their masks. It's amazing how different they all come out.
Students painted with Craft Smart paint instead of tempera paint because there are so many more vibrant colors to choose from. You can find it at any Michael's Art & Craft for .99 a bottle.
Once they are all completed, have students lay out their masks so the class can look at each work of art. My students always love this part of class!

A dragon created by a fifth grader.

An African-inspired mask created by a high school student.

This mask was created by son, who was in the first grade at the time. I helped with the raffia.

The Cubism-inspired mask at top left was created by a junior in high school. It's my favorite.

Wasily Kandinsky: Collage

2008-10-27T22:47:00.000-07:00

Oh em gee. It's been a while since I posted something. But don't be troubled...I have lots of goodies up my sleeve.

Kandinsky! A wonderful artist from Russia who created art of pure abstraction. He was inspired by things such as jazz music and nature and from that inspiration stemmed creations that held no definitive subject matter or logical reasoning. Just color, shape, line, movement and feeling...Abstraction Expressionism was born.

I decided to focus on Kandinsky's Squares with Concentric Rings. This is a fun project that doesn't entail alot of planning and supplies and the best part--it's not as messy as painting. Don't mind me, that is just a tender spot for me today....after painting in a classroom with fifteen elementary school kids and no sink nearby--no fun!

Hand out 9 X12 sheet of drawing paper, canson paper or poster board. You will also need glue sticks, oil pastels and scrapbooking paper squares in multiple colors.
Instruct the students to glue down six squares in a grid of three across. The squares should be the same uniform size and they should vary in color.
Get to tearing! That's right, we tore the scrapbooking paper into rough looking circles. No scissors involved in this project. They should tear smaller circles to fit in the larger circle and then get sequentially smaller.
Each square should have at least three circles on it, varying in size and color.
Glue them all down on the paper, creating interesting patterns of color and shape.
After circles are glued down, the students can use 2-3 different oil pastel colors and make contrasting circle shapes on top of their collages.

This was one of those projects where I could have just sat there for days, tearing scrapbooking paper and enjoying life. The students enjoyed it and it was fun to see the uniqueness of each project, given the parameters.

Modigliani: Elongated Portraits

2008-10-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

When I lived in East L.A., I would often hang out in South Pasadena. The beautiful Norton Simon Museum of Art is right off of Colorado Blvd. and it was a frequent destination of mine. They have an Amedeo Modigliani in their permanent collection. His elogated portraits of women with deep, soulful colors never ceased to fascinate me.

I knew that I would have to give the students clear instructions on how to lay out their portrait, to give them the look I was going for. So what I did was take a ruler and drew a few quick dotted lines to direct the little artists so they could have a few guidelines as to where they should draw their head and neck, to give it the full elongated effect. While in class, this proved to be a huge timesaver (we only have 45 minutes to complete the project) and left us with plenty of time to sketch and color.

Pass out black 9 X 12 construction paper or black drawing paper.
Instruct the students to draw their head in the top half of the page, which should be 3/4 down from the top. The chin should be right on the dotted line. This will insure that their portrait has that long quality.
Once the children have sketched their head and neck, instruct them to complete all of their features. I gave them the choice of drawing themselves or another person they knew.
Give students oil pastels (woooo--I'm really getting serious use of those oil pastels) and have them color their portraits til their heart's content.
Encourage students to color the background as well, to give it another dimension.

The artwork above was created by a second grader.

Wild Side/Calm Side Self-Portraits

2008-10-21T19:50:00.000-07:00

Last week I decided to share my love (read: obsession) of Frida Kahlo and her self-portraits. On a recent trip to San Francisco to see a large collection of her work at sfmoma, I realized just why she painted so many portraits. It wasn't because she thought she was beautiful or interesting. She painted bowls of fruit or portraits of other people to make money to pay for her mounting doctor bills. She assumed people would not care to pay for her intensely personal paintings. During the times after her many surgeries and when her body was giving way, she was confined to her bed. That was where she painted self-portraits to the point where she perfected her own face.

I wanted to teach the students how powerful color could be to convey emotion. So we embarked on a self-portrait project, splitting the portrait down the middle. One side is their happy, "crazy" side with warm, bright colors. The other is calm, serene side with cool colors.

Make sure students have a 9 X 12 piece of white paper and a pencil.
Pass out circle templates and instruct them to draw their own heads. I've found that making them use templates keeps them away from drawing little pinheads.
Once they have drawn their features, have them draw a line down the center.
Some of the kids got confused as to what was a cool color and what was a warm color but I think they understood the overall principle.
We fun with this project. I know I did because I got to talk about Frida Kahlo!

The artwork above was created by a 5th grader.

Dia de los Muertos

2008-10-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

The Day of the Dead is celebrated on November first and second. I really hate when I hear people call it a "Mexican Halloween". That couldn't be farther from the truth. It is a tradition that can be traced as far back as the Aztecs. To put it simply, it is a time to remember your loved ones that have gone on before you. Some people honor their deceased with altars and ofrendas, or offerings. This is where people get really creative. They decorate it with cempasúchitl, or marigolds...favorite things like toys (for little children) or their favorite drinks, food, pictures, artwork, music. Even pillows and blankets are laid out for their loved ones to be comfortable on their long journey.

Jose Guadalupe Posada was a well-known Mexican engraver and illustrator. His work has long been associated with Dia de los Muertos and it is what inspired me to begin this project. It's something I did at home with my children since the co-op we belong too doesn't observe any non-Christian holidays. And that is fine with me. We had alot of fun doing this at home.

You will need a 9 X 12 sheet of black paper. Construction paper or poster board will do. I preferred the construction paper because it had a little bit of texture to it.
Allow kids to sketch lightly with a pencil. I worked on my own sugar skull alongside them so they were able to get an idea of how to draw it.
Pass out oil pastels and encourage kids to create unique shapes and designs in the background.
When they are finished coloring it in, instruct kids to outline in black oil pastel. This makes the colors pop.
Color pencils could be used on top of the oil pastels to create even more depth of line and shapes.

The artwork above was created by a fifth grader.

Just a note on grade levels

2008-10-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of people ask me what grade I teach so I just wanted to say that I teach at a homeschool co-op, and since we don't have enough teachers to teach each particular grade, we have several grade levels together in each class.

To make it easier for me, I teach the same project each week to both classes. That is how adaptable the projects are!

The elementary school class I teach has third graders through six graders. So there is a big gap in abilities and skills. I tend to seat the younger kids together and so on with the older kids. The younger kids love to have you help them while the older kids get a little grouchy if you touch their work. Believe me, I have learned the hard way. I had a boy break down and cry because I put a paint stroke down on his paper. Oops, my bad. So now, I always ask, "Can I do something on your paper?" before I do anything else.

In my upper grade elective art class, I teach both middle school and high school age students. Again, there is a big gap in abilities and skills. I tend to help the ones who are staring off into space and really struggling with the simplest of instructions and leave the older kids to their own devices, offering some encouragement and praise along the way. Right now, I have a middle-schooler who is blowing me away with his creativity. I also have a senior who has been in my class for three years. He is turning out to be a very disciplined and creative individual. That is the fun part about teaching...watching your students soar!

All that to say that these lessons aren't tailored to a specific grade level. You can adapt them to whatever skill level you have in front of you.

Henri Rousseau: Tigers

2008-10-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Henri Rousseau was an artist who painted in the late early 1900's. He was famous for his dream-like depictions of jungles and wildlife. Ironically, he did not paint these scenes from nature or from experience. Everything he painted, he studied from illustrations in books. In I am Legend with Will Smith, he had a collection of Modern Art paintings from the deserted Museum of Modern Art, and Henri Rousseau's Sleeping Gypsy was hanging in his home during one of the scenes. That kinda stuff makes me happy.

Rousseau's painting, Surprised! Tropical Storm with a Tiger inspired this simple project of a tiger coming out from the foliage of the jungle. They students were really excited about learning how to draw wildlife. What was really cool was how we went through the drawing in steps, yet they all came out with their own unique style.

Prepare a circle template for the tiger's head made out of cardboard (make several if you have lots of students).
Hand out 9 X 12 drawing paper, Bristol board or poster board.
With pencil, have students trace the circle template for the tiger's head.
Next, they are to draw the body and details of the tiger's face.
Lastly, they should draw a few scattered leaves around the tiger. One of my students drew a large leaf that covered one of the tiger's eyes. It was genius!
When the students have finished drawing their details, pass out oil pastels in several shades of orange and yellow, white, black, green and blue.
Be sure to instruct the students to color with a firm hand, to make oil pastel colors pop.
Trace edges with a black oil pastel. Don't forget your tiger's whiskers!

The artwork above was created by a 4th grader.

Klimt's "Golden Phase"

2008-10-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

Gustav Klimt is one of my favorite artists of all time. I love his decorative, Art Nouveau style. His lush pattern and use of gold leaf made his artwork seem ornamental in nature. But Klimt was a master and what he created took a huge amount of artistic skill.

Drawing inspiration from Klimt's "Golden Phase", which is marked by his use of gold leaf, we attempted our own Adele Bloch-Bauer using an array of mixed mediums. I will admit I got really carried away while I worked on the sample (on the left). It was so much fun using the gold and creating patterns.

This project takes some preparation. I had to scour fashion magazines (finally, a use for all those InStyle mags I have laying around) and cut out images of women's bodies. Then so the children wouldn't giggle uncontrollably (some of the images were very provocative) and spend the entire hour cutting out the shapes, I did a basic cut and ended up with a pile of bodies cut from the waist up. Then I had my helpers give everyone a magazine cut-out as they sat down in their seat. This way there wasn't the chaos of everyone clawing at the one they wanted. I did, however, let them trade with others at their table.

Hand out 9 X12 Bristol board, illustration board or poster board.
Pass out scissors so the students can trim the arms from their magazine cut-out. They should have three pieces, two arms and one head. Then they can glue their collage down on paper.
Once it's been glued, let students do a quick sketch for the placement of their gown and a few pattern shapes.
Students should be given a variety of mediums such as, oil pastels, prismacolor pencils, and gold tissue paper. All areas of the paper should be filled in.
Encourage students to create pattern and organic shapes with the color pencils on top of the oil pastels. You can create some really cool designs that way.
The gold prismacolor pencils were in high demand, so make sure you buy enough to go around.
The effect of the magazine cut-out and the bright colors and patterns came out really cool!

This artwork was done by a 4th grader.

Paul Klee: Head of a Man

2008-10-08T13:38:00.001-07:00

Paul Klee was considered a primitive artist, yet he had the admiration of many of the modern art masters such as Pablo Picasso. It is hard to put him into any art movement, since he was inspired by Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism.

Klee was so passionate about color, that he taught color theory at the Bauhaus. He said, ""Colour has taken possession of me; no longer do I have to chase after it, I know that it has hold of me forever... Colour and I are one. I am a painter."

We decided to do our own interpretation of his "Head of a Man", using vivid tissue paper instead of paint. There were some glitches along the way...the tissue paper didn't bleed when painted with water like I had planned while I created the sample. So I just used watered down matte medium.

Pass out 9X12 Bristol board, poster board or watercolor paper and a round cardboard template.
With a black oil pastel, allow students to trace the round template which will be the head of the man. Draw shoulders, too. Features can also be lightly sketched.
Let students either cut out or tear shapes from multicolored tissue paper. We discovered the gold and silver would not stay down on the paper, even after it was brushed with matte medium.
Students can begin laying down tissue paper in interesting shapes by brushing it with watered down matte medium.
After it is completely dry, have students trace over their drawing with black oil pastel again, to give it a stronger color and presence.

The artwork above was created by an 8th grader.

Starry City Night

2008-10-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Van Gogh created so many wonderful paintings. Sadly, he never achieved any success during his lifetime. He was blessed to have a brother named Theo who took care of him and supported him in his art. The students always enjoy talking about how he "cut his ear off" but I usually explain that he didn't cut the entire thing off, just a piece of his ear lobe. Unfortunately, Van Gogh had severe mental issues and one of the few refuges from that was his art. Starry Night was a piece he considered "a nothing". He hated it! Little did he know how well-known this work of art would become, how it is synonymous with Van Gogh and Impressionism.

Give each student a piece of 9 X 12 Bristol board, watercolor paper, or poster board.

Hand out oil pastels, preferably a range of blues, greens and yellows. Encourage the students to be loose with their strokes and they make shapes and colors on the top half of their paper. They can create swirls and circles just like Van Gogh.
Next step is to paint the background in a wash of blue watercolor. We chose cerulean blue for this project. Instruct students to paint a blue wash over the swirls and designs they just created with the oil pastels.
While the watercolor wash is drying, hand out scissors, black construction paper and white oil pastels. Encourage students to create their own city scape, varying the heights of the buildings and windows. Cut it out.
When the watercolor wash is completely dry, have students glue their cityscapes on the bottom half of that paper. Glue stick is best.
Sit back and enjoy your own Starry City Night.

The artwork above was created by a 2nd grader. I also had my daughter who is pre-K do this project and she did a great job, just needing some help with with the designing and cutting of her cityscape.

Why Modern Art 4 Kids?

2008-10-07T23:37:00.001-07:00

This blog is to share with other homeschooling mama's, art teachers and lovers of art some simple projects for children that draw inspiration from all things modern art. All of these projects have been road tested by my students at our homeschool co-op and my own tribe!

I have been an artist my entire life, my earliest memory of drawing was around the age of three. I willingly admit that teaching wasn't in my plans but somehow, I ended up here. Now I love it! I have a bachelor's degree in art, specifically design and illustration. I don't have a teacher's credential and haven't needed one thus far, but if I continue with teaching art in traditional school settings, I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

Since I have been a mother of six for the past eleven years, you can imagine that I haven't had much time for own creativity. But now that my youngest is three, more doors are opening up for me. I am finally realizing that this art thing is a gift and it has helped me cope with life in more ways than I can explain. Despite how busy my life seems to be, I will always make time for my creativity. And now, to pass this love down to my children and any other children who want to learn and find themselves in my classroom.

I use a variety of mediums, such as tempera paint, acrylic paint, oil pastels, watercolor, collage, color pencils, charcoal, pastels, papier mache, markers, tissue paper and scrapbooking paper, and india ink to name a few. We work on watercolor paper, bristol board, drawing paper, canvas, canvas board and construction paper. I try to use student grade materials, although with some things like oil pastels and prismacolor pencils, you have to splurge and buy the good stuff or it just doesn't come out right.

After a brief overview of the artist and their life, their modern art movement, some of their most well-known works of art, we go over technique and style and then we try to interpret it in our own way. All of the projects have been used in art classes with students of various ages. I usually start the project with one idea in mind and then when the students start working, it takes on a life of it's own.

Enjoy!