African-Inspired Metal Tooling Masks

   I first learned about the art of repoussé or metal tooling when examining a copy of Tutankhamun's burial mask during a touring exhibit I visiting when I was in high school. It was hard for me to imagine such delicate work was done on one solid piece of gold. "How in the world did the Egyptians do that?" I wondered. It wasn't until a few years later while doing my student teaching, I had the opportunity to try my hand at the process. I found the meticulous balance between gentle and firm to be quite meditative and I thought it would be a really great project to try with my current group of 6th graders. When I found these encouraging examples from the There's A Dragon in My Classroom Blog, I budgeted for some 36 gauge metal and the rest was art room history!

    The goals of this lesson were to tool (push or pull) the metal from both the front and the back, to create a mask that showed symmetry, and to use a variety of textures and patterns within the design. Students were shown a variety of masks that were representative of twelve different tribes in Africa. A brief PowerPoint presentation demonstrated the different ceremonial uses of the masks. We contrasted the way masks are used in American culture (holidays, theater, safety) to African culture (communal ceremonies for various rites of passage, ancestral communication, blessings, hunting expeditions, celebrations, and funerals.) The students were asked to use the visual references as a jumping off point but to instill the mask with their own creativity.

   Students added color highlights to the mask with Sharpies and then emphasized the relief and depth of the masks by using a burnishing technique using black Acrylic paint. Students used raffia and wooden beads as a textural complement their metal work.

 

Medieval Architecture

 So the new music teacher at my school, Mrs. G,  is ridiculously good and does great work. This Spring she will be doing a concert with 1st & 3rd grade. A common theme in both plays is fairy tales. I've gotten a jump start on making some artwork that will serve as a backdrop for the stage where the students perform their songs.

The first project introduced 2nd graders to one of my favorite subjects: architecture. Castles were private homes built in the Middle Ages which started around 1000 A.D. They were different from regular homes of the time because they were made of stone instead of wood or plaster and they were fortified.

We focused on the different parts of a castle including crenelations, parapets, the keep, moats, and dungeons. While castles continued to be built well into the 1700's improved cannon fire made them more prone to attacks. Contrary to popular belief, castles were actually uncomfortable and undesirable places to live! In the 1800's castles started being built for the purpose of aesthetic beauty instead of military use.

I got the inspiration for this project from this post on Deep Space Sparkle. We used small rectangle sponges to make brick prints. I asked students to make sure they staggered their prints like a real mason does to make their walls strong. I wanted each castle to have a background so we used chalk pastels blended with a paper towel to whip up a simple sky.

 Students added details like windows, doors, knights, and trees using left over paste paper from a previous project and metallic paper. I absolutely love the results!

Unbeweavable Weavings

January has been a very productive month in the art room for 6th grade. We have been mastering the art of weaving by working on these woven pouches for four weeks! Inspired by this delightful and thorough weaving tutorial I found on Cassie Stephens' Blog this summer, I introduced this project to my 6th graders the first week back from school after holiday break. It didn't take the students very long to start referring to the pouches as handmade iPhone covers. Geniuses, I tell you, geniuses!

The project objectives were simple. By the end of this project I wanted students to be able to:

1) Identify the meaning of loom, warp, and weft.

2) Understand and use the “under, over” technique of weaving.

3) Create a functional weaving using materials, colors, and patterns that describe them as a person. 

For this project I cut my cardboard looms to 3.5" x 10." I told the students to weave the body of their pouch to a length somewhere between 4-7" and the flap anywhere between 2-3." In order to accomplish these lengths I did allow students the option to take their looms home to weave. Every single one of my students took me up on this offer which was mega thrilling! I gave each students a paperclip to weave with since I couldn't send them home with a weaving needle. This project was enjoyed by boys and girls alike. Our work sessions were almost silent because the students got so into it.

Additionally, the students all will walk away having learned how to thread a needle, stitch, and end a stitch which is a skill almost none of them had experience with before encountering this project.

Project Runway: Art Teacher Edition

Today I finally got to unveil my "Persistence of Memory" costume. It was, for the most part, a success though I did have a few Kindergarteners who I passed the in hallway ask me if I was going as a banana tree!?  My 5th and 6th graders recognized the iconic artwork so it was a good opportunity to teach them a few things about Salvador Dali and Surrealism. A fourth grader suggested I should have worn a Dali-esque glue mustache to complete the look.  C'est bonne idee, mon ami!

So I found out that sewing a garment is super hard. I tried my best to harness the spirit of Demetri from last season's Project Runway and bit of the shutspa of fellow art teacher blogger/vintage textile artist, Cassie Stephans, but oh my, a seamstress I am not. 

I think I had the most fun building and painting the puffy sculptural clocks. I do like sewing free-form objects, but as for the dress I was quite afraid I was going to bust a seam reaching down to pick up paper scraps! It was a wild day, as Halloween days at school usually are. Here's to you, Salvador Dali, you are too cool.

Chihuly Melted Sculptures

Hurricane Sandy provided me with enough gusto (and time!) to unearth this project from my computer archives. I did this project with a 4th grade group LAST SPRING and never got to post about it. I thought the bright colors would be a nice contrast to one dreary, spooky half-day of school.

To kick this lesson off, we watched this great clip that shows detailed footage of Dale Chihuly's creative process. CBS News correspondent, Erica Hill,  gets to fulfill her life dream of blowing some glass with the glass master himself. As they watched, I asked the 4th graders to take note of just how many artists work together to make one piece of glass. Dale leads and gives direction, but there are individual artists in charge of each step of melting, twirling, twisting, cracking, and cooling. They seemed to get a kick out of the amount of effort and teamwork that goes into each piece.

I purchased a boatload of Shrinky-Dink transparent sheets from my local JoAnn's Fabric. They cost about $6.00 for a pack of 12. I cut each sheet into two sections and on day one, after we watched the video, the students worked with permanent marker to draw a unique design on the plastic surface. They also were in charge of cutting a unique edge around the perimeter of their plastic piece. I told them to be bold with their cuts and be open to what the heat will do to their project. This is what their projects looked like at the end of class.

Between class one and two, I took the student projects home and got to melting! I used recycled Diet Dr. Pepper cans as a molding form and heated my oven up to a low temp of about 275 degrees. The aluminum can created a place for the plastic to "slump" and droop once it was heated enough. This is what my plastic set-up looked like. I admit, it was pretty precarious and the potential to over melt a project was high.

And after about seven seconds in the oven, they looked like this!

It is really important not to leave the plastic in the oven for more than ten seconds. If you do, THE PLASTIC WILL DO ITS JOB AND SHRINK SO MUCH YOU NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO FIND IT! (Ok, not really that small, but it will be so miniature the designs will be to small to appreciate.)

When the kids got their melted shrunken plastic back they were very intrigued with how the heat transformed their work. They designed a background square and we used brass brads to connect the plastic to the background so the work could be shown on a bulletin board. Here are the finished pieces in all of their 3-D glory!

Colossal 3-D Masks

    4th grade just finished the most amazing project just in time for some proper masquerading. I found the idea (and confidence!) from this lesson posted by Phyl over at There's A Dragon in My Classroom. I've done 3-D masks before but never on such a large scale. It turned out to be a great way to use up all of the old, neglected semi wrinkled paper from the time I cleaned out my messy paper closet earlier this school year. I put together a Powerpoint with over 100 masks from around the world which I kept on a constant rotation on the first day when students conceptualized their mask designs. We started with 18 x 24 super sturdy oaktag to cut out a symmetrical outer edge. We used scrap paper to cover the oaktag on the second day. During the end of day 2, artists made two cuts and the very top and bottom of their masks and I came around with a stapler and 3-D-ified their designs. On the final day we added symmetrical details and as Phyl suggested, we painted our masks with a clear coat of "glue stew" (a mixture of two parts glue and 1 part water.) This project was an uber hit. Many of the artists made special designs to enhance their Halloween costumes. It is nice when the kids go home with something LARGE, eye-catching, and functional to boot!

Impromtu Bookfair Mural

"Many hands make light work!" --Jean Heyden

Last week two sensational moms came up to visit the art room. They were involved in organizing the school's book fair which is happening this week and they were wondering if the art room might lend a hand to help advertise and build excitement for the literary mega-event. Of course, we were delighted to chip in! We set to work and in two days we were able to make a billboard-sized, show stopping mural that is "gi-mungous!" Deadlines usually give me the howling fantods, but this time the brisk pace that this project required inspired some truly spontaneous painting and it was just downright fun! The kids love book fair week and were psyched to have a chance to promote the cause with their brushstrokes!