Snap my Art Update

So yesterday was the final "tracking" day of my SNAP MY ART FUNDRAISER.  I promised I would let you know how it turned out.  (check here to see original post)

drum roll please.....

                    $322.72

That is my total funds raised for the duration of the fundraiser.  Pretty amazing considering only 22 (of 300) kids ordered.  Artsonia is providing me with a magnet or mouse pad and a a greeting card or sketchbook to give away for the kids that ordered.  I can honestly say that this is something I will be doing again next year.  Even those who didn't order looked at Artsonia and I love that it got my parents online.  

thank you for inspiring us Mr. Boey

Perhaps you have seen these ads from Sharpie...if not, do, they are way cool!

The Sharpie blog also has a great Chemming Boey video.

We started a lesson by looking at the work of Chemming Boey and discussing what we thought of it...

• How would they like to draw without sketching first?
• How would they feel about throwing out at 80% finished project because you "messed it up." 
• What do they think of drawing on coffee cups?
• What else could they draw on?
• How does he make dark and light ares?

We then had them create "coffee cup wrappers" that were inspired by his work.  Here is my FAVORITE (so far)

front

back

and a few of the other ones...

It is working....

This semester I have a student teacher and he is doing great.  However some of my classes are taking this opportunity to push the limits.  It is really hard for me to not "step in" during some of the classes.  BUT since we all learn best from doing, I step back and let him work on it.  Last week we talked about this video I had watched a few years ago from the Organized Classroom and we thought he might give the cups a go...

I found some cups at Hy-Vee and we stacked them up.  Of course as the classes came in, they all wanted to play with them and they had a million questions about them.  But after explaining how they worked the kids bought right into it!  

It is working really well.  It fact after one class he said, "should I let them talk a little?"  I definitely think this is something that will stay in the art room even after he is finished with his student teaching!  

p.s. they don't work very well for color mixing... I was hoping but the colors just are vibrant enough (and I don't have blue).

Celebrating Creativity Dale Chihuly

The Students always love Dale Chihuly's glass work... and it is hard to miss it at the Joslyn!

So for our first Celebrating Creativity Night we created artwork inspired by him.  

Students started by coloring "Chinet Cut Crystal" Clear Plates with permanent markers.  

We then laid them on top of the kiln.  Then we "hit them with the heat."  I use my hubbys professional heat gun, but my small scrap booking one from hobby lobby also works... just not as fast.  We let them fold and bend as the heat says to.  This year I did a few "tweaks" at the very end.  I love them!

It can get a little stinky if you are not working in a well ventilated area... so make sure you are!

While they students were waiting to melt their plates we also created some large "Chihuly Inspired" drawings.

And thanks to my student teacher (that is him above in the red) we even have the display done.  

Celebrating Creativity at the Joslyn

This year we did another trip to the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha for their celebrating creativity day (see last year's post here).  Once again it did not disappoint!  We started the morning with some really fun classes... collagraph printing, drumming, special effect makeup, photography, stencil printing, dancing and more.  They also did a tour of a least one section of the museum.  I loved the students who toured "European Art" just so they could see Degas' Little Dancer.

photo courtesy

I also loved that the current exhibit is "Under Pressure:  Contemporary Prints from the Collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation."  The students who toured it were able to see Chuck Close, Red Grooms, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellen Gallagher and so many more.  I have so many ideas for our Celebrating Creativity Classes.  

Here is a small collage from our day of fun!

Magic....

For the sake of my student teacher, we tackled a quick clay project

 (nothing like 300 clay anythings to help someone learn about teaching art).  

We quickly reviewed the story of Dumbo and how he could fly... thanks to his magical crow feather.  

image courtesy of Disney Clip art

We then created magical clay feathers.  We walked them through forming them by hand manipulation and then drawing in the details.  I have to say... they are looking pretty magical!

Check out our Artsonia site for even more...

Weekend Art Projects

Every year our local newspaper sponsors a "hide Gary the turkey" contest and my kids love to do it.  Today while my husband and son were out "looking for honkers" (goose hunting), my daughter and I made our turkeys.  She hide her turkey in a Jewelry box and I so proud of her.  At the start of the year she could barely write her name... now she spells anything.

I made mine to look like Keith Haring got a hold of it...

It was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Stuck in a Hole

We did the first two days of perspective drawing going down a hallway and thinking about Alice in Wonderland... the last two we got "stuck in a hole."

We started drawing the same as if it were a hallway but then I challenged the students to think about it being the bottom of a hole. . . and they were going to be stuck in it.  I took pictures of the students sitting on the floor while I was standing on a table.  After finishing their images (one day with pencil shading and one day with colored pencil shading), we cut out and glued in their photos.

don't worry... we got them all out. 

Alice in Wonderland

Awhile back this post from Miss Katie at Artopotamus caught my attention because of this awesome Alice in Wonderland drawing.  

I got to thinking, that would be a fun way to do one point perspective.  

So we started my 6th graders by reviewing one point perspective.  While they were working I was taking photos of them.  

We worked together to draw their hallways and add a few details... then they were on their own.  

One day finished their images with pencil shading.  

Halloween definitely influenced this one...

Love her steps... wish the ceiling would have used converging lines.

The next day finished their's with colored pencil

Pumpkins Everywhere...

this is supposed to be at the bottom of this post but since blogger wants it here... so here it is!

We have been working on this one for a while and I am happy to say it is finally DONE!  (well I still have grading and artsonia to do but the project is done).  We started by learning about contour line drawing.  We talked about the right and left side of the brain and how contour line drawing helps us use the right side!

(check out this awesome illustration)

We started by looking at pumpkins and gourds that I brought into the room.  They could pick them up and draw them one at a time.  

We then did contour line drawings of our pumpkins and gourds.  They did such a great job!

We spent some time talking about different mediums we could use, the colors of pumpkins, shading and color mixing.  The students then used colored pencils, oil pastels and chalk pastels to color a minimum of 3 of their pumpkins/gourds.

Then we made a background for our pumpkins.  Three classes did nighttime and three did daytime. 

Then we cut out our pumpkins and glued them down.  

We talked about space, size and compositions before gluing them down... but we still had a few floating pumpkins.

 

 Of course we had to miss one day's worth of classes because of something... so those classes made torn paper backgrounds for their pumpkins.  

and we had one day with a sub... and she totally messed them up.  She showed them the wrong video 

(so it goes when they don't read your sub plans or only a part of them... but I digress).

Therefore, they drew their pumpkins right onto black paper and colored them.  

And of course their are always a few that just make you smile...

I love these lines...

she only wanted to use white... but I kinda like them.
She did use colored pencil, oil pastel and chalk pastel to do the white....