Art Journals- Personification

This year one of our first projects is making our art journals again. We keep our brainstorming, reflections, take notes, write and more in our journals throughout the year.

We were smart this year and asked for washi tape on our supply list ;)- but we still blew through it!

Because we had been discussing personification due to Willis (the art Wagon), I kept running with the idea of turning objects into humans. For their journal cover the kids had to select an object that they have affection for (no animals- I wanted them to chose something inanimate) and they had to personify that object. They couldn't use markers or draw...they could only use tape. I taught them a trick to cut small areas using parchment paper and Mrs. Slats figured out that if you stack the tape a few times it made small pieces much easier to cut. Between both of those methods they created some really fantastic details!!

A personified football! Love!

I personified my boom box and I saw him peeking up at me one day covered in hundreds of journals that I was toting to different classes that day....made me giggle ;).

This amazed me- a first grader took a clip art image of cherries, flipped it upside down and turned it into a mouse face- awesome!!!!!!!

I read this book to the kids a few days into the project. It's great!!!

My favorite page in the book ;).

Back at school! Meet Willis the Art Wagon (art on a cart ;))

Willis the art Wagon and an exquisite replication from a talented second grader, Baby Willis ;)

drawing portraits of Willis

Portraits of Willis as well as the art wagons that they envision

My first grader asked if everyone could autograph Willis so we have slowly been working on giving everyone a chance to sign him ;)

Baby Willis!!! My heart soared when this student handed this to me!

She even replicated his eyebrows!

 


These first few weeks back at school have been busy and wonderful. Mrs. Slats and I are waiting for a school expansion that should be completed in a month or so and until then we don't have an art room. So we are "art on a cart" for a little while!

 My children and I invented a silly way to bring art on a cart to the classrooms each day by creating "Willis the Art Wagon". We personified a wagon I bought on Amazon and my creative younger brother gave me a list of great names we could use.....when I heard the name "Willis" I was all set!!! Perfect!

Willis is blue, has an orange mustache, his name flashes in lights on his side and he is complete with a license plate. Our family is so comfortable with talking about him now that my kids ask me daily how my day with Willis was ;).

The first week of school I introduced Willis and talked with the kids about personification in regards to Willis, advertising, cartoons, fine art and literature. We started by drawing portraits of Willis and then the kids invented and sketched their own "art wagon"....if they made an art wagon would it be personified? How or how not? What color would it be? How much would they be willing to pay for it? How would they keep art supplies on the wagon? There were some pretty awesome ideas being drawn!!

Woodworking camp wrap up and reflections

At the end of most 3dimensional projects I usually have the kids look at their sculptures and draw their completed work. It gives them time to stop, deeply look and really take in what they have made as well as enhances their observational drawing skills ;).

 

I also took a few snapshots of some of the reflections in their woodworking journals.

 

 

 

Doesn't get any better than that last answer!!!!

Gumball machines complete!!!

We wrapped up an awesome week of woodworking camp! As I look at these final pictures it fascinates me to remember all of the work I saw that led up to the completion of these machines. Watching the kids set up crazy towers of supplies to hold a piece into place that they wanted to glue, watching them make their preliminary sketches and seeing how they had to modify their idea (or not), the layers of paint they added, gluing details on the last day when I could see that at the end of the week they were starting to get tired ;)- SO much went into these.

 

I said in my last post how impressed I was at this group of kids and I'm going to say it again- AWESOME group of creative little minds!!! Plus my sweet middle school students who helped me as counselors during camp. I'm blessed to have been with you all this week!!