Memory Games from printmaking enrichment

Our printmaking session lasted 6 weeks which gave me a lot of time to really dive deep into different ways of printing. I also worked on a few of the projects for a few weeks at a time, that's not easy for kids usually ;). Waiting is tough but I'm a firm believer that in art ( and any creative "making" for that matter) learning that wonderful things may take time, planning and PROCESS is a beautiful lesson to learn at any age! I try to throw in more "immediate" things for them to do as well so I don't drive them crazy ;).

The Memory Games were really cool because they learned that they could print super small and then group them together. Carving on the tiny Styrofoam pieces was interesting and I enjoyed seeing how they printed as a whole before we cut them up to make our games. We also printed the boxes with an additive form of printing instead of the subtractive form we did on the Styrofoam.

;)

Jewelry class and Polymer clay!

Art Enrichment this month is a jewelry class- it was a DREAM last Wednesday and I'm greatly looking forward to it again tomorrow.

I planned it to be more like a studio setting than step by step instruction (that doesn't mean that they get less instruction- just that it is entirely their choice what they work on). I let the students pick from about 12 materials they could work with. They all got 3 choices and I spent a majority of my weekend putting together little kits for them with each set of materials ;).

For our first class we talked about making our own beads and we worked with Polymer clay (popular brands are FIMO and Sculpey). I use this at home with my own children ALL of the time, we love it!! It's nice and firm, easy to add details and cooks in the oven on a low temp resulting in a hard, durable, wearable bead or item.

After my demo on how to create beads with layered colors inside the bead I encouraged them to make whatever they wanted, keeping in mind that they will eventually be strung......I could tell by their reaction at the end of class that they liked this stuff as much as my own kids do ;).

Sewing club students work with Spoonflower.com

I previously posted my sewing club student's drawings for their fabric designs- most of the fabric came in last week and it was as absolute joy to see it come to fruition! The fabric is SO fabulous!!!

I was impressed with how well the kids grasped working with the GIMP software and I was very pleased to hear from our principal that I can add the software to our rolling cart of laptops so I can teach working with GIMP (it's like Photoshop) to the entire school.

Good stuff ;). I will follow up soon with the sewing projects completed with these fabrics.

One point perspective lesson with soft pastels

I can't stop uploading pictures for this post because I'm so enamored with these drawings ;). These are from 1st-3rd grades. I approached the lesson a little different with the Kindergartners and I don't see 4th and 5th grade until Wed. (these here are my Monday students).

We looked at a couple of paintings by Grant Wood (American painter....super famous for the American Gothic painting) who creates really interesting space with perspective.

We also looked at Martin Puryear's "Ladder for Booker T. Washington" sculpture (here)....
Then we got technical and I instructed how to use a vanishing point, horizon line and orthogonal lines to create a guide to show perspective in their drawing and painting. I gave them one "rule" which was they had to show me some sort of road, path, river, etc in their drawing. From there they could invent their own place.

We also got the chance to work with high quality soft pastels......and they were a LOT messier that I envisioned them being!! ;) The students seemed to really enjoy working with them though. They are so full of potential! I see them as a cross between a drawing tool and a painting tool.

The first session they completed their drawing and laid in color. The second session I gave them pastel pencils, Conte crayons in several colors and a fine paintbrush and water to add their details.

Needless to say I was GUSHING over their results and effort....which is why I keep adding more and more to this post!!!

;)