WEAVING PAPER PLATES

For a fun and fairly easy project that requires few supplies, try weaving paper plates. My students loved it. Third grade was the youngest that worked for me because of larger group sizes, but someone as young as five would be able to do this project with more focused assistance.

SUPPLIES: paper plates, various colors of yarn, scissors, markers or crayons.

-Cut the edges of a paper plate into points so the plate looks like a flower or a sun.
-Poke a hole in the middle of the plate.
-Tie individual strands of yarn between each petal (or every other petal). Tie each strand so the knot is on the back of the plate. It will look messy on the back, but that is not important. You may trim the tails of the knots, but don't make them too short or the yarn will pop off while weaving.

-Take a piece of yarn about 10 inches long and tie its tail to one of the cross yarns on the back  of the plate. 
-Pull the yarn through to the front and get ready to weave.
-Begin weaving in the center of the plate by going over, under, over, under, and so on.
-Stuff and tuck the tail of the first piece of yarn under itself. No need to tie knots, the yarn is fuzzy and will cling to itself when tucked in well.
-Begin with a new color of yarn by stuffing and tucking it under the previous color, then weave as before.

-Weave as far as you would like, and then color the rest of the plate with markers or any other colorful medium of your choice.

-For more explicit visual instructions you can search the internet with the words "weaving paper plates", and you will find many sites with various instructions for this project.
-Display for all to see!

SURREAL COLLAGE

I started this project by showing my students Salvador Dali's famous painting, "The Persistence of Memory".  Most of my students had already seen the painting featured in a Loony Tunes cartoon. We then read about some of the interesting ways in which Dali gained attention. The time, for example, when he spoke about his art to a group of people while wearing a deep sea diving suit, or when he showed up to an event in a limousine filled with cauliflower. My students especially liked the story about Dali telling people that he could receive messages from outer space through the tips of his mustache!  We all made and wore various facial hair features during one art class. The original plan was for each student to make a Dali-style mustache, but the students got creative and we rolled with it.

 The collages displayed here are loosely based on surrealism. We focused on creating images that would cause the viewer to stop and wonder what the artist was thinking, and we tried to include combinations of images that are dream-like and seemingly from the subconscious. Mostly the collages are silly and interesting to look at, and the the students thoroughly enjoyed putting them together.

GREAT WORK, EVERYONE!

CANS FOR TILES

A mosaic project that was originally planned to be
10' X 10' has grown to almost 12' X 40'.  Tiles are the most expensive material and we need a lot of them, so we have been collecting cans to help curb the cost. Many of our students are very eager to collect as many cans in as short amount of time as possible, thereby helping to clean up their community.

When the wire mesh container in the photo is full, I take them to Flagstaff and cash in.  If the cans are crushed, we earn almost $40.  If they're not crushed, we earn about half that.

 The front of our school building used to be a giant wall of plain gray cinder blocks.  Now it serves as a brilliant backdrop for different events that are held in our sandy front yard throughout the school year. At times, it is an interesting conversation piece for visitors during various extracurricular events, and children are often seen slowly meandering along the wall as they are captivated by the many dazzling colors and textures.






Weather dictates how frequently we can work on our mosaics. It can be too cold, too windy, too hot and dry, or too wet. And getting set up to work on the wall takes time, so it's important to get a reliable forecast and some good weather.

Creating public and permanent artwork can be very memorable for young students, and they can visit the piece for years to come. 

PAPER MACHE ALEBRIJES

Finally! Here are the completed alebrijes which were designed and constructed by our 7th and 8th graders over the course of many weeks. If you look back into the "alebrijes" blog entry, you can see the different recycled materials that were used to build these creatures.
Great work, everyone!

CLAY ANIMAL RATTLES

Clay animal rattles really do rattle after they've been fired! Don't forget to poke holes somewhere in your animal so the smoke can get out. See below for complete instructions.

 1) Make two pinch pots of the same size.
 
  2) Make 4 or 5 pea-sized clay balls and wrap them individually in small pieces of newspaper.

 3) Stuff the newspaper-wrapped clay balls into one of the pinch pots and join the two pots by smearing the clay together. Smooth out the sides with slip or just use your fingers.

 4) Poke a hole or two into your cylindrical, featureless creature. Eyes are a good place for holes. Use a stylus to scratch student initials and grade into the bottom.
  5) Attach the appropriate body parts for the animal you are making. (Wings, beak, ears, tail, horns)  Make sure to smear and smooth the appendages onto the animal, don't just stick them on or they'll fall off.
  

6)Allow the aminals to dry out completely before firing.

7) Apply glaze and fire again.

I recommend firing once before applying the glaze because the parts tend to be very fragile, and they often break before firing if they're handled too much.
 

KANDINSKY'S CIRCLES

Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian artist who lived from 1866 until 1944. He is given credit for developing a purely abstract style in art.
After giving up a promising career in law, Kandinsky became a painter, an author, and a teacher at the Bauhaus School of Art in Germany.
He loved color and music, and he believed they were closely related in many ways.

Kandinsky's "Squares With Concentric Circles" is a great piece of artwork for children to imitate because it is so colorful and playful. It is also a great opportunity for students to identify and explore different color arrangements, such as using all warm, cool, analogous, or complementary colors within a square. For this project we used oil pastels and watercolor while listening to classical music.

Here is our drying rack full of colorful circles! And when you look at the photo below, you may experience a sudden sweep of cheer and laughter brought on by the power of many colorful circles displayed in one place! I know I did!

TEXTURE!

Today we learned all about texture. I started the lesson by playing hangman with my students. They LOVE to play hangman, and the word texture is an excellent hangman word because it is tough to figure out.

 In order to distinguish between tactile and visual texture, each student reached into a bag to feel a mystery item. After each student felt the mystery item, we made a list of words to describe how the item felt.
Then, before seeing what was in the bag, students were invited to guess what it was. Students were able to see that just by touching something, they were able to describe and identify it. 

 After exploring the mystery bag, I held up different items and asked my students to describe how they thought the items would feel if they could touch them. This was fun for them, and the adjectives came easily. Soft, hard, fuzzy, smooth, rough, bumpy.
Through these two activities, students were able to process and comprehend the difference between visual and tactile texture.

 The next activity was to create a texture chart based on the items on display. Students started by folding a piece of paper three times to make 8 boxes in which they would paint their different textures.

Then they started filling their boxes with a variety of brushstrokes to represent the textures of the different items on display.

This project works well for all grades in elementary school. Adults love it too!

The results of the finished charts are impressive and refrigerator worthy!

PICASSO INSPIRED SELF PORTRAITS

SKULLS/MEXICO

Last year for Dia de los Muertos my 6th, 7th, and 8th graders made colorful skulls. We talked about the significance of the Mexican holiday, and we compared Halloween and Dia de los Muertos to see what differences and similarities we could find. We also looked at different skulls on-line to gain inspiration for our own creations.

The first step in building our skulls was to paper mache a balloon. Make sure to check the size and shape of your balloons ahead of time. I had one class where each student received a balloon that could be blown up to the size and shape of a basketball! The ideal shape is oval, and the size is up to you.

After the paper mache balloon dried completely, we poked holes into the areas where we wanted to insert egg carton cups (I'll use the word "cup" for lack of egg carton terminology) for eyes and a nose. If you look carefully, you can see the egg carton insertions in the first photo. You can also see where we taped egg carton cups for the cheek bones. Below the cheek bones you can see where we taped thin, pre-cut cardboard pieces for the jaw.

After the paper mache completely dried, we applied a coat or two of white gesso to strengthen our skulls. White acrylic paint works, too.

Then we painted our skulls using fun colors and playful designs. Before we put our skulls on display, we made tissue paper flowers. If you have ever been to a Dia de los Muertos celebration, you know that marigolds are in important part of the holiday tradition as they help to guide the spirits.

If you look carefully at the pink and purple skulls in the photo below you can see a shiny glitter coat that some students applied to their completed skulls. Excellent work, everyone!

HOPILAND INSPIRATION

The photographs displayed here are from "Indian Day" at the school where I teach. Indian Day is held each year in September, and it's my favorite day of the school year. An entire day is devoted to a variety of dances performed by students and staff for parents and the community.

Living on the Hopi reservation fills one's imagination with an endless array of inspiration from which to draw upon while making art.  Different ceremonies are held throughout the year, and the colors, textures, and designs on display are enough to fuel a lifetime of potential artistic expression. Anytime I go for a simple walk in the village or the desert, I come home with a head full of project ideas. It's just a matter of engaging in the creative process in order to bring those ideas to life. Sometimes this doesn't happen as often as I would like!

Hopi culture is so rich in many ways. The children grow up immersed in such incredibly layered traditions, and they come to art class brimming with creative potential. I love sharing art from around the world with them and watching them integrate their own cultural impressions into their art projects.