Collage Characters

This lesson is about transformation.   The students explore the potential of objects and see them transform into a face, an expression or an emotion.   For this project we incorporated "found" objects to construct the face and to add details to the body.  Can you see the different expressions in each character's face?



 Inspiration came from the amazing art of Nan Fleming seen below.

Nan Fleming, source




These were made a couple of years ago by K-1 students.  It turned out to be one of my favorite lessons.  I am sharing it now as it applies to my previous post and may give you some more ideas for a collage project and the use of texture plates.

Egyptian Canopic Jars

Make your own slide show at Animoto.


We've finally finished the canopic jars.  I want to thank the Museum of Fine Arts here in Houston for the inspiration for this lesson.  The teacher CD  they gave during the educator's night was amazing and provided such wonderful images.
Plastic cups, paper towels, tag or cardboard and tape make up the armature for each jar.  Small pebbles are placed in the bottom cup along with wadded up towels to help  balance the jar and to keep it standing. We then covered them with plaster gauze to make the surface strong and ready for paint.   The rest is up to the imagination of the student.  I did provide handouts of Egyptian symbols and patterns for the students to use as a resource.  These were done by my middle school elective class which was actually perfect because they come to art 4 days in a row.  They took us about 2 weeks to complete.  You can see the steps below.