Wastebasket Challenge

 

Although people create art for a vast number of  reasons, most artworks belong to one of 3 broad categories: practical, cultural, or personal.   Through these categories we can describe the function of art. The challenge for this project was to design a wastebasket to serve practical, cultural and personal functions.


Result:
This is a wastebasket for a student who has a cold.  You actually put your tissues in it and the stick functions as the tool to push the tissues out when you're ready to dispose of them.  When you are sick you don't want to be getting up to go to the trash can every minute.  With this design you can just put your tissues in it and when it's full you can go dump them out.  Our handle is really light so you can carry it with you.   The cross symbolizes Christianity which all 3 of us are Christians.  What speaks of our culture is the way in which the paint was applied.   It is somewhat transparent and distorted  which is metaphoric for what we experience today.  Our culture is not so easy to see...kind of distorted.


(You can see the video below but unfortunately the sound is not loud enough)

Identity Through Name Design

Identity- How Do The Colors Represent Me?

Jose:
The colors I chose for my Name Design artwork are purple and green.  Green shows that I am natural.  I know this because I don't drink or smoke or do drugs. Plus, my Grandmother had a chart explaining what each color meant.  Purple shows that I am extreme.  I believe this is true because one day I jumped from a roof into a trampoline and I was wearing purple which was ironic.

This is a lesson that's been around awhile but I have tweaked it by adding what I call The Identity Card which I feel adds so much more meaning to the work.  That's what you read above.  I love to see them think about "why" they chose a certain color.  It helps them understand themselves better as artists, gives meaning to their work, and helps them see it in a completely new light.  

Process:

• Discuss positive and negative space in artwork. 
• Section your paper into about 14 sections or so and in each section write a letter of your name or a number of the year you were born.  I have them do this lightly so the lines will not show.
• Color in the negative space in chosen color.
• Color in the positive space in another color.  
• (I actually let them vary the colors of positive or negative space so long as I know they understand the concept.)  I also tell them they can choose 1-3 colors.

Lines and Cakes!

The focus of this lesson was the art element of line.  During one class period, we looked at photographs and artworks and discussed how lines are all around us.  I believe kids are natural explorers and love to look around and find lines in the environment!  Next,  we made a line chart while we were on the rug.  Finally,  they went to the tables to create their own line charts.  I created more excitement by letting them know that the following week they would be learning how to draw a cake and decorating it with all kinds of beautiful line designs!  

I have to give credit to Explorations in ART the K edition.   I have found it a wonderful resource for ideas.  That's where I found the line chart lesson.  The birthday cake idea probably came to me because I was craving a piece of cake!

Artists as Designers-Designing Wrapping Paper

The kids were excited to learn that artists are responsible for designing mostly everything we see or use in our lives. Clothes, furniture, accessories and so much more are all the work of designers. By understanding this kids begin to realize the importance of design in our everyday lives. Here Kinder and First Grade students designed a wrapping paper with a motif. Sometimes they bring so much more to the table than we may expect... the student that created the first image said, "Look, I created an emotions motif." How wonderful is that?