Showing posts with label imaginary characters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label imaginary characters. Show all posts

Friday, March 2, 2012

The Way of Collage


There's a wonderful tension that exists between the artist, the mind and paper.  Ah, but when the moment arrives, hands cut, papers fly, imaginations soar.  This is the way of collage.

The collages were made by first making the "material" for the collage and then cutting it to build a character.  Texture plates were used to created the illusion of texture.  The following week we cut the paper into 4  pieces that were used for body parts.  I also placed solid colored paper on the tables that could be used for contrast.
  One of my main goals was for the kids to explore the endless possibilities of this imagined character.   I showed a wonderful piece by  Miga de Pan (link and image below).  I also demonstrated the process of making a character while intentionally cutting free form or odd shapes. This way, the kids could see that it was not necessary to cut a "proper" head, body, legs, etc.
                                                                   






Miga de Pan

Friday, February 17, 2012

Beyond Invented Insects












This was an amazing lesson-
Inventing Insects

As they were painting,  I encouraged them to name their insect, based on the characteristics.    I decided to tap into their musical intelligence by having them compose a sound for their insect.  How could that sound be symbolized?
 They could map it! (video above) One thing that blew me away was seeing the collaboration among students.  Transcending any limitations of spoken language, the map became the tool of communication.  And in its use, students traveled from the abstract to the concrete and back again.  What a journey!








Friday, January 20, 2012

Imagining Underground Worlds







In this lesson the students worked as artists to imagine an underground world or setting.  The question was how could they, as artists show this place. We discussed how artists can use space and viewpoint as tools to communicate their ideas.  We looked at and discussed the quilt Mother Earth and her Children which you can see here,  it is such a fabulous piece to explore!  Another favorite part of this lesson is reading the thoughts and feelings the kids have about their work.  Having them write about it helps them understand their own work better and develop a true relationship with it.   As a viewer, it makes you go back and explore the artwork more thoughtfully by looking at the details and seeing things you failed to notice before.  Notice below what Rosaura wrote about the dad rabbit being afraid as he is watching the coyote; now look at the expression on his face.
















Friday, February 11, 2011

Storytelling Through Art- Creating Characters and Settings

Storytelling is as old as the human race. This is how we share from person to person and across generations, who we are, where we came from, and what is important to us. Artists often tell stories with the artworks they make. Stories shared can be real or make-believe. Here, the students have shown us their unique experience in life through their art. They have
created a story through their artwork of an imaginary character in an imaginary land. These are from Kinder and First Grade.