Transforming Ink Blots

Predetermined outcome is a closed door. 

Mitzi Scott



 

Artwork by 3rd and 6th grade students

Second and 3rd grade artwork.

The students loved this project.  I got the inspiration from the Field Elementary Art Blog. They added color which really added a wonderful element.  I've seen these before but it was more or less used for a Halloween lesson on spooky trees.  If you go to Teacher Tube, and search dailymonster.com, you will find videos of Stefan Bucher, the man behind dailymonster.com.  The kids loved watching his time lapse videos of his ink blot drawings.  We did this first and then went to the tables to create our own.  I put ink in a spray bottle and sprayed just a tiny bit on each paper.  The kids used straws to blow a couple of times and then pen or marker to continue the image. Super fun!

Storytelling Through Art

Creating Relationships
 Each student was given a piece of fabric with the face of an Asian character.  The blank page was to become the place for a story to unfold. What was hidden behind each face?   The possibilities were endless.

"...Nobody knew how Jui mon was going to do it, but they knew he could.  Jui mon had to practice very hard.  He walked on hot coals to practice climbing the stairs of fire. "

"The King locked the prince in the dungeon.  He said the princess is all mine."

Artwork and stories by 3rd grade students. 

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)

Seascapes

A peculiar creative silence overtook us.  A big wave could have taken us out.  Later, I noticed her wading into the surf.  She was glowing.  I squeezed out more Aureolin hue (yellowish paint).


Robert Genn

Sarah, 1st Grade Artist

Jerome, 1st Grade Artist

1st Grade Watercolor Seascapes

These lovely seascapes were painted with liquid watercolors which the students loved using!  I love using them because the colors are so brilliant and a little goes a long way.   There is a book  I wanted to share with the kids called Water by Frank Asch The artwork looks like it's all been done with watercolors and this provided the inspiration for these pieces.
 I have a huge rug for the kids to sit on while we look at artwork or while I demonstrate a particular process. This is when I  demonstrated how to draw a seascape along with a boat and water. Afterwards, the kids went to their tables and started their own.

 

Dressing The Part

The Banker
Designer: Clair, grade 3

The Samurai

 Project Runway anyone?
 Challenge:   Choose the appropriate fabrics and construct an outfit for a particular person. We had bankers, fashion models, ninjas, surfers, you name it.  This lesson was both fun and challenging for the students.   Determining which fabrics work best for their character, visualizing what size to cut the pieces and making adjustments were all part of the creative process.  I still have some students working on camouflage outfits!

The Ninja, The Surfer, The Super Hero and The Fashion Model

The Technology Guy
Designer: Conner, grade 4

These are on 5x8 (or so) poster board.  I had small tubs of fabric at each table but they could "browse" the selections from other tables!