Map Collage Self Portraits

Posted on June 10, 2013 by Rina Vinetz

Looking for a fresh self-portrait project? Check out these map collage self portraits shared by PJ, art teacher extraordinaire at Carmel Creek school.

PJ got free maps from the used book sale at her local library – most were old National Geographic maps. Students just picked an interesting portion of the map to cut up. They did not use a template, so the whole thing took 5 or 6 40-minute classes. PJ provided painted paper and wallpaper for facial features. Some students braided the yarn, used more sequins etc.

A little more about PJ: she teaches art grades K-4, and is a veteran art teacher in our district. PJ’s school has unique challenges: she has the district’s largest school and has the most multi-cultural student mix. Over a dozen languages are spoken by the students at her school! In addition to teaching art classes and doing recess duty, she teaches reading in the morning. She is absolutely unflappable, a real jewel in our district. Her students ARE SO LUCKY to have her as an art teacher: she brings creativity and enthusiasm to school with her every day. I am SO lucky to have her as a colleague.

Enjoy!

Wayne Thiebaud Ice Cream Cones Roundup

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Rina Vinetz

Summer is almost here. Why not try a warm-weather twist on Wayne Thiebaud with an ice cream art lesson? Check out these ice cream cone lessons using paint, collage, papier-mache and more.

Directed Draw/Paint:

1. I discovered an entire Wayne Thiebaud unit at the fabulous Danish Fru Billedkunst (“Mrs. Fine Art”) blog. Click here for her step-by-step ice cream cone drawing diagram.

Our second graders began by folding their paper into quarters. The horizontal fold became the table edge. Students drew two cones on each side of the vertical fold. We used crayons and tempera cakes. Students had the option of painting a background, or cutting out their art and gluing it to construction paper. They looked so beautiful at our school art show (see photo at top of post).

Here are some more interesting ideas for Thiebaud-inspired ice cream fun:

Collage:

2. Miss Young’s Art Room has a simple ice cream collage for kindergarten
3. ARTASTIC! has a torn paper collage that would be great for using up all those paper scraps at the end of the year

Templates:

4. The Sweeter Side of Mommyhood has a super-easy project that uses templates for the cone and scoops.

Group project:

5. Kids Artists has a whole-class painted paper ice cream cone collage.

Papier Mache Sculpture:

6. Phyl’s There’s a Dragon in My Art Room blog has an awesome papier-mache ice cream cone sculpture project using a paper water cone, newspaper, masking tape and art paste.

Click here to see the armature,
Click here to see the finished product,
Click here to see drying space and
Click here to read about Phyl’s papier-mache process.

More resources

My Wayne Thiebaud Powerpoint includes repetition of simple shapes, variety, use of thick paint, horizon line and shadow.

I always show my ancient (circa 2000!) Behind the Scenes with Wayne Thiebaud [VHS] – it includes Mr. Thiebaud drawing an ice cream cone. Oh, why can’t I find a DVD or digital version??

Wayne Thiebaud video from CBS

Whatever project you choose, your students are bound to have fun!

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite ice cream cone project?

Four New Art Project Ideas for Grades K-6

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Rina Vinetz

Looking for new art project ideas? Here are four new (to me) art project ideas from my fabulous creative colleagues, Kelly and Nancy.

Kelly’s ‘Stained Glass’

Kelly’s ‘stained glass’ sun made with watercolors and black glue.

Kelly from Skyline School brought these beautiful ‘stained glass windows’ made with fluorescent liquid watercolor and black glue. As a final step, her students rubbed their artwork with baby oil and a cotton ball to make the paper translucent. Primary grades used a paper plate tracer to make the sun. Upper elementary made the geometric window (note: upper grade students used carbon paper to transfer their symmetric designs).

Kelly’s ‘Stained Glass Window’ made with watercolor and black glue.

A New Twist on Monet

Kelly also brought these Monet water-lily paintings. Please zoom in on this painting – the paint texture is so interesting. Kelly didn’t offer a brush – her students applied paint with novelty rings purchased at Oriental Trading. These rings look like little sea urchins. If you try this, Kelly recommends pinching the ring instead of wearing it on her finger. Needless to say, her students LOVED this project!

Monet water lilies painted with novelty ring

Kelly’ s students painted their Monet-inspired art with a ring from Oriental Trading.

30-Minute Color Mixing

Nancy teaches art at Solana Highlands School. She brought a color mixing project. Students used two colors plus black and white. After tinting, shading and creating a neutral, they drizzled black glue over the top. I love how much variety her students achieved. Some of these abstract compositions look like animal patterns. LOVE! Even more impressive: Nancy only has 30 minutes with her students. She does a lot of stations and table rotations to fit her projects in the tight time frame.

Kindergarten Paper Quilts

Nancy did these paper quilt squares with the kindergarten. The kindergarteners start with a 6″ square of paper. They collage first, then Nancy adds holes with a three-hole punch. Next class, the kindergartener lace the holes. Nancy glues the squares together into a quilt.

As always, I am FLOORED by my colleagues creativity. They always have interesting, challenging, beautiful projects – and they teach them so well. Thanks to Nancy and Kelly for sharing your ideas.

Enjoy!

Analogous Color Chameleons

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Rina Vinetz

Are you looking for an engaging, NEAT color project? Try these analogous color chameleons, made with watercolor paper scraps and Crayola markers.

Materials

Color wheels
Watercolor (or drawing paper) scraps
Sharpies (or other black permanent markers)
Crayola markers (or other fine tip watercolor marker)
Brush
Water
Construction paper
Construction paper crayons
Pipe cleaners
White glue

We began by watching this FUN chameleon video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMT1FLzEn9I

We did a directed draw of the chameleon using Sharpie on watercolor paper. Second graders then added their own details – stripes, patterns, dots, horns, and spikes.

Next I passed out the color wheels and Crayola markers. We talked about analogous colors as ‘next door neighbors’ on the color wheel. I asked the students to select three analogous color markers and lay them out on their color wheels.

Students checked their neighbor’s work to make sure all the markers were analogous colors.

We used the ‘marker painting’ technique I learned on the fabulous Artisan Des Artes blog. Students outlined the interior of their their chameleons with the markers, then went over the lines with plain water and a small paintbrush. The kids LOVED it when their markers turned to ‘paint’ and spread through the watercolor paper.

To finish the project, we cut out the chameleons and glued them to simple habitats drawn with crayon on construction paper. For a final touch, some student glued on a curled pipe cleaner for a tongue (I will skip that step next year!).

Second grade results:

Guess what…….this project will work even if your markers are a bit dry! It’s a great project for end-of-year or anytime.

Enjoy!

p.s. Here are two books my students LOVED!

(note: this post contains compensated affiliate links).

Creative Self-Portraits at Young Art Show

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Rina Vinetz

For over 80 years, the San Diego Museum of Art has held a juried exhibition of student art. This year’s show is all about identity. Young Art ‘The Story of Me’ is on display right now at the Museum at the Center for Community and Cultural Art. Learn more in this article.

Our school had a record 12 pieces in this year’s show. Congratulations to all our young artists! Here are all their fabulous projects, arranged by grade: