Word Play

If you know your art terminology, positive space refers to the space occupied by an element or form in an artwork. I use it for my classroom because what I want most is for it to be a supportive place for creativity and growth. So I guess enjoy a little word play. Another term we like to discuss in my classes is the use of artistic license. The children really love the idea of having choice in how you create a piece of art to make it your own. For students who have taken many classes with me, I make them this gift, and place it in a little acrylic frame. The children take pride in having an actual artistic license to display at home!

Paper Collage Molas

We recently studied the Kuna people of Panama, and the making of molas. They are actually constructed using a reverse applique technique, but we made a cut paper collage to mimic the end results. The children each chose 4 different sheets of 9x12 colored construction paper. Then they set one sheet to the side to use for the background panel. Then they cut a large central image for their collage, pasted it down to a new color and trimmed around it, leaving a border to show the next color in the design. After one more round of pasting and trimming, they used their scraps to add background designs to their final sheet of paper. The kids were very creative! I suggested imagery of animals, plants and geometric designs. Here are some of their brilliant interpretations.

Louise Nevelson Assemblage

One of my favorite artists is Louise Nevelson, so I decided to try a lesson using recycled materials to create Nevelson inspired assemblages. We talked about the artist's use of discarded materials and giving them a new life. Our pieces started with a 12x12 inch piece of corrugated cardboard as a base. We then took paper egg cartons, cardboard paper tubes, popsicle sticks, and extra pieces of corrugated cardboard to create our forms. I suggested repetition of elements, variation of texture, and utilizing as much of the space as possible. We generously glued our pieces onto the supporting structure. When dry, each student chose a single acrylic color to paint their pieces, trying to cover all of the viewable areas. Although the materials used for construction were practically free, these did require a lot of paint to get good coverage. So worth it though!

Positive Space in Outer Space...

When you are a local art teacher word gets around. So I was asked if I could make some signs for the elementary school mini fair, which had an outer space theme. Well, who could resist? Here are some of the 19 signs that instructors and students designed and painted. We used tempera paint on poster board, and then added outlines using chisel tipped markers.

Seurat Landscapes

Here is a lesson I taught on Seurat and Pointillism. We viewed some images of Seurat's work and talked about how colors mix visually when you place them next to each other. The children worked hard on these projects and learned that sometimes great art takes time! We used tempera paint and Q-tips as our brushes—I never realized how much I would use them in my classes!