Ceramic Cactus Gardens & Frida Kahlo

These ceramic cactus gardens were inspired by Hope Knight at Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists. It was a wonderful project for My 5th graders, as it puts their prior knowledge of coils, pinch pots, attaching pieces through the score and slip method, and glazing to good use.

I wanted to tie the cactus project into another lesson, since on the east coast we don’t live in the desert. Its not an easy 'connection to nature' experience for my kids, unless you count a vacation etc. I wasn’t sure about it until I visited a wonderful exhibit of Frida Kahlo’s work, and the re-creation of her gardens and outdoor studio at the New York Botanical Garden that I knew exactly how I wanted to proceed. We began by looking at the works of Frida Kahlo, and how she included her love of the natural world into her paintings, and her life at La Casa Azul. 

Our first work day was spent creating coil pinch pots, which the children could make into various shapes. Then into baggies with their name/class until next time. The second class I demonstrated some basic cactus forms, and a simple bloom. They worked on their plants, and into a second baggie they went. The final steps were to attach the cacti to the bottom of the pots, to draw or carve details to the plant life and container, and to add gravel to the bare areas around the base of the plants. They could glaze their pieces with realistic or non-realistic colors, but had to use at least three!

To display the gardens at school, I was inspired by the Aztec-inspired pyramid which was a prominent feature of her garden. So I backed the display case with blue paper, and pictures of Frida Kahlo, her work and gardens.

 

Then to create the pyramid, which gave the exhibit some nice height, I just covered some copy paper boxes with yellow bulletin board paper, and there you have it! Aztec pyramid!

Art Teacher Finds: Postage Stamps!

I dropped by my local post office recently to pick up a few books of stamps, and guess what was one of my options to purchase? These beautiful papel picado designs! Aren't they awesome? 

The stamps are actually titled Colorful Celebrations, but I exclaimed: 

"Oh, I want the papel picado please!" The clerk asked, "What?" 
"Papel Picado... that's Spanish for cut paper. The cut paper designs, please." I replied.  "You speak Spanish? I've never heard of that. How did you know?" The clerk was still a bit puzzled. "I'm an art teacher. My students learn about these designs." I said. "Ohhhhhh! Nice. Thanks for telling me about them." So stamp purchase, and mini art lesson accomplished!

Great Art Sites for Kids—Artopia on PBS

On the website for my local PBS station, I recently found Artopia. Here you can watch the pilot episode of the children's cartoon featuring the young artist Nina, and her two best friends/creations named Little and Streak. In this episode, a stained glass king has his crown stolen by a monster, and the trio venture into Artopia to track down the monster and retrieve the crown.

Along the way they meet creations of art from different parts of the world, and from different time periods depicting various monsters and creatures. There is also a game where you can create your own monster using different body parts, colors and patterns, as featured in the show. Here's a monster I created using the head of the demon Arghan, from India, and the body of Skylla, a beast from Greek mythology.

Unfortunately this series didn't take off, so I think that's why the "Share What You Think" section is now defunct. But it's fun to watch the episode and design some monsters. It was great timing for me to find this site, as I am currently working on a lesson with my 5th graders about gargoyles, grotesques, and chimeras! And there's a special place in my heart for red-headed artists! Have a look and create a monster or two.

Sugar Skulls

I had been wanting to do a class on Sugar Skulls to celebrate Dia de los Muertos with my students.  Well I found these papier mache skulls in the clearance bin at a local craft store, and had my chance! We talked about the holiday and how it celebrates the people in our lives who have passed. Did you know that the sugar the skulls are made out of represent the sweetness, and the skull shape the sad? We painted the skulls with a base cost of white acrylic paint. Then the kids had paint markers, sequins and glitter glue to create their designs. Here are some of our creations.

Mexican Suns and Air Dry Clay

The final projects from this class were so great, but it was a long, hard road of a learning experience to get there! I practiced this class with the girls and found it very troublesome. What surface to work on was a challenge. We tried on wax paper (too flimsy), newsprint (the same and the ink would come off onto everything) and then I pulled out a couple of ceramic floor tiles we had for samples to use in our house. The clay stuck! Nothing was successful! I did a little research and found that a vinyl kitchen table cloth or canvas works best. The kids said that they each get a canvas mat to work on at school. I can't find any real art supply product for this activity, so I'm still wondering what to get.

Working with air dry clay was another challenge. I tried the lesson with Crayola air dry clay, and wasn't too impressed. It broke very easily and some repair work was done to a couple of the projects. Now, I'm working from my home studio, and firing clay and a kiln will never happen, so I need to find a better alternative. And over and over I find that Crayola makes great crayons and markers, but not much else as far as art supplies go.

I found an entry on an online resource by a clay artist who was asked to try out different products and give his opinion. He said that Amaco air-dry was the best product or to use Della Robbia oven bake clay. Any suggestions art teachers?

All in all, the suns were beautiful, and I definitely want to keep clay sculpture in my repertoire. Here are some images. One student loved his so much, he drew it over and over, and made drawings for me to keep as well. That is success!