Three Sisters Patterns

During my teaching assignment last fall I tried out a new lesson plan with first graders to learn about the Thanksgiving holiday, creating a pattern, and to highlight a living artist's work.

We discussed the companion gardening technique of the Wampanoag people, and why they called beans, corn and squash The Three Sisters. While researching this assignment I came across the website of a New England artist named Janice Schupak Frishkopf, whose works inspired my students to create their own autumn harvest patterns!

To make our patterns I provided tracing templates for ears of corn, beans and various types of squash. Students were asked to show each of the Three Sisters in their patterns, to repeat shapes, to let their shapes reach outside the border of their paper, and to start with the largest shapes first. They could also let shapes overlap. The first class they worked in pencil to trace out their patterns.

After the pencil drawings were finished, I placed ears of dried Indian corn, and decorative squash at each table. We looked at all of the different colors and textures, and then added color to the drawings with oil pastels. The last step was using cake tempera to add a wash of color to the background and/or as a resist.

Their color choices and attention to detail were more than I had hoped for! And they really had fun creating their own distinct patterns. I actually left this lesson in progress for the returning art teacher, and she finished up the assignment with the children. When I had a chance to sub again I saw their finished pieces on display. I just had to take a few pictures! Thank you Emily for letting me introduce this lesson in your class room, for helping the children complete their art, and for letting me share this lesson on my blog.

Paper Chain Monsters

I was inspired by Fem Manuals and their paper chains, and just by chance one of my students asked how to make paper dolls during her free choice time. I took it as a sign and created monster shapes for a Halloween theme.
First graders learned how to create an accordion fold and then chose one of four templates to trace onto their papers. They learned how to not trace the entire image, so parts of it will be the connections of the chain. The cutting was a challenge but all managed with a little perseverance. The they used crayons and/or markers to create their designs. The final touches were the addition of pom poms, yarn, sequins, and googly eyes.

 

Calaveras Portraits Inspired by José Posada

My fourth graders are learning about the works of José Posada, an artist from Mexico who illustrated political cartoons which poked fun at the members if High Society. He was also influenced by Dia de los Muertos, hence his portraits rendered as calaveras (skulls).

My amazing family of artists helped me to create some sample pieces for my classes. Here are our creations. Students' work to come soon!

Zen Pandas

 I have been working on more lessons using children's books as inspiration. They make great cross-curricular projects, and highlight careers in the arts. I recently saw this one on MaryMaking and had to use it! Thanks Mary.

Students created mixed media works based on the children's book Zen Shorts by John J. Muth. The background combines pastel, ink and tempera techniques. The pandas were drawn in pencil, then sharpie, and color was added with watercolor washes. Each work depicts Stillwater the panda floating with his paper parasol. Enjoy!

Koi Pond Collages

The children and I worked on a rather large project, designing koi pond collages.  Koi originated in Eastern Asia and China, where black koi were kept in the rice paddies to provide food during the winter months. Sometimes mutations in the color of the fish occurred and they were bred to create more aesthetically pleasing fish. They were brought nearer to homes and kept in small ponds, making them easier to farm and used as a decorative element. Eventually these practices made their way to Japan and became very popular there, as well as around the world. In Japan, it is said that koi bring a serenity and calm. The water in which they live is a world of dreams. The better the environment you create for your koi, the more beautiful and healthy they become.

 Our first step was to create the water for the pond. We used white cray pas to create waves and ripples. Then a watercolor wash was added using a combination of blue, green, and purple. The last option was  sprinkling coarse salt onto the wash, which would absorb some of the pigment to give the water some sparkle. When dry, we cut our ponds into interesting shapes and mounted them onto 12x18 black construction paper.

On white paper, we drew and used tempera paint to create koi for our ponds (2 to 4 fish were suggested.) Black, yellow, orange, and red paint were offered, as well as palettes, to create new shades of gold, red, and orange. I like to encourage color mixing, to give each project a little more originality.

 We then used sponges and shades of gray tempera on gray construction paper to create the appearance of stone. The paper was cut when dry into rock shapes to place in and around the ponds. Finally, I gave each child rectangles and strips of green paper to create lily pads and grasses. They embellished them with green shades of cray pas. A final option was to add tissue paper lilies to the lily pads.

After adding our fish to the pond we glued our stones and plants. These elements make the pond beautiful, but also protect the koi. Brightly colored fish are easy targets for animals like raccoons and herons. The lily pads give the koi a place to hide, and the stones around the edge make it harder for land animals to reach in to grab them. I think the children did a great job with all of the prep work involved, and in integrating all of the elements together. The fish really appear to be swimming around in their world of dreams!

Cake Collages Inspired by Wayne Thiebaud

I love dessert. And these are the kind of desserts I can afford to have around! The students and I have been studying the art of Wayne Thiebaud (pronounced tee-bow), and his love of all things sweet. We started by making a tablecloth out of tissue paper squares that I had cut ahead of time. Some children made abstract designs, while others made checkerboards, stripes or even fancy place mat designs.

Next we traced a slice of cake template four times onto a separate sheet of paper. I'm not a big fan of templates, but for this project we needed our subject matter to fit and be somewhat uniform. I pointed out the variations in Thiebaud's cakes according to flavors of cake, icing, and number of layers in each slice. The children used construction paper crayons to color their slices of cake, and then cut each of them out.

The last portion of the collage was plates. We used Blue Bunny Ice Cream lids as templates (they are also being saved for our bottle cap murals), and they were the perfect size. Then cakes and plates were glued to the tablecloths. A few of my older students drew cake shadows on their plates and/or rims to give them more dimension. All in all this was a great project that all of the kids enjoyed. And I was happy that the final pieces were a bit more colorful and kid oriented than the original inspiration. Dessert anyone?

  

Mixed Media Autumn Trees

Inspiration for this lesson came from the Briargrove  Elementary Art blog. I love their use of recycled materials for so many of their projects.

First the children each designed a leaf stamp in black marker on a circle of styrofoam egg carton material. They pressed the details into the foam with ball point pens, and then cut around the outer edges of the leaf. These were glued to recycled bottle tops and ready to use as stamps.

Then we set out to make a bare tree collage. Each child chose a 12"x18" sheet of Fadeless 2-Color paper. We trimmed a 2" strip from the bottom of sheet, flipped it and glued it to the bottom edge of the now 12"x16" piece.  We discussed how this would be the horizon line of their work and that the trees roots could reach down below the line and into the ground. The children used scraps of various colored construction paper glued onto their background paper to form the tree. The scraps were to illustrate the varying color and texture of the bark and the tree's roots, trunk, and branches.

We then brushed tempera paint onto our stamps and filled our trees with leaves. I encouraged not cleaning the stamps between colors to let the leaves have a natural variation in color. The children were also allowed to try colors that may not actually be seen on real trees in nature. The final works were so colorful and expressive—an all over great lesson. I love autumn!

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.