ART for 1170

I have a wall in my front hallway that has photos that I have taken of my kids, family and friends. The running joke in my home is when I have a good photo that needs to go on "The Wall", are the people in the photo, Wall Worthy?  Other than the picture of Missy with the flower and Jeff in the "Thinker" position, I have taken all of them. Most are Christmas card pictures added every year.  I just realized that there have been a few additions to the wall since this was taken and YES, everyone is still Wall Worthy! Oh, and I hope you like the new banner and page color on the blog. I'm not so sure about the background color of the banner but it's a lesson in tech patience.

I saw this last fall on Pinterest on a T shirt. I wanted to give credit to the origin but when I Google'd it I found it on all kinds of things including statues, stationary and clothes. Help me out if you know who said it first. I knew it would be a fun board with a great message.

It's a bit early to post my actual schedule but rumor is that I will only be at TWO schools this year. Wow, I am so happy! I will miss my students at the one school but am excited about what I will be able to accomplish with this schedule! This will be so much easier than when I had FOUR schools a couple years back!

We used terra cotta clay to create these bells. A simple inverted pinch pot and an added rectangle piece to the top. The students used a straw to punch a hole in the bell if they wanted to hang the bell and a small hole by the top to hang a small ball of clay to hang inside the bell.  I love the different animals they made.

These are super fun and easy.  Each artist started with a small slab of clay and lots of cutting and texture stamps, alphabet stamps.  They cut the strips, draped them across their wrist to measure, then laid them flat, added texture and joined the ends.  You have to remind them not to glaze the bottom edge of one side. 

One of the projects the Clay Camp Session 1 students did was to make pinch pot birds.  I ran out of wire to attach the feet and tried to use pipe cleaners but wire would work best. I got this idea from Pinterest (Flickr. Apparently the ceramic teacher's name is Janet Burns (I always attempt to credit the artists and instructors)  The students need to put holes in the front of the bird and in the feet. Some students added the top holes to add feathers. I think they are awesome! The students are from 2nd to 4th grade so it's a great project for multi ages. More to come...

Start by having the students draw an image on the inside of a styrofoam tray.  It's a good idea to have them draw an idea first on paper. Make sure to tell them NOT to push to far into the foam that they poke a hole Then mix up a large amount of plaster and pour into trays. I used a scoop to pour from a 5 gallon bucket. I did the pouring after school and it took about 35 minutes to do one class.  About 5-10 minutes after you pour and the plaster starts to set up, drop an opened paper clip on the back so later the students can hang their artwork. Make sure you put the trays in the "Up" position because you wont' be able to see the artwork to know which way is up.  These are unfinished because we ran out of time during camp, but you can use any type of paint to color.   Last fall one of my 3rd grade classes studied Shakespeare so the students drew an image from Romeo and Juliet.  Another good prompt is to have them draw their favorite book...