School Wide Art Instillation...what you can do with a wire hanger!

I never got around to posting this last spring and I think it is a worthwhile school-wide project to do. I chose to do it the last month of school but it might be a nice thing to do on these cold winter days. In TAB/CHOICE, students are working independently most often. Every year I make sure that I do something that we all work on together. This work was done by kindergarten through fifth grade. I want students to know that with everyone's effort,  we can make a powerful piece of art for our school. maryellen

 Captain Kids...

We have many hangers in the art studio. What in the world shall we do with them? Cutting them gets a little too sharp and pokey. So, we will wrap them in yarns and bend them into lovely abstract forms. We will keep working on them until we have enough for a wall! We will put them together with little pieces of pipe cleaners. We work together at Captain School to make really cool things!

Captain Students

*there is an art center outside of the art studio that has all of the supplies and directions needed to make a hanger sculpture.
*you may take the hanger and yarn home to work on this project
*bring it back to school and we will add it to the rest of them

If you get home and forget how to do it, here are the directions:


1. bend the top of the hanger so it is closed
2. cut yarn six arms lengths long
3. glue the end of the yarn to the hanger...hold on a minute for it to stick
4. wrap, wrap, wrap, until you get to the end of the hanger.
5. put glue on the end of the wrapping to hold yarn in place

You may stop and change colors. Just glue again to stop and start.

Art Can Make You Feel Better

 Art Can Help You

 

If you are sad...art can make you feel happy

 

If you are worried...art can make you feel more calm

If you are mad... art can make you feel relieved

If you are scared...art can make you feel comforted

If you are confused...art can give your mind a rest

If you are happy...art can make you happier 

When you complete a work of art it is an accomplishment to be proud of. 

Artists express their feelings by painting, sculpting, drawing, collage, photography and more!

What feeling would you like to explore in art?

What studio would help you to express those feelings? 

There have been famous artists in the world who have expressed strong feelings in their work:

Joan Mitchel is an American artist who shows strong emotions in her work. 

What can you say about how she uses lines? 

 

Do you feel strong emotions when you look at this artwork? 

This artwork is her expression of a city. Think about how a city looks on a map or from an airplane...hum.

What do you think of this one? Why do you think she used two canvases to paint on but shows this as one piece of work?

The big idea is this...

When you feel sad, frustrated, embarrassed, scared, worried, confused or sorry about something...

 draw a picture, do a painting, sing a song or do a dance....all the arts can make your day be better.  I believe it and I hope you do too!

 

We should also remember our artist friend Shel Silverstein...

 

 

Peace Starts With You And The Person Next To You...BLACK HISTORY NIGHT PEACE BOXES

 

Before you were born there was a man named Martin Luther King Jr. He believed that all people, no matter what color of their skin, should be able to eat together, travel together, work together, study together, and play together. When he was alive people were not allowed to do any of those things together. People discriminated against black people by not allowing them do do those things. Black people were forced to be separate and not at all equal.

Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for what he believed he wanted a better life for his children.

He protested peacefully in the streets with others to tell people what he believed. He supported "sit ins".  He was killed because of what he believed.

We remember him because he made people question what they believed to be true. Do you ever question if something is true?

 *He believed that you could peacefully disagree with someone. 

*He believed that you can peacefully change something that you don't like. 

What is peace? 

Can you see it in a beautiful painted landscape

feel it when you hug a loved one

 hear it when you listen to beautiful music

Can you just sense it sometimes? 

It is nice to feel peaceful at home and at school. When I think about creating peace I remember the wise words of a very old man that I met in Hiroshima, Japan, he said...

 "peace begins with me and the person next to me"

  Think about what that means to you.  I think it is about working hard at relationships. At school we learn strategies to help us like using "I" statements when we are upset. We try to make friends with everyone...we extend kindness.  It is not always easy...but it is important to think about and to act.

There are artists who think about peace and relationships. Cbabi Bayoc is a St. Louis artist who is a painter. He is painting pictures that depict (show) peaceful relationships. He is painting a picture for every day of the year showing fathers and their children.

 

Frank De Las Mercedes is a New York artist who, for ten years, painted boxes like this:

He sent artistic, painted, boxes to anyone who wanted one, just to get them think and talk about peace. He sent his boxes all over the world free to anyone who wanted one. He said that peace was too important to put a price tag on it. He sent over 16,000 boxes.

In ART...

In each studio, you can take a box (vessel) and create a design, print, painting, mosaic, collage or drawing. Inside your box (vessel) you can put in things that make you feel peaceful or help you to think about peace. Maybe it is a picture, words or an object.

 

You might want to think about symbols of peace:

Key Stage Two

I invite you to write about one of the questions listed below. You can put this writing inside your peace vessel or share with others. 

How do you extend peace to people who are different from you..who look different, dress different, think different or speak in a language different from yours? 

Why do we need peace in the world? 

What do you do to make peace a priority? 

Do peace and love go together? 

What is peaceful protest?

(I hope that someday you will peacefully protest something that you believe in.)

Why is it hard to make peace? 

How do you help make peace, what do you do or say? 

Can you find a quote from Maya Angelo and write about it?

It Is Time To Report

 

 

 When I was a little girl I was always a little nervous about my report card. I thought a good report card meant that I had to have great marks in all of the subjects like writing, math, art, music, language, science and physical education. I tried very hard in school, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't throw a ball very far in p.e. and math was always hard for me. When I went to college I could finally study just the things that I really loved and were special to me. 

I hope that you are not nervous about your report card.

Here is the truth as I see it...

 

*there are things that we naturally do well (everyone has a special gift)

 *there are things that if we practice really hard we can do well

*there are some things that may always be hard for us to do

It is time for me to give a report to your parents so that they know what you are thinking and doing in ART.

So...what is a report? 

A report is to tell or write about something that has been observed. 

Information and evidence (proof) are presented. 

 In the case of ART, I want to know what you have observed about yourself. I cannot watch every child every art time.You know yourself better than anyone. The proof is in your Artifact Books (if you have been writing in them...if you have not been writing in them, you need to think about doing that better or I will help you).

So, together we will report to your parents. They are interested in what you do because they care and love you. 

 

 

I want them to know that you have the behaviors of an artist:

 

You think about ideas

You solve problems

You experiment with materials

You take the time to figure things out

You learn from doing things wrong, ..the best creations come from doing things over and over again

You help one another. 

You get ideas from each 

You are not afraid to go deep into your work

You take care of materials and your art space

You make art that is important 

 Can you improve at being an artist? Sure, we all can and we will.  This is the time of the year when we applaud the things that we have done and think about how we can improve. It is exciting to think about improving. It is like a New Year's Resolution!

 

Don't Forget the Simple Crayon

 


The first art media that anyone put in your hand was probably a crayon. You were little and your parents knew that you couldn't poke yourself with it and it showed color. That was perfect because you were just learning your colors.

When I was young my grandmother would buy me new crayons. I would love the pointy-ness of them and the way they smelled. I would hate when the paper came off and the points dulled. It made me a little afraid to draw because I didn't want to break the points off of my new crayons.

But now, I want the paper off and I want them to be broken and dull so I can use them in in new ways. 

 I can lay them on the side to color in large areas.
It is easier to mix colors. What kind of colors were used to mix in the background of this image? 

I can color really, really hard with them and not worry if they break! Or, I can color lightly, mixing colors...




We often think that crayons are common and simple to use. They are not always our first medium of choice. Painting, markers, metalic pencils and sparkle glue just seem so much more fun and exciting to work with. BUT...we need to revisit that simple little crayon and look at exciting possibilities!

We can also do something fun called CRAYON RESIST...

 



This happens when you make heavy marks with the crayon and paint with a water color wash over it. The crayon resists the water color as you can see in the image above. It created a texture of paint and also covers any white areas.

Key Stage Two

Another medium that can look like crayon are oil pastels. They are wonderful to use because they are very oily and creamy. The colors can mix very well together. One color can lay on top of another and be seen.