An Ancient Clay Trick

In my college clay class I learned this extremely valuable clay trick.  One of my students called it an "ancient clay secret" so I like to call it that too.  This technique may be one that is known to you, but if you have never seen it, this technique may be helpful to you in your classroom.  This has saved many pots from falling over in my teaching career.

Uh-oh!  The walls are lopsided and falling over!  What do I do?

Step One:  Take a sharp knife and carefully cut a triangle out of the pot.  You might want to practice this technique before you actually use it on a student's work.

Step Two:  Take the two edges and stick them together.  Use a bit of water (slip) and score the two sides in order to secure them.

Step Three:  Use your smoothing techniques to create a smooth seam.  I like to use the back of a spoon and my hand to smooth together seams.

Step Five:  Let's try it again on the other side to even it up.

Step Six:  Continue smoothing the pot!  Voila, doesn't that look much better?

This post is sponsored by Creighton University, offering Doctor of Education online.

Buildings in Perspective: 1st Grade

This was a project that my first graders started when I was absent from school.  I printed off the handout from Art Projects for Kids and the children got their first introduction to perspective.  Thanks for the great project!

Keith Haring Inspired Figures-- 4th grade

These are drawings by 4th/5th graders.  Who was Keith Haring?  What is gesture drawing?  The 4/5s learned about the artwork of Keith Haring and practiced figural drawing.  In pairs, the students posed for each other and practiced gesture drawing and longer posed drawings.  Then they drew stylized people, kind of in a cartoon-like way.  We read pages from this book about Keith Haring and analyzed the meanings of his artwork.  The kids were encouraged to add their own symbols to create meaning within their drawings.

Here are some from last year.

NAEA Conference

So.... is anyone else going to the National Art Ed. Conference??  Registration is open now.  If you haven't ever been before, it is an AMAZING conference.  All day fun.. your brain will be exploding with ideas and excitement. Plus, you get to try out all the cool new art supplies and get free samples.

Did you hear Chuck Close is going to be there???  Wow, how cool is that going to be??!!  I am so excited I almost typed OMG. 

Also, Wyland, the marine artist should be fascinating!


If you haven't heard Olivia Gude speak, you are in for a treat... don't miss that session.  Every presentation I've heard by her is a-- ma-- zing.  She is from Chicago, which is where I am from, so I've heard her speak at a few Illinois Art Ed. Conferences. 

So are any of my art teacher blogger friends going? 

Clouds in Art

The fifth/sixth grade class painted watercolor clouds.  I have blogged about this project before here.

 

 

Featuring Magazine

Have you heard about Featuring Magazine?
In the Spring of 2012, an inspiring magazine will see the light: FEATURING.
FEATURING is a printed magazine that can be ordered online only.
FEATURING will appear as a quarterly publication.

I am pleased to tell you that I have been working on writing some articles for the magazine, and I have been accepted as a contributing editor for the magazine.  Writing for magazines has always been a dream of mine.  In fact, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a magazine writer for celebrity magazines.. lol. 

The focus will be mainly on art journaling and mixed media, but other types of art will be highlighted as well. FEATURING wants to bring a spectrum of art-related articles and stories. You will also enjoy seeing pages jammed with collaborative projects, glimpses of studios, interviews, background stories, layouts, paintings, photos, poetry and much, much more!

There are many people whose work stays out of the spotlight. These people remain a bit in the background, but in silence, they create amazing art pieces. FEATURING is especially interested in these artists – their work, their stories and their sources of inspiration. So ‘silent ones’…come forward. Let us know you are there and submit your work! It might end up in the magazine! Oh, and all you not so silent friends, we would love to hear from you, too. The more the merrier, we like to say.
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Right now, here is a way you can participate immediately and quickly!
We have a new, quick survey for you to fill out for the upcoming magazine Featuring, which I am a part of.  It only took me a minute or two to fill out.  It's about Etsy.com shops. Have you ever shopped there?  Do you have an Etsy shop?  We are going to write an article in Featuring magazine about Etsy shopping.  So, would you pretty please fill out this survey for us?

Painted Korhogo Cloths-- 3rd Grade

This project focused on how symbols and designs are used in African art.  The students designed their own painted Korhogo cloth.  They decorated the border with symbols and drew their main figure with Sharpie.  Then, they added paint with watercolors.  


1.  Introduce African Korhogo cloths.
2.  Sketch ideas.
3.  Draw your design on a square of muslin withe pencil.  Use a ruler to draw a border.
4.  Outline with Sharpie marker.
5.  Paint with watercolors.

 

Year in Review

It's been a great year at Art is Basic.  We've made tons of colorful art and expanded our skills.  My blog now has over 300 followers, which is super cool and way more than I ever thought would look at this blog.  I've gotten tons of new ideas from Pinterest this year which I highly recommend if you haven't checked it out yet.  Here is a year-end roundup of some of my most viewed blog posts.

Art Teacher Blog Directory
This has always been the number one page visited.  So many great art teacher blogs have been added to this list.  Add yours too, if you haven't already!

Bubble Prints

Paper Pulp Pictures

Self Portraits in the Style of Andy Warhol

Sock Snowmen

Islamic Tile Design

And here are a few of MY personal favorites from this year!
Kindergarten flowers in a vase

Alphabet Art

Halloween Wreaths-- these were super fun

Valentine's Prints

Collograph Prints

Hope you all have a Happy Artful New Year!! 

Stencil Tutorial

I love the look of stencils, but since I have a toddler I like the process to be easy and quick to clean up.  I need to be ready to switch gears at a moments notice :)  I've tried using spray inks for the stencils and paints, but this way I just tried seems to be an easy and neat way to make stencil prints.

Use rubber stamp ink pads.  I love this Color Box set with a rainbow of colors.

Each section can be removed.

Place your stencil on your paper.  Hold with one hand tightly, or tape in place.  Then dab the rubber stamp ink pad up and down on the stencil.  You can twist and turn the ink pad gently as well.

Finished stencil print.  The colors are vibrant and the image has good coverage. 

Miro Squiggle Drawings-- 1st Grade

Juan Miro is one of my favorite artists.   I used artwork by Miro to help the kids learn the difference between abstract and realistic art.  The kids analyzed his artwork and we categorized prints.  Then, they drew a squiggly line with their eyes closed.  Then they turned their paper around to view it from many angles.  The kids tried to find different things in their picture.. faces, hands, animals, etc.  They could add details to their drawing.  Some added words.  Then, they colored these in with markers or crayons.