Native American Pottery, 3rd/4th grade

Native American Potttery:The 3/4s are learning about Native American pottery, in particular the Mimbres bowls.  Check out the link for more information.  They made their own coil-built pot and used sgraffito techniques to design the inside of the bowl.

We used Mayco Stroke and Coat Underglaze and then painted Amaco clear glaze on top.  I love the brilliant colors.  I would never have tried this because it's more expensive than others, but my colleague WON a whole box of this glaze at an art conference, and we really like this glaze now.

Sketchbook Pages

I'm following along with the Strathmore Visual Journaling Workshops and here a few of the pages I created so far.  The first workshop is about taking copies of your previous artwork and cutting them up and reusing them on your journal pages.  There are blank spaces left because I think she will be talking about writing and doodling next.

Islamic Tile Design

Islamic Art
In this project the 5/6s are tying together Social Studies, Math and Art! They are making a geometric tile design (based on their name) using repeating shapes and patterns. They viewed a slide show about characteristics of Islamic art and the variety of types of Islamic art.

Step 1:  Cut 12 x 12" piece of paper.  Fold in half then in half again.

Step 2:  Open and fold one more time, diagonally.

Step Three:  Write your name on one triangle from top to bottom of the triangle.  Use block or bubble letters.

Step Four:  Use carbon paper to flip and flop and trace the name on to each of the triangles.  The name will be a radial design all around.  This is the trickiest part for the kids.

Finally, use markers to draw patterns on the shapes. Use the same colors/patterns on the same letters all the way around.  We used regular markers and also Crayola Color Switcher markers for added pizazz. 

Work in progress by 6th grader

Sketchbook Challenge

I'm following the Sketchbook Challenge blog, as well as a couple online Strathmore Journaling Workshops.  The theme of January for the Sketchbook Challenge is "Highly Prized".  What is most prized to you?  To me, I started drawing scenes from around my home, which is the most prized thing in my life.  Just sitting on the couch, petting my dog, watching my baby girl play on the floor is the most enjoyable part of my day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and just another doodle

Here is Daria (age 14 months) scribbling in my sketchbook.  She LOVES to color!

Scrapbooking

I'm making a blank scrapbook for a gift.  This person is having twins, so I'm actually making two books.  It's not for someone I know, but it is something my sister-in-law wants me to make for her to give as a gift.  Does that make sense?  Anyways, I've made these before as gifts and they are just the scrapbook pages without the photos.  Anywhere you see "pic" is where the pic would go.  I need to assemble them all in the book and then the first book is complete!

Three Flowers on Grid

Mixed Media with two flower pictures and a flower painting.  Scrapbook paper and watercolor paints were used.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you!!  I hope you all have a relaxing and laughter filled day.  Here is a picture of my two favorite people in the world... my husband Andrew and baby Daria.  We had a great, busy Christmas and now we are going to relax for a few days!  Three family parties, church, presents and lots of food. 

Our Tiny Friends and Foes Exhibit

My students participated in a community art exhibit at the Overture Center in Madison, WI.  The exhibit was fiber representations of microorganisms.  The opening was this past Friday and it was amazing!  All of the kids' artwork was displayed, alongside other community artists.  Here is a link to all of OUR microorganisms.  You can see my post about this process here. 

Here are some pictures of the gallery opening night.  My students' work (and my own microorganism) is mixed in with the other artists' works. 

Yay, Christmas! Products and stuff that I bought or received.

Yay, I love Christmas.  I'm not someone who likes to celebrate Christmas for two months with lights, decorations and music since Thanksgiving.  But on the actual party days with families, I have a lot of fun. I'm also very excited because I have 2 weeks off of teaching to spend time with my darling baby girl and also to spend some time making art.  Daria (who is 1 year and 2 months old) has started to become interested in coloring and painting like her mom.  I will place her on my lap and she will watch me paint with watercolors, laughing as I put the colors on the paper.  It works well until she grabs the paintbrush and tries to color herself or put it in her mouth.  She likes to color (and chew on) regular crayons, but we also have been letting her color with these:













She will sit there for a half hour on the floor and scribble with them or just play with the markers.  The good thing about these is that they don't color on anything except the Color Wonder paper, so she can't make a mess.  I wouldn't recommend them for older kids but for kids age 1-3 they are great.



I'm not a very shopping oriented person (well, I like looking, but not spending so much money).  An art kit is a great idea for a little kid.  Any kind of art supplies would be great for a kid to play with.  Elementary kids especially love: Model Magic  I highly recommend it.  Very little mess and it's similar to play doh, but it's more fluffy, like a marshmallow.











And of course, I do love receiving art supplies for myself for gifts.  This week I got some great artsy presents that I'm super excited about:














 I rarely buy new, full price items, especially for art materials or books.  Half.com has a lot of books for cheap, or I buy used books from amazon.com.  Actually, I rarely ever buy art books anymore if I have looked through them first and they are not at the library.  I will often just check them out from the library when I want to look at them.  Occasionally the library will not have them (like this creative illustration book) and I just HAVE to read it, so I will ask for it or purchase it then.  One reason is become you can easily become consumed in books.. you run out of shelf space for all of them quickly.  Art supplies are trickier.  Most often, I will wait until I have a Michaels' coupon (most Sundays they are in the paper) to purchase something I want. Joann's also has them and they are usually 40% off of one item.  Then you can usually get a good deal. 

Another way I save money on books is through paperbackswap.com. I have swapped at least 50 books now. You can put them on your wish list and if someone posts them you will be notified. It is a free service, you just pay for shipping on books that others' request from you. You don't have to pay for shipping on books that you request. I've gotten art books, childrens books, fiction, non fiction and even audio books before.