Storybook Art!

This week we learned from the master story tellers! We read some of the very best children's books (including Caldecott Medal winners), then we created artwork based on how the books were illustrated.

The first books were Harry the Dirty Dog and No Roses for Harry! These were two of my own children's very favorite books.


We made stand-up Harry dogs - clean on one side and dirty on the other using colored pencil, Sharpies, crayons, and watercolor. Also a great exercise in mastering the scissors! Then, we made him a colorful wardrobe of sweaters.




Next we read a few Eric Carle books, and we illustrated Mister Seahorse, which is a collage of painted paper and lots of glitter, of course!




We also made a color-changing chameleon!






On the third day, our focus was on 'naughtiness.' What happens when Max is sent to his room for being too wild? He joins up with the wild things. Until he gets homesick and leaves the wild things... just in time for dinner.

Then we created our own wild things.

We also read about David, based on the author's own life as a mischievous little boy. On this day, David was a very naughty boy. His mother said NO many times. Finally he had to sit in the corner. The children could really relate to this story and told us their own sordid tales of naughtiness as we read through the book.

We then made our own 'David' out of cut construction paper and glue - along with a talking bubble in which David says something nice.

Finally, we read the Rainbow Fish
and made a Rainbow Fish of our own. We painted him with watercolor, then added lots and lots of sparkly glitter!

(You can also see some of our color-changing chameleons in these pictures.)

Clay Camp!

Clay Camp was great fun! 

We experimented with air dry clay and learned the basics of pinch pots, coil, slab building, and using clay tools to cut, score, impress, and create texture. Then we made cool stuff to paint later, after a few days of drying. 




We also tried Model Magic and learned how to color it with Crayola Markers. Model Magic is NOT like regular clay, but it sure is squishy and FUN! You can dry it like air dry clay and paint it, too.

We even made our own play dough. Lots of mixing and muscle-work needed, but we DID it! We colored our dough, added a little glitter (for sparkle!)  and made it smell good (like vanilla and/or peppermint), then we shared a ball of our 'handmade' play dough with everyone else!

Cat sculpture armatures - before clay is added

Cat sculptures - clay smoothed over armatures

Amory made the large cat sculpture using an armature formed with wire, newspaper (for bulk) and aluminum foil. We learned that clay legs and heads do not break off sculptures that are formed over an armature.

Our First S.T.E.A.M. Art Camp!

We've completed our first S.T.E.A.M. Art Camp and it was amazing!!! Campers became makers by completing Challenge tasks or projects using specific MakerSpace materials. Creative thinking was a must!



Little Artists completed these Challenges (and more):

a model of a campfire
a chicken in a basket
flowers in a vase
a building set
a wooden face
fairy slippers




Art Smart Kids competed these tasks:

a tallest tower challenge 
a paper bridge that can support a cup of   water
a Newton's Cradle
a self-propelled car
5-cent battery that works
a completed graphite circuit
a catapult

The Memory Project

Today I sent off our second batch of completed Memory Project portraits, and I am so proud of our fantastic portrait artists! They worked so hard on all of these lovely portraits, and they are stunning! 

Our first portrait project was of children living in Bolivia. After we completed and sent them, the Memory Project created a personal video for us (posted on our Facebook page) of the creation of our Bolivian portraits and finally the delivery to the children at their school in Bolivia. Our young artists were so pleased and excited to see these kids' happiness upon receiving their portraits! 

                                                                             
Our second Memory Project subjects were children living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). We just finished these portraits and we shipped them today to the Memory Project. 

Once the portraits are delivered to the Congolese children, we will receive another very special video of the project, which I will again share on Facebook. 

We plan to create more portraits for the Memory Project in the fall. 

If you would like to join us, just contact the Art Center for details. We welcome everyone, ages 8(ish) through adult. 

This is such a a wonderful project for everyone involved! The artists have an opportunity to utilize and practice their art skills while completing a global service project that benefits children their ages in third world countries.  They learn to capture a likeness and other portraiture skills, while working with soft pastels, colored pencil, graphite, watercolor pencils, and watercolors.  

In the posts shown below, you can view all of the portraits we completed for the Memory Project. Enjoy!

Our First Memory Project Portraits

These are the Memory Project portraits we created for the Bolivian children:

Our Memory Project Portraits

These are the Memory Project portraits we created for the Congolese children: