Journey Through the City: Interactive Sculpture

Journey Through the City Interactive Sculpture

It’s winter break here in San Diego, and I celebrated with a trip to the San Diego Museum of Art. I enjoyed a FABULOUS, fun, free exhibit that will definitely appeal to children: Beneath the Moon II: Journey through the City by Miquel Navarro. It is an interactive sculpture/game/artwork made of 1000+ pieces of cast metal, ready to be assembled by visitors of all ages.

Navarro created this artwork in 1994 for the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Since then, it has toured the world, delighting children in Europe, Asia and Mexico. Here is a video of French school children enjoying Beneath the Moon.

 

Discussion:

What can you do in the art room to tie into Beneath the Moon II: Journey Through the City? You may want to start with a discussion. What is a city? What do we see in the city? We might see houses, factories, roads, trains, freeways, rivers, bridges or skyscrapers. Swimming pools and skate parks! Do cities stay the same forever or do they change?

Lesson Ideas:

If you visit:

The exhibit is open during regular Museum hours through April 30, 2013. There is no charge for this special exhibition, located in the new Welcome Gallery on the first floor. For docent-led school tours and group visits, click here.

The San Diego Museum of Art is located in beautiful Balboa Park, home to 15 major museums, the world-famous San Diego Zoo, theaters, gardens and much more.

A final tip: allot some time….YOUR KID WON’T WANT TO LEAVE!!!

 

NOTE TO SAN DIEGO COUNTY TEACHERS/ART TEACHERS, K-12

Would you like to see your students’ artworks exhibited at the San Diego Museum of Art? Young Art, the Museum’s exhibition of local student art, opens April 13, 2013.  The theme is ‘The Story of Me’. This is a juried exhibition.  Click here for more information. The deadline for submission is February 9, 2013.

Premio Dardos: Award for Creative Bloggers

Hello from San Diego!

I opened my computer today and found a note from Elizabeth at the wonderful Dream Painters blog. She nominated K-6 Art for a Premio Dardos.

Premio Dardos Award

This is a virtual award sent as a ‘gift’ from one blogger to another as “recognition for the creativity, effort and dedication” we each put  into our blog. The award originated in Spain around 2008-2009 and has been sent from blogger to blogger ever since.

To accept the award, you simply

  1. Link back to the person who nominated you
  2. Display the award icon and
  3. Nominate others whose blogs you admire for these qualities.

Thanks so much Elizabeth! I am a big fan of Dream Painters. Elizabeth is so positive and enthusiastic. I appreciate the gift.

It is really hard to pick just a few from all the FABULOUS art ed blogs I follow. I’m going to go with the ones I visit frequently. Here they are in alpha order:

  • Miss at A Faithful Attempt. Miss has taught at different school around the world, and her projects reflect her travels. Plus she has great step-by-step photos.
  • Ted at Art with Mr. E.  Among his other great qualities, Ted is really welcoming to all the new art ed bloggers who join this community.
  • Tricia at Dryden Art. Tricia is a trailblazer in terms of using technology in the elementary art room, and she shares all her resources with her readers.
  • Mollie at Kids Art Market. This is a really well-written, straightforward blog that details the teaching process of each pre-K – 8th grade project.
  • Princess Artypants blogs from an international school in Saudi Arabia. Her projects are really creative, and include 3D.
  • Anderson at Sala de Arte. Anderson blogs from his art room in Brazil. His projects are very creative, and he puts a lot of effort into photographing them and writing them up. I don’t know of any other art ed bloggers in Brazil.
  • Don at shine brite zamorano. Don’s blog is unique – he creates projects based on the work of contemporary artists and illustrators. And he always emphasizes the elements of art in his projects. The man gets 5-6 year olds to include value in their work.
  • Phyl at There’s a Dragon in My Artroom. Phyl has a wide variety of projects on her blog, including a lot of 3D such as papier-mâché and cardboard sculpture.
  • Joanna at We Heart Art. I have taught several of Joanna’s art project – they were very successful.  I keep returning for her cheerful, do-able projects.

Wishing all of you a relaxing end of year and happy start to 2013!

 

 

 

 

Cut Paper Snowflakes Designed on an iPad

Cut Paper Snowflakes Designed on an iPad

 

It’s winter! Time for a snowflake project. Our sixth graders just finished their cut paper snowflake projects, with a special twist: all the snowflakes were designed on iPads.

 

Students designed snowflakes on iPads using the My Flake app, then cut paper snowflakes to match.  Allow one 40-minute class.

Students designed snowflakes on iPads using the My Flake app, then cut paper snowflakes to match. Allow one 40-minute class.

Materials:

  • round coffee filters (I got a pack of 150 at my local dollar store)
  • protractor (optional)
  • scissors
  • pencil
  • iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone with FREE My Flake app
  • Optional: construction paper and glue stick or spray glue for mounting

Snowflakes and Symmetry:

We began class by viewing this excellent slideshow of magnified snowflakes from the book The Art of the Snowflake: A Photographic Album by Kenneth Libbrecht.

Magnified snowflake photo by Kenneth Libbrecht. Source: scientificamerican.com

Magnified snowflake photo by Kenneth Libbrecht.
Source: scientificamerican.com

This is a good time to discuss radial and bilateral symmetry. Just like real snowflakes, our iPad and cut paper snowflakes will have radial symmetry, with six identical branches.

symmetry in nature

 

Folding the Paper

Next we folded our coffee filters in sixths. Students folded the round coffee filters in half, then used a protractor to divide the semi-circle into thirds. See this post from the Heart of Wisdom blog for great directions on folding the coffee filters.

Cut paper snowflakes start with a round coffee filter folded in half, then into thirds. Then one more fold in half.

Cut paper snowflakes start with a round coffee filter folded in half, then into thirds. Then one more fold in half to create a skinny wedge.

 

Designing the Snowflake on the iPad

I demonstrated how to use the My Flake app, guiding my finger on the screen to make virtual cuts on the paper image.

 cut paper snowflakes designed on an iPad collage

Students spent the next five minutes exploring the My Flake app. The app allows them to test out different designs virtually by ‘cutting’ a folded paper image, then previewing the design. They can go back and undo or redo one ‘cut’ at a time, and preview the resulting changes.

Once the students settled on a final design,they copied their My Flake design on the folded paper, and finally cut the folded paper to match.

Tip: encourage students to try a simple design on their first snowflake, and draw pencil lines lightly.

cut paper to match iPad design

Sixth grade student work:

Matching paper and iPad snowflakes

Matching paper and iPad snowflakes

Mount cut paper snowflakes on construction paper.

Mount cut paper snowflakes on construction paper.

Our school is 1:1 iPads in grades 4-6. However, this project can be done collaboratively in pairs or in small groups. Several students can share an iPad, each adding a virtual cut or two. Then they can all cut the group design (U.S. art teachers – collaboration is a big part of new Common Core standards).

These two students collaborated on an iPad My Flake design, then both cut to match.

These two students collaborated on an iPad My Flake design, then both cut to match.

On its own, the My Flake app may also be an option for an inclusion activity. Students who cannot easily manipulate scissors may be able to design virtual snowflakes on My Flake and print them out for decorations.

More resources:

If you don’t have an iPad: use the Make a Flake website.

If you are looking for a book to accompany a snowflake project: our librarian likes Snowflake Bentley, the Caldecott-winning book by Jacqueline Briggs Martin about real-life snowflake photographer Wilson Bentley.

More fun snowflake resources on my cut paper Pinterest board.

Thanks to Dryden Art and Brunswick Acres Art for sharing My Flake and other resources on their blogs. Thanks to N.T., one of our awesome sixth grade teachers, for support on this project.

Do you use iPads in the art room?

Do you have a favorite app?

K-6 Art Makes the Top Ten for 2012 Art Ed Blog of the Year!

Thanks to all who voted in The Art of Education‘s annual Art Ed Blog of the Year Awards. K-6 Art placed #9!

I started this blog just one year ago, so this is a huge honor!

9th-Place

 

Lots more to come in 2013! Thanks again to the super students, teachers, and volunteers who support art at our school and throughout San Diego.

 

Clay Self-Portraits for First Grade

clay self portraits for first grade

Self-portraits are awesome. Clay is awesome. Put them together and you get a fun projects kids love and parents treasure forever.

Multi-slab cutter easily slices clay into identical tiles.

Multi-slab cutter easily slices clay into identical tiles.

I used a multi-slab clay cutter to slice the clay into tiles. The first graders used bamboo skewers and old glue caps to draw faces on the slabs. Remind students to draw on the clay but not too deeply – don’t cut all the way through!

First graders created self-portraits using clay slabs. Allow two 40-minutes sessions plus drying time.

First graders created self-portraits using clay slabs. Allow two 40-minutes sessions plus drying time.

I let the clay dry for 12 days, then bisque fired.

Now for color!

I saw a fabulous post on no-fire glazing techniques on the Art Smudge blog. The authors used watercolor, chalk pastel, colored pencil and more to finish bisque-fired clay (note: if you work with clay, please check out this post – it is amazing!).

We used Crayola Washable Paint In Multicultural Colors for the skin, and colored pencil and construction paper crayon for other details. A few students used colored chalk for their hair (note: the chalk was messy and will have to sprayed with a fixative – I won’t use chalk next year).

After bisque firing, clay was painted with tempera, then colored with crayons and colored pencil.

After bisque firing, clay was painted with tempera, then colored with crayons and colored pencil.

We had a range of skin tones to match – the Crayola eight bottle set of skin-tone paints matched pretty well. If anyone can recommend a set of multicultural glazes/underglazes please leave a comment!

clay portrait tiles painted with tempera

clay self portraits

 

Great job first graders!

Do you use glazes or cold finishes for clay?

******Thanks for visiting! Don’t forget to please vote for 2012 Art Ed Blog of the Year, which you can do by clicking this link and voting for K-6 Art! Voting open through December 14, 2012.******

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