Monthly Archives: December 2013

Helen Shirk Silhouette Necklace

Posted on by

helen shirk pinable

Helen Shirk is a San Diego artist and Professor of Art known for her metalwork and jewelry. I recently had the pleasure of viewing necklaces from Shirk’s Traces series on exhibit at San Diego’s Mingei International Museum. Even better – I got to participate in a Shirk-inspired paper jewelry activity taught by the Museum’s Education Department. The art project is so much fun – I just have to share their lesson!

 

'Crimson Glory' necklace by Helen Shirk, 2011. Steel, oxidized silver and china paint.

‘Crimson Glory’ necklace by Helen Shirk, 2011. Steel, oxidized silver and china paint.

We had two options for our silhouette necklace project: 1) a quick, 30-minute project using paper punches or 2) an hour-long project using real traced leaves. Both options focus on organic shapes and repetition.

Materials for both projects

  • black construction paper
  • card stock
  • glue sticks
  • yarn
  • scissors
  • tape

Project 1: 30-minute Punched Paper Silhouette Necklace

Additional material – paper punches in organic shapes (like these leaf , branch, butterfly, and dove  punches).

We punched paper shapes from black and colored papers, then glued them to a background and added yarn to form a necklace. Click here and here for the lesson plan, written by the excellent Education Department of the Mingei International Museum.

Shirk inspired necklace made with craft punches and card stock.

Shirk-inspired necklace made with craft punches and card stock. Teacher example.

Here is my Shirk inspired design!

Here is my Shirk inspired design!

 

Project 2: Traced Silhouette Necklace

Additional material: natural materials such as leaves, twigs and flowers.

Students make tracings of each onto construction paper, then cut out and arrange into a necklace.  Click here for the Mingei’s curriculum guide including this project.

Hand cut paper necklace inspired by Helen Shirk's jewelry.

Shirk-inspired paper necklace made by tracing leaves onto black and white paper.  Teacher example.

Helen Shirk’s Trace necklaces are on display at the Mingei Museum through January 5, 2014 as part of the Allied Craftsmen Today exhibit. For more examples of Helen Shirk’s jewelry, click here.

I wrote about the Mingei’s Chihuly chandelier – click here to see their fabulous 30-Minute Chihuly Chandelier project.

Special Notice for San Diego Teachers and Parents:

  • Teachers: Do you want to take your class to the Mingei Museum? The Mingei provides free admission for all K-12th grade tours as long as they’re scheduled in advance.
  • Parents: The Mingei is free to San Diego county residents and military the third Tuesday of the month. Monthly Family Sundays offer admission and fun activities for just $5/family. Go to www.mingei.org for more details.

Enjoy!

Throwback Thursday: 1969 Ad for Tempera Paint, Arts and Activities

Posted on by
Get Polytemp: paint prep is a snap, your hair will look great and your vision will improve!

Get Polytemp: paint prep is a snap, your hair will look great and your vision will improve!

 

I inherited a ton of old School Arts and Arts and Activities magazines from a retired art teacher. Here is an ad for Polytemps semi-moist cake tempera from Arts and Activities magazine, March 1969. (Click photo for larger image)

Before discovering Polytemps, our young art teacher is struggling with a teetering tower of paint jars. What a dedicated teacher – she’s going to get that paint ready for class EVEN IF IT KILLS HER. Her glasses slip from her nose, but she doesn’t have a free hand to push them back up. Her back aches from carrying all those bottles. Her hair is a total mess because she had to start prep before dawn, and couldn’t spare a moment to brush it. Or maybe she is so depressed from her huge workload she has stopped caring about her appearance.

Polytemps to the rescue! After discovering Polytemps, our art teacher is indeed a new woman. The paint sets are so light, she can easily carry enough for class while dancing between the tables. The prep is so quick, she has time for a hair appointment before class. And she has ditched the glasses. Thanks to Polytemps, her vision has been restored! It’s a miracle!

40-Minute Poinsettia Tear Art Collage

Posted on by

40-minute poinsettia tear art collage

Do you want to create a poinsettia art project with little prep or clean up, in less than one hour? Try this fun tear art collage project.

Materials:

  • colored construction paper, 9″x12″, one per student
  • red paper,  6″x9″, one per student
  • green paper, 6″x9″, one per student
  • yellow paper, 6″x9″, one per table
  • glue sticks

If possible, get some live poinsettias. I borrowed some from my colleagues and returned them at the end of the day.

Discussion:

We started off with a few poinsettia facts: the red ‘flower’ is called a bract. The bract is made of red leaves, NOT petals. Poinsettias are native to Mexico, where they are known as Noche Buena (‘Christmas Eve’).

Next students looked carefully at the poinsettias. We noticed the shape of the leaves, and had a quick review of organic vs. geometric shapes. We also noticed the red leaves were centered around a cluster of yellow dots. The red bract overlapped the green leaves. I pointed out that green and red are complementary colors.

Students observe poinsettias and create a collage using red and green paper. Allow one 40-minute class.

Students observe poinsettias and create a collage using red and green paper. Allow one 40-minute class.

Creating the collage:

I modeled tearing. Students created odd numbers of red and green leaves, arranged them, then glued them to the 9″x12″ construction paper using a glue stick. We found out it was easier to glue the green leaves first. Students could place the red leaves over or in-between the green leaves. As a final touch, students could tear a few dots of yellow paper and glue them to the center of their paper poinsettias.

Second grade results:

Poinsettia tear art gallery - 2nd grade

Because we had live poinsettias on the tables, I encouraged students to hold up their torn shapes to the real leaves for comparison. They really enjoyed observing real plants, much more than working from a picture or from my example.

If you look carefully at our collages, you will see a white torn edge on the red and green papers. We used Fadeless Art Paper– it is colored on one side and white on the other.

I would love to use this technique to create a Van Gogh-inspired vase of sunflowers!

Enjoy!

Do you have a favorite tear art project?

60-Minute Holiday Collagraph Crayon Rubbings

Posted on by
Textured curling ribbon tied in a bow looks great on this wrapped gift. The gingerbread man is trimmed in rick rack.

Textured curling ribbon tied in a bow looks great on this wrapped gift. The gingerbread man is trimmed in rick rack.

Need a fun and flexible holiday project? Try making you own collagraph crayon rubbings, using cardboard and scraps. The project takes about one hour and is adaptable to all sorts of holidays like Valentine’s Day and birthdays.

Materials:

  • light cardboard, 8.5×11″, two per student
  • scissors
  • pencil
  • glue stick
  • textured fabric trim such as ribbons, rick rack and lace
  • optional: hole punch
  • optional: ‘wavy’ craft scissors (like these scallop Fiskars Paper Edgers)
  • copy paper 8.5×11″ or other thin paper
  • peeled crayons

Create the collagraph rubbing plate

Students drew one holiday shape on cardboard, then cut it out.

Students drew one holiday shape on cardboard, then cut it out.

Select one holiday shape for the main part of the collagraph. Draw the shape on the first piece of cardboard and cut it out (note: for those students creating their own designs, emphasize that the design needs to be simple and stretched to the top and bottom of the page).

Glue the cut-out shapes to the second piece of cardboard using glue stick. You have now created a collagraph rubbing plate.

Now for the fun!

Cut decorations for your collagraph plate from your cardboard scraps and from fabric trim. Experiment with the craft scissors and the hole punch. Glue these decorations on top of and around your main shape. LAYERING IS GOOD! TEXTURE IS GOOD!

Now flip over the collagraph plate and place it face down on your chair. SIT ON THE CARDBOARD AND COUNT TO 30.  (It is so fun to do this step!) Now all the pieces are glued down are we are ready to rub.

Santa hat and star, decorated with cardboard cut with Fiskar paper edgers.

Santa hat and star, decorated with cardboard cut with Fiskar paper edgers.

Creating the crayon rubbing

Place your collagraph face up on the table. Cover with the copy paper. Rub with a peeled crayon (note: it is helpful to have a partner hold the plate while the student rubs). Repeat with another crayon color.

Now trade collagraph rubbing plates with your neighbor. Or rotate tables so everyone comes away with a set of holiday cards.

This students glued lace to her tree for texture. She did two rubbings with green and magenta crayons.

This students glued lace to her tree for texture. She did two rubbings with green and magenta crayons.

This technique would make awesome cards for birthdays – imagine a collagraph layer cake with rick rack candles. Imagine a textured doily rubbing plate for Valentine’s Day cards.

If you want to take this project a step further, you can roll printer’s ink on the collagraph and pull some prints. You can also color or paint the collagraph plate so it become an artwork.

Want more ideas? Check out my previous post on 30-minute collagraph printmaking.

Enjoy!

 

Do you have a fun way of making holiday cards?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...