Creepy Crawly Critter Sculptures

This week, we started a new project which will encompass creating an insect character and sculpting it out of paper mache.  From there, we will write a story about our creepy crawly critters and create a digital slideshow.  First, we talked about how artists interpret insects in nature.

Some artists use actual insects in their art!  Some create sculptures out of found objects.

Student worksheet with a ladybug drawing

After we looked at the slideshow and watched the video of insect possibilities, we can see that possibilities are endless.  Not only are there millions of species to choose from, but Mrs. Luker and I are giving the students artistic license to create an insect that may or may not exist in nature.  Can a beetle have a mohawk?  Why not.  Extra arms and legs?  Go for it!

Student worksheet with an insect with extra legs.

As we create these insects, there are a series of questions to answer on our worksheets.  Besides aesthetic qualities  what kind of personality do you think your insect might have?  Thinking about the personality of the insect might affect how the insect will look.  How can artists convey emotion through aesthetic qualities?  For example, and aggressive or angry spider might have big teeth, big hairy eyebrows and squinting eyes.  Thinking about the personality will also help us to come up with stories about our sculptures for the digital slideshow story.  Next time we'll work on sculpting these insects using newspaper and plaster.

Group 2 Working on Circle Mural

This week, we welcomed Group 2 of this year's Art Enrichment students.  They are continuing with the project started by Group 1, the Quill Paper Circle Mural.

Mrs. Luker demonstrating how to roll the quill paper.

To start a circle, you have to roll the quill paper tightly on a wooden dowel, laying the paper on itself as you go.  Once you get the first stip on, you can add a strip in another color or stay with the same color to make a wider ring of color.  Some of the students liked the process, which does require some patience. We'll work on these some more next week and then move on to a multi-week project where we'll create three-dimensional insects. We hope to take this project further by creating a digital format for these insect sculptures.  Stay tuned!

Quill Paper Circles

Permanent Art at Plain City Elementary

Here's the finished collaborate puzzle piece that will hang in Mrs. Luker's Art Room. I plan to have 8 x 10 photos for all of he Art Enrichment Students in Group 1 to have as a keepsake.

Group One's Amazing Collaborate Puzzle Mural  24" x 36",  Mixed Media

Underneath this piece, Mrs. Luker had vinyl letters made to put underneath it that say "Every Child is an Artist. - Pablo Picasso."

For the past two session, Group 1 is finishing up their time in Art Enrichment by working on yet another permanent piece for the school lobby.  They've been hard at work rolling Quill Paper on wooden dowels to create colorful circles.  Group 2 will also create circles for the mural.  In a couple of weeks, we'll call Group 1 back to come in and help assemble the circles on a large canvas.  

Two students having fun with Quill Paper Circles

Modigliani Inspired Self Portraits

For this project, we talked about the work of Amedeo Modigliani. Modigliani was an artist in the early part of the last century. He was born in Italy and worked primarily in France. He was known for his stylistic portraits that featured elongated necks and heads. There was a certain endearing quality to them.


 Our task was to create a self portrait using the style of Modigliani. Using these parameters, students worked to recreate themselves with Modigliani style characteristics using oil pastels on black paper. Oil pastels have a very nice quality on black paper. Students have to think about how each color choice is affected by the color of the paper. Some blending with 2 or more colors may be required in order to achieved the desired tone and quality. I think the art enrichment students did a great job answering this "art problem". Each one is different...no two are alike.

Group One Portraits, Oil Pastel on Black Paper

Stop Motion Videos

It's been a while since I updated the blog.  Since my last post, the holiday greeting videos were completed.

Here they are!  

Group 1:  "Merry Christmas"

Group 2:  "Let it Snow"

Group 3:  "Merry Christmas"

Group 4:  "Deck the Halls"