Earth Day: An Up-Cycled Art Project Idea -- Upper Elementary & Middle School

This was a tough project to create, so I recommend it for very patient upper elementary students or middle school students. It requires only four things to complete, old magazines, Elmer's glue, a dowel of some sort and patience!

 

Magazine Basket Weaving

 

To begin tear out the pages of an old magazine. One with colorful images would work best. One magazine should provide enough material to complete at least one project, maybe two.

Then follow these steps:
1. Using a thin dowel (I actually used a knitting needle) roll one page the long until they are completely wrapped around and glue the last edge down to make a tube. Slide off and set aside to dry. *Hint: It may be helpful to make a lip when you start rolling and glue that down securely so that the tube is less likely to unravel as you continue rolling. Also, do not use too much glue or the magazine pages can fall apart.
2. Repeat until you have a stack of tubes (about 20 or so will be enough).
3. Flatten the tubes.
4. Begin creating a weft and warp weave using the flattened tubes. You may need to tape down those going in one direction while you are working. Also keep the weaving only in the center because the ends will be folded up to make the walls of the basket. You will have more in one direction (i.e. either the warp or the weft will have more flattened tubes).
5. Fold every other tube end back over and through the weaving. You will have a one in one out pattern all around. This will secure the base weaving in place nice and tightly. Folding back in takes practice and patience because if you are not careful all your work will come undone.
6. Now the really hard part begins -- the sides. Fold up the remaining ends. Begin with one side and weave through another tube. Fold ends back and through. One tube will go about half way around the basket. Start on the other side and repeat with another tube to meet the first one. Continue up the sides about three more times.
7. With the ends that remain sticking up at the top, fold down and through the weaving to secure. The basket is now complete.

**This was my first woven basket. Even with a lot of patience it took me about two hours. With more practice it may go easier. I had no instructions to follow and pretty much winged it to figure out how to make one. If you have a woven basket lesson using magazines/paper, please share it.

Gettin' Sticky! Duct Tape Creations Ages 10 and up

There are four weeks of art camp, and each week I ran a different mini-course. Week one and week two were soap carving and paper mache. Week three was DUCT TAPE! It was rolls of fun to make wallets, accessories and flowers from color duct tape. The students had fun trying to make their own things beyond the projects I demonstrated.

Here are just a few of the things that I managed to get them to let me hold onto for display; the others got taken home as fast as they were made:

Paper Mache Mini-Course Ages 10 and up

Another mini-course that I ran this summer at Art at Tower summer camp was a paper mache class where the students could make anything they chose, including bowls and animals, etc. Instead of using paint, however, I had them use torn color tissue paper to finish the pieces. I must say I really love the look of this technique!

Here are a few fabulous results from this summer's mini-course:

Sudsy! Soap Carvings Ages 10 and up

At Art at Tower I ran a one week mini-course on soap carving. While the first day ended up being more like a course on making piles of soap shavings, by bar number two the kids got the hang of it and crafted some pretty awesome creations. Some made seashells or their initials. Architectural elements were very popular, as were animals.

Here are just a few of the more successful carving attempts:

Christian Logo T-shirt Designs Levels 6 - 9

Here is the description from the wall label:

Students discussed the way slogans get stuck in your head and how it is important that they be catchy and maybe even a little bit related to contemporary culture. Then, they came up with their own Christian slogans to tell the world how they feel about their faith or to tell what their faith is about. Once the slogans were refined students needed to design a visual symbol that communicated or related to their slogan as clearly as possible. Designs were kept simple to have bigger impact and to allow for less complex collograph printing onto t-shirts, which the students could wear once completed.

Materials used:

• Cardboard
• Old shoe boxes
• Acrylic gesso
• Black printing ink
• Brayers
• Plexi-glass plates
• Elmer's glue
• Scissors
• X-acto blades
• T-shirts
• Fabric paints
• Letter stencils
• Brushes
• Sponges

Saints Self-Portraits Levels 6 - 9

This is the description from the wall label:

Our oldest students took the idea of saints’ portraits to an entirely personal level by recreating their own photographs into portraits of the saints they were representing. They did this by using a variety of materials beginning with collage for their images and adding details with paints, oil pastels, and other materials. Their portraits also included symbolic imagery related to their chosen saints. The frames were constructed from recycled paper towel rolls spray painted gold inspired by the many Byzantine paintings of saints.

Materials used:

• Oak tag paper
• Acrylic paints
• Brushes
• Sand
• Glue
• Glitter
• Oil pastels
• Pencils
• Photographs printed on computer paper
• Sharpies
• Misc. materials
• Gold painted paper towel rolls, cut in pieces

Miniature Room Ages 8 and up

Do you recall the miniature workshop that I taught a few months ago? Well, I was hoping to get some photos from that, but since I was too busy teaching to take my own and the person who took the photos never sent me copies, it seems that just some images from the project itself will have to do.

Below are several views of the same miniature room. Just about everything is made from re-purposed materials or small craft items. I am planning to run this same workshop as a mini-course at art camp this year. Yes, Art at Tower is almost here again. I will update on that soon.

North Shore Art Teacher Association Mosaics Workshop: May 19, 2011

As promised here is the first of many upcoming posts. In this post I am providing visuals of all the lessons from the workshop that I presented on mosaics. There are lessons for all elementary grades and a grade seven lesson that can be modified for grade six and up.

I am also including some pictures taken at the workshop so you can almost feel like you were there.

Suggested reading from the workshop.Ready for the workshop to begin.

Beginning with the heaviest of projects... large tile mosaics.Getting into 3D options for ceramic tile mosaics -- these examples are on terra cotta clay pots.Sharing the grade 3 lesson.

Talking about the materials for the various lessons.

Kindergarten Lesson

Download the lesson here:   Kindergarten Pressed Clay Mosaics

Grade 1 Lesson

Download the lesson here: Grade 1 - Mosaic Cities

Grade 2 Lesson

Download the lesson here:  Grade 2 - Mosaics Cubed

Grade 3 Lesson

Grade 3 Subway Style Mosaics Lesson (with recycled materials option)
Download the lesson here: Grade 3 - Subway Style Mosaics

Grade 4 Lesson

Download the lesson here: Grade 4 - Ancient Mosaics

Grade 5 Lesson

Download the lesson here: Grade 5 - Islamic Inspired Mosaics

Grade 6 & Up Lesson

Download the lesson here: Marvelous Mosaics

Pre-emptive Apology

The next several weeks (most of May) are expected to be a hectic time, so I may have to refrain from frequent posting. Many things are in the works and all within the same week, so I have a lot of planning to do...

In the works:

• The Third Annual Sacred Art Show, which will be on May 22nd, requires lots of time tying up loose ends, preparing press releases, writing programs, making wall labels, mounting and labeling student work, and of course hanging the show.
• A block of art classes for kindergarten students (previously mentioned) takes place on May 20th (day before installation of the art show) and will require some supply shopping and back-up planning (in case the students work faster than anticipated).
• An art teacher workshop on mosaics in and out of the classroom, which I am presenting to my fellow members of the North Shore Art Teachers Association, takes place on May 19th (see the crunch time pattern, yet?). This will involve a lot of preparation as well. I will be making sample pieces, acquiring materials for make & takes, drafting detailed lesson plans, printing plenty of those out, and putting together a slide presentation of student work.

So, as you can easily guess, I will be very busy with all of these things culminating in the same hectic week. In addition, I have a few art shows to attend, my day job to maintain, my night job to maintain, my permanent long-term job to continue applying for, my summer camp job to plan for, and much more. Please, be patient and understanding if you see a lack of posts. I can promise that after that crazy, busy week there will be more than enough posts coming your way.


In the meantime, here is a paper mache turtle project to pique your interest. It was a sample used in my summer camp art class last July. The form for the body(shell) is a 1/4 of a coffee caddy (the four cup-holder device from most coffee places). The head, tail (which I think I made too long), and legs are all formed from newspaper. Then everything is covered in overlapping layers of newspaper dipped into Elmer's art paste. Once dry it can be painted over. I used acrylic paints (some with sand added for texture). Colored sand was also sprinkled over Elmer's School Glue on the shell for more pattern and texture. Glue or paint on eyes. Then, enjoy!