Earth Art

The Art + Nature = Fun class created Earth Art (otherwise known as Environmental Installation Art) as inspired by Andy Goldsworthy the second to last day of camp.  Thankfully it wasn't too terribly hot, and the kids had a lot of fun making their projects, as well as a class one that was inspired by the Olympics.  If you have a chance, I would really recommend checking out Andy Goldsworthy's works: they are amazing!  Here is a link to a slideshow on YouTube.

Claymation Session 3

Claymation videos created by the Session 3 Become a Cartoonist and Animator Class!

Last Day of Camp!

We finished camp off with a bang learning about Andy Goldsworthy and creating Environmental Installation Art as a class.  Andy Goldsworthy is a really interesting artist.  He creates art solely out of materials found in nature, takes a picture of what he has created, and then lets nature take its course.  Here is a link to a short video clip that we watched in class.  Thankfully we were able to beat the rain and create outside on the school grounds.  I really enjoyed spending time and making art with each student in the class!

Plein Air Painting

Thursday we were able to go outside and paint with watercolors in the courtyard.  We talked about color matching and practiced mixing colors to match what we saw.  We then painted things that we saw in the courtyard, even our fellow classmates!  We also watched a portion of William Kentridge's charcoal video work.  There are so many different, amazing contemporary artists out there!

Watercolors

We finished our nature material animals and started learning about watercolors today!  The animals turned out to look great and each student even wrote a story in their sketchbook to go along with their animals.  When the animals were finished, we moved on to watercolors.  We looked at a lot of images and talked about different watercolor techniques, such as washes, wet on wet, dry brush, and glazing.  We also discussed color-mixing with watercolors.  Each student then practiced watercolor techniques in  their sketchbooks.  It was fun trying to mix a lot of colors and being able to play with paint!

Nature Animal Sculptures

Tuesday we learned about plein air painting and painted outside in the garden courtyard.  We also started on our sculptures made out of things found in nature.  Each student designed their own animal and then we went on a walk as a class to find our materials.  The animals are looking great!

Creating Landscapes

We got to paint our own landscapes today.  Since we discussed the different parts of a landscape on Friday, we tried to include those in our landscapes.  We painted with tempera paint and tried to mix as many colors as we could to make our paintings more realistic.

Landscapes

Friday we started on a landscape acrylic painting.  As a class, we talked about the parts of a normal landscape such as having a foreground, middle ground and background.  We also discussed how to make landscapes look like they are 3D on a flat piece of paper.  Some of the techniques we talked about were: making things look smaller as they go farther back, overlapping things, as well as atmospheric perspective.  It was fun to go on a walk outside and see how even the landscape around us has these things happening in it.

We also finished our stick buddies that we created from our sticks that we gathered and drew with a few days ago.  They turned out very colorful and fun!

Nature Collages

On Thursday we finished up our nature collages.  They turned out really neat!  We decided that we would post them in the hallway as a little class art show so that students from other camps could see the cool collages that we made.

Every day we also watch a video segment about a contemporary artist.  After completing our collages, we learned about Mark Bradford.  He does a lot of collage and decollage using signs and fliers that he finds in Los Angeles.  It was cool to see a famous artist doing similar things to what we are doing in class.

Drawing with Our Eyes

 For our third day of camp, we talked about drawing with our eyes.  Sometimes our brains think that they know what a tree looks like, but we really don't know what a particular tree looks like until we actually study it!  So, we practiced looking what we were drawing more than our paper.  To help us with that practice, we did some blind contour drawings!


We also started doing a nature collage with the paper that we painted on Monday.  We drew compositions that we saw in the courtyard, and then made them into collages in the classroom.  They are looking very colorful.

Drawing with Sticks

On our second day we learned about using tools found in nature to create art.  We talked about conventional tools like paint brushes or pencils, and then unconventional tools like our shoes, or even sticks that we find on the ground!  We then went outside and chose our very own sticks to draw with.  It was fun to loosen up, get a little messy and draw with our sticks in ink.

Art + Nature = Fun!

It has been so fun to get to know all of the students in the class.  On the first day, we created our sketchbooks and portfolios, and then painted as many colors as we could make onto paper!  We felt very modern :)

Session 1 Claymation Projects

For the past couple of days, the students in the "Become a Cartoonist and Animator" class took a stab at Claymation.  Check out their finished videos!

Finished Scenes and Goodbye

On Thursday we finished our scene project as well as made some air dry frames. The scenes turned out really great! Attached are some pictures from the scene project.

On another note, the kilns at Kent Gardens malfunctioned at the beginning of the week, and the kiln doctor could not come fix them until Thursday. I tried to work extra and fire them at Lemon Road School, but their kiln was also not working properly. So, the pieces were bisque fired and will be glazed fired on Friday if all goes well. The students will obviously not be able to bring home their pieces the last day of camp, but if you would like to come by the school office Friday 8/26 or any time during school ours the following week, the pieces will be in the office. There should also be a letter coming home about this too.

It has been fun doing ceramics with this class of students. Thank you for all of your hard work and patience!

Scenes!

Using the ideas from the videos we watched from Art21 as springboards, the class split up into groups and began creating scenes. It was great to see some of the class pull together and combine ideas to begin creating some cool works.

The brainstorming was fun, and creating scenes using some clay element as well as found objects and nature was a new process for all.

Coil Pots

On Friday and Monday we created coil pots. The technique of slipping and scoring was very important to master for this art, especially because if the coils are not connected well, the pots will have holes!

We also watched some short clips about some current artists created by PBS Art21 series. The two artists we watched were Fred Wilson and Gabriel Orozco. I would recommend Art21. They are all about different artists and always have very interesting themes. Here is the link to Art21: http://www.pbs.org/art21/?gclid=CMqsk8mu_qkCFct95QodzRHo0Q

Fun Animal Sculptures

The creativity of this class is awesome! On Friday, we finished up our animal sculptures. There were so many interesting animals in the class - even some made up ones! The students did a fabulous job making them interesting, artistic, AND well-made.

Cups and Animals

For the past two days, we have been working on ceramic cups as well as animals. To make the cups, we started off creating pinch pots. After learning about the techniques of slipping and scoring, as well as coil, slab and pinching, we added a variety of handles to the cups. They are now drying and will be ready for the kiln soon.

Yesterday we started making animals that we will finish up today. As the skill of making pinch pots had already been practiced, the students made two pinch pots and attached them to make a hollow body, and then began to add heads, legs, feet, etc. depending on the shape of their chosen animal. I think they are turning out great!

Welcome to Ceramics Express Session 3!

This session is going to be a lot of fun. On our first day, we introduced ourselves, made name tags, and went over the use of ceramic tools. We then created stamps to identify ourselves on our future work, and started the beginnings of pinch pots that will eventually turn into cups. I also introduced myself to the class, and I thought I would do a bit here as well.

I am in my senior year of college at Brigham Young University studying Art Education. So, in one year, I will hopefully be a full-time art teacher! I grew up in McLean, and started my ceramics career at McLean High School. I have done quite a bit of ceramics in college, and love working with clay. Below are a couple of my past pieces.