Trends Modern Art

During the last two weeks of October, my son's third grade class was assigned The Pumpkin Book Project, which is project that transforms a pumpkin into a literary character from the Clutter-Free Classroom. At first, I was slightly annoyed that we had to use the pumpkin theme. I mean, I understand it's October and all but why not just be creative and work from the original book? But, my son was into the idea of working with a pumpkin so I thought, ok, this is his project and not mine. Let's see what we can do.  In the end, I really liked it and our project turned out really cool. My son was so happy with it!

When both your mom and Dad are artists, projects like these can take a life of their own. I say, oh oh ooooh we can do this! and then my husband chimes in and says, yeah yeah yeeeeeah and we can do this, too! And before you know it, we are really into it and our child is fast asleep on the sofa.

Heh.

In all seriousness, they do help with their own project. I usually let them brainstorm and take part in the planning, they paint backgrounds, help cut out shapes and they are handy with the glue. So I can't totally claim this entire project. Ahem.

Cyan decided that Dogzilla by Dav Pilkey would be his literary character. We love Dog Breath and Dragon Gets By, and Dogzilla is no different! Pilkey's books are age appropriate, funny and really creative. His book choice was a no-brainer for us.

We decided right away that we didn't want to use a foam pumpkin. My idea was for a relief sculpture in cardboard, with each piece mounted on top of each other so it had a 3-D effect much like our Frank Stella project. Luckily, all we had to do was go into the studio and pull elements from past projects that we could recycle. We used a large piece of cardboard (about three feet high and two feet wide) that once served as our display boards for open house, pieces of felt, acrylic paint, paper and a hot glue gun.

We wanted to feature the part of the book when Dogzilla comes out from the cityscape because he lured by the tasty bbq smell that the mice are preparing. My son decided that Dogzilla wasn't being bad, terrorizing the mice. He was just being a dog. The green plume is his toxic dog breath wafting in the breeze. The background is painted, so are the buildings, the pumpkin and the green breath. Everything else is felt (LOVED the wagging pink tongue!) and cut out letters. My only regret is that we should have completely covered the pumpkin shape in grey felt. Then I think it would've looked more like Dogzilla. Also, I think a few mice scattered about would have been really cute!

The cover of the book. We didn't want to use the cover idea, that would be too easy!

That white stuff behind Dogzilla is a plume of smoke. We achieved this by pulling apart a piece of white felt.

 
How do you think we did?

Hello, fellow lovers of modern art. Long time no see.

Where have you been?  
Me? Where have I been?

Touché.

I've been around, brewing up some crazy art projects. Hopefully, I'll get to share them with you soon! A while ago, I posted this really cool Claes Oldenburg project we did creating papier mache sculptures of letters in the alphabet. Here are a few of the images from the project.

My far, this was the most time consuming aspect of this project. Constructing the letters out of cardboard, styrofoam cups, paper and tape. Making sure everyone's letter was just so. It was fun but you need several hands for this if your students are in the younger grade bracket.

The start of the papier mache process. It usually starts off so nice and civilized.

My husband and son, trying to show the students the proper way to apply their papier mache strips onto their sculpted letters so they don't end up with a starchy mess.

I love the fact that every time I introduce a new project, I hold my breath for any glitches. I've had plenty of moments where the tape didn't stick right, a print didn't even come out, or the you could barely see the paint or the students finished their piece in under fifteen minutes. LOL Even though I make samples and try techniques out at home, stuff happens.  In this case, I was really hoping the cardboard base would stand up to the papier mache liquid, especially with the students and their overzealous papier mache techniques, slopping it on and whatnot.

A little soggy, but nothing a few hours in the sun couldn't dry out.

All of the letters turned out so cool!

Some could even used as weapons. :)

Once they were dry, I thought it would be easier if I took them all home and painted a coat of primer on them myself. Until it was almost midnight and my hands were covered with white primer and I still had a huge pile to finish. Why do I always get myself into this mess? Story of my life!

So creative and so fun! And the hard work is always worth it in the end.

If you want a step-by-step instructions on how to complete this project, you can check out my Pablo Picasso papier mache project for papier mache basics. Or, you can go to Art Projects For Kids for another 3-D Papier Mache Letter. Have fun!

Frank Stella is an American Minimalist painter and sculptor whose work spans over five decades! He's one of the first artists to use shaped canvases. I really like Stella's bold use of line and shape. All those clean lines and graphic shapes make me happy. He really charms this slightly obsessive compulsive artist's little heart! I've been stewing over a Frank Stella project for a couple of years now, not really knowing how I would flesh it out. After getting a few ideas online and gathering it with some of the classroom experience I have acquired, this project was really fun and manageable for the students. And me! I decided to explore Stella's relief sculptures. This translated nicely with simple cardboard shapes, paint and a hot glue gun.

• A few weeks before class, gather a bunch of cardboard scraps. Perhaps you have some left over from your papier mache project. I used cereal and pasta boxes too and they seemed to be alot easier for the students to cut with scissors.
  
• You will also need paint. My students didn't like the way tempera paint was flat, so we used some Smart Craft and Tulip paint instead. It was much more bright and vibrant.
• I began by showing the students some of Stella's sculptures, for inspiration.
• To get the students going, I had them sketch some simple shapes onto newsprint, which they then sketched onto the cardboard.
  
• I will admit the classroom was a bit chaotic, since there were students in different phases of the project. I had three tables going: one for cutting the cardboard, the second for painting and drying (with my handy dandy hair-dryer!), and the third for assembling/gluing sculpture together.
• I helped each student with their concept. Some students were inspired by music, sports and aliens.
• It is important for each student to create a base for their sculpture, so they have something to build their shapes upon.
• After each cardboard piece is cut out, begin the painting phase. Since there was no time to primer them, each piece needed a couple of coats of paint. Here is where the hair-dryer comes in.
• Encourage students to create designs and patterns on their cardboard pieces, which will make the overall sculpture more intricate and eye-catching.
• When all pieces are dry, instruct students to play with their shapes, arranging them in the most visually interesting design. This was fun!
  
• Now the trick is to remember how you originally laid it out so you can recreate it while laying it down with a hot glue gun!
• I didn't feel comfortable with the students handling a hot glue gun, so I just sat down with them and had them instruct me where each piece went so I could glue them down. You could also use basic Elmer's glue but it would probably take a long time to dry and wouldn't be as sturdy. Of course, older students can use a hot glue gun.

I was really impressed with how they all turned out. The students were really involved with each process and once again, I am amazed at their creativity! So give this project a try, it was alot of fun and there are lots of ways you can adapt the overall concept.

The artwork above was created by my son, who is in the 3rd grade. Here are a few additional sculptures made by my students.