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?

Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is quickly approaching on November 2nd.

Of course, as a Mexican folk artist and teacher, this is my favorite time of the year! I love everything about it--the cool night air that Fall brings, the smell of copal (incense) burning,  the sweet sound of rattling shells on the ankles of the Aztec dancers and the colorful sights of the altars, the sugar skulls, the face painting....and of course, the artwork.

I am so excited!

My kids are equally excited about this day because I usually have an art activity planned for them, in addition to the other activities of the night. There are so many interesting and exciting aspects about this day, culturally and artistically--it's so much more than "Mexican Halloween".  It's a holiday steeped in tradition and every year its influence spans wider and wider.

In response to the demand, I've decided to create an activity plan to share Day of the Dead on the interwebz. It is perfect for the classroom--whether it be a traditional public school classroom, the charter school hybrid,  private school or a group of homeschoolers. It's suitable for all ages, and it's supported by twelve quality links for you to explore.

What makes this activity plan different from others you've seen is that I've created six custom coloring pages for teachers to share with their classroom. That's right, I've infused my own Day of the Dead style of art into these coloring sheets and they can be used in a variety of ways and incorporated into several art lessons for your students.

When you order this 10-page activity plan, you'll receive:

• Summary of the origins of Day of the Dead
• Vocabulary words
• Six unique black and white calavera coloring sheets that you are free to reproduce as many times as you wish*
• You can choose from a Frida Kahlo calavera, a dancing couple, a punk rocker, skulls with roses, a school girl and a large sugar skull (which you can use as a template to create a mask).
• In addition to several other ideas for you to celebrate this holiday with your students, there are 12 interesting and educational links for you to explore.

I can't wait for you check out my activity pages! The image above is a sneak peak of the first page. My own children have been coloring them with markers for days now and they are really enjoying all of the organic designs, especially the punk rocker and the Frida Kahlo calavera.

*All images on the activity pages are meant solely for personal use and use in the classroom. Do not reproduce for sale in any form.

It's summertime.

Yay!

Posting about art projects have been a little slow around here but I've got a few projects lined up to do with my kids in the near future. I'll be be sure to post them here on Modern Art 4 Kids soon.

Until then, I thought I'd post the latest artwork created by my son Sol. You know, since this blog is about modern art. And kids. And since Sol is a kid....

You get it, right?

Right.

Just thought I'd preface this post with a picture I took of Sol when he was six years old. We set him up on a wall in our garage with paint and brushes. He ended up sitting there for nearly four hours, painting peacefully on the garage wall.




I should have known then that he had a gift.

This is his latest piece, his third Bob Marley portrait. What can I say? We love us some  roots rock reggae.


Sol painted this piece on wood panel with Nova Color acrylic paint. You can't see from this photo but there is a really cool gold accent around the dreadlocks.

Pretty freakin' sweet. You can read more about Sol's painting here.

Over here at Modern Art 4 Kids, we are no strangers to Henri Matisse, the most beloved Fauve of all! When Matisse was nearly 72 years old, he became ill and it was difficult for him to stand and paint. However, this did not damper his creativity. He began a new technique, which he called, "painting with scissors", which was painting large sheets of paper with different colors using gouache, an opaque watercolor. He would then cut beautiful, organic, free-flowing shapes with scissors. "Une seconde vie”, a second life, was what Matisse called the last fourteen years of his life, working on his collages, or cut outs.

Here is where it gets good.

He used several assistants to be his "arms and legs", moving and arranging his cut outs along the walls of his studio. I decided to try our own painting with scissors workshop, with each student taking a turn being the artist, while the rest of the students became the assistants.

"Move it a little to the right."
"To the left!"
"Ok, a little more...a little more. No! Go back. Tilt it. Ok, that looks good."

Needless to say, it was harder than it seemed! Trying to convey your vision as an artist is quite challenging when you have to rely on someone else to help you bring it to life. But it was alot of fun. We all shared a good laugh that day. We also learned just how tenacious and dedicated Henri Matisse was, to continue his creative work well into his 80’s. Matisse’s cut-outs are among the most admired and influential works of his entire career.

• I used an inexpensive poster board and painted each sheet in a different color using tempera paint. Tempera paint is very similar in texture and consistency to gouache paint.
• I tried to use a wide variety of colors.
  
• After each sheet dried, I cut shapes out myself. You don't have to be precise or crazy analytical, just think organic and free-flowing, just like Matisse.
• If you have the time in class, you can have your students take care of this step. Cutting out shapes is fun. Since I wouldn't have the time in class, I did this step at home.
  

• After all the paint was dry and I cut various shapes into the poster board, I arranged the shapes into piles, according to color and laid them out on the table.
  
• This made it easy for each appointed artist to find what they were looking for.
• The colors were vibrant and the shapes themselves took their cue from Matisse's work.
• I made sure to show the students several examples of Matisse's cut out art.
  

• Each student took turns being "artist".
• Since we have several students in class and not enough cut out shapes to go around, I had the students mount their shapes up on the wall using small strips of masking tape.
• This made it easy to move around and to remove at the end of each student's design.
• I contemplated using push pins, but I didn't want to make a bunch of holes in the cut out shapes--I also didn't want to poke holes in the wall (since we rent the building!).
• The tape ended up working just fine.
• Each artist had to speak clearly and had to know exactly what their vision was. The assistants just had to have patience. :)
  

The finished projects came out beautifully. They were simple yet had the same visual punch that Matisse had. This is definitely a project that I would consider doing again. It was fun to use such large shapes against the wall. Its so boring to use the same, small pieces of scrapbooking paper in our collages. This time we got to use bold and graphic shapes. I also recycled all the shapes for the next week when I let each student create their own smaller-scale collage. No assistants this time, just their own hands and artistic abilities.

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.

If you've never heard of Andy Warhol, then you've been missing out on the one of the queerest, most avant garde, most groovy artists of the 60's. He believed that you could elevate something as mundane and common as a soup can and it could turn into something visually interesting. He began to experiment with silk screening, and his celebrity portraits--most notably, Marilyn Monroe--are some his most beloved works. I decided to have some fun with this project, and we embarked on our own Pop Art portrait.

This project requires some preparation beforehand. Before the students left class for the day, I had them line up against the wall one by one, and I took a black and white photo of them.

• 
  Then I copied and pasted them four times, to form a grid pattern.
• Once I have uploaded and cropped all of the images, I then proceeded to play with each individual portrait on photoshop, upping the contrast and then posterizing them, giving them a paint by numbers quality.
• After printing each one, I got to serious work.
• Each printed portrait now has to be decoupaged onto a piece of watercolor paper. Decoupage is basically a gluing technique.
• I use Matte Medium for all my collage/decoupage projects.
• Decoupaging will prepare the surface and will give it a matte finish.
• It's up to you, whether or not you want your students to decoupage on their own. Since I have a time crunch, I decided to do it at home beforehand. I also couldn't bear the thought of the students sloshing their way through my beloved bottle of Liquitex Matte Medium, which costs me $19.99!
• That afternoon before class, everyone had their black and white portrait of themselves primed and ready to go!
• Encourage each student to be creative within each grid, using contrasting colors and patterns but following the basic posterized shapes.
• Each student was given a palette with 4-5 colors of acrylic paint in each well. Make sure each student has their own water container as well, it just makes it easier for each student to keep their brushes clean and their paint from getting too muddy.

This is one of my favorite projects because this is a technique that I employ in alot of my personal mixed medium paintings. You would not believe some of the stuff the students came up with! Although it involves a good deal of preparation, the results are worth it! Every student was excited to take their portraits home. And for once, this was a keeper!

The portrait above was created by a seventh grader.

This is a project that the students seem to go crazy for. Beware, it's also the messiest. The technique of Papier-mâché has been around for a very long time. Although the process seemed very intimidating for me at first, there are only a few components needed to get an awesome result. Once you get the hang of it, it's very simple and fun!

I shared my love of Pablo Picasso with the students today. Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruíz y Picasso was a child prodigy and he could paint pain-stakingly beautiful portraits and charcoal drawings as a young child. His father was an art teacher, so he was exposed to art at a very early age. I think this is what freed Picasso to go further in his art, to explore different ideas and techniques. When you can draw and paint like a master at the age of eight years old, what else is there to do? Murals, abstract art, bronze sculpture, found object sculpture, Cubism, African-inspired art, etc. And this is exactly what he explored during his 92 years of life.

• Supplies you will need to mix Papier-mâché: inexpensive bottle of liquid starch, water, newspaper, cardboard pieces, masking tape, scissors, egg crate pieces, old paint trays.
• Mix liquid starch and water in a 50/50 ratio. Pour into old paint trays.
• Encourage students to rip newspaper into strips.
• Explain to students how they can build their sculptures by using cut cardboard pieces and egg crates pieces. They sculpture can be secured with masking tape. This will all be secured with the Papier-mâché mix.
• Once they've built their sculpture, they can start the Papier-mâché process.
• Dip a newspaper strip into liquid starch mix. Make sure you squeegee off excess liquid. Start laying wet strips onto your sculpture in a smooth, flat fashion.
• Keep laying down the wet newspaper strips until the entire sculpture is covered. Working around noses and eyes can be a little tricky, but teach your students how they can form their sculpture with their hands by shaping the wet newspaper.
• This project is usually done over a two class sessions. During the first session, the sculpture/Papier-mâché phase has to be completed.
• Since I can't store my supplies in the classroom, this means I have to take some 20-something partially wet masks. Yay me.
• When I have them at home and they are completely dry, I paint a layer of white primer on top. This will create a uniform surface for the students to paint designs on. It will also keep their paint true to the original color so they won't have to use several coats of paint. If you are in class, you can have your students primer their own masks.
• During our next class session, we paint, glue feathers, beads, raffia, twigs and whatever else the students want on their masks. It's amazing how different they all come out.
• Students painted with Craft Smart paint instead of tempera paint because there are so many more vibrant colors to choose from. You can find it at any Michael's Art & Craft for .99 a bottle.
• Once they are all completed, have students lay out their masks so the class can look at each work of art. My students always love this part of class!
  

An African-inspired mask created by a high school student.

This mask was created by son, who was in the first grade at the time. I helped with the raffia.

The Cubism-inspired mask at top left was created by a junior in high school. It's my favorite.