Final project: Collage...

Often, for our last class of the session, we offer something a little easier to carry home than wet paint: wet glue.

We've found that having a variety of materials and textures on hand captures more interest as artists are asked to dig through their "boxes of treasure" to find the pieces that appeal to them the most. This hodge-podge of paper scraps, recycled art, ribbons, yarn and buttons seem to hold attention much longer than one material alone. Coloring the glue or paste helps artists to see where they've placed it on the mat board. This may lead to simpler glue-paintings, which can be an equally worthwhile exploration!

Is there a place for toys in an open studio?...

  This is a question my supervisor and I have been asking ourselves. Originally, these farm and wild animal sets were brought into the studio to be used as models for drawing and clay work. But, not surprisingly, our students have found other uses. While dumping them out of buckets, and seeing how far you can spread them across the floor and underfoot can become a nuisance, delightful storytelling moments and imaginative play have also occurred.

This artist has brought over several farm animals to incorporate into her clay. Geese stand and watch as a horse feeds from its' trough in this inventive "mixed media" approach.

Clay play...

In our Art Explorers classes, we offer the option of clay everyday, and along with blocks and books, our students find comfort in knowing this is a consistent feature in the studio. The intention is that clay will always be there to explore and create with, and the lovely thing is that at this age, there seems to be no desire to save any clay work - the reward is all in experiencing the material. This love of process is what open studio is all about, and is why we encourage process comments. To shift the goal away from receiving praise for a final product, and towards the joy of creating... and getting to discover just what if feels like to put that clay on top of your head.

Finger points...

Here, our artist has realized she doesn't need her paintbrush to use the watercolors. Giving artists a chance to explore the tactile side of painting is an easy sell - something you will see them gravitate towards naturally, and it's important to let them explore the process (while maintaining some boundaries!)

Fingerpainting and painting our hands is common and very tempting, so be prepared to allow for this and help your child discover what they can do with their hands to now make different marks on the paper. When you start to notice that far-away gaze and paint spreading up the arms (with no notice of the paper any longer), it may be time to wash up and give your artist a chance to experiment with that same sensory experience - this time with some sunscreen or lotion. :)

More on Wax Resist...

A variation on wax resist is to take flat items such as keys, leaves, rubber mats and puzzle pieces, and show your artist how to make a rubbing using the side of a pastel. The softer the pastel, the better; they tend to seal the paper more than hard crayons.                                                                       Watercolor paints can then be added on top and should separate off the wax, to create brilliant lines and shapes that will shine through the paint. Our younger artists really seemed to enjoy this lesson, but I was surprised at the number of parents and caretakers who said this was their favorite project so far! Seeing the grown-ups as engaged as the kids in artmaking seems to benefit all around, and helps role model that focus for our budding artists.

Extending the black & white...

        While working on our contrast/collage-paintings, colored squares of tissue paper were added as a way to extend the project, and attention spans. In creating art where the only color mixing of paint allows for values of light and dark, tissue paper has a unique ability to teach color mixing possibilities as these thin layers of color can be overlapped and/or added to already light and dark tones of paint.

Some things are black & white...

In moving away from our warm and cool colors, we took an opportunity to experiment with constrast: mixing black, white and the endless shades of gray our artists could come up with.

 With our two-toned background, we added in paper strips in black & white and used the paint as glue. This allowed kids and adults more ways to fully explore line and value.

Cool on warm...

Into our second week of Art Explorers, we revisited paintings from the previous class and warm colored papers, then added cool colors with drawing and a new material: collage.

Using colored glue helps emphasize this lesson in color relationships. A single drop of a non-toxic liquid water-color or food coloring works well. The colored glue can be especially helpful when working on a white background as it is easier to see. 

Large paper strips are great as a simple first introduction into collage and can be manipulated easily into interesting, 3-dimensional shapes. You may find you get quite a few glue-paintings too - but it's all art!

More mixed media...

After working with the recycled crayons, brushes and paint, this artist decided to move onto mixing pencil into her painting, which at the time was only being used to write artists' names on their artwork. 

 And she literally mixed it with her painting!

This pencil became an experiment as a new type of paintbrush. This is another good example of going with the flow in an open studio setting and making sure young artists get a chance to play and discover with the materials without a lot of "Nos" from the adults. (Within reason!)

Working warm...

This first week in our Spring Session Art Explorers class, we've begun with drawing and mixing our warm colors. Students are given pastels and recycled crayons to start, and the lesson is extended with a small tray of red, yellow and white tempra colors with which our artists can mix and paint.

 
Here, this artist has realized he can use one of the recycled crayons as a stamp, dipping it into his paint. This became a great learning moment for creating tools and shapes with paint. Clean up is easy as the tempra washes easily off the wax and pastels at the end of class, so there no worries of ruining materials. Besides, creativity and self-expression are worth much more!

missing photos

The previously missing photos are all edited back in - hopefully they stay this way!
~ Hope you enjoy!

A guide on process comments...

During this past Winter session, several of the parents I worked with had questions about our model of using process comments in the studio setting. As we head into Spring, I thought I'd pass along what I gave in a hand-out to each of the families I worked with. All of this information comes from what I have observed and learned from working with my supervisor, Kathryn, these past two semesters, and from a Reggio Emilia workshop I attended at a local preschool....

Process comments: Focus on what you notice!

WHY?

·      For toddlers, art making is about the sensory/motor experience and expression, not about making something “pretty,” which they have not yet developed an understanding of.

·      With praise, the child’s goal of art-making shifts to pleasing the adults instead of enjoying the process.

Examples:

·      “You’re using your whole arm to make those red brushstrokes across the page!”

·      “Look at the shapes you’ve created!” and name these with the child.

·      “I see you’ve collected all the shiny pieces for your collage. The page seems to shimmer.”

·      When all else fails, you can always simply say, “You did it!” 

-       the purpose is to help the child develop a connection between their actions and the marks that appear before them, the beginnings of technique, without the pressure of worrying about aesthetics. This does far more to increase a child’s feelings of worth and competence than simple praise.

Ask questions:

Having a few fallback questions in mind helps when creating art with kids. This helps them to feel their effort is being noticed without a judgment of how it looks. 

·      “Tell me about your picture/sculpture! Does it have a title?”

·      “What would you like people to know about your art?” (*This one is helpful when you can’t tell what it is but don’t want to hurt feelings!!)

Project Ideas:

Listen to what your child/classroom is interested in and go from there. Are there topics or children’s books they are excited about?

Repetition is okay! Children love familiarity and consistency, even if, as adults, we may get bored with they same art project or materials. Each time they use them, the child is deepening their understanding of the material, the tools, and their own abilities for expression.

Challenges are important too. Manageable challenges can be added in with new tools or techniques, a little at a time tends to work best. This helps extend interest and attention spans.

A new perspective...

  Our translucent light table items, useful for not only building, but also in demonstrating color mixing, often lead our artists to experiment with peering through the objects and see the world in another color. 

Here, the experience has become a collaborative one!

A Butterfly Effect...

This day's theme surrounded mono-printing with larger sheets of paper and simply folding them in half. What results is that mirror image - Rorschach looking paint blot, sometimes resembling a butterfly.



What also results is an excellent opportunity for teamwork between adult and child as you first paint, then work to press the pages together. 

 The final product is always a mystery and exciting surprise for all involved

The actual definition of Butterfly Effect - a small change leading to complex or larger unexpected effects, feels appropriate for this open studio setting, as we plant those small seeds of learning for our children to blossom with in amazing ways...

Maps!...

 

Over several sessions, this art explorer has begun to draw and paint maps of familiar places - and in this case, a local park.

During our class working with paper strips, a piece of paper was added to designate the slide.
















Several more maps were created in the next session, this time out of paint and standing at the wall.

It is delightful to watch young artists fueled to create by their everyday experiences without any prompting from adults. This can give any teacher or parent a window into what is truly important to your children at that moment.

Folding together...

 This mother and daughter pair are working together on building with paper strips. Artists are shown several ways in which to fold, bend, coil, curve and cut their paper and attach it to the background.

Their artwork begins to resemble a relief sculpture or pop-up book as they explore lines, shapes, and color relations. 

For more than just building...

This artist has discovered that he can draw and make marks on our canvas tables with his ball of clay and sticks. This is a normal part of the discover process as children begin to learn the ins & outs of what a material can and can't do.