Our Choice Art Studio: September 2023

Friday, September 29, 2023

Portrait Collage

We Belong Together

Create

2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

A. Skill Acquisition

Explore uses of materials and tools to create works of art or design.

Last week we started exploring how artists get ideas.

We spent some time looking at flowers, leaves and birds, because artists look more closely at things than most people do.

Another way artists get ideas are finding beauty in everyday things and situations. Like the people who are important to them.

All people have other people they are close to and care about.

We share our lives with them in different ways.

Important moments like the birth of a new baby.

When we spend time together, like at school.

We create memories together, what is happening in this picture?

As artists we share our lives with others.

Our memories?

Me and My PaPa Snuggling

Who we are and what makes us special?

Our family and friends?

Me with my cousins at the waterpark

Who do you feel close to?

Review

Big Ideas

1. All people have others they are close too and care about.

2. As artists we can share ourselves and our feelings for others.

Art Class | Smithsonian American Art Museum

William Johnson. Art Class

People enjoy spending time with their friends.

Today you might choose to make artwork about one of your friends.

What do you like to do with your friend?

What do you know about your friend?

Can you make a portrait of your friend by remembering what they look like?

Remember a portrait is a picture of a person.

People find beauty in nature. This mini lesson is about observing trees, and noticing changes throughout the seasons, and through the eyes of an artist. When you make your art, how can you express that beauty?

Printmaking

Thinking and Working as Artists-Printmaking

Create

2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

A. Skill Acquisition

Through experimentation on, build skills in various media and approaches to art making.

Art is Basic Printmaking

How is printing different than painting?

Can you think of something else you could dip in paint to make a print?

Lines Make Shapes-- PRINTING!

Be a shape detective...
What shapes can you find in these pictures?

How might you print these shapes with the straight line tool?

Where a Line Bends a Shape Begins

(Play before shape discussion)

Printing shapes with a straight line tool.

Video of printmaking techniques

1. Demonstrate making basic geometric shapes.

2. Have students practice first without paint to understand how to place their printing tool.

3. Students may get a second sheet of paper to create their own composition, or they may continue on with their first.

Supplies:

- Tempera paint

- Paper

- Cardboard pieces

Thursday, September 28, 2023

K Shape Friends

Monday, September 25, 2023

Think Inside the Box

Art --Think INSIDE THE BOX

We hear people say, think outside the box. What does this mean?

Believe it or not, some artists work inside the frame of a box. Their art composition is contained within the sides. It's not that they aren't being creative, it's their way of actually creating.

Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her large, monochromatic (one color), wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures. She would collect interesting objects that other people had discarded, arrange them together, and paint them all black, silver, gold or white!

Louise said that she knew she was an artist when she was 9 years old. Being an artist provided her an identity that she could make all her own. Louise expressed herself as an artist in every aspect of her life - and she certainly dressed the part. She favored a dramatic clothing and garments with piles of jewelry collected from her travels.

"when you put things together, things that other people have thrown out, you’re really bringing them to life."

- Louise Nevelson

Born in the Ukraine, Louise emigrated with her family to the United States over 100 years ago.

When she was a little girl, she loved to play with the wood scraps in her father’s lumberyard. As you look at Louise's art, do you suppose her childhood play with wooden pieces shows up in her art made as an adult? If so, what do you see that makes you say that?

“I always wanted to show the world that art is everywhere, except it has to pass through a creative mind.”

Louise Nevelson

Another artist that worked inside the frame of a box was Joseph Cornell

Joseph created assemblages. Think of an assemblage like a 3-D collage--a grouping of found objects and things.

Some artist have a theme or imagery that is repeated in their works of art.

Do you notice something reoccurring in Joseph's work?

Joseph worked inside sealed boxes, and artist Betye Saar often creates assemblages inside the box of a window frame.

Betye has said that seeing Joseph Cornell's assemblages inspired her to start building three-dimensional works based on found objects. Artists inspire one another.

Betye has a way of telling her own stories and stories about the world through symbols and artifacts.

Betye was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She has been a working artist for the past 60+ years. She is a mother to 3 daughters two of whom are also working artists. Betye is 94 years old and still creating new work.

To create her assemblage works, Betye Saar gathered items from her own life, including bits of fabric, photographs, and objects she found around the house.

"...it is my goal as an artist to create works that expose injustice and reveal beauty. the rainbow is literally a spectrum of color while...a symbol of hope and promise."
— Betye Saar

Tiny collages, drawings and mixed-media works all created in Match Boxes are part of the series called Omri (My Life) by Moroccan artist Mohamed Larbi Rahhali.

These photos capture just a fraction of the hundreds of Match Boxes in Mohamed Larbi Rahhali‘s piece, and the work is still ongoing.

In Mexico a popular type of art is a Nicho. It's a small box where scenes are created inside. Nichos are a type of folk art popular throughout Central and South America. Resembling dioramas, they are made from common household objects and craft materials.

The shadow box itself is easily converted from a cigar box, wooden containers, but can also be constructed from any lightweight wood or recycled tin. Colorful designs are painted on the box and borders Sequins, decorative bits and baubles and glitter can embellish the box.