Some more sewing. (Fixed the large photo problem! It was so very simple really !)

Here's a bit of a gallery showing some of the sewing projects completed from the Picasso printmaking activites from several classes in years 4 to 7. Some classes did potato printing others did collograph printmaking. Both classes had to add stitches in order to decorate their fabric.

What is modern art?

With the excursion to Art Gallery of WA to see the Picasso to Warhol exhibition coming up soon I have chosen to focus on modern art this term. We have already met Picasso earlier in the year so this term we will be exploring the work of Miro, Matisse, Calder, Lichtenstein and of course Andy Warhol.
I found this video- it's a great way to introduce and explain the concept of modern art to the middle and upper primary kids.

Sew simple!

In one room of year 5/6's many of the children were reluctant to participate in a sewing activity. In order to engage them I opted to allow them to negotiate with me as to what they would do in order to demonstrate they can make decorative stitches and construction stitches.

They all jotted down three things they wanted to do. Most of them wanted to make mascots or toys. As these were such a similar concept I decided to allow them to make either one. Some kids wanted to make cushions and a couple wanted to personalise their hats. I couldn't see any reason why they couldn't but a quick trip up to the principal reassured us.

So with the direction of making something about A5 to A4 size (things that are too small are difficult to manipulate for this age group and I don't have enough in the budget to make life size toys!)with stitches for decoration and construction the kids set about brainstorming and sketching their ideas. The kids went home to search for fabric scraps from their folks to bring in to share.

From these sketches they had to create a plan and from the plan a pattern.

These had to be cut from fabric bought in from home ( mostly from my home ;) Luckily I needed to clear out some of my stash from home.- and some bought from the shop to supplement our stash) 

The kids are also learning to use the irons to smooth their fabric for cutting and sewing, and about the safety issues that go with them.

 Then the fun began! The patterns had to be pinned and cut making sure they had two pieces that were mirror image of each other so that they could be fitted together and stitched and stuffed. (Again maths overlaps with art!)

 So we are part way through our project so I will post some of the finished pieces.

"Mystery Mess" is a great game to play after a session like this because it is a very messy activity. Before the kids start to pack up I say "Today is a mystery mess." - sometimes for a faction card, sometimes for a prize. I pick an item that I can see that is out of place but I don't let the kids know what it is. The kids have to rush about looking for things that are out of place, putting them away as they go. When everything is neat and tidy I announce what I had my eye on and the person who attended to it gets the reward.

  

BEST game EVER!!!

looking and seeing...

Every now and then I do a structured lesson where I direct the children with their drawing. Today I used Mona Brookes's book "Drawing with Children". In this book Mona breaks everything you draw into 5 basic elements. Circles (empty closed round shapes), dots (coloured round closed shapes) straight lines, curved lines and angled lines. To start the lesson we all looked at an object and considered what lines and shapes we would need to create a drawing of the object- surprisingly we ended up with the same kind of things that Mona would have suggested! ;)

From there we followed step by step instructions to draw a lion. We talked about how even though we would all be following the same instructions our final products might be quite different.

We also talked about how it is ok to make a mistake and this is not wrong but an opportunity to be a bit more creative to solve the problem of making a line that is not quite the way we want it to work for us in our art work.

Once the kids finished following my instructions they went on a "studio walk" to have a look at everyone else's work and see how they interpreted the instructions and solved any problems they had.

After the studio walk we thought about places we may find a lion and the kids were then able to create the rest of their art work from their own imaginations adding any other details they might need to make their drawings work.

They were given the freedom to select from a number of choices when it came to adding colour. So although we started with a lesson that was highly structured  listen and follow instructions it ended allowing children to explore ideas and medium independently in an unstructured way.