Book week

Today we had our book week dress up parade. There is SO much excitement and energy in the school - on top of that everyone is wearing fancy clothes that we don't want paint or ink on so I decided to take advantage of the colour and fun of the day and use it for inspiration of our art works. 

Our normal art classes, following this terms programme of work would have us printing with messy ink or using messy PVA glue and paint so with all our special costumes I thought it bes to make a programme detour!

I decided to go as 'Ragged Little Blossom' from Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. This presented a learning opportunity to show the kids other art work by May Gibbs.

 I had a sudden Light bulb moment this morning as I got ready for school and came up with a cool idea for today's art classes using her work as inspiration. I found a few gum leaves and copied them in coupler on the photocoppier. 

The children looked at May Gibbs's work and used their imagination to populate their gum leaves with their own fairy folk - cute or gruesome, their choice!     

Some kids decided to use their sketch books to plan and try out different critters and creatures ...

Others just jumped in and began drawing.

The other option was to use a long strip of paper to record some of their favourite costumes in the Book Week parade.

We all decided it was one of the best art lessons ever!

 

Groovy Shakers

Our 'Cultural Presentation' day is fast approaching! The children from PP/1 up to the threes in room 14 are decorating the shakers they have made in music. They will be using them during music lessons and during the performance.

We covered their rice filled containers with a couple of layers of paper mâché.

 Last week some classes managed to get their shakers painted and today they decorated them with a variety of materials.

At the beginning of the lesson I showed them the types of materials that were available - feathers, Pom poms, foam shapes, sequins, tissue and coloured papers. We discussed ways that the various materials could be used.

The children then planned their designs selecting from the materials available. The only direction was they had to use at least one of the paper ribbons they printed patterns on last week and not grab handfuls of all the materials without thinking of others. 

There wasn't a mountain of certain things so they were limited to about four of some things. For example they could have four big feathers or four alien stickers but not 4 of both. Luckily my stock order arrived today so these trays of goodies can be replenished for next weeks classes.

There were heaps of sequins and small feathers so there was no limit - besides being thoughtful and using only what you need and returning the rest! 

Part of the lesson is to be creative within the limitations of what is available and to share what is there.

We are also busy writing procedures explaining how to do paper mâché, so some children were finishing these off and will complete their shakers next week.

Some children completed theirs today. They are looking fab! 

I can't wait to see them all done. They will look amazing!

 

Lots of Lino

Today the children from rooms 25 and 3 started printing with fabric ink onto or lengths of curtain fabric. These will be used as backdrops for our Cultural presentation day and then turned into much needed curtains for the music room.

The children also had the opportunity to create a run of four individual prints for themselves on paper. These ones will come home at the end of the year. 

Once they had printed or were waiting for their turn to print the children began to write a procedure outlining how to make a Lino print.

To make the turn taking fair the kids grab a peg from my numbered peg station. When the printmaking station is free I call out the next number. This saves a lot of time where they would otherwise be waiting in line for their turn.

There are some great designs! They look fabulous together. I can't wait to see the whole lot completed!

More printmaking.

Our older children are also exploring printmaking. 

Following last terms incursion of an African drumming group, we looked at Adinkra cloth from Ghana. The symbols on this cloth all have meaning and are made with a combination of simple geometric shapes. The children used these ideas as inspiration to create their own symbols that have meaning to them. 

They are using Lino printmaking techniques, transferring their designs onto the Lino and carving away the negative space. 

These designs will be printed onto fabric to be used as backdrops for our upcoming Cultural Presentations where the kids will share what they've been doing in Art,LOTE and Music. After this event the backdrops will be made into curtains for the music room. 

Planning the design.

Transferred onto Lino. 

Carving CAREFULLY!!!! 

Using a bench hook,

Making sure our fingers are BEHIND the carving tool

and we are carving away from them.

Doing our best to follow the 'No blood in the art room rule' ;) fortunately only a couple of mishaps!

Artist proofs (first test prints to check if the printmaking plate is ready)

They are going to be great backdrops!