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Our Unschoolers Co op is still meeting over the Summer. Today we had a stuffed animal re-do. Everyone brought a few stuffed animals to throw in the pot of parts and pieces. We literally cut them up into pieces–arms, legs, heads, bodies, tails and wings were separated into piles.
Kids were able to choose what parts and pieces they wanted to sew back together
Some kids sewed the animals back together the way they were meant to be
Most kids made a new and improved version!
Have you ever tried to make something out of a block of plaster of paris? Carve and chip away to make an abstract or realistic piece of art? It’s hard. I have a new appreciation for sculptures who do this type of subtractive art work. The kids in my classes along with myself all agreed that additive sculptures where much easier!
Over the weekend my very nice, helpful and generous husband mixed up several buckets of plaster of paris and poured it into empty milk cartons. We let these dry or “cure” for a couple of days.
Most of the instructions I found for this included adding vermiculite to the plaster of paris to make the carving process easier but because of the health concerns over breathing in the vermiculite we decided to leave it out. You can also add sand or dirt but I was already way over budget and could not purchase another thing so straight plaster of paris it was.
I brought lots of different tools to class and we were lucky the weather allowed us to do this messy-dusty project outside. We looked at works of art of Barbara Hepworth, George Segal, Jean Arp and The Nana’s. We talked about abstract art vs realistic sculptures.
And then we got to work:
Hammers and mallets were pounding, flat head screw drivers were poking and lots of plaster was flying around. The kids really enjoyed this physical process but were definitely challenged by the material.
Once kids were happy with there work they sanded their sculpture and used tempra cakes to paint their pieces. The paint dried almost immediately on most pieces.
And I love the consideration of all sides and angles on this piece!
This was the final week of this session of our unschooler’s co op. I absolutely loved leading these classes. I learned so much along with the kids. Looking forward to doing it again!
Our unschooling co op is moving right along. Hard to believe we only have one more week of the session. This week during art class we looked at the works of Louise Nevelson and tried our hand at our own additive sculptures.
We used hot glue guns to build our pieces with various odds and ends and bits and pieces.
Next kids chose a color to paint their sculptures.
Next week subtractive sculpture.
We talked about The Linares Family of Mexico and their spectacular art of paper mache. Here is a link chock full of information and links to some of their works. http://www.driftwood-dreams.co.uk/learn_papier_mache/history.htm
The Linares Family is well known for the mythical like beasts they create known as alebrijes. Popular artists like the Linares are known as cartoneros. Most cartoneros make fanciful paper mache objects for major celebrations during the year, most notable Day of the Dead and Easter week. I didn’t know this when I planned out six weeks worth of our Unschooling Co-op art lessons but it ended up perfect timing that we made these the week before Easter! After looking at some of Felipe Linares Mendoza’s work we created our own little beasts out of foil, covered in newspaper and masking tape.
They were then covered in strips of newspaper moistened in a slightly watered down glue mixture.
We left them to dry until the following week when we painted them. We talked about the style of painting and the patterns used by the Mexican artists and the kids were encouraged to paint their alebrijes in the style of the cartoneros work we looked at.
I LOVE them!! They turned out great!! I would really like to try out more paper mache activities.
Today at our Unschooling Co op we talked about Alexander Calder’s Finny Fish and Nathan Carter’s Radar Reflector. I was really excited to share the works of these artists with the kids because last Fall we went to Chicago to see this exhibit live and up close!!
We used coated copper wire to fashion the outer shape. It wasn’t stiff enough on it’s own so I doubled the wire by twisting 2 pieces together. The kids each brought a bag of ” junk” from home—odds, ends, bits, pieces, old keys, washers, spools, buttons, caps, beads etc…
After each student was happy with their outer shape we taped them down to the floor to help with stability as they worked on adding more wire from end to end.
We used both galvanized and copper wire and floral wire to wrap objects and secure them on to their sculptures.
It was so neat to see how each was so different and how some kids spent lots of time beading or wrapping while others spent a long time on getting their piece to be just the right shape.
Some kids spent lots of time on the details!
Next week….paper mache!
It’s been a long time since I last posted! To say I have been busy is an understatement! Less than two months ago, several members of our local unschooling group met at a local coffee shop to talk about starting an unschoolers co-op and today we held our first day of classes with about 25 families and 60 kids! We have 4 sessions in which we offer several different classes. Some classes are taught by outside teachers and many led by parents. Several of us have really worked hard to get this up and running so quickly…it is sort of unbelievable that we made it happen…and happen so well I might add!
I am teaching 2 sessions of art. My head is so full of possible ideas it might just pop off and my kids are so glad I have a new audience to share all these ideas with! (Although both of them chose to take my class!)
Today we talked about artist, Holton Rower. You may have seen his YouTube video of his TALL PAINTINGS that has been all over the internet lately. I loved it so much and thought it was a perfect project for a first class discussion about process vs product. My husband I built a smaller version of Rower’s pedestals using a piece of 4 inch 2×2 on its end screwed on to a 4inch 2×4 on it’s side and finally screwing those to a 12 x 12 piece of plywood.
Rower uses acrylic paint and there was no way I could afford to buy that much acrylic paint. Then I realized that latex house paint is acrylic paint! Perfect!! We visited a few Habitat for Humanity re-stores and Home Depot’s for some cheap paint before remembering we have a friend with a painting business and TONS of extra paint. Perfect again!!
We looked at a few prints of Rower’s Pour Paintings and I let the kids try to guess how he put the paint down.
Then we watched the video and talked about product vs process.
Luckily I had tons of helpers today! This project was A LOT of set up! First I covered everything with tarps and cardboard. We poured small amounts of paint into dixie cups and let the kids pick their colors.
And the pouring began!
Each of my students made 2 pour paintings and luckily we were able to leave them undisturbed until next week. Hopefully they will dry by then!
I am so happy with the way this project turned out! The kids loved making them too! I would love to try this on a larger scale someday. I certainly have enough left over paint!!
Could these creatures we made out of modeling clay be any more cute?
This is “Baby”
This is Baby and her best friend…hmmm “best friend” looks a bit frightened!
I love them!
