Summers-Knoll Art Class

Graduation

2011-06-09T05:04:00.000-07:00

June 8th the whole Summers-Knoll family- parents, students, teachers, staff- met at County Farm Park for graduation. What a lovely way to close out the year. Joanna wrote incredible poems for each child, Jan helped the kids prepare some singing and dancing, and we in the art room made the lovely red sashes you see in this photo. Earlier in the week, the kids made paper badges for the older kids who were graduating. It was sweet, and they looked great. Happy Summer time!

Trip to plant the seed bombs

2011-06-09T04:59:00.000-07:00

June 1st we packed some bags of seed bombs and walked to an undisclosed location to throw them. It was such a lovely day. We walked, talking about nothing and everything. Even though it was not the last day of art, it felt like really great closure for the year. Now we will have to watch and see if our plants will grow!

Seed Bomb Factory

2011-05-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

Seed Bomb Recipe

2011-05-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

Seed Bombs

The weapon of choice for guerrilla gardeners everywhere, seed bombs (or seed grenades) are compressed balls of soil and compost that have been impregnated with wildflower seeds. Jettisoned onto barren, abandoned, or otherwise inhospitable land, including construction sites and abandoned lots, seed bombs are a way of beautifying abandoned areas. "Kaboom" sounds optional.
source: planetgreen.com

Recipe:

5 cups red clay powder

1 cup worm castings

1 cup seeds

1 cup water

yield: about 40 seed bombs

Great Quote

2011-05-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

Oliver: I am surprised by what great artists we are!
Arvid: Do you know why we are such great artists?
Oliver: Why?
Arvid: Because it's what we were born to do!

Sunprints

2011-05-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

Today we walked over to County Farm Park with a mini photo art lab. The kids collected sticks, stones, and plants to make sun prints with pretreated light sensitive paper. We developed the paper with water, and now the sheets are spread out and drying all over my house. Soon you will see the finished work.

Weaving

2011-05-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

Spring time means weaving for the Kindergarten class. First with paper..... soon with yarn and ribbons!

Open Studio Part 2

2011-05-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of the kids working during open studio time. If you were a fly on the wall, you would be able to see a room full of engaged children working on vastly different projects: painting, origami, drawing, and three dimensional construction. Happy times.

Open Studio Days

2011-04-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks we have been doing open studio style art lessons. Each day there are between five to seven different activities available in the room. The kids use trays and choose their supplies before settling down to work. This week we had sled kites, mandalas, origami, tempera paint, drawing from instructional books, soft wire/small beads. Next week we will be doing different kinds of weaving. The kids love this style of classroom set up the best. They love the freedom within the supported structure. The really amazing part of this style of teaching for me is the diversity of the outcomes, and the joy of the children. It makes our time together this amazing time of exploration and discovery.

Mosaic

2011-01-09T20:35:00.000-08:00

Mosaic

Susan Carpenter's 1/2 class, Elaine's K class

Day One: Mosaic pieces are glued to ceramic tile.

Day Two: Grout is spread over tile and washed off.

Arnav says "You are supposed to make a mess. That is what art is all about"

Terrariums

2010-12-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

Class: Elaine's Kindergarten
Day1: We put soil, moss, water, and accessories into mason jars. After they were done, we drew pictures of our terrariums and then a 'walking gallery tour' of the room.
Bonus round: We learned about aquariums, vivariums, terrariums. Andrew is drawing his terrarium with a live creature in it..... imagining it as a vivarium.

Blind Box Manufacturing Facility

2010-12-08T19:01:00.000-08:00

Class: Susan's 1/2, Renata's 3/4/5
Day 1: We chose the shapes we would use and made sketches for the toys.
Day 2: We decorated box templates.... and sent them out to get copied onto card stock.
Day 3: We started coloring the boxes and wooden toys.
Day 4: Finish toys/boxes, assemble. Make signs for sale.

Wild Things

2010-12-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Class: Elaine's Kindergarten
Day 1: We read Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, and then made some monsters with watercolor on white paper. We also took pictures of ourselves making wicked faces.
Day 2: We cut out the print outs of our faces and glued them on white paper. We drew wolf suits. With tempera we made a huge forest on butcher paper and glued the monsters and wolf suit kids in. Magic.

Is it too soon to plan for spring?

2010-11-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

Guerilla moss graffiti artist Anna Garforth makes these beautiful installations in England. I found the moss milkshake recipe online, and I am ready to unleash the kids on the city...... but wait, whats that you say? I have to wait for spring? Bah. Well, in the meantime we can dream of mossy walls, and of other green graffiti projects... like the Operation:Ivy League or seed bombing.

p.s. did I mention Anna calls herself a mossenger?

Author Studies: Molly Bang

2010-11-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

One of the best author/illustrators of all time is Molly Bang (says me). While the older kids are working on their blind box project, Elaine's class will be reading Molly Bang books in the art room. We will be reading Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher, Paper Crane and Dawn.

Molly also wrote and illustrated this amazing book on design, Picture This. She explains how shapes and lines can be used to create a mood. The book is written for children, but many college professors and designers use it as well. Watch out for the collage projects we will make inspired from her work!

Blind Box Project (an introduction)

2010-11-23T20:03:00.000-08:00

Blind box toys are an interest of mine, and when I showed some to the SK students, they were intrigued- so we decided to make a blind box toy company. Well, maybe a few companies. I am sure you will be hearing more about it as we go along. In case you are unaware of the wonder and beauty of the blind box toy, let me share.

This is what you would see inside a comic book store like Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor or similar. Each of these six displays contains 24-36 little boxes costing $7-$10. Inside each of these boxes is a toy, but you can't see it until you open it. It is kind of like a Cracker Jack toy without the Cracker Jacks (and when they still had toys). It is also kind of like a Kinder Egg without the chocolate, and with no assembly required. The label on the box gives you a hint... but you don't know for sure.

These toys are called Jibibuts. They are made of wood, which is a new trend in these toys. They are usually made from cast vinyl. Which one would you like? How many boxes would you be willing to buy before you got it?

This set is from one of my favorite companies called Friend With You. The special thing about them is that each one has a little tiny fairy like bell inside it. They are amazing.

These are called Dunnys. They are from one of the biggest blind box toy companies called Kid Robot. Each toy is the same shape and artists are commissioned to decorate them for a limited edition release.

These are the wooden shapes that we will use for our project. The students will be designing the boxes and the toys. Lucky for you their pricing will be a bit more reasonable than the more established companies- probably $1. Anyways I just wanted to give you a heads-up so you are ready for our sale..... assuming we are willing to part with any of them!

What would you make with four feet of foil?

2010-11-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we worked diligently on some paper lanterns to decorate the lunch room, but when we were done, I got out a few rolls of aluminum foil. Everyone happily adorned themselves in the stuff and much fun was had by all. Thankfully Susan took pictures and sent them to me so you can see the fun too. Susan saves the day again!

Still Life

2010-09-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

So we looked at some examples of still life from the Renaissance, and then made some of our own in the Art room. Take a look at these shots of some of the kids in situ....

Clay Day!

2010-09-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

The lovely, talented and generous Susan took pictures of us in the art room today. We have been further exploring the proportions of the face by making small clay portraits. Soon I will post pictures of the finished work. Once they have been fired and once we paint them GOLD.

Some thoughts about planning

2010-09-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

Before we begin a new theme at Summers-Knoll, all of the teachers research that theme, and begin to form lessons and project plans that we want to do with the kids. We also have meetings to share our plans with each other and sometimes combine classes or take whole school outings together. The really fun part for me is when the kids become involved and then the plans take a new turn. For instance, when studying Renaissance art, I really became attached to the idea of studying and talking about perspective in realistic depictions of scenes. I was also interested in the narrative and symbolic nature of Renaissance art. For a warm up, we began by learning to draw human proportion and talk a little bit about chiaroscuro, or intense shading. The kids got really excited about this. Which means my lessons on perspective will have to wait, while we take this lovely turn in the road and study drawing more deeply. Having the flexibility to follow where the student's interest takes us is a gift. By going to the subjects that interest them, we all have a more meaningful experience. But also, this is a little bit of an explanation for why the calendar that I have posted will not always match what you see happening in the room. I think it is important to have a kind of a road map for the theme, all the time recognizing that we will be stopping along the way and changing the course a bit.

Student Drawings using Face Proportions

2010-09-14T10:48:00.000-07:00

After looking at a digital slide show of some of Leonardo DaVinci's sketches, we began to make our own. Each student worked diligently to make accurate compositions. The lines you see mark the face into thirds and quarters, using principles that DaVinci used.

Face Proportion

2010-09-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Today we will be studying proportion, specifically proportion of the human face. During the Renaissance, many artists became interested in science, and in understanding the human form. We will be looking at the sketches of Leonardo DaVinci and preparing some sketches of our own.

Painting Flower Pots for Mother's Day

2010-05-09T16:26:00.000-07:00

All the kids in school transplanted flowers into terra cotta pots and then decorated them for their mothers, grandmothers, and mother-type people in their lives. These pictures show Mrs. Adhikary's class hard at work, but every Summers-Knoll mother will have a flowers to enjoy the whole summer long, as long as those little pots get water every day!

Another great picture of Festifools

2010-04-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

Elaine took this great shot of the end of the parade. Even the puppets look tired!

Festifools!

2010-04-13T05:36:00.000-07:00

My son Josh came and took pictures of all the fun. We posted a few of them on the flikr set. Sweet Elaine also shared some of hers with me. Thank you! Talking with the kids on the following day they made the following observations: Next year we should make lighter puppets! Next year we should all wear costumes! Next year we should all stay together! Next year we should bring water bottles! Next year we should make a big puppet on wheels! For more of their ideas on planning for next year, visit the common room and look on the wall by the sinks.