Little Kids Garden Painting

While cleaning out my attic, I came across a box of leis, which I bought for a luau themed party that I never threw. Rather than throwing it away, I brought it to school and had my multiple complex needs students use them for a mixed media art piece.

As a class, we talked about how you don't need a paint brush to paint, you could use a sponge, a mop or your fingers. Then we wadded up plastic leis and dipped them into green and yellow paint to pat on paper for a background color for our garden art. Before the paint was even dry, students picked colors of flowers from the silk flower leis and glued them to the surface. It's a quick project and a great lesson for kids to learn about mixed media art, the concept of background and foreground, and planting gardens.

Summer Camp Survivor Medialions & Fishing Field Trip

My summer program students each made a necklace with a medallion they made from clay. They rolled out slabs, cut shapes, pressed textures or drew pictures.

And after a day (we set them in the sun for a few hours), they had become bone dry and so I fired them in the kiln for them to paint. Because most people didn't spend an hour making their medalion, there was lots of time just to play with the clay. No summer should be without a little play.

Other parts of our summer program included, fire building, setting up a tent, swimming and making team flag. One of our field trips was to a fishing education center called, Go Fish, in Perry Georgia. Students were able to practice tying knots, and fish on fishing simulators.

Then they fed fish in the aquariums.

They even caught a few fish of their own! It was fun day, a fun week, and a great way to way to start summer!

Paracord Bracelets

Because the theme of our summer camp was, "Survivor," I decided to teach my students how to make paracord bracelets. Rope or cord is something that comes in handy in emergency situations, to build a tent, hang wet clothes to dry, repel, or create a sling or sprint when someone gets injured on the trail.

And a bonus is that macramé knots can be learned by my campers who are blind or at least visually impaired.

I bought a kit with enough cord and clasps for 50 kids and it ended up being less than a dollar per bracelet.

We started with a long cord, folded in half, with the fold pushed into the hole in the buckle/ clasp. The two ends are pulled through the looop.

 It should look like this, once cinched.

Then the ends are pushed through the hole ont he other side of the buckle. Try to keep the cords parallel  untwisted. You can measure your wrist to see how much to allow through, or you can just try it on your wrist and adjust it, leaving a little room for the extra cords. I left 7 inches in the loop for my bracelet.

And then you start the process of tying knots to hold the appropriate length in place. You'll want to make the knots alternating left and right so that it will lay flat. Otherwise, you'll get a twist, which is great for things like hemp necklaces with little seashells, but too bulky for this project.

I started on the right, making a letter "P" by having the right cord loop to the right side and overlapping the two cords in the middle. The left cord lays on top on the crossing down on the left side of the two center cords.

Then the left cord goes behind the two center cords and pushes up and out of the right loop in the letter "P."  This looks a little like and upside down pretzel.

Once each of the two cords are pulled snug and slide up, you'll make the same knot on the left side. A backward "P" looks like a number 4. You make the loop by placing the left cord across the center cords at a 90 degree angle. Then the right side goes over the top of that cord, behind the center cords and up and through the loop. Pull both sides until the knot is complete. It's basically a square knot. with the right over left, left over right, pattern, except that the knot is tied around the two center cords.

When you get to the end, you cut off all the extra cord and then singe the ends to keep from fraying.

Clay Balloon Bowl Assignment

Slab bowls are easy to make for beginning art students. For this assignment we used balloons (taped to cups for stability) as a structure. We rolled out slabs of clay on the slab roller, but a rolling pin works as well. Then we cut the clay in to circular or oval shapes and draped it over the balloons. Some students created texture by stamping or rolling wooden tools over the surface before forming it into a bowl.

 

Students decided if they wanted the form to be crinkled and organic, like draped fabric, or more smooth with the excess trimmed away. 

Then they added a foot using a score and slip technique. They had the choice of creating a coil to make a circular foot, or rolling three small balls to make legs, some of which were formed into pyramids or cylinders after attaching to the bottom of the bowl. The balloon doesn't create very much resistance so it was a challenge, but only one student ended up popping their balloon while scoring the clay with a ceramic needle.  Once the clay is leather hard, they can be set right-side up, and the balloon can be popped or just allowed to shrivel up, while the clay dries completely. We did a bisque firing in the kiln at cone 06, and then glazed the inside. Some students glazed the inside and the outside, but it's important to keep the glaze off the feet so the bowl doesn't glue itself to the kiln shelf. It is a simple project that yields great results when it comes to the basics of working with clay.

Tactile Screen Prints for the Visually Impaired

For years a partnership with Georgia College and State University has blessed the lives of my students at the Academy for the Blind. College students have learned service learning and community outreach skills, and my students have benefited from art workshops. This year, Matt Forrest, professor and friend, came to make some tactile prints with my students.

First they screen printed flowers onto good printmaking paper (BFK). While the ink was still wet, students sprinkled the image with a a dusting of plastic. The paper was shaken for an even coverage and excess flocking was funneled back into the jar for the next student's print.

A heat gun was used to melt the plastic, which made a raised surface wherever there was ink.

Making the image tactile, helped visually impaired students color in the lines. They used watercolor crayons and colored pencils, which allowed them to use several colors on a single flower before blending the colors with a paintbrush of water. Everyone was so excited about the outcome. 

Even students with no vision and little hand control could color the entire background with several colors and make washes from applying water. Many of these art pieces went home just in time for Mother's Day. 

 

Paper Spinners

While studying Art related careers such as fashion, costume design, and set design, I decided that toy design would be something my students could actually use or give to a sibling or younger student to use for play. Toy making is much like learning to cook, you start with learning recipes that you can use as a springboard for creativity. You alter things until after time you come up with something totally unique. 

This spinning toy, I saw online and felt it was a perfect craft for my students who bring figits to class every day to deal with their stimming behavior. To make this, you will need: 16 strips of paper that were 8.5 inches by 1/4 inches. 4- 1 inch paper circles with a hole in the middle made with a hole punch, a bamboo skewer, a bead, and 1.5 inch piece of straw.  You'll also need liquid glue and maybe hot glue for the finishing touches. 

Start by putting glue on one of your donut shaped circles of paper and attaching the strips of 4 strips to make a plus sign, and then four more to make a multiplication sign. Then you can fill in every other space, to ensure that all 16 strips of paper are evenly distributed. Glue another "donut" to the top of the ends of the strips so that they are covered and more secure. Then put glue on a 3rd "donut" and turn the ends of each strip like the page of a book to glue it one by one to the top of  the "donut" near the hole. Top with the last paper donut shape.

Slide the skewer through the bottom and top holes like you are stringing a bead. Then glue a bead or two to the top with hot glue. Be sure it attaches to the paper "donut" and doesn't spin around.

The piece of plastic straw should have four slits made with a pair of scissors at the top and then spread out each prong like petals of a flower opening or a banana being pealed. Slide the straw, spread out but at the top, and glue each prong with hot glue to the bottom "donut" on the sphere. Careful! use the small glue gun with low heat so as not to melt the straw or burn yourself!

Once the glue is dry and cool you can spin the skewer between your fingers or hands. You can also spin the skewer between a finger and thumb of one hand while holing the straw with your other hand and twist the strips in both directions. Students found ways to play with these that I hadn't imagined, and loved hearing their laughter as they figured out new ideas.

 

Spring Art Show Color and Fashion

The last quarter has flown by, but we managed to fit our Spring Art Exhibition be March . Everyone who entered the room commented on how colorful the student work was, which means our color theory unit was a success. 

The exhibit was a nice way to wrap up our fashion unit as well. It's hard for blind students to enjoy arts shows, when so much of the work is two-dimensional, but we made sure the hats and masks were out for students to feel and try on. High Schoolers always show up to support each other at art show openings.

I love involving students in the selection process. I used to pick one maybe two pieces from each child to put on a couple 6 foot tables, but now that I found a room to use for a gallery, I can have class critiques that allow students to pick the best four pieces from each portfolio. We tried  to get a smattering from each project and then worked together during the hanging to arrange things in a way that would give a sense of balance over-all.

When placing the colorwheels on the way, we turned them to create hidden squares of color. Only a few people saw how all the yellows or all the blues for example faced in towards each other in a group of four circles. It's always nice to have "easter eggs" for people who take the time to find them.

Our primary and secondary relief sculptures hung on opposite walls. 

And the costume designs were a big hit as students explained their concepts to teachers and peers at the show.  It's so important for students to learn the curating process and help with hanging a show. They do better work when they know that their assignments aren't just made for a grade, but made to share.

 

Costume Design Project: The Hundred Dresses

Food inspired one student's dress designs: mochi, banana splits, onigiri, candy apples etc.

 To incorporate literature and career education into our art project, I read my students a book from 1944 called "The Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes. It's a Newberry honor book and top 100 teachers pick to read aloud. This sweet story tells of an impoverished girl who was bullied for saying she had 100 dresses, and after she moved they saw that she had 100 amazing drawings of dresses. My students and I made a goal to create 100 dress designs for our next exhibit.

One students obsession with architecture was his fashion line inspiration

Each student was to pick a theme for their designs. Some students were inspired by food, animals, seasons, or architecture. They could base their designs on a color pallet, a culture, or a decade. It's a great chance for each kid to explore their interests and express themselves. 

From celestial orbs to seasons of the year, there was lots of ideas for fashion themes.

Netflix has an amazing series called "Abstract," so we watched the episode about costume designer Ruth Carter (minus a few minutes with bad language). It gives a great look into the process and the career of costume design. Most art students have no idea how much research professional artists and designers put into their job.

animals can have always inspired fashion: zebra, peacock, clown fish and mantis shrimp

David Byrne's cult classic "True Stories" has a scene of a fantastic fashion show. I show that 4 minute clip to my students for inspiration, and then a behind the scenes documentary which is only 5 minutes. A quick discussion helps students generate ideas and push boundaries. When it comes to costume ideas, creativity counts.

P.S. This project was modified to accommodate students with no vision. Some made their drawings with Wiki Stix, while others mixed and matched heads, torsos and legs to create images using Fashion Plates. I want to give a shout out to my sister, Carolyn, for sending me this favorite childhood toy (she bought a new one for me). It's a perfect tactile solution for blind students to participate in the project independently.

Triadic Color Scheme Compositions

There are three basic classifications of color: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. The primary colors are three equally spaced on the color wheel. The Secondary are also equally spaced color wheel and anytime you use three equally spaced colors on the color wheel you get a TRIADIC COLOR SCHEME. 

For this quick project, students put pen to paper and use a line to create either curvilinear or rectilinear shapes. They could go back in and add some overlapping shapes. Then they picked either the primary colors or the secondary colors to make a triadic color study.

I expect my students who are blind to know the names of the primary and secondary colors and to draw their compositions, choosing what kind of shapes they want to make. I traced these drawings in hot glue so they could paint within the tactile perimeters for each color.

Analogous Watercolor Assignment

 

For a quick and easy color theory project, I had my students choose three neighboring colors on the color wheel to make an analogous watercolor painting. Students began by using masking/painter's tape to break up the picture plane into small, medium, and large, shapes. I like it when the strips of paint go off the edges of the paper, but smaller pieces can work too, as long as there is overlap of tape.

blind student uses fingers to navigate what parts of the paper still need painted.

blind student adding value to tape edges

Then the students wet their entire piece of paper with by brushing or spraying water on their watercolor paper. Next, they painted one color at one end, and then overlap a second color blending along the way. It could be two secondary, such as a blue at one end and red at another to make a purple in the middle, or they could use a primary in the middle like a blue with a blue-purple on one side and a green-blue on the other. 

That could be the end of the assignment, but I found everyone was able to take their painting to a next level but tracing their tape with a pencil and smudging it with their finger or gradually adding lighter value to fade it out, to create a shadow once the tape was pealed off.

By continuing to peal off one piece of tape at a time and shading around the intersections, a sense of layers and depth is created. For those with vision, they could even activate the background by creating even more layers. This was done by laying the tape done again in different positions and retracing/blending, and pealing off. What could have been a five minute exercise in mixing two or three colors to create a color harmony, now becomes an interesting composition using not only color, but line, shape, and value! That's a lot of ground being covered for a two day project.