Clay Owls

I saw an adorable clay plaque of an owl by an elementary schooler once, but couldn't quite remember how it looked, so I Googled "clay owl," and found the white image on the left. I thought it was a great little owl, and am hoping that my first graders have a good time making them next week. Here's how I approached the project:

I started with a ball of clay about the size of my palm when rolled into a ball.

Flattened it.


Used a marker cap to create a feathery texture where the bird's belly will be (this also works great for scales when making fish).

I smoothed out the edge of the clay and folded it towards the center to create the first wing.

Repeat on the other side for the second wing, smooth out the top and fold it down for the head.

Pinch the clay to make the "horns" if you want to make a traditional, Great Horned Owl.

The marker cap was used again to create the eyes, and a clay tool for the beak.

Then I trimmed the bottom of my owl, smoothed it out, and found a sea shell.

I used the sea shell to create a cute texture on the wings.

Once fired, I plan on having the children paint these with watercolors, and then I will add little wire feet on the bottoms. I also put a hole in the back so they can be hung on the wall when finished.

Big Mouths

I have spent a lot of time today getting ready for clay projects. I have only done clay with kindergarten and third grade, and we only have five more art classes! Here's what I'm planning for fifth grade; I found the project originally on Artsonia and made a "mental note" to come back to the gallery to more carefully examine the projects. However, I forgot to bookmark it and couldn't find it when I wanted to go back and view them. So, I used my imagination and came up with my own version. Last year, I had the kids look at charatures before creating these, and they turned out great. I'm at a new district now, and we have shorter classes so I'm not sure if I will be making that connection. I do plan on making a Smart Notebook presentation of them, just in case.

I started with a ball of clay about the size of a raquetball-almost as big as my palm. I pushed the handle of a paintbrush into it and made it into a pinchpot.

Two equal sized balls create the eyes.

I scored them, added slip, and smoothed them together (I call those my "Three Ss" for the kids to easily remember them). I used a marker cap to press the eyes into the clay. As I played with the nose, it started to look way too much like Elmo (curse of having a two-year-old?), so I used a clay tool to make nostrils instead. Then it looked like a frog to me, so I went with it by adding a long tongue.

He's after lunch, so I added a little bee/fly for him by rolling an oblong ball and pinching wings.

We will be painting these with watercolors, and adding details such as beads, feathers, wire, etc with hot glue.

Here is a completed example:

Found Art Mosaic

My school district has been saving bottle caps all year for one of many recycling projects. Milk caps, hairspray caps, shaving cream, you name it. All plastic caps have been accumulating in each building. One of my schools has a plethora and they are actually becoming a bit of a burden because we aren't sure what to do with them (and they are in the hallway where I am hoping to hang my art show next week). My principal and I were talking about them, and the main plan was to send them to Aveda, which uses them to make their product's bottles. We decided we needed a backup plan, since they are getting a little out of control. Our Media Aide found a website using bottle caps to make garden art and murals, which really got my brain moving! I have approached the same principal about using this idea, but expanding it-to old art/school supplies! Imagine-butterflies out of markers, eraser trees, crayon sunsets! I am really excited about the possibilities and my first step was to create a list of items to send home with all the kids, asking them to save some of the things they would otherwise throw away. I'm hoping when I come in the first week of school next year, there will be a big pile of old supplies so I can design a beautiful mosaic to do with the kids!

Willow Art Show

Our 6th Annual Willow River Art & Music Show was held last Friday, April 9th, 2010. It was a tremendous success! Our theme was "Celebrate You & Me," and all the student works were self portraits.

Here are some photos of our evening:

Our Atrium, where most of the student pieces were displayed, the talent show was held, and the Girl Scouts replenished food.

In the Media Center, checking out first grade's "In the Tall Tall Grass" self portraits. There was also a silent auction of community artwork and a band in the Media Center.

Fourth graders' Van Gogh self portrait plaques.

Watching the talent show.

Talent Show; a first grader playing "Heart & Soul" with her mom.

Each classroom created their own work of art with a parent volunteer to add to the silent auction. This was a fourth grade project. They mixed photos of the students-they were great, and a little creepy!

These two windows were a class project by one of the fifth grade classes.

Brillant idea! They are beautiful!

In the Tall Tall Grass

After reading "In the Tall Tall Grass" by Denise Fleming, my first grade students made these adorable collage images for the art show. We started by drawing a self portrait cartoon using guided drawing. I asked them to draw a large U for their face, and rainbows with curved lines below them for the eyes. They added two rainbows inside the eye shape for the pupils. A simple C shape created the nose. Next, we reviewed the many critters that were in the book that they could put in their picture. I asked them to imagine they were crawling through the grass and came upon the critter they chose. How would they feel? Happy? Amazed? Scared? Then I demonstrated some of those expressions on the board and asked them to create a face that displayed emotion. They colored these with colored pencil, very dark.

Next class, they drew the caterpillar. I gave them a smaller piece of paper and asked them to fill the page, so they wouldn't end up too small. I asked them to draw a teardrop shape for the head and showed them how to draw the body. They could create their own colors and patterns for their caterpillar.

The third class we designed the "critter" that would accompany the caterpillar and self portrait. I made up drawing sheets that helped the kids draw each of the critters step by step and demonstrated how to follow the sheets to create their desired critter. They also colored these with colored pencil.

We were finally ready to start putting it all together! First they needed to choose what time of day they wanted it to portray. Some of the critters required a certain time; such as fireflies or bats, and others didn't matter as much. I put out yellow (for daytime), light blue (for "dinner time") and dark blue (evening) paper for the kids. They sponge painted 3-5 blades of grass first, then I had them paint Art Paste under and over pieces of tissue paper for another 3-5 blades of grass (a 50/50 glue/water mixture would also work, I just like the ease of Art Paste). I showed them how to glue a section of the tissue and then fold it over, creating grass like in the book. I instructed them to glue their face and critters whenever it made sense for their picture. For example, if they wanted the critter hiding in the grass, they should glue it down after painting the grass but before using the Art Paste. If they wanted the critters very easy to find, they should glue them last.

The final step was to add "extras." I showed them how to make 3D flowers by wrapping a strip of tissue paper around three fingers and folding the end over. I told them it was just like "folding a sock or a cuff on your sleeve." Next, they wrapped Twisteez wire around a sharpened stick to get a spiral for the pistols. I told them they could use zero, one, two, or three pistols in each flower. They added glue in the middle of the tissue paper, put the wires in, and twisted the bottom of the tissue paper. They could have as many flowers as they wanted. I also showed them how to use the Art Paste to add a long tongue on a frog, or sponge paint yellow at the bottom of a firefly to make it look like it was glowing.

They turned out adorable, and I can really see each child's personality come through in their image-which is my favorite part about teaching art!

Van Gogh Clay Self Portraits

A coworker brought me a clipping from a magazine with several art projects. One of them was Vincent van Gogh's self portraits using modeling clay. The clay gave the image in the magazine the perfect texture to imitate van Gogh's use of thick paint resulting in many lines within the paintings. However, when I tried this technique on foamcore board, I had trouble getting it to stick to the smooth surface. I'm sure matboard would work great, but I didn't have enough for my three classes so I tried using regular clay instead and liked the results.

I began by taking a headshot of each student, printing it out, and cropping it into a 7" square. Students were given a slab of clay almost 7" and shown how to use a rolling pin to increase the size. The photos were then placed onto the clay, and they used a clay tool to trace over all of the features and the outside of the photo. When the photo was removed, their image was imprinted in the clay.



Students trimmed the square and used the excess clay to make coils for their hair, and a pattern in the background. They also used a clay tool to make the lines of their image slightly deeper and easier to see. I let them dry and then fired them, and quite a few of them cracked. I was disappointed, because that didn't happen to my example so I didn't consider it when I was letting them dry. I would recommend finding a way to let them dry more evenly; another art teacher suggested to me using old screens for them to dry on.




When the projects were fired, students painted them using tempera paint. They started with their skin tone, moved on to mixing a shade for their hair, and finally completed it with colors for their eyes, mouth, shirt, and background.

Amedeo Modigliani Self Portraits

As you can probably tell by how many images I have above, I think this project turned out very well. We started by looking at portraits by Amedeo Modigliani and noticed his elongated necks, vacant expressions, and use of color. Next, students began sketching their self portrait in pencil. I used a guided drawing technique by demonstrating on the board, and asking them to repeat the technique. I like this way of teaching at times, because despite showing them how I would draw the shape I am able to encourage their creativity and remind them that my way is only one of many possibilities. I showed them how to use guidelines to correctly draw their facial features, and we made sure to connect their eyebrows and noses like Modigliani often did.

Next, the students began the color. We used oil pastels for their vibrant colors and easy blending ability. I showed them how to cover their skin with a flesh tone similar to the shade of their skin and then add a slightly darker shade in the places "where most people sunburn." I say most people so I don't hear a round of "but I don't sunburn!" I point to the drawing's nose, cheeks, center of the forehead, and chin as places to add the darker shade. I also remind them that their chin and hair would cast a shadow on their face, so they should also add the darker shade there. Then use a clean finger to blend the darker color into the lighter color. The eyes were colored in grey, and they used their eye color to simply draw an outline of a circle to give the drawing a vacant expression. I heard a lot of "Woah, I look creepy!" I was sure to remind them that if they look creepy, they're on the right track!

I also showed them how to add highlights to their hair in a number of ways. They could add the lighter color first and color over it, or color around it. They could also color in the darker color first and add the lighter lines on top. I demonstrated all three techniques so they could see that layering color in a different order would create different results. Students were allowed to color their shirt one color, and their background different color. I really wanted them to keep it simple, and I think they are really eye catching! I'll be sure to post pictures of the whole display at the art show on Friday!