Sculpture Center Innovations

The Sculpture Center is always a lively spot in the CBMS art studio. Here artists envision, experiment, discover, invent and collaborate, using a wide range of found and foraged materials.

Cardboard and craft stick sophistication - Go Man Go

Papier mache for first-timers

6th Grade collaboration - "Baby-faced Robot"

 

"A Single Straw" (AKA "Gangster Pants")

 Click arrow to play!

Artist caught “blue-handed”

“M” is making a collection of clay poker chips. Each group needs to be painted a different color – but there are SO MANY of them! It didn’t take long for “M” (5^th grade) to invent a quicker, more direct painting method:

1. Paint hands

2. rub paint on poker chip

3. repeat

Passions!

7th grade "A" loves wolves

Some artists have “passions” around a particular theme or subject. The art studio is a place where these persistent interests are explored, expanded and expressed.

 Redwall-inspired clay figure by "E," grade 7. This is the latest in a series of clay figures started last year.

...the latest

Stitching and Stuffing

"S", a 6^th grader, wanted to try quiltmaking. First he decided on the pattern (9-patch) and the size of each quilt square. I suggested he make a cardboard template so each piece he cut would be uniform in size. We reviewed a running stitch and how to tie a knot, discussed the fact that most quiltmakers sew with a ¼” seam, and he started in.

The first 9-patch was sewn by hand.

Next, I suggested he might want to try the sewing machine.  The next three 9-patches were sewn by machine and assembled into a group of four. The quilt started to look like a good size for a pillow, but time was quickly running out – the quarter was almost over.

I brought in my rotary cutter and cutting mat, and a transparent ruled guide so "S" could cut fabric patches more quickly.  The sewing machine provided its own kinds of lessons, like running out of bobbin thread, necessitating learning how to wind a bobbin.

There are only three more days before the end of the quarter – I’m not sure if the quilt/pillow will be done in time. We are negotiating now for afterschool/recess/study hall time when a few more seams can be sewn and stuffing can be stuffed.

Speaking of stuffing – I was not sure what "S" would use to fill this special pillow – it is quite large by classroom standards, and will take a lot of stuffing.

Last night I an email from a parent: “I am doing some cleanup and I have a bag of new pillow fill that I don't need… Before I throw that away, I thought I should ask you if you can use that fill. If so, I can send the bag to school…”

What luck!

Thanks to the parents who continue to stock the art larder, with all the things that are just what we need!

FINISHED!

Make PRINTS!

"L" works on a print edition

Printmakers are a certain type of artist - they need to be attentive to detail - keep a clean work area and have high standards for excellence. The goal here is to make a set of prints (called an edition) with the right amount of ink, to center the image on the page and to keep clean borders.

 Success!

Relief print edition in blue, by "H", Grade 6

Happy Halloween!

Paper marbling turned spooky on Friday as thoughts turned to Halloween

In a learner-directed classroom, students  make art about their interests, life events and passions. When a holiday is near, students' work may reflect their excitement and understanding of family and community celebrations.

"M" and "N" (grade 6) lend a hand to "L" to help her finish a Halloween costume in time

The Art of Collaboration

Three sixth graders work together to create a papier mache robot

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has identified collaboration as an important proficiency for today’s students to develop: “Students will work together effectively to share and accept responsibility, compromise respectfully to reconcile diverse ideas, and accomplish a common goal.” (Partnership for21st Century Skills, http://www.p21.org/). In the CBMS art studio, students may choose to work independently, with a partner or in small groups.

When students choose to work in a team, the collective energy of creating together is powerful and motivating.

This Pirate Ship is the product of five 6^th grade artists working together with a shared vision and high standards.

Usually collaborative projects are confined to a single class and a single grade, but sometimes a project jumps across the contrived borders of the school day to be shared between students from different classes. In these cases, a sort of messaging system is devised so that the next group attending to the project will know “what’s next” or what has been accomplished already.

A note left by one group of artists to communicate with fellow collaborators:  "Dear Connor and Kyle, We like what you added. Please don't change the stuff me and Taylor made. The things made out of cups and black is a battle suit."

Art collaborations sometimes leak out of the regular school day and are worked on after school, checked on between classes, or attended to at recess.  Some of the most enthusiastic, creative middle school artists at CBMS are those who collaborate to make art.

By "K" and "T," Grade 6, (part one of a series).