An Artist's Reference

“E,” a 6^th grader, was first through the door today. She came prepared for artmaking and carried with her a greeting card with a painting of a blossoming amaryllis plant on it. As soon as the whole-group “five-minute lesson” was completed, she went directly to the clay center  to begin sculpting a flower, using the painting on the card for reference and inspiration.

“E” has been working with the idea of flowers and clay over the last several classes. One single flower she crafted on a slender stem broke off at the base of the bloom. Yesterday she put the finishing touches on a decorated lidded jar (shown below), also featuring a flower theme.

The idea of lidded jars has also been repeated by “E” over several classes. After I observed that the first lid slid around on top of the jar, I showed “E” some ideas for creating a “gallery” inside the lid to help keep it in place.

‘E” is demonstrating many of the 8 studio habits we use to guide and describe our work as artists in the studio – Engage and Persist, certainly, as she returns to similar ideas and creates a body of work around a theme. ‘E” also employs the habits Observe:  demonstrating alertness to the flower reference from home that helped shape today’s work, and Envision, as she imagines what to make and how to go about it, seeing the project  “in her mind’s eye.”  

Flowers brought in for a sketching skill-builder became the perfect reference for "E" to continue her work. Now where can we get ladybugs and caterpillars this time of year I wonder...

Develop Craft is the habit “E” employs when she learns and practices new skills and techniques. Actually, it’s hard to name a “studio thinking habit” ‘E” is not demonstrating. Stretch and Explore comes into play when “E” takes a creative risk, or tests out new ideas. Reflect is a habit used throughout her work, to help guide needed adjustments as she goes along.  The last two habits are also in play – Express: Learning to create works that communicate an idea, a feeling, or a personal meaning and Understand Art World: Learning about art history and current practice, learning to work as an artist within a community of artists. “E” uses this habit when she learns about artistic conventions and  practices,  re-interprets and incorporates another artist’s painting into her clay sculpture.

The 8 Studio Thinking Habits of Mind have been on my mind a lot these days, since I am participating in an online conference with Lois Hetland, one of the originators of this framework, and art educators from around the country who are using Studio Thinking habits to inform their work with students.

Busy Studio

Second trimester ends on Friday - Third quarter is several weeks underway. 5th and 6th graders come for a quarter each this year, 7th and 8th graders stay for a trimester. There is a lot going on in the studio this week! In addition to their regular daily art classes, 7th and 8th graders have been using the studio during their study hall block to complete a social studies assignment. There are papier mache mummies and mountains and craft-stick villages sprouting up everywhere. 

5th and 6th graders are getting their first experience on the potter's wheel and enjoying clay exploration at the handbuilding table.  All the good tiles have been used up for mosaics.  An 8th grader commented during his final reflection today: "Nan suggested I try a mosaic, and I didn't think I wanted to, but now I really like it and I'm glad I tried one!"  Batik and encaustic have wound down a little at last, but promise to reprise next week when the classes change and I get a new group of 7th grade girls.
I paused on my way out of the studio the other day to take a photo and a deep breath. It is a busy art studio!

Do Not Feed the Trolls!

Trolls. These are somehow different from the rubbery, silky haired,  irresistibly ugly toys I remember making houses for in the bushes around my grandparent's house one summer. Mine had bright red hair. 
These trolls are different, and from what I gather from other middle school teachers, they are very "in" at the moment. 
8th grade boys started making them several weeks ago - at first it seemed they were doing it specifically to irritate their Language Arts teacher who banned trolls from her classroom. They learned to use the light table, so they could trace troll faces downloaded from web-searches. The trolls got bigger and bigger, until one became a giant mask - a wearable alter-ego of sorts, gleefully worn to Language Arts  class.
The paintings above were made when I was out sick last week - and the artists responsible could hardly wait to get these up on display when I got back- they were almost desperate! They had already mounted them onto cardboard mats, and just needed a place to tack them up. "Pleeeease!" This made me suspicious.
Is there some illicit meaning here I am too square to understand? Are the kids "getting away" with something? Am I being played? I asked a group of educators from around the country last night, during an online conference, and they conferred that trolls are very popular among their middle students too. Is that all there is to it? I wonder...

Environmental Art: Vermont Winter Inspirations

One thing led to the next, and in the end, a duo of snow artists completed work on a new kind of snow sculpture. 

The project started over the weekend in "C's" front yard, after the two threw snowballs at a tree and noticed that it stuck – this gave them the idea of adding more and more snow and covering the tree as high and low as they could reach. Then, in the manner of environmental artist Andy Goldsworthy, "T" photographed the work from several angles and brought the photos to me the next day.

In a learner-directed studio program such as ours, this sort of independent artistic problem-posing and awareness to artistic possibility provide fruitful "emergent curriculum" which can be developed further in the classroom setting.

Encuastic

The pink cloud series by "Z," Grade 7

This month, students are exploring the ancient art of encaustic painting. Encaustic, meaning "to burn in," is a very old technique and was used by ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman artists. The process is still in use by practicing artists today. In fact, as part of our exploration, we discovered an encaustic painter who lives in California. Students started a correspondence with him, and gained both information an inspiration from the exchange. Check out Ben Hecht's webpage, www.benhecht.com to see his amazing collection of giant wave paintings.

Inspired by Hecht's work, some students took photographs of our Vermont winter landscape and used these original images as a starting place for encaustic landscape paintings. 

6th grade "H" working with and from a photograph she composed from the landscape out the art room window

 

Students remembered that Hecht re-melts his wax pigments with an iron, to blend the colors, after initially applying colors with a brush. Students thought a hair dryer might serve a similar purpose, and be a little safer for our studio. Today  this additional technique was tested  out with favorable results.

15 panel painting by "L," grade 7

  Many thanks to those who have donated crayons for our experiments with encaustic painting, and for the recent donation of our new hairdryer!

Plans for tomorrow

Gateway from art studio - (quote from 5th grade girl)

My new crop of 5^th graders is starting to get the hang of things. I get a new group every quarter, and while the first group arrived all ready to go -go -go, this group has been more tentative in some ways. We still have one more center to open, and only about 2 weeks left until art is over for them until next year. But late last week I heard a student say, as she left the room: “I know exactly what I'm going to do tomorrow,” and I did a little silent cheer. Hooray for a place where  children's plans set the course for learning.

Grade 5 getting to it

One of the BEST things about Choice-Based Art is the predictable studio setting. Students know what materials, tools and resources are available for them each day. Much of an artist's planning takes place outside of the studio setting, while walking the dog or riding in the backseat. Ideas hatched with friends on the bus or dreamed up before bedtime can be brought to fruition during art class. Students know their ideas are supported and that they can work at their own pace in their own way. 

A new way to paint (Click to Play)

It used to be that students would arrive for art class and ask me “what are we doing today?” Now they tumble through the door and beg “can we just get right to work?”

juxtaposition

 

JUXTAPOSITION: the act or an instance of placing two or more things side by side; also : the state of being so placed