Carpe Diem.
And when nothings seems to be going right, go left.
xo -MJ
Happy New Beginnings in 2014
Filed under Inspiration
Wrist Candy
When I began this post last Spring, I was surrounded by a delicious selection of greenery when inside my little bungalow. It warms the soul and keeps my values in check. Thank you, Earth.
And because I am grateful of all that our mother earth has to offer, I try to make beauty from the things I would otherwise throw away. If you have read my previous posts, you know I fancy hand painted papers. I want to share an art experience that I introduced to my third and fourth graders recently.
I wanted to keep the focus on color mixing and less on creating a composition so we used the primary colors and white to create a large selection of color swatches painted on newspaper rectangles.
Then we cut a small selection of color choices into strips and covered paper towel roll slices in blocks of color. Details were collaged over the basic rectangular blocks. Negative shapes were saved and used as well.
Holes were punched on the ends of the cut slice of paper towel roll and ribbon was looped through for an easy tie.
Make your, or someone else’s, wrist smile soon! -MJ
Filed under Creating Art
Romare Bearden Inspired Collage
“Take Harlems heartbeat, make a drumbeat.
Put it on a record, let it whirl!”
-Langston Hughes
Visit an informative and fun interactive site at MetMedia. Listen to the sounds that inspired Romare, discover the hip artists he grew up around.
We were first introduced to Romare Bearden through a picture book inspired by his life titled “Me and Uncle Romie” by Claire Hartfield. “The Block” is also a rich text that poetically places the collages of Romare Bearden alongside poems by Langston Hughes. I read aloud the poetry to students or have them perform it for the class, then ask them to search for visuals within his mural sized collage that illustrate the terms, sounds and visuals they hear.
Students utilized their knowledge of paper collage to construct a selection of urban buildings. These were then collaged to a colored background and accordion folded for a 3-D effect.
Writing poetry about urban experiences would be a great way to incorporate literacy into this rich art making experience and bring it full circle in connection with the era in which Romare lived and prospered as an artist.
Filed under Teaching Art to Children
Sun Porch Studio 