For our last two days of class, we tie dyed shirts! I showed them a few tying techniques. Some students tried those, while some experimented with others! Here's a picture of a few of these shirts. It has been a fun and exiting school year with my students. Have a great summer, and see you in August!!
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I can't believe it's almost the end of the year! The school year definitely flew by! For our last long project, we created weavings. I got the opportunity to show my students pictures of the weaving process from my trip to the highlands of Guatemala. Students learned how time-consuming the weaving process is, and how the community collaborates to create weavings in Guatemala. I introduced students to a few basic weaves and some more advanced ones, including the diagonal weave and the rya weave. Then student sketched out their designs, and wove away!
In between the last few longer projects, I had my students do a short project that they could give to their Moms on Mother's Day! Students created various yarn weavings called God's Eyes, which traditionally serve as spiritual objects and symbols for the Huichol people of Western Mexico. Students made ones of different sizes using yarn on bamboo skewers, popsicle sticks and toothpicks. Once they finished their individual pieces, they tied them together in a mobile.
We learned about the history, origins and purpose of the holiday, Cinco de Mayo, and then created our own maracas! First, we did 3-4 layers of paper mache on balloons, leaving a small opening around the tie of the balloon. Once they dried, we popped and removed the balloon from the small hole we had left. Through that hole, we then filled our piece up with rice grains, beans, rocks, and popcorn seeds, experimenting with the sounds that each of them made. We put a piece of paper over the hole and taped it shut. Then, we each took an empty paper towel roll, cut slits at the top, and attached it to the bottom of the maraca, as a handle (I had been collecting them since the beginning of this school year...glad I found a good use for them). Then we added a few layers of paper mache on the handle. When they were dry, the students painted and glued on their designs!
We did two recycled art projects in my middle school elective classes, to celebrate Earth Day. My sixth graders are on a field trip, but when they come back we will be making centerpieces with recycled materials. For the first project, my students and I collected empty plastic bottles (tons of them) from our homes, and from other faculty and staff. Then we painted and cut the bottles, and attached them on chicken wire to make a collaborative hanging sculpture in each class, in the style of Dale Chihuly's glass chandeliers. My students always love looking at Chihuly's work, and after they did, they had a lot of ideas! Students of each class decided on a color scheme for their sculpture. One class decided on a pastel color scheme, another chose cool colors, and the last one decided to do rainbow colors arranged in the proper order. Collectively, we decided to hang them outside of the art trailers, so they would function as shades for the people who sit outside in the hot Miami weather! The other project was inspired by a huge, inspiring, worldwide public art project called the Cool Globes, that began in Chicago in 2007 to raise public awareness of solutions to global warming. After much brainstorming and thinking, students came up with a design for their own mini-globe that creatively illustrated at least one solution to climate change. Then we built the globes using paper mache, paint, collage and a range of other materials, depending on their individual message. I did not get a chance to photograph all of them before they took them home, but here are a few. The young lady who did the globe in the first few pictures even won an award for her work! So proud of her and all of them for their ideas and hard work.
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AuthorI am an art educator and artist who loves to share the amazing creations and learning happening in my courses. Here is a sneak peek of what my students are learning and creating! Categories
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