NEW INSPIRATION

My journey into the world of web 2.0 tools has been productive in so many ways and one of the best has been finding ideas and inspiration from others using the same tools. Recently I tried two new projects that I found through fellow bloggers.

First was a third grade project using the artist Laurel Burch as inspiration, found on Jodi's blog, One Crayola Short. The kids were truly inspired by the art and life of Laurel Burch. I found a video interview with Laurel on youtube that I showed to the kids. We then discussed the video and looked further at her work with cats. Following some of Jodi's guidelines and a few of my own the kids were soon creating Fabulous Felines of their own.

The second came from the blog, Art is Messy and was a lesson on cave paintings that I did with my first graders. We began by touring the caves of Lascaux and then we talked about the art that was in the caves and about the artists who created it. We did some practice drawings of animals and then used those ideas to paint onto sand paper our own version of cave paintings. I found a short, out of the way hall in our school, put paper over the lights and we created our own cave to display the paintings in. We then went to explore the caves flashlights in hand. It was quite an adventure.

4th grade owls

Learning the basics of working with clay to create sculptural forms my fourth graders created their interpretation of an owl. We began by doing several drawings of owls and then working with clay turned them into three-dimentional versions of the drawings.

Shoe Stomp Medallion

My students really enjoy this project and it is very easy for them to do a nice job. Before beginning the project I tell the kids to go home and look in their rooms for the most interesting shoe bottoms they have and then make sure to wear them to school the next time they have art. When they arrive the next class they are each given a small piece of clay which they form in to a ball, strategically position it on the bottom of their shoe and then gently step on it to create the pattern for their medallion.
After the clay has been fired students paint it and string it with beads and feathers to create their final piece.

THEY'RE ON THEIR WAY!

These three pieces will be representing our school district at our Regional Art Show and then hopefully on to State.