SEPTEMBER in the Studio

Play Doh sculpting  is a popular warm up activity.

Ahh, September. Summer's over, the air cools and we go back to school and art classes. Time to reconnect with old friends, welcome new ones and make some ART! 

Working on our sketchbook covers.

We started off with a "getting to know you" activity where each artist filled out an info sheet giving vital information like favorite color and what they like to draw. These are posted on the wall just inside the studio door. Check out our talented artists next time you drop off or pick up from art. 

Adding dots to our dots.

The Littles read The Dot by Peter Reynolds and made their own dots which are now "framed in swirly gold" in the studio. The Bigs read Dog Loves Drawing and prepared their sketchbooks for the year. We used lots of art materials to design decorative covers for the sketchbooks we will use to record what we learn.  

Undersea "Mural" after Wyland - Reese - Age 5

 Next we dove right in to creating undersea scenes after muralist Robert Wyland. The kids were very excited to discover one of his "whaling walls" is right here in downtown Norfolk! All age groups did this project, but the Bigs are still finishing theirs. They'll be posted next month.

"Blue Letters & Numbers" after Jasper Johns - Michael - Age 4

The Littles finished up the month by learning about Jasper Johns' obsession with numbers. He created many, many works based on that theme. We studied his textural piece, White Numbers, and then did our own versions! The Bigs are doing work based on Johns' number series as well. That, too, is coming next month so stay tuned!

Just make a mark...

I love, love, love Peter Reynolds' books: The Dot, Ish and Sky Color. They neatly address issues of creative self confidence in terms children can understand. The art teacher in The Dot is my personal hero. Actually, she shares that distinction with Harold, of purple crayon fame. My favorite part is when Vashti arrives in art class to find her dot displayed above the teacher's desk "framed in swirly gold." That's the kind of art teacher I want to be. So I decided to start this art year with a dot inspired lesson and lo and behold, it turns out September 15th(ish) is International Dot Day! Apparently it's been celebrated for years. What fun!

First we "signed in" by making a bingo marker dot and signing our names. This poster will be displayed all year.

Together, the older classes (aka the Bigs) created a collaborative dot from a pizza board. Wednesday's class collaged it and Thursday's class added paint.

The mixed-media theme continued with our individual projects. After using several gallons (each) of glitter glue to create our "swirly, gold" frames, the artists made dot themed works using whatever media they chose. Paint, oil pastel, collage, marker...you name it, we used it. The only commonality was dots. Then we signed the finished products.

And here they are, all framed is swirly gold. This is only a portion of the wall, but you can see our collaborative dot in the middle.

Sadly, I don't have a picture of me in my polka-dot dress. I looked pretty great. My daughter and I spent an afternoon thrifting and found the perfect thing for less than a gallon of gas! It is actually quite lovely, though it got a little old after three days.

Peter Reynolds' books are coming out in a "Creatrilogy" on October 20th so you can get all three in a nice little boxed set!