How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - A is for Abstract

A starts Abstract, Art and August, so what better way to start the last month of summer than to learn about non-representational art?

After learning the difference between figural and abstract art, we created a little of both. When parents arrived they were challenged to tell what they saw in our abstract paintings. Of course, nobody saw the same thing.

Tuesday was Circle Day. We concentrated on that shape by making our own versions of Rachel Whiteread's 2012 Olympic poster design.

This was a great tie-in because the Olympics were ongoing at the time!

And you can't have Circle Day without a little Kandinsky!

Action Painting Day! You know we flung some paint...

...and got VERY messy...

...but the results were well worth it.


After painting our individual masterpieces, we each mixed our own color of chalk paint and did a collaborative action painting in the parking lot.

(Please try to ignore the tire marks. Nothing lasts forever, and alas, our art barely lasted an hour!)

Throughout the week we enjoyed A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet by Stephen T Johnson. It was especially fun finding the letters in each work.

Superman is totally proud of his Nevelson sculpture. He used his super patience with the gluing and painting.

Finally. Rectangle Day! We learned about Josef Albers and spent some time planning our compositions using our favorite colors...

...then we assembled the finished products.

We ended Rectangle Day, and camp, with a quick Rothko composition.

I suppose I should have emphasized smudging and smearing a little more, but for 5-year-olds I think they did really well. 

Clearly, what I did NOT do on my summer vacation was blog about camp. One more to go. Maybe by Halloween?

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!

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - All About Me

When you are a kid in the summer, it is truly all about you. No school to suck up your precious time. No parents nagging about bedtime. The days are long and there's plenty of time for introspection. Who are you? What will you do? Where will you go? What makes you special? Artists have asked these questions since time began, and they've used self-portraiture to find the answers. This was our focus during the hottest days of July.

We played a portrait game to get to know each other better.

Albrecht Durer 1471 - 1528 - Durer created his first self-portrait at the age of 13 and went on to make at least 10 during his lifetime.

We began with a straight forward self-portrait.

Lots of improvement after a lesson on proportion, 

Vincent van Gogh 1853 - 1890 - Van Gogh suffered from mental illness and addiction and may have used self-portraiture as a way to untangle his mind.

Tracing hands and feet for "falling back" portraits,

It's all about perspective.

Self-portrait Go Fish is cut throat, I tell you. Too much drama for me.

Jim Dine born 1935 - Represents himself as a bathrobe in his art!

What clothing represents you?

Eventually the weather cooperated and we got to spend some time outside.

This was a fun project. We created the backgrounds then
traced our photos onto acetate to lay over the top.

Frida Kahlo 1907 - 1954 - Kahlo was nearly killed in a bus accident as a young woman. She was crippled for life and used self-portraiture to deal with her constant pain.

What's in your head?

On the last day we put all we'd learned into action,
creating any kind of self portrait we wanted.

This one includes the artist in her
favorite place with her best friend.

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation - Art Around the World

Summer started with a trip around the world! Within the two weeks we visited five countries and learned about their art and culture. 

First stop - INDIA: Namaste!

We made menhi by tracing our hands and adding designs...

...then we helped our friends decorate their actual hands.

Diwali lamps ready to paint.

The finished products.

Rainy day plus Indian music equals Bollywood style dance party!

On beautiful days we found ways to create outside.

On to Japan: Konichiwa!

Cherry Blossoms: Step 1 - Remember to blow OUT!

Step 2 - Add flowers

Step 3 - Add your chop.

You can't visit Japan without making origami.

And drinking out of your own paper cup.

The bigger kids tried their hands at Sumi-E.

Along the way we made new friends.

 

Next stop: Botswana - Dumela!

Ndbele is funny to say but painting with feathers is hard!

African masks are always a hit, though.

The little kids visited Australia: G'day Mate!

Aboriginal bark paintings. Good thing my neighbor has a birch tree!

And the big kids ended their travels in Mexico. Hola!

Another kind of bark painting - Amate.

 In the end, we traveled for real - to The Chrysler Museum of Art.

Actual Sumi-E tools. Cool!

Reading about art is almost as fun as making it.

Stay tuned for the next installment of How We Spent Our Summer Vacation.

Art ON!

Open Studio 

(5th through 8th Grades)

For highly motivated artists who want to work on their own, self-selected pieces at their own pace. Each class begins with a quick sketchbook activity. Students choose an artist to learn about and emulate, then create their own, individual masterpieces. We all learn about the artists chosen and encourage each other in our work.  

The class operates on a punchcard system to accommodate older kids' busy schedules. Need to miss a class or two? No problem!

Open Studio students enjoy many perks, like set-up parties for exhibits and a special gallery in the end of year art show. Visits from local artists and field trips are planned too!

Tuesdays 5:30 - 6:30 pm beginning Sept. 11

Cost:

$130 Punchcard good for any 10 classes 
One-Time Materials/Registration Fee of $30  for New Students
10% Discount for Church Members OR Siblings

Contact Melanie at otlartstudio@gmail.com

All About Vincent

In honor of tomorrow's camp subject:

a Vincent van Gogh self-portrait puzzle!

Urban Sketching

My Sweet Baboo gave me a wonderful book for Valentines Day; The Art of Urban Sketching. Featuring Norfolk's own Walt Taylor, it introduces the idea of sketching while traveling or around your own town, as a way to chronicle your adventures. It's a bit like journaling with pictures. Why take photos when you can quickly sketch a place and moment in time? Urban sketchers from around the world have even connected on the internet. They share tips, stories and their drawings at urbansketchers.org. Their slogan is "See the world one drawing at a time". I'm sure you can see where this is heading...lesson plan!!!! My older artists learned a bit about this art form, and Walt Taylor specifically, and then we headed outside to capture our surroundings with pencil and paper.

The first step is choosing your subject. Even the most mundane scene can be interesting when sketched.

Laura - Age 7

Careful observation is key. We talked a lot about drawing what you see, not what you THINK you see. It's important to include as much detail as possible, but to draw quickly. We didn't have much luck with moving targets like people and squirrels.

I thought this was a great rendering of the lamp post and handrail!  Jackson - Age 7

Andrew - Age 6

Urban sketchers often include the date, place and even time of their sketch, to record not only what they saw, but when and where. What a great way to continue creating long into adulthood!