Wednesday 31 October 2012

Monday 29 October 2012

Art News - Banksy Gangsta Rat

A canvas of Banksy's Gangsta Rat is up for auction and could go for £100,000.  Banksy wrote about his Gangsta Rat: They exist without permission. They are hated, hunted and persecuted. They live in quiet desperation amongst the filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilisations to their knees.   Click here for the full story.



Sunday 28 October 2012

My Andy Warhol Soup Cans

About a month ago I had read about Campbell's soup cans available at Target that feature Andy Warhol designs and quotes on the labels.  Target is not here in Canada yet, but my aunt who lives in the States was nice enough to send me some.  I can't wait to show these to my students when they create Warhol inspired artworks.



Friday 26 October 2012

Homemade Gelatin Printing Plates

I recently read about using Gelli Arts Printing Plates for printmaking, but I have not found them here in Canada.  I did however find this recipe to make your own gelatin printing plates.


Art Intertwine-homemade gelatin printing plates

Materials

a pan to use as a mold for the gelatin-I used a pyrex dish
4 packages of unflavoured gelatin
plastic wrap
1 cup of hot water
1 cup of cold water
a spoon to stir
a bowl to mix the gelatin and water





Cover the bottom of the pan with plastic wrap, letting it hang over all the sides to act as handles when you lift the gelatin plate out of the mold.

Mix the cold water with the 4 packages of gelatin until it is dissolved. Add the hot water, stir and then pour into the plastic wrap-lined mold.

Make sure to get rid of any bubbles-I moved them to the edge of the gelatin.
Put the gelatin into the refrigerator to set.   I left mine in the fridge overnight.

When the gelatin has set remove it from the mold along with the plastic wrap.


My gelatin plate lifted out of the pan very easily.  I wanted to create smaller plates for each student so I cut the gelatin into 3 and peeled it off of the plastic wrap. 

This actually didn't work very well, since one of the three plates completely broke and another one lost a huge chunk.  In the future I would use several small pans for molds.







Art Intertwine-homemade gelatin printing plates
To create my prints I used a sponge brush to apply an even layer of acrylic paint over the entire plate.

















For my first prints I decided to try using scraps of leftover construction paper.

Art Intertwine-homemade gelatin printing platesArt Intertwine-homemade gelatin printing plates


The resulting prints:

Art Intertwine-homemade gelatin printing plates

Art Intertwine-homemade gelatin printing plates



These were okay, but a bit fuzzy so I decided to replace the construction paper with computer paper.



Art Intertwine-homemade gelatin printing plates
The construction paper is on the left and the computer paper is on the right.  I found that the  computer paper created sharper lines.


You can also draw right into the paint on the gelatin plate to create an image.  I used the end of the sponge brush to create the dot pattern and then overlaid computer paper stars to create this print.

Art Intertwine-homemade gelatin printing plates


Wednesday 24 October 2012

Art Inspired Halloween Costumes




Here are a few ideas for this Halloween


Warhol, Picasso, and Lichtenstein artworks as Halloween Costumes

Source: http://www.superpunch.net/2012/09/warhol-picasso-and-lichtenstein.html



This site has a number of artist inspired costumes including a cool Gustav Klimt inspired costume
Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907


A very cool one of Banksy's Love is in the Air (Flower Thrower) can be viewed here.




I found these cute kids costumes at Oh Happy Day.

















































Sunday 21 October 2012

Art Blog Directory #2

Being relatively new to blogging, I have found these blog hops and directories to be fanatastic resources to share ideas and perspectives on art education.  There are so many creative and inspiring people out there!


Friday 19 October 2012

Art Fun For Fridays-Paint Your Own Jackson Pollock

I found this super fun online art 'game' where you can paint your own Jackson Pollock.
Put on some funky jazz and click here to get started.


Jackson Pollock, Convergence 1952

Thursday 18 October 2012

Claude Monet Impressionist Bridges

My students did a wonderful job creating these Monet inspired impressionist bridges.  They really liked seeing how dabs and dots in different colours turned into the final images of Monet's famous garden.



Art Intertwine - Claude Monet Bridge

Art Intertwine - Claude Monet Bridge

Art Intertwine - Monet Impressionist Bridge

Art Intertwine - Monet Impressionist Bridge

Art Intertwine- Monet Art Activity

Monet Art Activity for Kids




Wednesday 17 October 2012

Art & Technology




This video is of the new exhibition Art in Motion at the Kinetica Museum in London.  I always love it when artists explore new technologies and ways for viewers to engage with their artworks.  The flowers at the end of the video are a particularly cool example of this.


Sunday 14 October 2012

Dr. Seuss Inspired Art Activity




This is an updated version of the Dr. Seuss One Fish Two Fish figurine lesson that I taught at a workshop last year.  Scroll through the photos for step by step instructions.












 For this project I used Sculpey III, a polymer clay that you can mold and then bake to harden


 To create a fish you will need: 1 small piece of white and 1 small piece of black for the eyes, and 1 large and 1 medium piece of the same color for the fish's body and fins.  
I used my favourite colour green.




To create the Eyes: Divide the piece of white sculpey into two flat circles. Repeat with the black sculpey and press it onto the white circles. 

For the Fins: Divide the medium sized piece of sculpey into two tear drop shapes. 

For the Body: Take the large piece of sculpey and make a curved L shape. 





To create the fish's tail use your thumb to divide one end of the body into two and then flatten each between the thumb and pointer finger.




 Use your thumb to create a mouth at the other end.




 The two tear drop shaped pieces will be the fish's other fins. Use your thumb's fingernail to create 3 lines.


Dr Suess Art Project for kids
 The Final Fish: Attach the side fins and eyes by pressing them onto the body.


Dr. Suess Fish
 To make your Dr. Seuss fish permanent bake it in an oven. 
 I found that 30 mins at 275 degrees on a cookie sheet worked well.
Make sure let your fish cool comnpletely before touching it.




Dr Suess Fish

 Be careful not to over bake your fish!  
This little guy ended up burning and getting small bubbles all over it-which actually looked pretty cool


Thursday 11 October 2012

Arts Integration

A fellow art educator recently sent me this video.  Having taught in middle schools, I completely agree with the statements made in the video that students need to become risk takers, and that the arts can offer a positive way to do so.

 

What are your thoughts on arts integration?

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Manga-Drawing Expressions

I am currently working on creating a manga drawing lesson for my ages 9-12 drawing class in the Winter.  I'll create a more detailed post about this in the future, but I thought for now I would share these drawings I did of different facial expressions.  

My favourite manga expression is the one where the eyes become hearts.  

Art Intertwine - manga facial expressions



If anyone could share any tips or resources for teaching manga drawing that would be awesome!

Saturday 6 October 2012

Art Activity - Surrealist Records

When teaching my younger students this summer I used old records as paint palettes.  This led to a flurry of questions about what a record was -boy did I feel old!  Anyway, I thought I would share this lesson which also repurposes records.



Art Intertwine-Surrealist Records Art Lesson

Art Intertwine-Surrealist Art Activity
I really like how this student combined a tomato, shoes, and an eye into a jungle scene

Art Intertwine-Surrealist Art Activity
An example of how nonsensical the finished artworks can be

Surrealist Art Activity
This one is obviously inspired by Salvador Dali

Tuesday 2 October 2012

Art Activity - Paper Marbling

Art Intertwine-Paper Marbling For Kids
Paper marbling has a long history in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.  Part of its appeal is that each print is a unique monotype.  While there are many methods to creating marbled paper, using shaving cream provides an inexpensive and accessible process that is appropriate for all ages.  
















Materials
  • Shaving cream- buy the foam kind, not gel
  • Aluminium baking trays
  • Paper or Cardstock that is narrower than the squeegee and cut to fit the tray-computer paper works well and is cheap
  • Squeegees, rulers, or long pieces of cardboard
  • Watered down Acrylic Paint in 2-4 bold colours OR Liquid Food Colouring in 2-4 colours
  • Wooden skewers, toothpicks, chopsticks, forks
  • Rags, or paper towel for clean up



Art Intertwine-Paper Marbling For KidsArt Intertwine-Paper Marbling For Kids
Directions

1. Apply a small amount of shaving cream to the tray.  Use the squeegee to create an even layer that is a little wider than your paper and about 1/4 " thick.

2. Evenly space 1 drop of each of the food colours or paint colours onto the layer of shaving cream.

3. Use a fork, toothpick, or other utensil to swirl the colours, spreading the colour out in streaks across the shaving cream.

4. Once you are happy with the design, lay the paper on the shaving cream and gently press to make sure it makes contact with the coloured areas.

5. Peel the paper off of the shaving cream and lay it on a clean surface.

6. Scrape the squeegee or the edge of a ruler across the paper to remove the shaving cream while leaving the colour behind.

Paper Marbling For Kids
7. Set the paper aside to dry and use a rag or paper towel to clean off the squeegee.

8.  Repeat the process, but be aware that over swirling will cause the colours to become muddy.








Art Intertwine-Paper Marbling
Have fun experimenting with different techniques.  
For this pattern, I made holes in the shaving cream to create the areas of white




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