Angels and Devils

The class assignment was to create different characters.

We studied facial expressions and discussed how certain features could inspire different moods.

This is what they did,

Angels and Devils!

Angels and devils also adequately describes the class overall, third grade. The fear of adults is not longer with them. Pushing any and all boundaries is the protocol.

Just before Christmas they were ....hummm...how should I put it?

A room full of 24 barking, 8 month old puppies.

When the teacher walked back into the class I'm not sure how she knew it had been a bit ruff. Maybe it was my eyes rolling back into my head that may have been the sign of it not going well that day. When I returned the following day I had 24 hand written apology notes on my bag.

The best one was, "I am sorry for crawling under my desk and throwing paper at Jorge. I hope you forget about it".

It wasn't until the last class, in the last 5 minutes, at a point of desperation,

I played a quick game of, "Simon Says".

It worked!

For the first time in 6 weeks they were focused and following directions all at the same time. Not one was under a table, tattling on a friend or spinning in circles.

Yippee, one more trick up my sleeve!

These collages are a few of the stronger pieces from the class.

It just goes to show, if you want a fresh approach to your art; spin around 5 times, drop to the floor and crawl under your table. Come out the other side and retrieve a random color of tissue from your neighbor, talk loudly as they tattle on you but glue it to your paper quickly to retain property rights.

This will insure a truly wonderful piece of art.

Art Class: Kindergarten

Zentangles "kinder" style.

Hubbie and I are teaching art in elementary school classes for a grant based nonprofit called, On The Move. For the next ten classes, I have kindergartners!

This is a first for me with this age group. They are like a bunch of puppies, cute and wiggley.

This weeks project, named "Dizzy Doodles" went over well.

Each student had a spectrum of fine point colored markers. We talked about "warm colors" vs. "cool colors". With a large piece of white paper and markers, we began.

I called out, "choose a warm color marker and somewhere on your page begin drawing lollipops". I then demonstrated how to draw the shape. These were imagined names I came up with for patterned elements.

After they drew for a bit, we changed to a "cool color" marker and I demonstrated the next shape, kittie ears. They then drew that pattern for awhile. We drew our way alternating between warm and cool color choices and different pattern elements.

They had to make composition choices, color choices and recognize the difference between the warm and cool colors. They learned patterns, followed directions, practiced fine motor skills, stayed in there seats and only wiggled while changing markers. At the end of class one little guy had written ABABABAB (his initials) all across the back of his paper and informed me he had just created an AB pattern!

This goes into my "success" folder of ideas.

Kids Art Classes

Monsters, they are monsters.

Every last one of them.

Oh yeah, they may look like really cute little people from a distance, as they smile and wave excitedly. But, this isn't Oz and they are not little munchkins.

Nope they are monsters!

I had 19 under 3'8" and 32 under 4'10" today as I began teaching art at a new school.

Tomorrow I should be adding another 25.

All I can say is, "WOW".

All these photos and wonderful digital graphics were created by Jacque Lynn Davis
If you go here you can download these great graphics and more from her flickr site.
Then you too can create your very own pretend monsters and think of me.