Cardboard Cat

Yesterday, Anna and I took a workshop at the museum. It was taught by an artist whose work we are currently showing in our sculpture court. Her name is Ann Weber and she does amazing sculptures made from cardboard. You can see some here. The pieces she shows outside are actually bronze that was cast from the cardboard pieces she created. They are really amazing. She coats the inside cardboard pieces with shellac and I think that makes them look like baskets. I really like the pieces, the forms she uses and the fact that it is a recycled material.

Anna and I arrived a few minutes before the time when the class was suppose to start (at least according to my watch) but we must have missed the brief introduction as we caught up with the everyone just as she was showing the group her sculpture (or maybe there wasn't any introduction?). Really she just pointed out some things about the structures and then we went right to work. She showed us some different ways to put cardboard together, but there was nothing specific about what to make. I think she wanted us to be creative.

It was a workshop for a child and parent but I think mostly we parents were there to help the kids cut the cardboard and help them put the construction together. (There was a separate adult class in the morning, but I thought it would be more fun for Anna and me to do it together. Ann also said our class did a better job than the morning class because the kids were more free in their ideas.)

Above is the cat that Anna and I made. The class was three hours long and it took us the entire time. I wish I had brought my camera because what the rest of the class came up with was really neat. One mother and daughter pair made a lounge chair for her daughter to sit in. The daughter laid down on the cardboard to draw the template and she could actually sit on it when they were done.

One father and son team did three different sculptures with one being a large fish that looked like the kind fishermen hang on their walls. Another father and son team did a very tall (about 8 feet) piece of diagonals and triangles from cardboard slotted together and then made a small round piece for the top.

Another mother and daughter team did a piece that kind of looked like a bongo drum, but they decided to use a lot of colored cardboard which made it very different and fun. They also made a round sphere for the top of theirs.

I got lots of ideas from this workshop and am thinking about trying to make a small side table with this technique. I would also like to try it with fabric.

On the Wall . . .

. . . and on the floor.

Anna's school's auction is approaching quickly and I must finish the project I promised. Above are fabric squares that each student in the class did. They used the glue resist method (that can be found in one of the previous Quilting Arts magazines). The white lines are where they put the blue glue gel and after it was dry, they painted them. Then I had to wash out all the glue.

I will be putting them in two different wall hangings. I think these are the settings I have decided on. If anything looks really off-balance, please let me know. I think I will have to put some small sashing in-between the squares as they seem a bit too busy right next to each other. I'm thinking primary colors.

Can you guess which one is Anna's? (Hint: look for a cat!)

"Great art ...

... picks up where nature ends." A quote by Marc Chagall. This was the artist we studied for the last art lesson for Anna's class. We looked at his work and talked about the colors and surrealism in the works.

I had found a great lesson on the internet. I gave them directions one at a time. First, they had to write the quote around the edge of their paper. Then, they had to turn the paper and draw a house. Then, they had to turn the paper again and draw themselves holding something they liked. Next, turn the paper again and they had to draw a tree(s) or flower(s). Then, turn the paper again and draw a sun or moon with a face (or both or half and half). Color in with oil pastels. Here are a few of the kids' works. I think they are great.


The top one in the picture below is the one Anna's teacher did.






I didn't want to show the kids an example because sometimes they just copy what you do. The instructions were so specific anyway, they didn't really need one. During class I help the kids and answer their questions and give suggestions. I don't get to work on anything.

This one looked so fun, though, that I did it at home in my sketch book. I used color pencils instead of pastels. Here is mine below. (Ooo, I just noticed I did the quote wrong! Oh well, maybe I was thinking of leaves and nature.)

Klimt for Kids

Here is the project I did with Anna's class last week. I talked about the artist Gustav Klimt and showed them pictures of his portraits with lots of stylized patterns. I had printed out their school portraits and they used those, created background patterns and clothes patterns. The first picture is the example I did to show the kids. The second one is one that one of the girls did.

Auction Piece

This is the finished piece of all the block prints from the kids in Anna's class. I'm taking it to school tomorrow to show them. It will be in the silent auction next Friday night for the school's annual fund raiser. I think it turned out wonderfully but I doubt it will get many bids as it isn't bright, cute or have pictures of the kids on it. We'll see.

Big Sigh

The yearbook is completed! I just have to drop it off for the photographer and hope he gets it to the publisher on time. That is such a big relief. Now I can concentrate on some other things, like the next deadline. Below is a picture of the block prints on fabric that I had the kids do back in January. Now, I can sew them together into a wall hanging for the school auction which is April 11.

Figure/Ground relationships

I had another rough night last night. But I think I am on the upswing from this cold (I hope so!). Here are some pictures of the kids artwork from yesterday which I managed to hang up this morning. We talked about figure/ground (positive/negative space) relationships. They did two exercises working with black and white.


This was one with black and white pattern strips using white strips on black paper and black strips on white paper. Can you tell which is which? It certainly echoes the stair railing. I hope they don't think they are in a prison or in a zoo looking at zebras.

The other exercise was called the expanding square. They started with a white square and cut shapes from the edges. Then they would flip the shape out and expand from there.

Both of these exercises came from the book called "Notan: The dark and light principles" (something like that). It was a book Nancy Crow had recommended to someone in our workshop and I took note and wrote it down and eventually ordered it.

More Snow and Some Art

It snowed a couple of inches last night. Yea! We haven't had this much snow in the valley over the winter for many years. It certainly makes the morning walk to school much more fun (especially when it is only 20 degrees). However, we did not see any wild animals this morning. (We saw a fox running down our street in the snow last night).


I must have 10 million pictures of snow. But I just can't help it. Everything looks so beautiful and different with the white stuff. Maybe someday they will inspire some artwork.


Yesterday was a big art lesson for Anna's class. I had them carve on those eraser-like material blocks. It was the first time we've done it in class. A few of the kids had done it before but I think the majority had not. Nobody cut themselves and they turned out very well.


I had them print one on fabric so I can sew them together and make a wall hanging for our school auction (although I'm going to have to re-print most of them to get a better print). Then, I also had them print on paper. The good thing about the safety-cut material was that they could carve a design on both sides of the block so they had two different designs. Then I said they could trade with others and put them together on the black paper. Some traded, some didn't. Overall, it went pretty well.

Chairs

Anna was a snow leopard for Halloween this year. Yes, we made the costume and painted on her "spots". She went trick-or-treating with her friend Lauren and Lauren's little sister.


This morning I did another art lesson with the kids. I had them make chairs out of twigs, string and model magic. There was some frustration but they turned out well. Below are just a few.