Paper Sculpture Lesson Idea #2

As I mentioned a while back, I have been collecting paper sculpture lesson ideas for my work with the Vancouver Biennale. I posted a collaborative paper sculpture lesson described on the color, collage, and much more blog, back in February. I came across a similar lesson idea on the Organized Chaos art education blog. The photos, above, are from this blog.

To create the sculptures pictured above, the students created patterns using hot colours on one side of a sheet of paper, and cool colours on the other side. The teacher then created a continuous line drawing over top of these colours (like the black and white drawing pictured above), and the student then cut along these lines. The students then twisted and folded their long strip of irregularly-shaped paper into a sculpture, which was glued into place. It appears as if these sculptures were then mounted on a cardboard base.

I like the simplicity of this lesson. It could potentially start off a longer sculpture unit. The author of the color, collage, and much more blog provides some examples of artists that would tie in nicely to this lesson in another post on paper sculptures. These artists include David Black, Dale Chihuly, Liz Miller, and Ryan McGinness. 

I wish that I had come across these paper sculpture lesson ideas while teaching a mobile and sculpture class at a local elementary school, back in November and December. The activities that I led got way too complicated, and these simple sculpture lesson ideas would have worked perfectly for mobiles, and would have enabled students to complete a simple, but interesting, sculpture in just one class session. Oh well, I’ll know for next time!

Vancouver Biennale Transitions Project: Field Trip to 217.5 Arc x 3

Well, I’m back again after another long blogging hiatus. The last couple months have been a bit of a blur, but things are calming down a bit now. Last week I finally finished an online course in educational psychology that I’ve been working on since January. It feels like a weight has been lifted - and hopefully some time and mental space will be freed up for blogging and other fun activities!

The project with the Vancouver Biennale has been moving along, all the while, and I’m excited about how it has been progressing. Even though this seems like ages ago now, I thought that I would share some images from the field trip that all three classes went on to see Venet’s 217.5 Arc x 3 back in February.

As I mentioned in my post back in February, I am working with a grade 10/11/12 sculpture and ceramics class, a grade 5/6 class, and a grade 3 class - each from different schools in West Vancouver that feed into one another. At the field trip, students from the three classes were broken into smaller groups. We played ice breaker games, to help them get to know each other. Each group was then given the task of taking photographs of the sculpture and making sketches of it, capturing at least three different angles. In doing this, they were meant to consider how the sculpture can appear completely different when viewed from various vantage points, and how these perspectives could represent changes and transitions in life.

The students then used ipads to film interviews, in which they asked each other about their experiences with changes and transitioning between schools. It was really wonderful to see the different age groups interacting and engaging in such a meaningful way. The students also made some fantastic and insightful observations about 217.5 Arc x 3 and how it represents change and transition to them.

The field trip was a great way to launch the art making projects that I have helped to facilitate with each class. Since then, we’ve frequently referred back to the students’ experiences with the sculpture, and with the other classes. I’ll write again, to explain how the art making processes have evolved!

Collaborative Paper Sculpture Lesson Idea #1

For my work with the Vancouver Biennale, I’ve been collecting lesson ideas for creating collaborative paper sculptures. I’ve come across a couple interesting possibilities, one of which is pictured above. I found this lesson idea on a blog called color, collage, and much more. The teacher who developed this lesson was inspired by a mural and installation by street artist, Swoon, that she went to see with her students at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Boston. Swoon’s work was created using intricately cut paper. It covered a wall and incorporated 3D sculptural elements (look here for images).

For the lesson, fifth grade students cut out paper shapes using stencils that they had created. They were grouped at tables with either warm or cool coloured materials. The only criteria that they had was that the pieces that they individually created had to be joined together, in the end, to create one collaborative sculpture. I think that the results were quite interesting! Look here for a full description of the lesson, and for more images. 

I’m back again, after another rather long pause! One of the activities that has been distracting me from this blog these days, is a part-time teaching job that I started in January. I’m working with the Vancouver Biennale, a biennial public art exhibition that brings sculptures, new media and performance works by celebrated and emerging international artists to Vancouver. The entire Biennale takes place outdoors and lasts for 18 months at a time.

I’m excited to be working with the Vancouver Biennale as a teaching artist, as part of their extensive education program. As a teaching artist, I’ve been paired with 3 different schools in West Vancouver. I’m working with one class at each school to address the “big idea” of transitions. I’m working with a grade 3 class, a grades 5/6 class, and a grades 10/11/12 sculpture and ceramics class. The three schools feed into each other, and the participating teachers wanted to guide the students through a creative process of addressing the hopes and worries that they have about transitioning between schools, and then out of high school when they graduate. Each class will work on a section of a sculpture addressing the theme of transitions, and at the conclusion of the project all three sections will be linked together and publicly displayed.

The artwork that will inspire our creative process is the sculpture pictured above, entitled 217.5 Arc x 3, by French artist Bernar Venet. Next week students from all three classes will be meeting each other for the first time on a field trip to visit the sculpture. 

I’m excited to be taking part in this very unique and collaborative learning and teaching process. I’ll be sure to write more posts, as the project progresses!

An Enthusiastic Introduction to the Work of Ida Kohlmeyer

Wow, I’ve abandoned this poor blog for quite a few weeks now. My time has been eaten up by increased subbing days, a new part-time job, and an online Educational Psychology course. But I’m inspired to write once again, after having a fantastic experience yesterday talking to a 2nd grade class about the artwork of Ida Kohlmeyer (pictured above).

The class was really great to work with, and I had a fun day with them, overall. When I arrived in the morning, I was happy to read in the teacher’s day plan that I was to teach an art lesson in the afternoon, and that I had freedom to plan it as I wished! She just specified that it be based on a specific work by Ida Kohlmeyer - which she had provided in poster format. As Kohlmeyer’s work was new to me, I’ve since researched it further, and have become quite enamoured with it.

When it was finally time for art yesterday afternoon, we weren’t left with time to carry out a full hands-on activity. But I decided to introduce the students to the artwork and facilitate a discussion about it. They were getting a bit squirmy, as it was the end of the day, but I decided to forge ahead and had them gather in a circle on the carpet in their classroom. When I held up the poster it was met with gasps of delight and awe. It’s been a while since I’ve had an opportunity to discuss a work of art with students this age, and it was so refreshing to observe their genuine enthusiasm. We had a wonderful discussion about the the shapes and colours that Kohlmeyer used in the painting. We also talked about how each section of the painting made them feel, and what some of the shapes and colours reminded them of. I wish I was going to be with them to carry out an artmaking activity inspired by the painting! But I will have to try this out with another group of children in the future!

On Space Time Foam: Tomas Saraceno

I recently came across the fascinating work of artist and architect, Tomas Saraceno. I stumbled across his large scale work On Space Time Foam, and was completely transfixed by images and videos of people engaging with it (see images above). It represents such an interesting intersection of art and science. I’d love to share this work with students as part of a discussion about the connections between art and architecture as well as art and science.

Saraceno’s work is inspired by 20th-century utopian architecture and “stems from the desire to create aerial structures that can be inhabited by people, are self-sufficient and have a low environmental impact.” On Space Time Foam is described as follows:

At HangarBicocca Saraceno creates On Space Time Foam, a floating structure composed of three levels of clear film that can be accessed by the public, inspired by the cubical configuration of the exhibition space. The work, whose development took months of planning and experimentation with a multidisciplinary team or architects and engineers, will then continue as an important project during a residency of the artist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT in Cambridge (MA).

I wish I could take a trip to Milan to visit this exhibition!

Mobiles and Moving Sculptures After School Art Class: Reflections

This past week I wrapped up a 4-week long after school art class at a local elementary school. In this class we explored mobiles and sculpture-making techniques. Some parts of the class worked really well, and other parts were far from smooth. I’ve been reflecting on the class since it concluded, and have been trying to pinpoint the lessons that I can learn from the process.

The photos, above, were taken during and after the first class - which was the most focused of the four. In this class we talked about the meaning of the words “mobile” and “sculpture”, and explored methods for joining cardboard without using tape or glue. Students created at least 4 cardboard objects and balanced them from a thick cardboard strip, to create simple mobiles. The students were engaged, for the most part, and the activity was focused and relatively simple. Pretty much everyone was able to complete a simple mobile by the end of the class.

After this class, I showed the students a video of Alexander Calder’s circus and his untitled mobile at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. They enjoyed these videos and we had an interesting discussion about the works of art. The following activities that I led the group through engaged some of the students, but left others somewhat scattered and at loose ends. Because it was a high energy group to begin with, this lack of focus led to a somewhat chaotic atmosphere, at times.

After mulling over the experience, I’ve concluded that I should have continued to plan more specific and focused activities for the group (like I did for the first class), that would have enabled the students to finish a relatively small project at the end of each class. My plans were a bit too grand and open-ended, and some of the students seemed to find the lack of structure and direction frustrating. At the same time, though, some of the students enjoyed the freedom and forged ahead excitedly to realize their ideas. Overall, I think I could have struck a better balance of structure and ‘freedom’ for the group. 

This series of classes brought up many questions for me about how to carry out effective classroom management in after-school school classes. I find that maintaining a relatively calm and focused work environment can prove challenging in the after-school context. Behaviour management strategies that work in the classroom, don’t always translate to this context. While I’ve reached some new conclusions after this series of classes, any thoughts and suggestions from other teachers out there would be most welcome!

Interview with Sharilyn Kuehnel: Artist, Mother, Maker, Art Educator, and Blogger Extraordinaire!

I am very excited to be posting my first interview on this blog today, which features the fabulous Sharilyn Kuehnel, writer of the blog Weekdays From Scratch! I first met Sharilyn about seven years ago, when we were both working at an art supply store in Vancouver, BC. Since then, our lives have taken us in different, but related directions, and I was happy to recently reconnect with her, and to discover her inspiring blog. In Weekdays From Scratch, Sharilyn discusses her own creative endeavours and her experiences parenting her two lovely young children. I have been very inspired reading her reflections on and approaches to incorporating art and creativity into the everyday life of her family. I was excited to have the opportunity to pick Sharilyn’s brain about parenting, artmaking, and art education.

I hope you enjoy reading her responses to my questions as much as I did!

A: I would like to have a child one day, and I am curious about how artists who are parents carve out time and space to continue to create. What are ways in which you fit in time to make your own artwork?

S: It can be a very tricky balancing act but then again aren’t all things in life? When we had children we decided that one parent would always be home with our kids while they are small - not only does that mean living on a single income much of the time but also I am usually the one staying home - only because my husband has a better job! With a great deal of time on my hands and not a lot of money I returned to my creative roots and began drawing, painting and making things in order to bring in a bit of extra income for myself. Contrary to popular belief newborns do not take a lot of work - and if one approaches parenthood with a relaxed and easy going attitude - flexible to whatever “schedule” you are on then you will find pockets of time when you are in the house and baby is sleeping to work on your own art work. Now that our kids are bigger my own work usually takes pace at night or in the evening - they are also willing to work along side me which can be fun. Often when I am drawing or painting or sewing they are working on their own projects. I would say though that there are weeks when I have to make time for myself to do some work - and that really only requires me verbalizing my needs to my husband who then goes out and does something fun with the kids while I have a few hours to myself. It’s all about priorities right? My priority is to hang out with my kids, have fun, do some art work, make something to sell - we do not have the cleanest kitchen floors, the beds are often unmade and I only do laundry on Friday morning.

A: Has your art making process changed since having children?

S: Yes absolutely! I feel my process is more freestyle and fun - less up tight and over thought. Having kids has helped me to rediscover my love of colour - I find that when you are encouraging your own children to explore and be free and to just try things it helps when you “walk the walk”. I feel like I have been given a hall pass to have fun with my art and not worry too much if it gets messed up - maybe I would say that these kids of mine are a reality check - they love something that I might look at too critically and they think it is perfect - after looking at it a moment I start to see it as they do and often agree!

A: This is a very pragmatic issue, but I think a lot about the space in which I create my artwork. I am really lucky to have a lot of space at the moment, as I live in a small town - but I expect that at some point I will move back to a larger centre, and will therefore need to downsize. I know that you live in a city apartment with your family of four, and I am wondering where you do your creative work. What does your creative space look like?

S: It is true we are a family of four with two kids under the age of five living in the heart of the city - we do not have a lot of space! My creative space is our entire apartment! Our kitchen table is the hub of life in our household - everything from eating to sewing to painting to paying bills and playing puzzles happens here - this is the real place where most of my work takes place - but only because I can spread out. We do have a “bonus room” AKA the storage closet AKA the art room which I refer to as my Studio Space - it really is a storage room but we have outfitted it for use as a studio - my husband also often works from home in this space - it is a room where we can leave what we are working on and close the door - we make it work. I should also say we have really pared down our belongings to make this lifestyle work - there is not much in this space that we do not love - we do not keep things we don’t need - once again it is about priorities - yes to camping gear stored under the bed - no to a huge plastic pile of toys in our kids’ room.

A: As an artist and educator, I am always curious about the experiences other artists had with art education when they were young. Did you make art at home when you were a child and a teenager?

S: I come from a family of makers - builders, show makers, cabinet makers, farmers, sewers, wine makers and poets. My maternal Grandmother was a painter as is my Mom, it is through them that I have always been around art and other artists. As a kid if I admired an Emily Carr painting in the gallery my Mom would take that interest and make some sort of project for me out of it - I once spent an entire July replicating an Albrecht Durer etching in pen and ink - my Mom is the queen of teachable moments and I draw a lot of inspiration from that in my daily life with my kids. I took a lot of art classes through our local Art Gallery as well as just hanging around the community hall during my Grandma’s painting classes - she gave me my first set of oil paints for my eighth birthday!

A: Did you have any formative art educational experiences at school, or outside of school?

S: I am not really sure what to quantify as formative experiences - I mean isn’t all education supposed to be formative? I lived and breathed for my art classes and home ec classes in high school - I loved to read but wasn’t keen on writing essays and I liked debating about history but couldn’t seem to memorize anything for tests. My art, sewing, woodworking, and cooking classes were what made sense to me - I excelled - I also had great teachers who loved their jobs. Outside of school my parents travelled around North America with us quite a bit - mostly camping - my dad taught us how to hung and fish - and instilled a deep respect for the planet - he also taught us to be quiet and look - to watch.

A: Did you have any memorable art teachers as a young person?

S: My high school art teacher - Mr. Hunter - he let me do whatever I wanted and if that meant making clay beads or jewelry out of hot glue then then he was OK with it. In university I had two professors that I butted heads with - Eileen Truscott and Byron Johnston - they totally called me on my baloney and pushed me to work harder than I wanted - I probably only graduated because I wanted to show them I could!

I had another teacher when I was really young - hanging around my Grandma’s painting classes down at the Community hall - her name was Mary Smith - I though she was probably 98 - but in reality she was probably about 60 - she taught me how to paint leaves and draw flowers - she took the time to show me technique.

A: Do you have any specific resources that you look to for ideas for art activities to do with your children, such as books, magazines, websites, or blogs?

S: I love Pinterest! There are so many great ideas floating around out there and you can snag one and change it around to work for you! Through Pinterest I have come across Art Mommie. Other blogs that I love are SouleMama and MayaMade - both blogs are about a more simple, close to home type of life - both of these blogs are chock full of inspiration for me!

So many books it would be impossible to list them all - I love children’s books as much as my kids do - I draw a lot of projects from children’s books. Locally we have a store called Collage Collage - we do a lot of drop in classes there and I really like how they run things. The class starts off with all the kids sitting on pillows for a story, then we move over to the tables and work on projects based on the book we just read, then it is back to the pillows to re-focus and hear the story again. I like to use this formula in our own days at home - we also dig a good theme day - you can do a story, snack, song and project and or game all based on one theme - love that!

A few notable books that are currently influencing my painting and drawing right now are Style Nomad by Sibella Court, The Americans by Robert Frank, as well as the novels of Barbara Kingsolver.

I’ve been admiring a post from the wonderful New City Arts blog, which features artwork by second grade students created around the themes of exploration and art in nature. I’ve posted art lesson ideas by this genius art teacher before (look here). While all of the work featured in this post is lovely, I was particularly intrigued by the map studies (pictured above) which were inspired by a map of the Saint Louis area (where the teacher’s school is located). I’ve thought, before, about leading art lessons inspired by maps and map-making, but aside from simple sketching activities, I’ve yet to figure out an interesting way to do this. It’s great to see how this art teacher has developed this art activity for her second grade students.

The art teacher described the students’ process as follows:

Each student was given a current map of the Saint Louis area. I asked them to think about how this map might have looked like in the time of Louis & Clark. What things would change? What would be the same?

They focused only on the lines and shapes that they found most interesting and drew those. Maybe it was the highway lines, or the waterways, or the boundaries. The pencil lines were outlined in glue and then colored with chalk and oil pastel.

Cardboard and Fog in John Dickson’s Smoking City

I recently came across the work of John Dickson in an old edition of the magazine Canadian Art. I was inevitably drawn to his work Smoking City, which consists of a model city built with cardboard, sitting atop a large table. The city is permeated by fog at regular intervals, piped in from multiple fog machines. I have an ongoing fascination with model cities built with cardboard and other everyday materials. I have written, previously, about my own cardboard city which is one of my most valuable teaching tools (I have used it for art activities in painting, architecture, and sculpture). I’ve also collected, on this blog, examples of model cities built from cardboard and other recycled art materials (see my posts on Kiel Johnson and Franco Vecchia). I really enjoy Dickson’s straightforward use of the simple medium of cardboard, and I especially enjoy his theatrical and humorous use of fog in his installation.

Art critic Gary Michael Dault described Smoking City when it was exhibited in Toronto in 2006:

“One of the most moving and, at the same time, darkly amusing of the current takes on architecture-in-art is John Dickson’s Smoking City, the centerpiece of his exhibition, Smoke and Cloud, at Archive Inc. This bristling aggregate of cardboard buildings, gathered into a meta-city that included a number of architectural icons such as the Empire State Building, the Transamerica Tower, and Toronto’s New City Hall - as well as scores of more generic high rise structures - is theatrically animated by the presence of a couple of fog-machines hidden among the buildings.”

I’d love to find a video of the piece, to show to future students.