EPHEMERAL ART

After an introduction to ephemeral (temporary) art, land art, and several artists who work within nature, students will create their own ephemeral works of art using materials such as sand, stones, sticks, leaves, pine cones and more. They may make and re-make multiple, temporary works of art, and each one will be documented with a photo.

This Ephemeral Art class at Chevy Chase was one of the most fun I've had so far this year. It's thrilling to watch the kids jump right in and experiment with different compositions and structures using materials from nature. I also love introducing them to Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty and the work of Andy Goldsworthy, and getting excited about the work all over again with them. Check out the beautiful works the kids made in class, and click the "Read More" link below to see more.

p.s. You can watch the Andy Goldsworthy documentary Rivers and Tides in its entirety here.

 

HAUNTED HOUSE AT MURCH ELEMENTARY

"Haunted House" by Murch Elementary students from Make slash Believe on Vimeo.

HAUNTED HOUSE: In the spirit of Halloween, students will work together to design an interactive model for a haunted house using craft materials. Once it is complete, a short video of a trip through their haunted house will be made by moving a small camera through the model.

I have this project lined up for a couple schools this season, and had the opportunity to work on it for the first time with a fantastic group of Murch Elementary students during a special 2-hour session on a non-school day. It was kind of a whirlwind bringing it all together with several different age groups, but the kids did an excellent job, and I had so much fun. Check out the final video above (or on M/B's Vimeo page), and a couple of haunted house photos below, and try not to get TOO scared.

*Update: Thanks to Linda at Kid Friendly DC for sharing this project on her fantastic blog!

P.S. Not visible in the video/pictures: the haunted refrigerator con zombie made by a pre-k'er. 

P.P.S. The haunted house's biggest fan? My cat, Billie. Could not keep her out of this thing, before or after it'd been inhabited by spooks! 

 
Music by: Lydia Kavina, Ensemble Sospeso, & Charles Peltz
 

CONSTELLATION CHARTS

When I did this "Planetarium" project with an Art After School class previously, it was at Comet Ping Pong, and the class was 2 hours long. For the 1-hour class in schools, we switched to black paper and metallic pens (rather than illustrating everything with colored pencil) to make it more time-efficient. The gold, silver, and colored metallic pens are, firstly, super fun to use, and second, may be better suited to a stars-and-space-themed project. I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the constellations projected onto the wall with a flashlight because the room was pretty bright even with the lights off, but here are a few pictures of students and their cool charts.

ART BRAINS SELF PORTRAITS

I'm digging these two pictures I just came across from a self-portrait class during last Spring's ART BRAINS camp. These were taken by Dan, volunteer extraordinaire. Top: Caroline with her self-portrait; bottom: brothers Sam and Jasper with Sam's portrait of himself in a fighter jet.

MAKING MAPS AT CHEVY CHASE ELEMENTARY

Emerald Forest detail from Toni's map

For the first Art After School class at Chevy Chase Elementary, we made maps of imaginary worlds. Here are a few pictures from the class. As always, I loved seeing the creative, unexpected lands and inhabitants the kids invented. Not pictured: Elena's "Technology Island", which maps a land that mimics your iPhone, where all of the houses and other locations are represented by app icons!

Mark's "Deth Islands" populated with monsters.

 L: detail of Teddy's map (including magnifications!); R: Teddy working

Jazmin with her colorful drawing

Annie, Sofia, and Elena hard at work.