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" 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
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.
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.
