KidsWorks
I work one to one with over 100 students between the ages of 5 and 11 each week, sharing what I learn through design focused art projects. Some of the projects are big collaborative works that will be auctioned off to local businesses and collectors to raise money for the school's art program, some of the projects are about exploring ideas and techniques and some are about just doodling what ever comes to mind. I try to provide my students with as much enthusiasm and curiosity as I can, in the hopes that they will carry it on and share it with others. It seems to be working. In the past year, we have been asked to participate in three art shows as featured artists. Some of my students have branched out on their own, one is creating logos and identity for local businesses, another was a finalist in the Google logo design contest. One of my students is designing his own skateboard graphics. Watching them work and learning from them is my greatest source of inspiration.
Einstein Celebration Show @ Wild Joe's Coffee House
This was a very special opportunity that my students were asked to be a part of. The Physics Department and Montana State University in collaboration with just about every smart creative entity around hosted a series of events to celebrate the roughly 100 years since Einstein first published the Theory of Relativity. Ron Gompertz of Wild Joe's Coffee House asked if my young artists would be willing to fill the walls of his coffee shop for a special physics bowl and concert with art of Einstein, The Theory of Relativity, Gravitational Waves, String Theory and anything else that we could come up with. IF that wasn't special enough, Wild Joe's hosted an artist's reception for the 100+ students that contributed. Professor Nico Yunes of MSU and super special guest Dr. Jim Gates of University of Maryland and President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology came to talk to the kids and show us a new dance called the "Gravitational Wave!"
The kindergarteners portrayed their understanding of gravity with moonscapes of wax and watercolor. he first graders represented the sound and energy waves with crayon and colored pencil on the back of vellum with images of black holes, Einstein and representations of gravitational wave overlaid on top. They also made an Portrait of Einstein on black velvet with glitter paint just for fun. The fourth graders happened to be studying Einstein as a person and did a series of portraits interpreting Einstein's character based on their research. The fifth graders made nebula inspired spacescapes usingoil pastels and a wax resist with the help of the endlessly creative Mary Pat Zitzer.
Longfellow League of Superheros
The Longfellow League of Super Heros started when this particular group of kids were in fourth grade. The project started with a discussion of what was important enough to each of us that we were willing to change our priorities to the point of lifestyle to either preserve or fascilitate it. Then they had to come up with an secret identity based on these values and super powers that they could use to preserve their cause. The heros tackled issues ranging from more family time to global warming to spreading more laughter through the world. Since all superheros need a symbol, the students designed their own visual identity with printing their logo on a shirt in mind. They were limited to three colors, including their shirt color. Once each student had crafted their logo perfections, they had to carve the proper parts into two linoblocks. They printed their shirts in two stages, learning about registering prints.
Once their shirts were ready, all 28 students worked on creating and learning a dance to perform as a superhero flash mob at their school's annual art auction. They used performance art to express their concerns about their environment as well as their exploration of color, line and shape.
The concept of the Longfellow League of Superheros grew into the the students fifth grade year though the creation of a comic book. A few selected students sat as an advisory committee through the writing and illustrating of a comic book featuring them as superheros working together to save the Earth from being overwhelmed by trash and litter. The project is still goin strong with the development of digital trading cards featuring each of the heros.
Robot Show @ Lamewave
Kindergarteners, first graders and fifth graders participated in this Robot show along with students from Montana State University to help promote and kick the new robot exhibit at the Computer Museum here in Bozeman. We only had a day to create and hang our pieces, so many of the students did their masterpieces at home and brought them to me the next day. The kindergarteners all worked together to create a CookieBot, the first graders all made robot miniatures and the fifthgraders made fantasy robots. All of the wall art is currently hanging in the entrance to the Computer Museum.
The Last Bozeman History Project
Freelance instruction and art direction with 30 5th graders at Longfellow Elementary School
This book is the result of a five-month collaboration with Mrs. Babcock's 5th grade class in which all content, layout, editing and direction was completed by the students themselves. Each student was responsible generating for multiple pieces of content, including writing, photography and illustration. Then each student was assigned the layout of a spread using content that was not their own. They were responsible for requesting artwork, photographs and other materials from other students willing to full-fill those requests. They were give free range for layout, using InDesign CS6 with the exceptions of body copy and margins which were decided on by committee. Cover art, title pages, visual editing, copy editing, additional writing, photographs and additional artwork were all completed by student committees and individuals in addition to their layout assignments.
Travel Zine of Hawaii
This is a zine I did with my own children on a family trip to Hawaii. They wrote and illustrated all of the content. The colored geometric patterns are made with traditional Hawaiian Kapala sticks. Each pattern and color has a unique meaning in Hawaiian, but also a nuanced meaning in the telling of a persons history that is specific to them. The articles cover everything from the legend of the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess, Pele, to essays about sea turtles and swimming with dolphins to reviews of local food and snorkel beaches.
Patch
Patch was a special project created by the loving hands of 20 first graders. In his former life, Patch was a Paint cow horse who loved to be loved. We decided to give Patch a chance to continue being loved. The class consulted with the Archeologists at the Museum of the Rockies on how to preserve Patches bones. A Equine Veteranarian from the University of Montana visited the classroom to show us how to put our bones together and showed us many unique features of a horses skeletal system. The students brought in semi-precious beads, glass, little treasures and even Montana garnet and Yogo Sapphire chips. Each student sketched out their vision of how Patch should be decorated. The students worked in small groups of three to five, cleaning and preparing the bones. They they worked by committee, deciding which stones should be used to an how they should be placed. The class worked on this project for five months and Patch was sold at auction to a very happy home, to raise money for the school's art program.
Silk Lamps Featuring Running Patterns
These three silk floor lamps were designed and created by 28 third graders. Each student designed a geometric 6" x 4" pattern that would repeat seamlessly. They glued cording in the shape of their pattern to a wooden block which was used to stamp a resist in a running pattern along a strip of silk. Each student then mixed three unique colors belonging one of the primary families to dye their strips with. The strips were then stitched to the framework of a floor lamp. Theses pieces were auctioned off for raise money to support the school's art program.
Connected Postcards
This project was a collaboration between 18 kindergarteners and 18 fifth graders and inspired by the artwork of Alexander Calder and Fundacio Joan Miro. This piece is about connections, how things are related but individual at the same time and how individuals con go out and have their won adventures but come back together to make a whole
We started with heavy-weight textured vellum cut into 4x6" cards, that were then taped back together. Each kindergartener drew a wire frame on one of the cards that connected tot he one before it and after it. They then filled in selected spaces created by their "frames" with a primary water color. Part two came in walking down to the post office with their teacher to mail their cards in a packet to the fifth graders. The fifth graders wrote an interpretation the wire frame drawing on the front of each card. They sent their cards individually back to the kindergarteners to reassemble. Once reassembled, the cards were put into a frame sandwiched between two sheet of glass so that both side would be seen. The wire frames and colors were also drawn on the glass around the edges of the postcards. This piece was auctioned off to help raise funds for the school's art program.
Long Board, Skate Board, Snowboard
These board were projects based on the typographic expression of 31 fifth graders. We stripped each board down to it's base, and started over. Every student spent a month exploring different ways to communicate the meaning of their chosen words visually. Color, texture, and line were all elements given careful consideration to express the theme of each board. The Snowboard was all about winter and life in the snow, the long board portrayed a natural easy-feeling mood, while out skateboard expressed a more energetic approach to school and problem solving. Once the student had their concept sketched out, the class worked on transparent vellum to find ways for each concept to fit in with and even interact with everyone else's. All of the boards are fully functional and were sold at auction to help raise for the school's art program.
Process and Daily Fun
These are just a few of the thing that we do in class to explore ideas, techniques and expression. Some of my students have gone on to create their own master works of design that have been used around the school and in their own communities.