Mother's Day Cards

I remember the first or second week I started at SVLA, I asked our students what types of art they wanted to try/learn. I distinctly remember one student in 3rd grade REALLY wanting to learn origami... so fast forward 8 months, here we are!

We learned that "ori" actually means "folding" and "kami" (or "gami") means paper, so "origami" literally means "folding paper" and that it is prominent primarily in Japanese culture.

For Mother's Day we brainstormed various adjectives to describe our mothers and wrote them on our cards. Then, we folded beautiful origami tulips to attach to the back.

I was basically dying of cuteness.

Grades 4-5 created some pop-up cards! Again, we brainstormed adjectives that describe our mothers, and wrote them on the front of our cards. They were in and out so fast that I didn't get pictures of our older kids cards :( So, all we have here are the examples. Even so, they did lovely work (as I'm sure you already know!)

Hope everyone had a perfect Mother's Day! Thanks moms for all that you do!!!

After School Ceramics Class!

I'm so excited about the turn out for our after-school ceramics class! With about 15 students, all sorts of styles, preferences, and combinations came about in our projects!

During week one, we learned where ceramics and clay are used today! For example, we talked about how all of our dishes come from a mold that was created around a original wheel-thrown plate or bowl. Or, how important molding and sculpting clay is for the first step in creating special effects make-up, like the prosthetics on Jim Carrey in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

In week one, we learned that you must score (scratch up) the clay before attaching one piece to the next. We made cupcake pinch pots which combines the process of pinch pots and coils!

Week two we painted our cupcakes and used different brushes and techniques to glaze cleanly and beautifully.

We also briefly talked about color schemes and planning what sections to color what in order to create an overall consistent and appealing final product. For example, we talked about how complimentary colors (colors that are opposite on the color wheel) create contrast! We see complimentary colors with Christmas (red and green) and in a lot of sports teams like the Broncos (orange and blue) and the Lakers (purple and yellow). We also saw how using one color on the bottom, and then the same color somewhere on top can help unify the entire piece.

How wonderful do these look?!

Week three we decided to make a little something sweet for Mother's day. By creating various round slabs, we were able to make beautiful rose sculptures. You cannot go wrong with this project, they are all so beautiful!

A class of planning and glazing later, We couldn't be happier with how these turned out (and hope our mothers loved them too!)

Spring Sculpures

In case you didn't know, I love working with clay, and have yet to meet a student who doesn't! Having had Easter and Spring just around the corner I felt a clay project was in order. The younger grades focused on texture, patterns, and color in their Easter egg spoon rests.

So many fun textures to press into clay!
And here are the finished products!

A few students made flowers and they are beautiful!

Grades 4-5 learned how to "score" their clay to help clay pieces adhere to each other, and focused on a pinch pot/coil union. I have yet to see a birds nest dish that hasn't looked amazing. They ROCKED their coils!

 

There is something relaxing about rolling coils...

Here, Mayra, Abigail, and Daniel focus intently on getting glaze in every nook and cranny!

This is kind of a fun comparison of how the colors change before and after the glaze is cooked in the kiln.

So many happy little nests!

It's official-Spring is finally upon us!!!

Trompe L'oeil Sculptures

Our focus for this sculpture project was inspired by an art term- Trompe L'oeil
Trompe L'oeil means "to fool the eye".  Rene Magritte is a wonderful example of an artist who brought this term to light with here oil painting "This is not a pipe" seen below.

Obviously, it's a pipe.... but really, it's not- it's just a painting of a pipe. You cannot smoke it, or hold it, it is just an image.
Our sculpture students were given the task to draw, design, and sculpt an item that is not what it appears.  We have many items that double as dishes or jewelry holders such as a flower, leaf, football... and a few pinch pots disguised as a cupcake, apple, and beehive.

This cheesecake is actually a pencil holder!

 

While this bird bath makes a great jewelry dish!

Seeing all the ideas were fun, but the final glazed products were even better!

Giacometti Armature Sculptures

There is no confusing the style of Alberto Giacometti. Rough, slender sculptures that appear to be almost erroding take the name of Giacometti.

An Italian sculpter born in 1901, Giacometti has a style all his own.

 As we learn how to create different types of sculptures, we learned that armatures are a vital core to so many sculptures, and these are apparent in the works of Giacometti.
The armature of a sculpture is most simply put, the skeleton. Proportions, poses, and designs are determined with the armature which is later added to to create the final product.

Mimicking the rugged style of Giacometti, our students planned, formed, and sculpted a slender armature of a figure that is posed doing something that represents them. Surprisingly, they were all so different!

Dasha and Carina worked in tandem to create a sculpture performing a acrobatic act they claim to do all the time ;) I think we need a live demonstration!

Here, Michael applies the plaster to his armature.

After copvering with a coat of black paint, and then accented with metallic paint, the "bronze" sculptures were complete.

We have Julia, our swimmer...

Our performers, Viktoria and Alina...

A few of our many athletes...

And there's our acrobatic duo! (With the hidden infinity symbol for their eternal friendship!)

This makes for a pretty cool looking series of armature sculptures!