Ersatz Art Show
Erstaz is a word that means "make shift". When we had to switch to making art at home instead of at school, we all showed we can still learn and grow by creating with "make shift" materials available in our own homes in a living room or kitchen instead of an art room. You have done a wonderful job adapting to this temporary new way of learning and I have enjoyed seeing your creative responses to the weekly art challenges. This week you will reflect on that learning and share it with your family. Look around for things you have made over the past few weeks and create a display. Tell your family what you made, what you learned, what materials you used and what pieces you like the best. Self reflection helps us make decisions about our art. Discussing art helps us better understand what we like or don't like. Talking about art can help us make personal connections and share why it is good.
Art From Nature
This week's art challenge starts as a scavenger hunt to find things in nature. You may need to ask your family first if the things are ok to use (especially flowers and garden plants!) Nature is full of texture, color and shape. Make a collection of things you can use (rocks, shells, bark, sticks, leaves, pinecones, grass, seedpods, etc.) and then create a temporary sculpture from them. Watch the slideshow on this website for some ideas or search the web to see how the artist Andy Goldsworthy uses nature.
Shadow Shapes
Shape is all around you. You have probably noticed simple shapes like circles, squares and triangles, but for this project, you will tune your eyes into the complex shapes of shadows. A shadow is formed when an object blocks light. The shape of that object becomes the shape of the shadow. Watch the slide show for some ideas on how to use shadows. Gather your supplies, and then create your own shadow shapes.
Robots For Our Times
This week's art challenge asks you to create a robot to help you to do something in your life. You may have new responsibilities as you adjust to learning at home. How can your robot help? Artist's throughout the ages have created artwork that reflects the time period they live in. Your robot can be a drawing, a collage, or a sculpture. Think about what your robot can do to help you, your family or your neighborhood. Watch the slideshow on this website to get some ideas, gather your supplies and create your own robot.
This week's art challenge asks you to create a robot to help you to do something in your life. You may have new responsibilities as you adjust to learning at home. How can your robot help? Artist's throughout the ages have created artwork that reflects the time period they live in. Your robot can be a drawing, a collage, or a sculpture. Think about what your robot can do to help you, your family or your neighborhood. Watch the slideshow on this website to get some ideas, gather your supplies and create your own robot.
Cardboard Sculpture
You know that stuff in your recycling bin? Well, it can become art! When we use an object to create a work of art, it becomes an art tool. Art materials are associated with application techniques. Some are traditional, others are experimental. This week's art challenge asks you to search around for some thin cardboard and make a sculpture out of it. You can experiment with many different ways of using it. Will you cut it, bend it, glue it, tape it, draw on it? Watch the slide show on this website to get some ideas, and make your art.
Doodle Drawing
Artists use elements of art like line, shape, color, and space. These elements become a language to communicate visually. Lines can be curvy, straight, zigzag, thick, thin bumpy and scratchy. Lines can suggest movement, mood and emotion. For this week's art challenge, you will create a line drawing. Artists like Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee created many works that inspired the following examples.
Collage
Humans from all cultures, past or present, have created art and that art is influenced by the time period and the culture in which they live. Our lives are filled right now with being at home with our family. We are staying home and staying safe. What kind of collage can you make from magazines, newspapers, and thin cardboard boxes that shows something important in your life. A collage is a picture made by sticking different pieces of paper to a backing. Will your collage show your family or something from nature? Will it be somethings from your imagination? Will it be funny? Watch the slideshow to get some ideas, then ask your family to help you find some scissors, an old magazine, and some glue.
Animal Assemblage
Sometimes artists use traditional materials like pencils or paint to make art. Other times they find things that are supposed be used for different purposes and make art out of them. Now is the perfect time to get inspiration from artists like Alexander Calder, Betye Saar, Robert Rauschenberg and Louise Nevelson. These famous assemblage artists put together found or unrelated objects often using untraditional art materials. For this week's art challenge, you will create a temporary sculpture of an animal out of found materials. First watch the slide show to see how my family created our animal assemblages. Next think about what kind of animal you want to make. Look around your home for things you can use to create your sculpture. Start with the biggest shapes like the head and the body and then add the smaller details on top.
Found Object Color Wheels
Artists use color to express emotions and to communicate ideas. Can you find color in your everyday life to create a temporary sculpture or a collage? Watch the slideshow to see how my family found color around our home and then see what you can make.
Texture Monsters
The challenge this week is to see if you can create a creature using textures. Texture is the way something feels. It can be bumpy, smooth, scratchy, sandy, fuzzy etc. We looked around our house for objects with texture and made a collection. Next, we placed the objects under our paper and rubbed the paper with the side of a crayon. You can do texture rubbings with pencils and other drawing materials too. We started with the big shapes like the body, head, arms and legs. Then we added details like eyes, nose, and mouth. Finally, we added texture to the background and inside our shapes. Can you find the texture in the world around you? Watch the slideshow for ideas.
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Wish You Were Here
Spring Break looks pretty different this year. And although you can't send a postcard from your planned vacation spot, you CAN travel with your imagination and make a postcard to share. This week's art challenge asks you to imagine a place you would like to travel to. Maybe it is a real place, like a warm sunny beach, or maybe you are the adventurous type who wants to venture back in time to see Cleopatra for yourself. Create your postcard and then share it. You can either put a stamp on it and really mail it, or take a picture of it and send it virtually to friends and family. Although we are apart, we can stay connected! Watch the slideshow to see how my family created postcards.
Found Round
This week's art challenge starts as a scavenger hunt to find things that are different sized circles. Make a collection of big, medium and small circular shaped things from around your house. You might be stuck inside, but this gives you a chance to look at your surroundings in a new way. You'll also need paper, and something to draw with. Watch the slideshow below to see how my family created different art with found circles then make your own.