HOLIDAY GIFT DAY on DECEMBER 17th!

As the Picasso's Basement Fall Season wraps up I'm looking forward to HOLIDAY GIFT DAY AT PICASSO's BASEMENT. On Saturday December 17th from 10AM - 1 PM I will be hosting kids whose parents need some shopping time. We'll be making holiday gifts for family and friends, eating some holiday treats, and playing a holiday game.  For more details on this please look for upcoming updates on Picasso's Basement Facebook Page.

In the meantime, here's a craft I created from an old Capri Sun Juice Crate, an old map, a little paint, a utility knife, and a good dose of Mod Podge paste and sealant.

My husband accuses me of living like a bag lady in my own car . So you can see I've filled it with some of the many items that usually sit under the feet of the passenger: pencils, tape, CDs, magazines, etc. Also makes a handy desk caddy. It's an easy craft to do with your children.

Better yet, send them to HOLIDAY GIFT DAY AT PICASSO's BASEMENT and they can make one to give to a loved one as a gift!

Oh Bookmark, My Bookmark

Last class of the session for my 3rd - 6th Grade group and they specifically requested a free drawing day. I tried, oh how I tried, to let them have a day without any structure. But it went against my nature as an illustrator so I figured I'd give them something to work towards.  BOOKMARKS.

Luckily I had these cool plastic sleeves I'd bought for my own promotional bookmarks when I remember I'm an illustrator.

All you have to do is draw something on card stock and have it fit in the sleeve. The kids had a lot of fun, created some really wonderful designs. OK, it was essentially a free drawing day, right? And I'll miss them until the next session in January!

And the Leaves That are Green Turn to Brown...

This post title comes to you with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel!

Autumn, when all art teachers must make the kids work with leaves. Which is not a bad thing, leaves are beautiful. Like all things in nature, none are identical. They have different shapes and no leaf is JUST one color. The red ones have a touch of ochre, the green ones are a little brown or yellow. I decided we should really work with the mixes of colors and used this as an opportunity to break into my new Dick Blick chalk pastels and teach the kids about blending colors.

Black paper. Nothing shows up the vibrant chalk pastels like black paper. These chalk pastels were new to me, by the way:  handled like a pastel but with a lot more dust, softer than a chalk. Exhibit A: See pictures of kids covered in chalk dust! But talk about vivid!

 I thought it would be pretty to use several long sheets of paper to allow the kids to work with several leaves and mount them together. And learn a little about composition to boot.

First they "drew" their leaves onto the paper with Elmers glue. I asked them to use more than one leaf design on each page so they could work with their composition skills. I even encouraged them to overlap the leaves but that took courage and only a few did it. Still, excellent drawings! When the glue dried it created a resist to the chalk and they were able to color them in using a limited palette of autumnal colors. I showed them how to blend with just ONE finger.

                                And then we mounted them on colored paper. GORGEOUS!!!!

Happy Dio De Los Muertos from the Picasso's Basement Kids!

Featured Artist #1: Zeus

Being an art instructor has given me the opportunity to see how different artists can be. Some work quickly and with passion, others have an incredible eye for detail and their creations come about slowly and with special care. Some children put all their humor into their artwork, some bring a love of decoration to the work. Some are experimenters, some are cautious. These differences are part of what make each artist unique and what makes each class exciting.

I thought it was time to start presenting the “Picasso’s Basement Artists” one at a time. Get to know some of them. See what they like and watch it appear in their art.

Zeus

Who will go first? Why, it was a no-brainer. It was the first artist to hand in his questionnaire (and yes, that is a reminder for the rest of you!) By the way, I asked all the artists to pick a “STAR NAME”. 

Our first featured artist asked to be called “Zeus”. 

Zeus is in 6^th grade and he told me a little about himself. He likes to play videogames, is a big fan of bacon, and his favorite book is (no surprise here) the Percy Jackson book “ The Last Olympian”.

 Zeus’s art often reflects his love of mythology.

Cigar Box Birdhouse
"Palace of the Gods"

Shadow Puppet
"Zeus with his lightening bolt"

When asked what he likes best about creating art he said it was getting to “express your self and do awesome stuff.” And awesome is what he is all about. 

He is incredibly prolific and comes up with inspiring ideas and makes them happen. Zeus has taught me that you can break a million rules and still produce great art. He churns out work with rapid speed, his ideas come pouring out of him and he is never without inspiration. He can talk endlessly through class, entertaining everyone, and STILL produces something incredible.   

When asked what he wanted to do with his life he answered “anything that doesn’t have to do with typing”.  I don’t think he’ll have a problem finding something. 

Art is Basic: Art Teacher Blog Directory

Art is Basic: Art Teacher Blog Directory

I know I've listed this before but here is a wonderful list of other Art Teacher Blogs, including listings of several friends who I know to have some fabulous art lesson ideas! Happy reading and creating!

Indonesian Shadow Puppets

Shadow Puppets on display at Picasso's Basement Gallery Show at the library!

Traditional Shadow Puppet

I'm going to cut to the chase with this post. No ramblings about how the Picasso's Basement kids and I "traveled" to Indonesia and learned about the culture and ate Indonesian fruit. Which we did. But what we really did that even I found miraculous was that we made SHADOW PUPPETS!  You know those beautifully carved and decorated puppets that are manipulated with sticks? And are then shown behind a screen? Well, we made them! Sorry, I don't mean to gush but it was pretty cool!

MATERIALS:

• Black Card Stock
• Hot Glue Gun
• Strong Balsa sticks from craft store (test them at the store: too thin and they will break)
• Xacto knife (teacher should use this)
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Markers that show up on black paper (Gel markers often do)
• Fasteners from the stationery store (the gold kind that you poke in the holes and then bend back)

Artist with her mermaid puppet

Each artist sketched out their ideas and then drew them on the black card stock with a pencil (you could see the lines fairly well.) Then they cut out the basic shapes with scissors and brought it to me to use my xacto knife to help with some of the detail work. I encouraged details because it would add to the effect when a light was shined on them and the shadow was created. We cut eyes and mouths into them, made cuts for hair and fingers. I asked all the artists to be sure to add at least one appendage which was cut separately and attached with a fastener.

NOTE: If you are doing this project encourage the kids to make the appendages wide, at least in the spot where it connects with the body. The more delicate the appendage the more likely it is to break off. This is another prime example of my learning curve: I realized that appendages were too delicate about half way through the lesson.

Anyhow, after you attach the appendages with the fasteners the fasteners can be trimmed from behind (by an adult or older child only) with sharp scissors. The artists then embellished their puppets with the markers. We used the hot glue gun to attach the sticks to the puppets. And here they are:

Artists with their shadow puppets (complete with articulated tails, arms, etc.)
Posing unhappily because they REALLY wanted to put on their puppet show!

I have to say I'm so proud of the Picasso's Basement artists. They utilized so many new skills, were patient while waiting for help with the details, and were amazingly creative. I thought they would all make people. But we ended up with a monster, a horror movie character, a cat, a giant person, a mermaid, a pegasus, a hippie with his Love Bus, and (last but not least) Zeus with his lightening bolt! Fantastic work, guys! And thank you to my teen assistant who kept the peace through all of this!