pictures with words at art works now

   This Thursday at Art Works, we learned how to make images using letters and words as elements of composition, to create lines and fill space.
   The first image is one of my demos. We discussed creating a 'skeleton image', a simple composition to then fill in and define using letter forms in various ways. The younger students simply used one or two letters, or their name. 
   We also talked about 'people, places, & things'. What is your image about, who is in it, is it you, someone else, where is it?

monster pinch pots at art works now

This Monday, I taught Kids Create with Clay at Art Works Now in Mt. Rainier, and we made monster pinch pots! Really fun. It was a very small class, I think folks are still shifting out of vacation mode, but we had a good time!
   I am teaching all Kids Create classes there the next three weeks at 4:30:
Mon. - Clay
Tues. - Fiber Arts
Wed. - Color
Thurs. - Drawing
Come join us!  $7 drop-in! Can't beat it!  Great vibe. Always fun.

self portrait as animal

   We discussed animal totems in the Native American tradition, what each of us thought our totem(s) were or might be, and looked up qualities associated with those animal totems.
   Then the students looked at some reference images online and brainstormed on paper about what their compositions might look like before beginning their official totem piece, imaging themselves or their spirit in the animals they were depicting.
   Very interesting and lovely results!

dia de los muertos

Last Friday at Scoop, the kids discussed the Day of the Dead - Dia de los Muertos - celebrations that take place in Mexico every year, the night of Nov. 1, in celebration of loved ones and ancestors. They looked at some images of Day of the Dead masks and then worked to create their own drawing of a skull or scene!

Many thanks to my assistant Cathie, and one of the mommas, Zette, who scrounged some materials and pulled off this lesson with the kids while I had a major transportation delay and could not make it in time for class.

drawing to music at Art Works

I am totally psyched to say that as of last Thursday, I have joined the family of super awesome educators at Art Works Studio School in Mt. Rainier, MD (I have written before about how much I love this place!), and I jumped right in the same day, filling in for a drawing class.

The kids had a great time drawing to music while experimenting with mark-making, using charcoal, graphite, and chalk pastels.  We talked about all the different types of marks you can make on a paper - horizontal, vertical, diagonal, narrow, wide, very wide, dark, light, dots, 'flicks', circles, dots, dotted lines, broken lines, zigzags, squiggly lines, curly qs, smudges, marks with your fingers, letters, and so on.  The music alternated between two stations on Pandora - Thievery Corporation and Mozart - and the kids paid attention to where in their bodies they were feeling the music and how it made them want to move, how it made them want to draw, whether or not it influenced what they drew.

kids in process - black & white

  

a few finished pieces

 

working larger and in color, using their bodies more

 

really getting into drawing in rhythm with the music