Back at it again!

As always, with the start to a new group of kids, school, age group, whatever it may be, I usually get a bit nervous the day before and morning of... but then it usually wears off right when I step into the classroom.

 This day was no different! I kept going back and forth what I wanted to do with these kids as it was their first day and I wanted to make sure we all were on the same page.

 So, with this, and learning what's worked in the past with other residencies, I decided to go in with a bunch of rules put forth. I'd have all of the kids help to establish what they may be, so they stick to their own rules that they were apart of making.

 It's the first day of class and it's a bunch of 6th grade girls. I got this. Mind you, the rest of the 10-15 will probably be coming next week because they didn't have their permission slips today, but it was nice going into the class on the first day of class and seeing their age level and how they like to take their time with their art. Ahhh. This is something I haven't been used to in awhile. I like when they take their time, as they take more pride in their work.

I came up with an idea of "Illuminated Names" sort of inspired by Illuminated Manuscripts from the Middle Ages, and I thought it would be a good first day of class activity for them to do. We did some Art History with Illuminated Manuscript discussion and talked about the process of how I wanted them to make their names, and to incorporate images about themselves, including hobbies and interests, or just things they like to draw. They got so excited. Did I mention they took their time? As something you can never gauge from the beginning, now I understand the pace and interests of these students. I asked them what they wanted to work on, so that also gave me a better understanding of projects to prepare for the future.

They just got started with their names, really. We sketched, painted, and some started outlining with their sharpies. A lot of them said towards the end that they liked how I didn't rush them. They probably get rushed all day at school and I know when I feel rushed in my art it makes me have anxiety!

Here are a few of their started names. Then I got to thinking, what about if we made books? Their own self-portrait books that they could always have and add onto, with each class being a different part to their story. I'm pretty excited just thinking about it!

Favorite Quotes: "I'm really looking forward to Tuesday now."

"I've never been able to express myself like this." 

Henna Hands

   Henna is something that's always fascinated me. From the intricacy of all the designs balancing together, to the process of how it's put onto the body, this is something I wanted to investigate more and see what the kids thought about.

   First we talked about Henna and if anyone's ever heard of the process. A few had, and as soon as I showed them the slides of images, most were familiar. We talked about the history of Henna and how it originated. We talked about that it's a paste made from a plant, and they were very intrigued with the process.
  Although we didn't actually put anything onto their skin, they got to practice drawing their hands, first on sketch paper, then on their final paper. I said that their Henna designs were to describe them as individuals and what interests they had. I showed them examples of designs to draw on each part of the hand, for example, fingers, thumbs, and palms.

   This was the last class, so some didn't get to finish. But my feelings were they left with a lot of new art processes to try as this was just a taste for them. Many were sad to go, and I felt the same. I love hearing that they love art and want to continue to grow up and do art. These are words that inspire me!

Picasso Personalities

It's been a good minute since I've updated some lessons. This Profile and Picasso lesson I did with my 3rd/4th graders and they had fun with it.

   First we started off with some numbers in profiling. They really enjoyed this as not many have done this before: We took number combinations and made face profiles. For example, a 9, 4, and a Z  was one of the combinations and it made a side profile. I showed them all the ways they could do this, with many different numbers and letters, then they practiced their own number/letters. It was a good connection with interpreting math with art!

After talking about profiles, I introduced Picasso's art and how he painted many different types of profile, usually one side looking forward and the other to the side. We took oil pastels to color them in. Here are some examples:

It's interesting how some kids interpreted a more realistic approach and others used different colors

and line patterns to make it more their own style.