Silk Banner Residency-Day 5

The fifth and last day of the residency, we removed the banners from their frames. Mrs. Newell cut the small, accent banners away from the larger ones. 

Only about 90% of the dye adheres to the silk, which means that the remaining 10% needs to be rinsed out in order to keep it from ruining the banners if they ever were to get wet in the future.  When rinsing out the banners, it was important to keep them under cold, running water until all of the extra dye was out. If we stopped in the middle of this process, the colors could  become trapped in areas that we didn’t want them to go.

Though it may seem like we didn’t have a lot left to do on the last day, the students stayed busy helping rinse out the banners, dry them by slowly fanning them, and taking apart the stretcher frames.

 As we took turns completing these activities, Mrs. Newell recapped the process and vocabulary that went along with producing this type of art. We even learned about the process of how silk is made. Many students were surprised, and sometimes a little grossed out, to find that silk comes from a worm! Here is a time lapse video of a silk worm spinning it's silk cocoon.

 

Mrs. Robertshaw rinsing out one of the banners.

A big THANK YOU!!!!! goes out to our wonderful parent volunteers that came in to help during the residency! It was a joy to work with all of you! We couldn't have done it without you! 

 

If you are interested in creating silk banners at home, Mrs. Newell recommended the following website for purchasing kits to get you started. 

Dharmatrading.com

Slowly fanning the banners to help dry them.

Silk Banner Residency- Day 4

Mrs. Livengood and Mr. Richardson adding blue to the car wheels.

Day 4! More painting!!

The fourth day was all about getting the rest of the color on the banners. The students were becoming quite the experts on applying the colored dyes and did a great job finishing up on Thursday. It was fun to see the banners come to life, one by one, and a little bittersweet to see the last areas soak up the remaining colors. 

Parents, students and teachers stopped by the classroom throughout the day to see the banners as they were completed and were delighted with the results. Some of our Banks Road teachers and staff were even able to get in on the action and take part in adding a little color.  Our fifth graders should be very proud of the art that they will leave behind for future Trailblazers to enjoy!

 

Ms. Yanez's class working on finishing up their banner.

Leni Newell with one of our completed banners.

Silk Banners- Day 3

On day 3 of the banner residency, we started adding the color. The color is added using different colored procion-mx fiber reactive dyes. Once the dyes touch the silk, they start to spread through the fabric. This spreading occurs because of capillary action. Capillary action is the same thing that helps a tree pull water all the way from the ground to the leaves at the tippy-top of the branches. This is also a reason that it was very important for us to make sure we made our resist lines solid on day 2. The resist lines are the only things that keep a color from running into another section and blending with other colors.

Before we started painting, it was important to plan out where we wanted our colors to go. We colored a copy of our designs and also placed colored paper directly on the silk banners to get a feel for where to paint the dye. Color is one of our elements of art and we use it, along with our principles of design, to create an interesting and visually pleasing composition.

 

We wanted to make sure each banner could stand on its own, as well as work with the other banners to create a complete piece of art. When choosing where to place our colors, we wanted to make sure to repeat the colors several times throughout the banners . This helps to create unity, and balance across the composition. It can also create rhythm that carries the eye from one side of the artwork to the other. We also wanted to make sure to create contrast by placing light colors next to dark colors.

Contrast, Unity, Rhythm and Balance are all principles of design. If we did not have them, our artwork might look too heavy or too busy on one side and empty on the other. If every banner had different colors, they might not look like they belonged together, as a unified work of art. If we put too many light colors in one area or dark colors in one area, the shapes and lines of the design might not stand out, which could make the design confusing. 

Mrs. Graf getting in on the action. This is her orange helicopter.



The kids did a great job of applying the color to the artwork and helping to make good color placement choices.

Once again, we had some wonderful parent volunteers that came in to help. We couldn't have done this without them.

 

Silk Banner Residency- Day 2

The second day of our silk banner residency was all about tracing the enlarged banner designs onto our stretched silk and going over them with a resist.  

First, we carefully placed our plan underneath the frame, and the first students from each class traced the design with pencils onto the silk. Next, we needed to add the black resist. This medium is used to make the lines of our design permanent on the silk and acts as a barrier to contain the dye in specific areas. It is like a fence that prevents the colored dye from touching and mixing together.

 

When adding the black resist, it is important to take your time, because once it is on the silk, it is permanent.  Mrs.Newell also talked about the importance of making our lines uniform, like one person did them even though many many students are working on the project. This helps to create unity throughout the composition of our banners. The students did a wonderful job of taking their time and making our lines look neat.

As always, we had a few mess-ups but we followed one of our art classroom mottos of “Mess-up, Fix-up”.  Artists, even professional ones, never do everything perfect all the time, but that is when our creativity comes in handy. If you mess up, never just give-up! Instead, figure out how to make it work in the artwork. Sometimes mistakes can lead to changes that end up making the artwork even better than the original plan. This is a practice that is not only helpful in art, but in all walks of life.

Mr. LaRiviere, Mrs. Ryals and Mrs. Moorer, today's parent volunteers, working on some finishing touches at the end of the day.

Ms. Johnson’s track 2 5^th grade started adding color today. The other classes will begin next week so keep checking the blog for more updates on our Artist in Residency.

Day 1- Artist in Residency: Leni Newell

Banner design plans on graph paper.

This year, the Banks Road Cultural Arts Committee has created a wonderful line-up of artists, musicians, dancers, and writers to come and visit our school. Today was the first of our 5th grade Artist in Residency with Leni Newell. Mrs. Newell has built up quite a portfolio visiting schools around North Carolina to work with the students on creating painted silk banners and batik artwork. We are excited to have Mrs. Newell working with us to create silk banners that will become a permanent piece of artwork for our school lobby.

The creative process of this residency started about a month ago when Mrs. Newell met with a small team of teachers, administrators and parent volunteers to come up with ideas for the location, concept, and composition of our banners. We were inspired by 5th grade's theme for the year, "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss, and our Banks Road motto of going out and blazing trails.

After deciding on a theme for our banners, we got to work sketching out ideas for the images. I also asked students of all grade levels to sketch their ideas about going places and blazing trails. We combined my designs with their drawings to create the final designs for the banners.

Mrs. Robertshaw and Mrs. Brugler enlarging our designs.

Finally, today, after all that prep work, we were able to start working on the banners themselves....

But wait, that required even more prep work!!

Our 5th grade teams started their time with Mrs. Newell by talking about what it means to be a professional artist, learning what a portfolio is and discussing the attitude and behaviors required to create artwork that will become a permanent part of our school. Meanwhile, a couple of our wonderful parent volunteers, worked hard to enlarge our designs to the size we would need them for our banners.

Mrs. Newell working with a student to stretch the silk onto the frame.

After the 5th graders' discussion with Mrs. Newell, they started work on assembling frames onto which they began stretching the silk fabric. This helps to hold the silk tight so that our designs will be clean and professional. The kids did a wonderful job working together to push in all of those pins!!

Our very last group of the day, Ms. Johnson's 5th grade class, was able to start tracing their design onto the silk and begin applying the black resist. We'll learn more about this in the days to come. 

Students in Ms. Johnson's class tracing their design onto the silk.

If you would like to volunteer to help during the remainder of our Artist in Residency- Nov. 9, 14, 15 and/or 16- check out our Sign-up Genius at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0445AFA628A46-leni/3466745 or email me at mstephenson@wcpss.net

Free Choice Art Days and Recycled Materials

In the art classroom, students are expected to listen to the lesson and demonstration at the beginning of class, talk quietly at their tables during independent work, remain on task by working on their projects or finding an art related activity, and, finally, they are expected to clean up properly at the end of class. When the class works together to fulfill all of these expectations, they earn a ticket. After a class earns 10 tickets, they have earned what we like to call a "Free Choice Art Day". This is a day where the students are allowed to choose what they want to create, and we get out a variety of materials that they have shown me they can use properly. These are often the days when all of those wonderful materials you all send in get used the most. The students love to build sculptures and other artwork with the paper towel rolls, empty bottles and containers, scrap fabric and other items that families have donated.

Many artists use recycled materials and found objects in their creations. Allowing the students to use these materials lets them be creative, and take full ownership of their project. They are the designer, the builder, and the problem-solver. They figure out what they want to create and what materials would be the best for their project, and since many of these materials are free, it allows them to experiment with their solutions, make mistakes, and learn from them without worrying about wasting expensive supplies. These are also things that they can collect and use at home.

Today, Mrs.Halsey's fourth grade class had earned a Free Choice Art Day and got really creative with some biodegradable packaging peanuts. In an effort to be more green, or environmentally friendly, many companies have started to use these packaging peanuts instead of the old Styrofoam ones. Since they are made of starch, they will dissolve completely in water which cuts down on waste and all of those peanuts sitting in a landfill or spilling into our oceans.

Joker and Batman

They are a great material for creating sculptures. By touching the peanut to a wet sponge or paper towel, you can easily attach them together without using glue or tape. This led to endless possibilities for our young artists. It didn't take long before they also figured out that once they had created the form of their sculpture, they could add color simply by using markers. Before we knew it, we had cartoon characters and figurines, "brick walls" and bracelets and even a Batmobile.

Great job getting creative Mrs. Halsey's class!!!

Next time you get a package in the mail, check to see if those peanuts will dissolve. Have fun watching them disappear in the bathtub, make some interesting sculptures or send them on in to the art room. We'll definitely put them to use!!

SPARKcon and Street Painting This Weekend!!

On nice sunny days, like the days we've had this week, I like to give the kids the option of spending their free draw time (time that they receive when they complete a project early) right outside the art room door. Sometimes, students will take out a piece of paper and a clipboard to draw from their imaginations or draw what they see outside. Often, the students like to use the sidewalk chalk to create temporary art on the sidewalks outside of the art room.

This weekend, September 15-16, the Raleigh Street Painting Festival is taking place in Downtown Raleigh on Fayetteville Street. The streets will be covered with artists creating beautiful temporary works of art using chalk. While this display used to be a festival of its own, it is now a part of SPARKcon. SPARKcon is a program put on by The Visual Art Exchange to showcase and celebrate the creativity of the Triangle Area. Creativity does not just mean art. They are also celebrating design, fashion, music, film, dance, the culinary arts and so much more. 

There will be tons of activities and showcases going on in the streets and surrounding venues. Click here to find the schedule and events that you and your family might be interested in. Click here to find the schedule of events designed specifically for the kids.

I plan to visit SPARKcon and check out the Street Painting during the day on Saturday. I hope to see you there!

A New School Year!

Another year at Banks Road Elementary has begun, and I'm excited to see what all of my artists will come up with! Once again, I will be using this blog to keep you up-to-date on happenings in the art room, as well as in the community. There are also links to artists websites, art activities and community art opportunities. I hope you and your student will explore these different sites and enjoy my posts. 

I have added a new feature to the blog. If you look to the upper right corner of the webpage, you will see a place to submit your email in order to follow this blog. This means that you will get an email notification anytime I post or update the site. It should not cause you to get spam emails or to become bombarded by emails from me. I hope this feature will come in handy and make it this blog more accessible to you and your child.

I am looking forward to this new year, meeting the students that are joining us from other schools and continuing to get to know our old Trailblazers!!

Fun at Artsplosure!!!

Ms. Garvey and Ms. Bethel checkin out the sculpture garden.

I hope you were able to make it out to Moore Square this weekend to check out Artsplosure. I visited the festival on Sunday with Ms. Garvey and Ms. Bethel, two of our wonderful first grade teachers. We checked out the Impressionist sculpture garden. It was cool to see these figures that were originally part of impressionist paintings turned into 3D, lifesize sculptures.

Me with Logan, the designer of the necklace.

There were lots of tents filled with artwork for sale. We looked at photography, paintings, wood carvings, pottery, and so much more! One of my favorite things to look at is the jewelry. There are so many different ways to make jewelry. Some people make it with beads that they've created themselves with glass, some people use found objects or metal that they cut and bend and hammer to create interesting and original designs. I bought a necklace that was actually designed by the artist's daughter, Logan, when she was only 5 years old! She drew out the design and picked out the words and her mother made it using metal. It just goes to show that you don't have to be a grown up to create wonderful artwork.

We also saw an awesome sand sculpture and watched as people worked together to help create a community art installation. Installation art is a genre of art that is created for a specific area and is often meant to change the way you see and understand the space that it is created in. Sometimes art installations are permanent and sometimes they are only meant to stay for a short amount of time.

Thanks for all the "Thank You's"

A big THANK YOU to all of the wonderful students, parents and PTA members at Banks Road. You all made me feel so wonderful with all of your cards, gifts, and flowers during teacher appreciation week! I am truly blessed to work at this school!

Artsplosure This Weekend!!!

What an exciting weekend we have coming up!!! We'll kick it off Friday night with the Banks Road Spring Carnival! I hope to see you there! I'll be in the dunking booth from 8-8:25pm, so come and see if you can knock me into the water!!

Artsplosure the Raleigh Arts Festival will be going on all weekend in downtown Raleigh at Moore's Square. This free festival includes artists selling their work from booths that surround the square. You will see painters, ceramic artists, potters, sculptors, jewelry makers, wood carvers, and much more. Even if you don't plan on buying anything from these artists you can still enjoy looking at their work. Take advantage of the opportunity to ask the artists questions about their work. Try asking them how they created it or why they created it. Ask them how they come up their ideas and what inspires them.

Throughout both Saturday and Sunday there will also be performers creating music of a variety of genres for you to enjoy. In the surrounding area you will also find art displays, an Impressionist Garden with life size sculptures and a sand sculptor. There will even be a stage completely dedicated to activities for kids! Click here to check out the Kidsplsure schedule.

I hope you will take advantage of this wonderful festival that we have right here in our city! Its fun for the whole family and has so much art to look at, listen to and enjoy. I hope to run into you there!

Second Grade Pinch Pot Creatures

Hallway display

Second Grade students learned about pinch pots, their history and how to make them. Pinch pots are created by inserting your thumb into a ball of clay and pinching the walls a little at a time as you turn the clay. We learned that pinching clay was a method of creating pottery before the invention of the potter's wheel but people still create pinch pots today. Just because pinch pots are simple and easy to make, it doesn't mean they have to be boring.

 We took our clay pots to the next level by turning them to create the mouths of our creatures. Students used their imaginations and creativity to create a monster or creature of their choosing. We had a range of creatures from silly to scary, alien to gremlin. To create the additions for making the arms, legs, eyes, etc students practiced rolling coils and pinching and pulling to manipulate the clay to make the forms they envisioned. They then learned to secure the additions by slipping and scoring the clay. After the creatures emerged from the kiln the students used acrylic paint to add color. To display them in the hallway the students created a background that they thought best illustrated where their creature would live.

I was very impressed by our second grade artists and the variety of creatures they created. Each creature had its own personality just like the wonderful second graders of Banks Road Elementary School.

Click here for ideas about creating pinch pots at home.

First Grade Still Life Paintings

First grade looked at work by artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Gustave Caillebotte to examine a style of painting called a still life. A still life is a work of art that shows common, everyday items such as flowers, fruit, glasses, and jewelry.
Students started by creating their table and background. We talked about creating texture by blending different colors with our brush strokes. We learned how to cut symmetrical shapes and used that technique to create our vases which we filled with painted flowers. To add a little
surprise to our still lifes we made some 3D flowers to spring off the page.
Throughout the project, each student was encouraged to choose their own colors and give their picture their own individual flair. Students used the classroom color wheels to help them pick colors that would contrast against each other or blend well together.

Creating Art with a Computer

Beverly Sills, a famous opera singer, once said, "Art is the signature of civilizations."

Just by looking at the artwork of a certain time period or place you can learn a lot about what is important to those people; their beliefs, their culture, the important events happening during that time, etc. You can also learn a little about the resources they had through the media with which they chose to make their art.

Some of the earliest examples of art that we can still look at today are the drawings done on cave walls such as in Lauscaux, France. These paintings often portray animals and hunting, both of which would have been very important to the survival of the people creating them.

Throughout history, as technology has changed and civilizations have changed, artists have continued to create art with the tools and materials available to them. One of the tools that has become popular in the art of today is the computer. There are many programs designed to create art on the computer. Some allow you to manipulate photography, others allow you to draw and paint, stamp, and design.

Using the classroom computers, students have had the opportunity to experiment with some of the free programs available on the internet for creating artwork using a computer. Here is some of what they have come up with.

Check out some of the links in the sidebar to the right to try creating your own computer art!

Just Dance and the Arts

Recently, the specialists collaborated on a project that brought together movement, visual art and music. We hooked up the Wii to the projector and used the huge screen that we made for the holiday program to project the game Just Dance 2.

We learned about how dancing is not only a fun way to get your heart pumping, making you healthier but a way that many cultures around the world, and throughout time, have expressed themselves. We also learned about how the design of the video game itself needs an artist or designer's eye to make it the best it can be.

The designers could have just made plain backgrounds with plain people to go with the music and dance and you still could have a good time playing the game. Instead, they brought in more by dressing the characters up in clothes that represent the time period, culture or subject of the song. The backgrounds also help to enhance our experience by providing us with landscapes of other places and even some very famous architecture such as St. Basil's Cathedral and the Taj Mahal.

Sometimes it is easy to forget how important art is in our lives, but if you stop for a second and look around, you will probably notice it all around you. It is in the music you listen to on your way to school or work, in the posters on your walls, the design of your video games. Throughout time art has been a way to add a little spice to life and a way for people to express their feelings and ideas. We can learn about different places, cultures, time periods and even the person we sit right next to everyday through the art they make. Go and leave your own mark on the world! Be creative! Go make some art!