Tatebanko- Japanese diorama making

For the past two years, I have done a unit called "Art and Social Activism" with my 8th grade students. I had only ever seen a unit like this in the high schools and I felt my students could 100% relate to the topics. I have been pleased with just how well my students handle these difficult topics and how much pride they take in their work as they express themselves creatively.

For my 3D Art students, I had them choose a social issue that effects our local community. They researched statistics and local organizations that help those in need throughout the Fox Cities. I was impressed with the wide variety of topics the students chose.

Next we learned about the Japanese art of diorama making. It was a good way to incorporate 3D knowledge of deconstruction, balance, depth and overall structure building.

If you're not familiar with the art behind Tatebankos, check out this cool video! Even if social activism doesn't fit as a unit in your classroom, this is a really fun project for students. It involves a lot of problem solving and is a really fun take on the classic diorama/tunnel book.

Social Issue: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Step one was to have students thumbnail sketch their ideas. I urged students to use metaphors/similes. This made the imagery a little more unique and personal. Then using colored pencil they labeled each layer so they had a good idea of what needed to go where and I could see how they understood the concepts of creating depth.

Social Issue: Bullying

Social Issue: Depression

Step Two was to conference with each student on what materials would work best for their idea. Most used chipboard (thin cardboard) with paint or colored pencil. As you can see some students resourced alternative materials like transparency paper, puzzle pieces, etc. 

Social Issue: Mental Illness (primarily schizophrenia) 

Social Issue: Depression

To create the "cloud" around the cool colored person this student used sandpaper to create texture on transparency paper! Super fun!

Social Issue: Bullying

Social Issue: Pollution

Social Issue:Bulimia/Anorexia

The final step was layering their pieces on the base and finally building the box. Some students made full boxes and some chose to leave the top off to allow a little more light in. A few students even utilized black light to give their piece a "darker" feel! 

I can't express how happy I am with the outcome of this project. It was exciting to problem solve along side my students and to encourage all their amazingly creative ideas. Each Tatebanko turned out a little different and that is a beautiful thing! These were a hit at our "Art and Social Activism" art show!

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for stopping in!

Installation Art- Rethinking the Classics

I think we've all done the classic Giacometti project where students create a wire armature in some sort of pose. We do these projects because a.) there a good stand-by that we know work and b.) because we understand the importance of the lesson! If you're like me, however, you get a little tired of the same old projects and want a good way to keep the lesson intact but boost the complexity a little bit. Here's what I did to try and re-invent the wheel...

I started with the classic inspiration, Giacometti, then through a little this and a little that to get this really fun installation project.

We started our lesson learning about installation art and how artist often use the "idea" of the human body as a way of representing a collective of everyone. 

Artist Nele Azebedo 

I also tied in this great sculpture by Do-Ho Suh to show students the power of an installation project and how we all needed to work together to be successful. 

Along with the classic lessons of armature, we focused on how installation art expresses a message. The message, "What does the 8th grade class want to work toward before high school?"

We had a really great discussion and came up with five words we all could agree on; Identity, Wisdom, Independence, Success and Creativity. 

Students were allowed to work alone or in groups on their sculptures. We talked about how the words/images they added to their sculptures should reflect what they could add to help the 8th grade class reach their goal. We also discussed how the position of their sculpture could suggest how they feel their journey is going so far. 

This student is "falling" from the installation.

These two students saw the power in help each other reach the goal

These lovely sculptures are climbing the wall for a really fun 3-Dimensional quality. 

Hope you enjoyed our project and perhaps have some new ideas to spice up some of the classic projects we all find ourselves doing over and over again

Science in the Art Room: Creative Zoology--- UPDATE!!!

My 3D student have finally finished their creative creatures, critiqued them and displayed them! I've received such excellent feedback from the students and from my colleagues. I'm really happy with the results.

For the painting portion of this project, students worked on their wet-on-wet painting techniques and also learned a little about dry brushing. The shading is a little difficult to see in some of the pictures, but the kiddo really did an excellent job!

I usually have 8th graders write artist statements for each of their pieces, but for these pieces I had them write discovery stories. I have included a few of the student's stories with their images. Check out those crazy Binomial Nomenclature (scientific names)! They are so creative!

"Carreta horologium"

(Rattlesnake + Clock)

"Vermiliphinae anacusis"

(Ant eater+ Antelope)

"chinchilladraco velociferox" 

(Chincilla + Dragon)

"Equoton feros"

(Frog + Unicorn+ Rattlesnake)

I, Autumn Teal, discovered the Toothless Dramurta on a boat trip to the Great White Sea,

(thats located by the Chimpanzee Island), during the 1980 time period. This ferocious beast took

flight from a tree off of Chimpanzee Island, he swooped through the water and came back up

with seaweed swarming his mouth. The beast looked between a ring­tailed lemur and a dragon,

this is why I have named it Toothless Dramurta. You're probably wondering why on earth I would

ever put the word toothless in front of the name of such a scary beast. Well, I would put it there

do to the fact that yes indeed, this creature had NO teeth. Although this ring­tailed dragon had no

teeth it still had the jaw of an snapping turtle, it would rip you to shreds if you were to harm it or

anything else it loves. Fortunately, the Toothless Dramurta was not at all evil, yes it had wings as

pointy as the needles used to sew your ripped clothing, but it was as gentle as a baby kitten

sitting your lap. Anyways, the creature saw me looking at him and swooped over and dropped

seaweed over my face, then he laughed with this dopey look in his eyes. This beast was pretty

cute, it had fur running down its tail and wagged it around like a little puppy dog.This creature

never grew old, he stayed with me through my entire life, so I told him that if I ever did die to go

back to Chimpanzee Island and be with his family. So, I am 100% positive he is sitting at

Chimpanzee Island with seaweed dangling out of his mouth right now, you just won't be able to

find him.

"Monoclonius ferox"

(Dragon + Unicorn + Snake + Candy)

Long, long, long ago (like we’re talking 1990) I found the Macropus Sylrilagus habros, which I call the Dunnyroo. The Dunnyroo was native in the Midwest. It’s long, fluffy ears had the best hearing in the whole wide world, but that doesn’t mean it listened to you. The Dunnyroo had the attention span of a toddler that just began to crawl/walk. The Marcropus Sylrilagus habros had a long, flexible tail that allowed it to knock stuff down, not only was the animal small and cute, it was destructive. Talking about its smallness and cuteness, this animal happens to be six inches tall, and its body is formed into a ball. The Dunnyroo’s nose and mouth is made like a duck. The reason it’s called a Dunnyroo is because it’s mixed, with a bunny, duck, and a kangaroo. I, Danielle Stadler, was the first person to find this animal. On September 11^th, 2000, I popped out of my mom and I traveled back in time. I traveled all the way back to 1990 (I know, you are all wondering how I could go that far back in time, well I did it.) I landed right on top of a Dunnyroo, and I killed it. So not only was I the first to find the Dunnyroo, but I was the first one to kill, the Dunnyroo. After a while (yes I am still back in time) people started noticing the crazy small animal and then they realized it was a destructive, non-listening animal, so they killed them till they were extinct. After the last one was killed, I was sent back to the hospital room, much more stupid then the average baby. 

I am super excited with the outcome of this project and I know the students are proud of their work. I hope you enjoyed their creations. They would love to hear some feedback from you. Leave them in the comments sections!

Science in the Art Room: Creative Zoology

I am super excited to share this project with you all! Some of you probably do something similar in your classrooms but perhaps you want some NEW ways to help incorporate science and contemporary artists.

This is an "in-progress" post so I promise to update once the students have finished painting these masterpieces.

I started this project by introducing artist Scott Musgrove, who is now one of my FAVORITE contemporary artists!

Scott is an artist who works in a variety of different mediums and subject matter, but for this project I focused on his "Specious Beast" collection. In this series, Scott creates one of a kind, outstandingly strange animals and then pairs them with proper species names. Check out his website here. 

This opened up an opportunity for me to teach "Binomial Nomenclature" (or scientific naming) to my students. They had so much fun picking out genus and species names that told the origins of their one of a kind creatures. I also plan to include a short  narrative writing assignment while we wait for these beauties to dry. (Scott writes a lot of his adventures where he "discovers" his creatures)

I also paired this lesson with a local exhibit of Dr. Suess' "Unorthodox Taxidermy" and gave extra credit for students who went and viewed the installation at our local museum. 

The students are at the firing stage of their projects so I thought I'd share (fingers crossed everyone remembered their clay rules and no explosions happen) an in-progress look at these outlandish creatures!

Dragon+dog+ram

Anteater+ antelope 

Frog+rattle snake + unicorn

Fish+ Unicorn

Tiger + Turtle + Human

I want to emphasize that I left this project extremely open ended. I re-taught basic clay procedures and helped along the way, but the students could combine whatever they wanted to create their creatures. They also could think of other materials (besides clay) to add to their projects post-fire. Although most chose to combine animals/fantasy creatures, there are quite a few (not pictured) that combined inanimate objects and animals! 

Stay tuned for final projects! 

Compassion Project Part 2

Recently I posted a project that I did with my 8th Grade students entitled "Reverse Shading". In this post I mentioned that this had been one of the projects I did with my students for our district's "Art of Compassion" art show that was shown at The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. This show displayed over 100 pieces from local middle/high school students and each piece was auctioned off to raise money for four local charities. We did this event paired with The Fox Valley Symphony and local musician Corey Chisel. It was such a fantastic event, but what was really amazing was having the opportunity to teach my students about local charities and the power Art can have on raising awareness and teaching compassion.

To prepare my students for the "Art of Compassion" event, I wanted them to understand why it is so important to understand the idea of compassion. To me compassion can come in many capacities. Of course showing compassion for others by understanding the troubles they are encountering is the most common understanding of compassion, but I wanted my students to understand that inanimate things can help us get through difficult times and in a way provide us with compassion. For this reason, I allowed my students to explore a variety of different subject matters.

Along with the "Reverse Shading" compositions that my 2D students did, the 3D students created beautiful tiled scenes that expressed their understanding of compassion. Each tile is built forward to create a 3D effect. The students really did a great job creating depth through their layering techniques. I have also attached some of the artist statements my students turned in with these projects. I feel the artist statements show a deep and personal understanding of compassion.

"I chose a cabin because I have memories of when someone who I had never even met showed compassion to me there when I was younger. I think compassion is having both sympathy and empathy for someone who is struggling and making a point to show them that you care." 

"For my compassionate art project, I chose to show what many of us go through. A lot of us have good days, but when we have our rough times, there are many different ways that help us get through our depressions. There is always that one person or thing that really picks us up and gets us going. No matter how hard or long we’ve been recovering, they have always supported us all the way through. Sometimes, we can never find that light, but we always keep going. Even in the darkest times, you will find yourself again."

"In this project I made two coy fish swimming in a pond. They represent yin and yang. How does this deal with compassion? Well yin and yang represent balance and tranquility. Compassion you need that balance. Some people are struggling with illnesses and they need that someone there to balance them and help them get through it. This imagery means a lot to me because my friends are here for me, and I’m here for them if anything did happen, we have each other to back each other up or help get through a tough time."

"For my project I chose to focus on an experience I’ve had with compassion. I was bullied back in elementary school and that has really shaped who I am today. I focus my artwork around the things that cheered me up during that time. To express my understanding of compassion and my personal experience, I created campfire out of clay. Coming home to a campfire after a hard day at school always cheered me up. In a way the campfire was compassionate to me. I know that a campfire can’t empathize with my experience, but the people around it have always been compassionate to me."

I still have one more project to share and I plan to include more about the process I went through to teach my students about the local charities we were supporting for this event. Please check back!

Projects Seen Round the World

I am so excited to share this project with you! It has been one full year since this project was completed and there is a reason that I waited! For the passed year these little sculptures have been traveling around the United States (well most of them)!

I did this project with my 8th grade students during my student teaching experience. The students task? Create a small sculpture to travel through the world of geocaching. For some background:

Geocaching is a worldwide treasure-hunting game that uses GPS coordinates. Participants use a GPS device (anything from an SmartPhone to specially made devices) to locate specific coordinates where the "cache" has been hidden. Once found, participants can take a small token in exchange for one they place and sign a log book. It's a world-wide phenomenon and some of the most fun I've had! Here are some images of MY geocaching adventures-

Take a look at all those trinkets!

 This one took some serious climbing to get. Luckily this stranger was willing to hang over the water to help out. 

Geocaching in North Carolina...found it!

My brother Erich holding up the Logbook after signing it. Location: side of the road on drive to North Carolina.

That small black case on my husband's shoulder? A GEOCACHE. Cleverly called a Nanocache, this type doesn't hold trinkets, just log book. Located on the underside of a military tank. 

Kelsey from Artsy Fartsy Art Room likes Geocaching too!

So...incorporating geocaching into the classroom? 

I started by introducing my students to geocaching through a virtual geocache I made that allowed the students to learn about longitude and latitude, map reading and geocaching rules. I then asked students "Geocaching and art? How are they linked". Well geocaching has a big following in the artist community. There are geocaches that require you to submit a piece of artwork or sketch your log entry, there are even artists that design installation art pieces to house their caches. Just Google "Geocache, Art" and the list is endless. Needless to say the students were SO excited. Then I told them about Travel Bugs....

Travel Bugs are trinkets that have been tagged and travel from geocache to geocache. The creator sets a goal for their bug and finders help move the bug to reach their goal. 

My students each create their own Travel Bug using ceramics! Now, I couldn't have placed 50 ceramic projects into local geocaches and not every student wanted to give their project up. I ended up putting SIX projects into actual geocaches. The rest? I created several fake caches around school and students used GPS coordinates to find them. Once they found the caches they could either just take their own project or trade with a friend. Fun right? But what about the SIX Travel Bugs sent off on real geocaching journeys? 

Here's the Travel Bugs all tagged up and ready for their journey!

Well this is why I've waited a year to reveal this project! They have been traveling a year and most of them are still traveling. Some got "stolen" or placed in permanent collections of geocachers but one little guy is on the journey of a life time...Here's the story of Guppy the ceramic pirate fish. 

Here is Guppy's profile picture. He started his journey in Oshkosh, WI in 2013. On his profile he asks to be placed in geocaches close to water. The student wrote as the description of Guppy, "Guppy is a sword fighting gold fish who travels the world looking to sight see and fight off evil and protect the fish in trouble". 

Guppy was quickly picked up by a business man who was in WI for a conference. Guppy's next stop was the lovely mountains of Colorado. The business man uploaded this breathtaking picture to show Guppy accomplishing his journey! 

After his trip to Colorado, Guppy was taken to Idaho and then spent about half a year traveling around Utah. 

Guppy's time in Utah was a little rough. One of his Utah finders posted Guppy's current condition and then very thoughtfully fixed him up. All that evil fighting really toughened Guppy up :)

Guppy is currently recovering in Wonderwood Park located in the beautiful Washington. 

I was so excited to see how far Guppy had gone! Currently two of the six original Travel Bugs have been "stolen", Guacamole the frog is traveling around Florida, Bobbie the banana is enjoying Kansas and Happy Feet the Penguin is still roaming Wisconsin. Even though the other Travel Bugs didn't get quite as far as Guppy, I feel this project was a 100% success. The students really enjoyed learning about Geocaching, I got to sneak a little cross-curricular instruction in and the world of geocaching gained some fantastic art pieces. The students were given a copy of their Travel Tag so that they can track their art as it travels the world. One year in, who knows how far these little guys could go!

Interested in geocaching? Hit up www.geocaching.com to get started!