Kindergarten Creates a Community

Kindergartners created people and animal stick puppets inspired by the works of  the work of Paul Klee after to conclude their unit on collage.  After several weeks learning about how to arrange, cut and distinguish between different textured paper, they used simple geometric cardboard shapes to create person puppet or animal.  

Student puppets

We kept these puppets in a safe place and several months later we began creating a background for them.  Students examined the collages by Harlem based artist Romare Bearden and brainstormed what is needed to make up a community.  We listed buildings, people, and transportation.  

  

Romare Bearden, The Block, 1971

Our kindergartners started their community collage  by using paper squares to cut and arrange to make buildings.  Next, students used patterned and painted paper to cut windows and doors.  After our buildings were complete, we worked on the transportation and created buses, cars,  and trucks.  The last step was adding in our puppet animals and people!

In addition to learning about Romare Bearden and how he created collages to represent the community he saw from his bedroom window, we also studied Mexican Muralist Diego Rivera.

Diego Rivera

  

Diego Rivera mural depicting Mexico's history at the National Palace in Mexico City, 1921

Students creating the buildings for the communities

We discussed how similar to Bearden, community played an important role in Rivera’s artwork as well.  Our students pointed out by Rivera painting his art as large frescoes on buildings in public spaces, it allowed for everyone in the community to see the work and bring people together.  Students learned how Rivera often painted scenes to celebrate the past/culture of his people and to create a hopeful future.  We hope you enjoy our mural displayed by a popular location in the school for everyone to enjoy!

Summer Enrichment

This was my second year doing summer enrichment and it was a blast.  I really enjoy teaching this course over the summer, because it allows me to have a small group of kids for three hours a day for the entire week.  Unlike during the school year, we are not rushed for time and students can work at their own pace with much more one on one time from myself.  This year the course was called Storybook and Fairy-tale Character Printmaking and Paper Mache.  Last year, we  focused solely printmaking, but felt this summer I really wanted to transform our 2D work to 3D by the end of the week.  In addition to focusing on creating characters for our prints and sculptures, we used some of our extra time to practice multiple printmaking techniques shown below.

Day 1: We learned what printmaking is and how it made its debut in parts of Asia during the third century. Students started off with different stamping techniques which included cardboard, yarn on blocks, found objects, and vegetables. Once our found object prints dried, students went back into them with watercolor crayons to create a mixed media print.  Additionally, students used construction paper crayons to go back into their cardboard prints and add details.

Cardboard printing

Cardboard print with construction paper crayons

Vegetable print

Found object print with watercolor crayons

At the end of the day students created their collagraph plates inspired by a real or imaginary character.

Character Collagraph Plates

Day 2: The morning was spent printing our collagraph characters in a variety of color combinations. In the afternoon we first focused on monotypes and created a landscape for our characters using color pencils and placing our drawing under plexi, as a guide for us to paint directly on top of the plexi. Then, we learned about the Japanese printmaking tradition called GYOTAKU and did some fish printing.

Day 3: In the morning, students used gel pens and watercolor to add details to their fish prints and create a seascape.  We finished the day creating relief prints transforming themselves into a storybook or movie character.  

Student fish print seascapes

Student's sketch of self portrait with Medusa for relief print

Self Portrait Character Relief Prints

Egyptian cat goddess Bastet

Mice character from a story.

Skylander character

Hermione Granger from Harry Potter

Medusa

Scarlet Overkill from The Minions 2015 Movie

"Upside Down Man" imaginary character

Imaginary character

Maleficent

Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians

Day 4: Students used recycled materials such as newspaper, boxes, and paper towel rolls to create the armature for their character sculptures and then covered them in plaster strips as the casting method.

Day 5: The final day was spent painting our sculptures and then putting our accordion books together with our favorite prints.