Week Two with Kandinsky and Art Centers!

What an incredible second week of school it has been! My students have amazed me with their willingness to step out of their comfort zones and take some artistic risks, a lesson I wish more of us adults could learn as well. Students explored the 5 types of lines, contour lines and line transfers, patterns, mark making, layering to add artistic variety, and the importance of embracing the weird. We observed Kandinsky's use of line in his non-representational abstracts and will take a journey into painting to music next week. 

6th Grade started to use their sketchbooks and I introduced two of our centers, The Lego Wall of Fame and our Collaborative Art Center. I can't tell you how EXCITED I am about these two projects this year and can't wait to see how the students adapt and learn through the use of freedom of line and the unexpected direction of using Lego bricks to sketch with. 

Students are given a challenge such as "Create a Sketch With Stripes" which they complete using Lego Bricks. 

This is by far my favorite project! All of my art students and visitors to the classroom add marks and painting to our 200 yard collaborative art roll. At the end of the year, we will 'reveal the entire painting on the football field! Can't wait to see that!

Students worked on imaginative portraits during week one, showing emotion, using lines and layers, and embraced the weird  by adding the watercolor hair. I had seen a similar lesson Pinterest and must say, it was a riot of a great time trying this out during our first week. 

There is a ton of great things going on in the art room so far and every day I am blessed to walk through the door I have to say a prayer of gratitude for getting to teach in such an incredible place as St. Paul's! 

I started out the year with a study of line and of Wassily Kandinsky.

Teaching students how to enhance their artwork when they think they are finished is so vital! 

3rd Graders studied Kandinsky's use of various lines and made circular patterns with an individual twist! 

On a personal note, I have a new piece of artwork for the 1 X 4  Analogy show at Spring Hill College this coming month. I participated in the Yellow Show and created a hand painted collage while listening to Stravinsky over the week, so I aptly named this piece, "In Stravinsky's Image." There are four venues for this show, University of South Alabama, Spring Hill College, University of Mobile, and The School of Math and Science.  If you get a chance, put this on your list of must sees this next month. 

"In Stravinsky's Image" 12" by 36" collage on canvas

1 x 4: Analogy One exhibition, four venues. Green, Alabama School of Math and Science; Yellow, Spring Hill College; Neutral, University of Mobile; Blue, University of South Alabama. August 26 - Sept. 20.

Kandinsky's "Murnau Street with Women" Art Gown

 

 Black Light Image

 

 Day Light Image

Do you ever sit down and think about the date and then wonder, where did the time go? I am having one of those moments as I type this, where on earth has the time gone? 
For me, it has flown by with minutes of extreme happiness, insanity, confusion, illness, and in between all of that lots of paint and lovin! One of the projects I worked on the past few weeks was the Artgown project for Blue Velvet Studios. 

Karen Cassidy, the owner of Blue Velvet, came up with the unique idea of asking local artists to paint a wedding gown like a famous painting or painter. The idea was intriguing to me so I jumped at the chance and chose to paint Kandinsky's "Murnau Street with Women" for several reasons. He is my favorite, way favorite of all time, and this painting is full of color, which speaks to me. It would also be part of a black light show so the combination of painting a dress, with tons of color, like Kandinsky, that glows in the dark, was to good to pass up!

I had no idea how physically challenging it would be. My niece, Savannah, helped me block out the design and initial color which was a huge help. At the end of day one though, both our necks were in bad shape so I knew this would be a project to take in baby steps over weeks, not days. As the design took shape, I kept getting more and more excited! 

Along with the physical challenge I had to take a crash course in black light painting. I had always assumed fluorescent and glow in the dark paint where equal. WRONG! I knew this gown had to illuminate under black lights, but I also had to figure out how to be true to the painting and still have this piece come alive with darkness. 

In the end, I painted it so it does both. It illuminates under black light and when all the lights are off, in pitch black, it gently glows like the stars, which is way cool. Adding textile medium was a must, but even so, due to the amount of the paint that polyester and rayon soak up, it ended up being a bit stiff, but not hard. 

Tonight, during Artwalk at Blue Velvet Studios on Dauphin St., this dress along with many other paintings will be on display for their one night only black light show. Next month, during the Arts Alive Festival April 9-11, it will be part of the artgown fashion show, where up to 20 different artgowns can be seen, all painted by local artists. 

As a visual artist it is easy to get used to painting on paper or canvas, but I would encourage anyone of you to step out of your comfort zone and find a community art project to participate in such as this. Below are some pics, beginning with Kandinsky's painting, and then the dress. I will add some shots from the show tomorrow as well. You can also view the entire album on my FB fanpage, you can see the link over to the right of this page.(Pictures at the top are of the actual show!)