I have an interesting and quirky book to show to you today. The book is called Ice Cream Work
The story is about an ice cream cone man (but he looks like a woman) going to work. The cone fills in for other “cone-shaped” items as his job. So, the cone fills in for an orange traffic cone on a construction site. On another page, the ice cream cone fills in for a golf tee on a golf course.
The book was made by Naoshi, a SUNAE artist. Naoshi is an internationally acclaimed Japanese illustrator who currently lives in Los Angeles. “She uses shiny colorful sand to create surreal people living in the real world.” Sunae means “sand drawing” (SUNA: Sand, E: drawing.)
She says, “When I make Sunae, I’m always inspired to live life brightly each day just like the sparkly shiny sand that gracefully slips through my hands and fingers. It is a very unique and meaningful material for me to work with, and I enjoy it very much.” In the back of the book there are directions on how to make these detailed sand pictures using an adhesive board and she has some pictures and videos on her website about creating the sand art.
This is one of Naoshi’s other artworks (not in the book.)
You can see all of her artwork at her website.
Naoshi has made artwork that has been on cards, clothing and display signs. Here’s one of her fun greeting cards.
She also has an Etsy shop and a Facebook page.
I would love to try sand art with my students. You can buy adhesive boards and then you can cut away each shape with an exacto knife and sprinkle on the colored sand. I have not tried it yet, but I will show you the results when we do.
Have you ever made sand art with kids?
I LOVE these illustrations! I have never made sand art with students but I loved doing it as a kid. If I did use sand in my classroom, it might be cool to do something with a bunch of colors and create an underwater scene with mixed media.
Thanks for sharing the work of this artist/author. I am going to show her work to my students who love Japanese culture (I teach HS Art).
Amazing meticulous artwork. The colors are yummy!
Rebecca, you are the winner! Please send me your mailing address. marciadotcom@yahoo.com
I have some colored sand on hand but no boards. Might need to see about trying this with my elective art class! Thanks for the book copy opportunity!
Interesting work by the artist. I always appreciate learning about artists new to me to share with the children. And the sand project idea has been on my mind.
Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful pictures! I can’t wait to share the videos and pictures from Naoshi’s website with my students. I’ve never seen adhesive board, but it sounds like a very versatile product to use with elementary students.
Thank you for introducing me to this book! I used to do sand paintings with my elementary kids ages ago- I’ll have to bring it back! This book looks very unique 🙂
I love everything weird, so I REALLY love this book!
I admire the control she has in placing the sand precisely where she wants. I noticed there is no gradation, no shading to give depth to the pictures. The pictures are very “flat.” However, on the pages where the character is driving to and from the factory (?), the road is drawn quite wide closer to you and then it starts to converge as it moves away from you. The strawberries also become slightly smaller as they move away from you. This helps to show perspective. Very different indeed!
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