Clay Viking Ships

A Viking longship with striped sails navigating icy waters, with snowy mountains in the background. The sturdy ship moves gracefully through the cold sea.

To complement their study of explorers, the Primaries made clay Viking ships.  We started by rolling a flat slab of clay with a rolling pin and then cutting out the bottom of the boat.  Next, we rolled coils of clay to build up the walls.  Finally, students could choose to add a dragon head to the ship and shields.  We painted a fabric sail while the clay projects dried.  After these were fired in the kiln, we painted them with … Read more…

African Korhogo Cloths

A colorful child's painting of a bird with a purple head and blue body, framed by a yellow and orange patterned border inspired by African cloths.

The Intermediates (grade 3) are studying Africa in their Social Studies class.  We learned about the African Korhogo Clothes.  See this link for more details. This project focused on how symbols are used in African art.  The students designed their own painted Korhogo cloth on muslin.  They decorated the border with symbols and drew their main figure with Sharpie.  Then, they added paint with watercolor.

Knitted Balls

A red and white knitted ball with a yarn tail on a green surface adorned with leaf patterns.

I really like to knit, but I’m not that skilled at it.  I would say I’m probably an intermediate level knitter.  I’m not good at precise things, and many times I’ll be knitting something and end up with extra stitches or something will look wonky.  So, when I found these knitted balls, I got really excited.  So many possibilities!  Christmas ornaments?  Dog toys?  Toys for my toddler?  A bowl of balls for a decoration?  I really want to make 1000 … Read more…

Figure Drawing like Keith Haring

A colorful child drawing showcases two figures, one red circling a green, reminiscent of Keith Haring's style. Vibrant geometric shapes enliven the background.

  These are drawings by 4th/5th graders.  Who was Keith Haring?  What is gesture drawing?  The 4/5s learned about the artwork of Keith Haring and practiced figural drawing.  In pairs, the students posed for each other and practiced gesture drawing and longer posed drawings.  Then they drew stylized people, kind of in a cartoon-like way.  We read pages from this book about Keith Haring and analyzed the meanings of his artwork.  The kids were encouraged to add their own symbols … Read more…

What’s Your Hang-Up?

Three colorful mixed-media art pieces displayed on a wooden shelf beneath a recessed light on a green wall create an interactive focal point.

This is hanging in my living.  Inspiration was a dream I had about an octopus strangling me and then I was looking through some children’s books and saw some odd pictures of octopuses (octopi?) and I did a series of octopus artworks.. the others have since seen their demise.  This was oil on masonite board.  (pretty sure it was oil.. I made this about 10 years ago.) I’ve been reading a little bit of Michelle Ward’s street team crusade challenges … Read more…

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