exploring shape with mr. smith

My 3rds have been experimenting with collage and geometric and natural shapes over the past couple weeks. They first created robot collages that focused on symmetry, geometric shapes, 3d shapes, and color value.

The next week they looked at the work of Tom Abbiss Smith as inspiration for a second round of collage work. Tom is a UK based artist who creates digital collages that smartly play with the juxtaposition of natural and geometric and positive and negative shapes. We noticed geometric shapes similar to those we used in the robot designs and also noticed how much he uses a variety of plant shapes in his work. Looking at his art allowed students to contrast between cut and torn edges as well- we talked about how the torn edges can give shapes a more natural feel. We also saw how he used a cut out shape AND the leftover (digital:) paper elsewhere in certain designs.

After viewing and talking about Tom's work, students were ready to play and create their own compositions. I emphasized play here because working with collage lets you move pieces around to different spots before gluing, so that you can see the possibilities that different arrangements may hold.

Students selected a background color and each one started with a large sheet of black and white paper to create natural shapes from. I left a few of Tom's images on my big screen so kids that were stumped to start could borrow from his shape vocabulary. As they started drawing and cutting, I passed out 3 more sheets of colored paper. When doing this, I guided color selection a bit, responding to the color of the background color each student chose.

After about 25 minutes, students could start to lock down compositional elements with glue sticks.

Most students did not finish in one hour, so they saved any paper they might need when they came back. This week has been parent conference week and my schedule has some flexibility in it, so I was able to bring each class back for a 30 minute session to finish and reflect on the 2 shape projects. It was interesting to see how much or how little students added to their designs with this extra time. Some that I thought were near done, continued to add and add, while others had a more minimal aesthetic.

They wrapped up the process by completing an exit slip that had them comparing and contrasting the 2 projects and describing which piece they liked more and why.

I absolutely love the variety in these pieces. There was a really intriguing range of style from figurative landscapes, to figurative abstractions, to more nonobjective pieces.

murals with maya.

So, I was planning on having my 2nds experiment with shape and cut paper collage this week... and then I went to a makerspace session at naea17 in nyc last week and changed my mind.

I watched how a morphi representative took a 3d solid she designed in that app and dropped it into a image from google earth to serve as a virtual sculpture. Boom! I loved that idea. Now, I am not fluent enough in morphi to teach it to my kids yet, but I immediately realized I could do something similar with the assembly app with my students.

Last year I had a number of grade levels experiment with the assembly app and found that there was a lot of student success and high engagement while working.

So, this week, my 2nds have been looking at the work of artist Maya Hayuk for shape and mural concept inspiration and then working with a partner to play and explore the app while they create a virtual mural for our school community. When looking at Maya's work I have emphasized her use of layered, overlapped geometric shapes. I don't expect the kids to copy her work, but I do want them to focus on geometric shapes and layering. We also have noticed that some of her murals have a strong sense of symmetry while others do not. I want students to be able to recognize this principle in their designs as well.

I have created a short video how-to for the app that I share with the students as we prepare for using the app in class and we view this in a couple chunks after looking at Maya's work. (i'll post that soon:)

I really encourage play with this project. Since it's a digital collage, they can erase shapes and delete parts they aren't digging with the touch of the screen. Assembly is a very user friendly app- it's quite easy to add shapes, flip and rotate them, change sizes and colors.

I went around on Monday with a bunch of ipads and took photos of several blank walls on campus. Students select one of these to serve as the background of their assembly creation. Then, the teams of two start to experiment. Once they have a satisfying composition, they save it and continue to play. They can choose a different wall and go, or simply clear the shapes and work with the same wall.

I have been transferring the images to my mac and then emailing them to the classroom teachers, so they can look at them on their smart boards back in class. I will be printing a bunch of the images out to include in our annual student exhibit that will take place in a couple of months.

There are many choices for students to make with this project. I do have a few rules- no natural shapes, include overlapping shapes, and all of the design must be on the wall. This last one is key because a muralist can not paint on the sky in real life.

My students connect with murals because our campus is covered with them and because we had a local muralist create one on campus earlier this year and they got to see the whole process. I think this project is a great way for them to think about designing with a purpose. In this case it was making something that would turn their playground environment into something more beautiful and enjoyable.

I was only intending these designs to remain digital, but after seeing some of the results, I do believe I need to find the time to make at least a couple of these actually happen on our campus!

overlapping with Sanna.

This week the 1st graders are focusing on shape. I'm using a print by Sanna Annukka and we are looking at how she uses geometric shapes to make a landscape and how she overlaps some of those shapes to create a sense of front and back.

Sanna's textile designs and prints are just downright delightful. I love the way she uses pattern, shape, and color in her work! Such a great Scandinavian and mid-century flavor to her work.

Since Sanna is a printmaker, I thought this project would be a perfect introduction to relief printing for my 1st graders. They tried it in kinder, too, but it's still pretty new to them and the look on their faces when the print gets peeled off the styrofoam plate is pretty special:)

my favorite response:)

boom boom.

Parent conference week at Zamo, so I have a mixed bag of classes. I take the afternoon classes that are impacted by our minimum days and meet with them in the morning. So far, I have worked with a few 3rd grade classes and we have continued working with geometric and natural shapes with this extra time together.

I'm sharing a poster that Portland based artist and designer Dan Stiles did for the band Dr. Dog for a gig they had in Colorado earlier this year. We talked about how Dan makes a living creating all sorts of really cool projects for bands and other companies. We also talked about what a boombox was and how I had one back in the day and I would walk around my suburban neighborhood jamming to the likes of KISS, john Cougar Mellencamp, and Michael Jackson... I have always had musical tastes that were ALL OVER the map;)

We started by cutting & gluing geometric shapes to make the boombox. Then students were free to design natural shapes popping out of the antenna.

I like the way these turned out and the kids had fun with them. Quite a few put their collages on their shoulder and strutted back to the recycling bin as they were returning scrap paper:)