the superduper zamo quilt mashup of 2016.

Back to business at Zamo! I had a wonderful summer break drawing outside, camping, beaching, doing honeydos, and spending time with the fam. It's hard to believe that my last post was about our end of the year 5th grade legacy mural. But, in a way, it's a perfect segway... from a large scale permanent public art install to a large scale temporary one.

Every year I kick things things off with a week of 30 minute mini-lessons that allow me to review my classroom expectations with students and to create an artwork that celebrates both the unity and diversity present in our school population. 

This year I found inspiration in work by two different quiltmakers. Latifah Saafir is an LA based quiltmaker and Sylvia Sutters is a quiltmaker working in Saint Louis. Last year I used Latifah's work as inspo for a kinder drawing project, but Sylvia is new to me. I found both by going through the Modern Quilt Guild's website, FB, and instagram galleries. There is so much visual goodness at all of those platforms!

I first introduce Latifah's Glam Clam quilt and we look at how she repeats one shape over and over- same size, same direction. This is similar to the unity found at a school site- the kids are all in the same class, same grade, etc. Then I ask them how the shapes are different from each other- patterns and colors and we relate this to the fact that none of the kids are exactly the same, that they all have unique qualities that make them special.

We then look at Sylvia's Current Wave quilt and I ask the kids how is this similar to Latifah's piece and then how it is different. A lot of kids noticed that she used the same shape as Latifah, but rotated that shape freely to create a different composition.

Finally, we looked at one more from Latifah, her hexie glam clam pattern and noticed that she introduced a new shape into the pattern.

At this point, I explain that they will be doing a mashup of the 2 quiltmakers' work. Each student will create a hexie glam clam piece and then we will put them together, rotating them in different directions to create a composition influenced by Sylvia's quilt.

Then it is time to create. It goes by superfast. My review of rules and intro to the quilters work takes 10 minutes, which leaves 20 to trace, cut, glue, draw, and glue again.

This is what my tables look like before the kids come in.  Each student has a 5" clam stencil and a smaller hexie stencil. They have a large piece to trace the clam and a smaller one to trace the hexie. Depending on what colors we are at on the collaborative quilt, the colors on the table change. We started with light yellows and oranges on Tuesday and finished with yellow greens on Friday afternoon. I gradually work in new colors and transition out of old ones to create the spectrum effect in the final install. I transitioned the hexie colors between white, light gray, dark gray, and black a bit quicker than the colors. This gives the final install more of an undulating look.

I prepared about 50 stencils of each shape because, inevitably, some get glued together, crumpled up, or thrown away.

Kids trace both shapes first.

They then cut out both shapes.

After gluing the hexie on, they create a pattern that tells us a little bit about themselves.

They could use lines, shapes, colors, or words to build their personal patterns.

They put glue on the back of their clam when finished with their patterns

and place it on the quilt, responding to the ones previously set in place.

This was our progress after 3 days. 

This is the final install in our auditorium. It will serve as a backdrop for assemblies.
The final size is 21' x 4'. About 600 kids in 3rd-5th grades participated.
The individual pieces are glued onto a series of 24x36" white sheets.

Something like this takes a bit of preplanning (what doesn't;), but it gives you a relatively quick way to get some color and beauty up at your school for the beginning of the year. The hands on portion is pretty low stress for the kids because it is fast and their piece becomes part of a much larger whole, so if they are concerned about making mistakes I encourage them to work through it and with it. When the pieces are installed, nobody will notice errors in cutting or drawing. 

Our Zamo kids did a great job with this! I'm looking forward to a most excellent school year!

2016 legacy mural

That's a wrap!

The 5th grade legacy mural is complete. All 6 classes left a positive mark on our school community by adding some color to one of our Zamo walls. This year's theme celebrates our Zamorano Way- Be safe. Be respectful. Be responsible.

I want to thank our administration, teachers, and community members for continuing to support our public art program. I'm already looking forward to next year as we will be honoring the 30th anniversary of the opening of the special place we call Zamorano Fine Arts Academy.

 Monday morning.

 Wednesday morning.

 

Last student on the wall.

 Done Thursday afternoon!

 Old man putting the date on the wall.

 Some time lapse silliness.

This year, with the help of Mr. Soria, we set up a GoPro 

and did a time lapse video of the painting process.

Special thanks also goes out to Will Walmsley, who was out there every day 

outlining, outlining, and outlining.

assembly time!

I'm wrapping up my last full week with rotation classes before moving on to mural painting with our 5ths and classes with Zamorano Way grade level winners, so I thought it would be fun to explore another digital app with our students. 

This week, kids are experimenting with the Assembly app. It's a very engaging and kids of all ages (and adults;) can have success with it. This week, 2nds, 3rds, and 5ths have all played with this app. Before starting the lesson we briefly look at a few of Josh Brill's illustrations discuss his use of computer programs when he designs. We look at his use of geometric shapes to create a wide variety of animal illustrations. 

We also revisit a couple collage projects kids have done this year. When introducing the Assembly app, I emphasize that using it is like creating a collage without the mess- no glue caps to put on, no cut paper scraps to clean up. If students don't like their design, they can delete it. They aren't wasting supplies. There is a freedom to fail present, which can be liberating for kids and adults alike.

I put together a quick tutorial video that I share with the kids that shows them the basics of shape manipulation in the app. After that, they partner up and experiment and play with multiple designs throughout the period. There are only a few rules with this project- that they work well with and respect their design teammate, they create a creature of some sort, and they must include a minimum of 11 shapes in their final design.

When teams have a design they are satisfied with, they save it in their ipad camera roll, so that I can transfer it to my computer and email their files to their classroom teachers. After saving an image, they are free to erase their design and continue experimenting. 

I love the variety of designs that have has been produced this week. There has been some great teamwork on display as well.