artXtravaganza!

ArtX is the school-wide celebration of the arts at HMK Elementary. It is overseen by the HMK arts committee and gets tweaked from year to year. It consists of the following elements –

• The all-school artwalk where all classes display single or multiple art projects that have completed throughout the year. For two hours classes walk from room/gallery to hall/gallery to see all the art.
• Along the way they can visit demonstrating artists from the community, middle school or high school. Some classrooms have short hands-on activities such as potato printing.
• As part of artwalk students are encouraged to attend school in an “artful dress code.” They come as particular artists, dress with flair using pattern and design and even team up to represent a “walking painting.”
• Music, dance and theater performances are conducted in the afternoon. Some classes also schedule smaller performances in their classroom venue.
• Throughout the day Art Coach’s room turns into the Staff, Parent and Community artist’s display area. Most of the pieces are available for silent auction with proceeds going to the Red Rock Art Collection or for supplies for the visual art and music programs.

Chihuly Project – 2nd

The 2nd grade teachers went to a reading conference in Las Vegas, staying at the Bellagio which featured a permanent installation by famed glass artist Dale Chihuly. They returned to our school and en masse confronted me saying they wanted to do something inspired by his work. I was up for it and then sat back mapped out how to make it work with their curriculum and elements of art. Glass involves color, form and heat……about 1700 degrees worth to actually form glass! The second grade science curriculum touches on heat and how it can transform materials. Another element I like to bring to an art project is that of community. Children and adults need the experience of working together for the common good. The stage was set. While there are many Chihuly-esque project ideas on the web that feature a paper product, few of the them deal with the heat factor. It’s the core of his work and so one of the determining factors was how to employ heat. It was decided to make a group project and a separated free-standing individual one. Embossing heat tools became our glass oven and the recycling of over 500 water bottles became our glass. In short –

Project 1. Before we started the 5 classroom teachers cut the bottoms off the waterbottles. Taking two 40-minute sessions per each of the 5 classes, kids then painted them inside and/or out with acrylic paints using simple color patterns. Bottles were stored in large bins. Next came two sessions of construction. Each child was issued a metal washer tied to a 3-foot colored cord. A bin of bottles was dumped on the floor and they were invited to select 3-5 bottles to work with. These were either cut (but not cutting off the top) or left whole and then strung together. The washer prevented them from sliding off. Their piece was then hung in the “oven area” where a parent volunteer operated the heat gun according to the young artist’s wishes. The kids were encouraged to cover one eye, mimicking Chihuly himself as they watched the plastic twist, bend and form fun shapes when the heat was applied. Once finished and cooled the individual “chandeliers” were hung together from a carabiner making a huge hanging group piece of art. All 5 (all classes) were then hung on a hoop made of PVC to create a whole grade chandelier.

Project 2. Clear plastic cups and transparency film was used to make the second project. Students randomly drew patterns and designs on clear cups and the film. With the aid of parent volunteers wielding hot glue guns they built small sculptures. One the glue cooled, the sculpture was subjected to the heat gun. It was great fun to watch students take command of their work, using their words and enthusiasm to instruct the parent assistants to apply heat in particular ways and places.

All of the pieces were assembled in one big installation that no one single student could have done by themselves.

Colonial Days – 5th

American History is the core of the Social Studies curriculum. Many schools across the country conduct Colonial Days, a one-day event where students dress like colonials, research and take on the ID of a colonial person and spend the day taking part in colonial activities such as tinsmithing, candle-making and the like. Four years ago our 5th grade began adding a sense of ambiance to the day. In the first of the “Colonial Make over” years all 5 classes painted a 75-foot long forest mural in their hall and learning center. Kids first researched tree types and then practiced painting them. The entire mural was created with sponges. Year #2 saw the hall and learning center walls covered with Boston red brick or clapboard painted on long sheets of butcher paper. To this was added a town of colonial buildings painted on 6’ lengths of industrial cardboard. Year #3 saw the development of Colonial Action Figures. Students learned how to draw figures in action by studying Marvel comics such as Spiderman. (This was simply a carry forward of a skill they’d been learning annually since kindergarten). Working in small teams they created and painted a figure on cardboard. These were attached to a wood stand and animated using fishing line and other tricks to hold arms in fun positions. In a “back to the past” nod, some of the colonial figures were given modern appliances such as iphones! This year witnessed our largest project yet – the weaving of a 24-foot long 3D spermaceti whale. Whaling was a central economic factor in the north. Art Coach built a modular frame of 1x2s with chicken wire stretched over it. Classes spent 2 art periods (75 minutes each) weaving donated fabric into the wire. When complete Art Coach spray painted it blue, black and grey for harmony. The fabric colors still came through. The whale features a moving tail, mouth as well as having a heart and brain. During construction students were encouraged to speak in ocean talk or whale puns. I’m not spouting off, it look really whale-istic!

Kinderdinsky Mural

Wassily Kandinsky is known as the first abstract artist, or, as I suggest to my kinder-artists, he was the first artist to say, “It’s OK to make art with JUST LINE, SHAPE and COLOR!” Oh yes, he could paint realistic, but he chose not to since everyone else was doing that. Kandinsky is the perfect vehicle for kinder-artists to learn about art history while being introduced to the basics of Line, Shape and Color. In 3-4 consecutive sessions we make individual paintings using oil pastel, colored pencil, pencil and watercolor as we study the characteristics of “the 3.”

Somewhere along the line a few years ago I found boxes of 12” mirror tiles on super-sale at a Home Depot or such and waited for the right time and project to use them. It’s good to go big with the little kids! Imagine being 5 years old and being able to say you painted a mural! Each child in each of the 5 kindergarten classes was able to choose a color to paint a shape or a line. As the mural was filling I directed where things would go. The first two groups painted wherever they wanted, but it had to be BIG. The third group was asked to choose a shape that was already painted and put their shape inside that. The fourth group was invited to fill-in one of the shapes already painted and the last group was invited to fill in between shapes. We left about a dozen spots unpainted and posted a note by the mural that said, “See yourself IN art – See yourself AS art!”

Look Where We Live! 3rd & 4th

Third and Fourth graders study landscape as part of their social studies curriculum. When you live in a place like Moab, it is only natural to extend that subject INTO the local landscape. Even more important it is important for all students, no matter where they live, to learn about the land on which they live. For years I have taught a related lesson called Lines of Landscape. In it students learn to draw all of the significant landforms in our area in their proper erosional sequence using only vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. They also learn landform names, the geologic layers and process of erosion. Five years ago we teamed up with Friends of Arches and Canyonlands Parks to create LOOK WHERE WE LIVE! Friends funds a plein-air field trip for all third and fourth grade classes. After several weeks of learning about landforms third graders visit Green River Overlook at Island in the Sky to paint for a day using acrylic, watercolor or pastel. After studying erosion, fourth graders visit the Windows Section of Arches NP to paint. In both locations, students draw what they see accurately and can then add color according their feelings. The project is a wonderful culmination to the study. There is an exhibit and Art Coach Bruce produces a book of selected works that can be found at www.blurb.com. (search for HUCKO in the author search) The fall, 2017 version of Look Where We Live focused on the night sky as Arches and the town of Moab seek night sky designation. Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands already have it. Third graders created liquid watercolor with toothbrush splatter night skies on paper BEFORE going to the park. On site they painted the landscape portion of their art with assistance from Moab artists Katrina Lund, Chad Niehaus as well as Art Coach. Fourth grade created daylight paintings with the help of Moab artists Peggy Harty, Charlotte Quigley, as well as Art Coach. Their night sky paintings were created in class. A 3-color liquid watercolor sky was made with the wet-on-wet technique. Toothbrush splatter tempera stars were added and then those colors were mixed in with dark acrylic paints to make the arch, inspired by those we’d seen and that were on screen. This project also fills another need as many of our students cannot afford trips to the local national parks as their parents work several jobs in a tourist town to just make ends meet. Look Where We Live brings a landscape experience to the kids in a meaningful way.

Red Rock Art Collection

The halls of HMK Elementary are lined with over 115 framed pieces of student art.  Inside the frame is the matted art plus a small information panel with the artist’s name and portrait, grade, year of acquisition, sponsor and an artist statement.  Beginning in 2009, I’ve overseen the acquisition of work for permanent collection.  5-15 pieces are acquired each year.  Sponsors donate $100.  The student artist receives $35.  The remainder purchases the matte board and frame.  Art Coach Bruce creates the information panel, assembles the framed work and hangs it.  Larger pieces receive additional funding from the arts committee.  This program has built a great legacy of student work at the school.