Art Portfolios and Art Journals

The past few weeks have gone by like a flash.  Seriously, the classes seem like they end as quickly as they begin.  I am enjoying every minute of it and really getting to know all the kids names, and unique personalities.  I think they think I'm funny, which is what I'm going for.  I should have been a kid comedian.  I love when I try to make something go over their heads, and there's one or two who catch it, and think I'm so funny.  That just tickles me.  Ok, on to art...

We finished up our Art Portfolios.  The children presented their uniqueness with sharpies, stencils, tapes of all fashions, along with stickers and a lot of imagination.  We will hold all our 2D works in them throughout the year.  

 

Self Portrait

Tearing and lining up duct tape to seal the sides of the Art Portfolio.

 

This is not misuse of duct tape.  Someone was trying to be funny.  It happens to be my child.  And in all honesty, the room got a lot quieter after this happened.

 *    *    *

We moved on to Art Journals for all of last week.  This is where the duct tape, scotch tape, fabric tape and washi tape really kicked in.  [Note to self-put tape on the supply list for NEXT year!]  I went shopping a lot for tape, I did a lot of begging for tape too.  Tape is fun.  The kids think it's fun too.  Just watching them try to cut it, tear it, share it and untwist it, mesmerized me, it really did.  There were lots of giggles and some serious down to business book creators.  We also had to figure out how to fashion an "art cash pocket" out of paper, tape or glue sticks.  Some of the creations that came my way really impressed me.  I said "wow" to myself a lot--in a good way.  I'm dealing with 200+ different brains thinking in different ways, someone is bound to wow me once in a while.  And that they did. 

Sometimes you need a buddy to help you position and rip the tape.

Lots of design choices

One pair of scissors for every kind of tape???  However the creativity flows--we just embrace it!

Someone likes art....and that makes me happy.

*    *    *

Our sixth and seventh graders really took the Art Journals to a higher level.  We introduced Coptic Binding/Stitching and had them hand stitch their journals together.  The end result was fantastic.  Here is one student making a signature (group of paper) that will be bound later by a Coptic Stitch.

Completed Coptic Stitch Journals

So you can see that the creativity is flowing in the LP art room.  I hope the children are excited to come each week.  Perhaps they've even mentioned who my "babies" are.  There are eighteen of them in the classroom, that need to be looked after with great care.  I talk a lot about my "babies" and how special they are to me.  

Next up--Color Theory.  This is where the real fun begins!!  Stay Tuned...