(G3,G4) Celebrating Earth Day /The Land Art of Andrew Rogers (1/2)

Andrew Rogers is an Australian sculptor as well as a creator of large contemporary land art projects. He creates these monumental Geoglyphs  which are part of a chain of 13 cities created around the world. His Geoglyphs can be found in Israel, Chile, Bolivia, Sri Lanka, Australia, Iceland, China, India, Turkey, Nepal, Slovakia, Kenya and the USA where his land projects were created  in The Mohave Desert that occupies a portion of Southern California and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.

Ancient Language: A Geoglyph  made in Chile.

Shield: A Geoglyph   made in Kenya

Celebration of Life: A Geoglyph made in Israel

Rhythms of Life: A Geoglyph made in Yucca Valley, California 

His monumental land works are called "The Rhythms of Life", the largest contemporary land art undertaking in the world, forming a chain of 47 massive stone Geoglyphs, around the globe. This project has involved over 6,700 people in 13 countries across seven continents.

Celebrating after the completion of the Geoglyph in Nepal.

People in Kenya participating in the creation of the Geoglyph

Project objective(s):

- Discuss the importance of the environment in the creation of his projects

- What part do people play in the creation of the Geoglyphs?

- Discuss the importance of weather conditions for the completion of the project

- Compare the practice of creating art as part of the environment with that of creating art in the studio?

- Create a Land Art project 

Our school is located in a very woodsy area.

We have a nature trail that includes a lot of sweet Gum Trees . 

We collected the sweet gum Tree balls and created a mini Geoglyph .

We used colored sand to create interesting designs.

The gum balls were the focal point of the composition.

Understanding how patterns add to the beauty of creating Land Art

(G3,G4) Celebrating Earth Day /The Land Art of Andrew Rogers (2/2)

Project objective(s):

- Looking for materials to create our own Geoglyph

- Understanding the non- permanence of Land Art

- The importance of natural material in the creation of our Geoglyphs

- The importance of group work

The students in search of natural materials. 

Understanding the importance of group work.

It took hard work to collect the materials of the Land Art project.

 Making decisions on the placement of the materials.

Creating circles with rocks, sticks and leaves.

Our Geoglyph is part of our natural environment. 

(G3,G4) The cats of Laurel Burch Part III/ Comparison and evaluation (Keith Norval, and Rosita Wachtmeister)

Laurel Anne Harte was born in the San Fernando Valley on New Year's Eve, 1945.
She began making jewelry and selling it on the streets of San Francisco from tackle boxes.
Some local stores liked her work and they began stocking her creations.
She went to China in 1971 and discovered cloisonné, a kind of enamel work, with which she designed paintings and had the design transfered into earrings.
She used cast metal, wood, paper, porcelain, and fabric in her works. In an interview she stated: "I found metal in a junkyard and hammered it out on the back of an old frying pan".
She died in 2007 aged 61, at her home in Novato, California from complications of osteopetrosis,  a painful bone disease she had her entire life.


Project objective(s):
- Examine the pictures of Laurel Burch's cats
- Compare Laruel Burch's cats with the cats of Rosita Wachtmeister
- How Keith Norval's cats are different from the cats of Laurel Burch and Rosita Wachtmeister

Students are creating their own patterns.

Using both markers and water colors.

  We used metal pieces in our design just like Laurel Burch.

The student named his cat "Grandpa George".

Lines and patterns.

Add your own details to complete your art work.

(Pre-K) We love dots

This art project was based on the book: " The Dot" by Peter H. Reynlods

" Just make a mark and see where it takes you". These are the words of Vashti's teacher
who encourages her to draw. Vashti jabs at a blank sheet of paper, leaving an angry dot.
With this little dot Vashti begins a journey of exploration and self-discovery.

We made dots by NOT painting dots.

We used printing tools, brushes and our pointer to create colorful dots.

We created different dots using a variety of colors just like Vashti.

We painted around the circle, and when we took the circle off we had a dot without painting a dot!

Using our pointer to make different sizes dots.

Our dots made quite a splash.

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(G2) Cats in art (Part II) The cats of Rosita Wachtmeister 2/3

Project objective(s):
- Examine the style of  Rosita Wachtmeister's cats
- Discuss line, form, color, and pattern
- Create your Rosita Wacthmeister cat

 Rosita Wachtmeister was born in 1939 Vienna, Austria.
In her biographical note she mentions war, bombs, a garden full of potatoes, ceramics workshop, and flute lessons. She moved to Italy in 1967 where she learns to paint and exposes her paintings at the Piazza Navona

Rosita Wachtmeister's work is a favorite among art teachers.
Mary Making 

Kids Artists

In order to understand her style the students examined a number of Rosita's paintings. ( http://www.rosina-wachtmeister.de/index_en.html ). Among them "Tommaso and his Family".

We practiced drawing the different elements found in her cats.

We drew with pencil, made the necessary corrections, and then used a sharpie to outline our design.

Creating patterns as part of the design.

Cats in the style of Rosita Wachtmeister.

 Creating interesting backgrounds.

Adding your own details.

Lines, colors and patterns.

(PS) Bubble art Eggstravaganza

Project objective(s):
- How to create designs by blowing bubbles
- Choose your scrap paper to decorate the eggs
- Decorate the eggs by folding aluminum foil

For this age group I had to blow the bubbles.
The students were amazed at the beauty of the designs.
I was told I was making a big mess that day.

We made choices on the sizes of circles.

Student comment:  "I made a lot of circles".

Student comment:  " My purple paper has diamonds inside".

Student comment:  "These are birds around my egg".

The eggstravanganza experiment is accomplished.
Happy Spring.

(G3,G4) Cats in Art (Part I) Keith Norval 1/3

Project objective(s):
- Examine the work of three artists who use cats as their subject matter.
- We will examine the work of Laurel Burch, Rosita Wachtweister 
   and our local artist Keith Norval.
- We will compare and contrast the work of the three artists.
- We will create a picture following their style.
- We will add our own details to complete the work.

We will start examining the work of our local artist Keith Norval.
We visited Mr. Norval's studio in Artspace (Visual Center)
and had the opportunity to see the artist at work.

This is one of Mr. Norval's cats.

Mr. Norval is showing the students a picture of a cat and how it is used as an inspiration.

Mr. Norval is explaining the different elements found in his work.

Back in our "studio" we are drawing cats in the style of Mr. Norval.

The students used both pencils and sharpies to draw the cats.

 The students used water colors, markers and oil pastels to complete their artwork.

We learned that while copying and learning from the work of different artists,
 it is important to add details of our own.

 We learned how to create interesting backgrounds.

We learned how lines create different expressions.

 Our experiment in creating in the style of Mr. Norval is accomplished!