Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Power of Words


The inspiration for this project came from viewing the works of nine women artists who explore the use of language in their work. 

Their work is featured in the exhibition 

Girl Talk 
                                                              Women and Text 



We examined the way the artists explored the ambiguity of language in their work.
The students decided to create their 'word collages' based on the work of the artist Kay Rosen.

This project had six steps:

1.The students looked for words in a variety of books, newspapers, and periodicals.  
2. From the variety of words, we each decided to use only one word.
3. We created new words out of a singular word by rearranging or adding letters.
4. We used black sharpies to write our new words on water color paper. 
5. We used water colors to paint over the letters.
6. We cut the letters and created our word collages.

During the art process, the students were able to discuss word choice and creation of new words with their fellow artists.

   






Kay Rosen



The student learned that Ark is the Latin word for box.
Kar is an Armenian word meaning "stone".
Rak is a river in Slovenia.







Kay Rosen







Kay Rosen





Sunday, November 18, 2012

Experiments in Weaving


Weaving is an art activity that most students enjoy. I prepared the paper and cardboard looms with larger openings for the Kindergarten class. Students had a choice from a variety of yarn. We discussed how you can create patterns by using regular or textured yarn.

By using our fingers to weave in and out, over and under, around and through, we learned to coordinate our eyes, hands, and minds. Some students made changes in the middle of the weaving because they were not happy with the results. Problem solving came into play when they were trying to decide on which yarn type to use and how, by using a different hand motion, they could create a different pattern.



My example