Pop Up Art School

 

After taking the $5 challenge to make a Valentine’s Day project (take two)  I taught the project to my fourth grade class. You know when you put together a project, and then release it into in the hands of a child and it falls apart? Literally— the floral foam we used for printmaking crumbled before my eyes! When I teach printmaking, I always tell the kids to practice on a scrap piece of paper to decide how much paint and pressure they need to apply before they make the finished print. In this case, it was bad advice. By the time they got to make the final print the floral foam was falling apart for half of the kids. The next day, I had to scrape bits of floral foam out of the dried paint!

After the printmaking crashed and burned I was nervous about the next week, so I modified the legs of the love bug and used strips of card stock instead. Luckily, the assembly was a success!

Look how this student not only made a face with a heart but she made a tail as well. I love the double layer of doilies for the wings.

This student complained that his didn’t look like all the others, but I reassured him that his was a unique solution. He turned the bug body upside down and used it like a taco. Those doily wings make a yummy filling!

Look how this student used two doily hearts facing in opposite directions to make the wings.

This one wins the prize for the tallest love bug!

This boy has a crush on Katy Perry and I like his candy-heart-worthy phrase Lift off to Love!

If you use this project with your kids we’d love to hear about it. Give us some love– please share this post!

 

Over the summer, the location of the art room changed, and without my knowledge all of the supplies and equipment were moved to the new art room. If you’re an art teacher, you know that most people’s trash is your treasure! One “treasure” that was thrown out, during the move, were 10 cardboard boxes I had scavenged from BJ’s Wholesale Club. They weren’t just any cardboard boxes, they were for the stop motion animation club. All I did was turn them upside down, cut a hole in the top, place the iPad so the viewfinder is unobstructed and taped the iPad to the box. They are very handy and of course free! One drawback is that they’re bulky and can’t be stacked. Students are also limited to filming from above.

Just before this year’s stop motion animation club I realized that eight of the 10 had been thrown out–aargh! As I rummaged through the storage closet I came upon two dozen coffee cup trays and inspiration struck. As you can see in the photos, it’s a simple cut with a box cutter or X-Acto blade to make a free iPad stand for stop motion animation. The red indicates where the iPad should be inserted. If the tab on the cupholder breaks just rotate the cupholder and use another side. To make the iPad perpendicular to the table I inserted a marker between the back of the iPad and the stand.

   

Now, I can offer two ways for the students to take the pictures for their animations. They can use the boxes from BJ’s to film from above or use the cup holder to film in front of their subject. By the way, the cupholders are easy to stack and take up little room. Now, what about the backdrop for the animation? In the classroom, I put a chair on top of the table and tape a piece of white paper to the seat. For a portable solution, make our DIY Social Media Photo Booth.

Like we always say at Pop up Art School, “Cardboard is an art teacher’s best friend!” What free and easy hacks do you use in your art lessons?

 

I challenged myself to put together a lesson for Valentine’s Day. It had to be for a class of 25 and I could only spend five bucks. Last week, I attempted making a Valentine with the same supplies. I was happy with my discovery of printing with floral foam, but the end product was so-so.

Here is take two.

I’m really happy with this week’s results. It’s a Love Bug! I completely transformed the doily by cutting it apart and turning it into wings and legs for my love bug. Here’s how I did it:

Make the texture print like before.

Cut out the body and eyes.

Cut the outside trim off of the doily heart. This will be used for the legs.

Cut out a heart from the center. This will be used for the head.

Use all the pieces to construct an insect with a glue stick. After it’s put together use the red paint to add detail.

Now students can play with the pieces to make the insect unique. The finished bug is glued down on another piece of paper so it looks like it’s standing.

Here’s a cheap and easy way to make a clean backdrop to photograph artwork during workshops. This is lightweight and can be set up anywhere. No one will know you are photographing Suzy Q’s art on top of an old chair with posters in the background.

 

You’ll need:

2 pieces of corrugated cardboard 16.25″ x 20.50″ each.

Clear packing tape or duct tape

4 medium binder clips or clothespins

white paper 37 inches long by 21 inches wide

First, you’ll use the two pieces of cardboard. Lay them flat with the long ends together. Tape them together on both sides. The tape creates a hinge, so that you will be able to lift one of the pieces up so that it is perpendicular to the other

For the white sheet of paper I use photo backdrop paper which has a nice weight to it. It won’t easily wrinkle. Lay the paper over the cardboard. Fold 2 inches over the short end of your cardboard and secure with two binder clips. Fold one side of your cardboard up so that it looks like an L. Place it against a wall so that it stays upright and drape your paper so that it curves where the cardboard bends. Secure the other end of your paper with the binder clips. Now that you have this pristine white box what happens if the artwork has wet paint? No problem! Just take a clean piece of paper (we always carry some 8.5 x 11 copy paper) and place it under the wet artwork.

Now that your artwork is ready for its glamour shot set the picture format on your camera phone to square. Make sure that you aren’t making a shadow with your body or your phone. Move your photo booth around until you find the right place in the room. Place the artwork in front of the curved paper and take a few shots at different angles.

Here at Pop up Art School, we get to meet a lot of librarians and we feel a kinship between teachers and librarians. Here’s why:

1. Librarians are unflappable. They work with the public, and ahem, have to deal with the public. Just like teachers, they have to juggle multiple tasks and personalities, all while remaining calm on the surface.
2. Even though it’s not in their job title they are teachers at heart. Through experience, they understand the logistics of leading a group of people in a program or lesson.
3.  Like teachers they are not getting paid the big bucks but they value the satisfaction from helping someone and making a difference.
4.  Librarians work hard to connect to their community. Having already done the “market research” they intuitively know what programs their patrons will value. Teachers value connecting with their students and develop a feel for how to be effective in the classroom.
5. Teachers and librarians know that reading is the foundation of learning. Both professions nobly strive to spark a love of books and knowledge.