Peace, Love, Hope in Ink

This 6th grader's ink drawing really grabbed my heart today. 

Materials at this center included:

-watercolor paper cut in various sizes and shapes (scroll and square)

-bamboo brushes

-large feathers (both ends can be used)

-Higgins black waterproof ink in three cups: light wash, medium wash, and pure black

-extra container clean water

-salt for experimenting

-examples of Japanese scrolls and language characters 

-sample grid that I created to show variety of effects "dry brush on dry paper, wet brush on wet paper, wet brush on dry paper, and dry brush on wet paper."

Stations: Origami and Dough

Yesterday in my E1 (grades 1-3) class, the creativity at the stations grew larger than I could have expected. Literally. 

Here is a simple dough and cookie cutter station, where a group of girls created an imaginary French bakery called " La Boulangerie Bakery." They connected their designs from a class work on France, and one girl's trip there. 

Can you see the little Eiffel Tower on one of the pastries? 

They then connected with the students at the Origami Station, who taught them how to make  cupcake holders for their creations.

Meanwhile, at the Origami Station, the paper felt too small. So they used butcher roll paper. Which again, felt too small. So they taped four pieces together to make a mega large square. 

And the mega cup is born. 

...and then...

Lastly, they made a large paper crane and attached it to the cup to make a mask hat... which, may or may not look a little like KKCrane meets Adam from Beetlejuice. 

It couldn't be denied, it was a great hour of creativity!

Quote of the Day: Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler: "You never make exactly what is in your mind, because methods and materials and conscious awareness change the original thought. And, of course, you are then working with a material thing and not only a thought. Just as novelists are sometimes overtaken by their characters, artists are also influenced by the shapes, lines, and colors that place demands upon them and the final painting. The artist has to have a dialogue with what is being created." From The Emergence of a Painter" by Susan Cross, In AFTER MOUNTAINS AND SEA: FRANKENTHALER 1956-1959. Guggenhiem Museum, 1998.