Feeling crafty (Polymer Garden Pendants)

We got a bit crafty last week, here at Carriage House A&C. Each of us made two polymer clay pendants, decorated by pressing in bits of rosemary, lavender, and boxwood from the garden. The final dusting, with pearly powdered pigments, added a touch of glam to the earthy nature theme. Then I baked them, and today the kids strung them on colored cord. They were delighted with the results.

Joseph Cornell inspires

Joseph Cornell has always been one of my favorite artists and I love teaching kids about his work. In class with the 7- and 8-year-olds they made "dream boxes" by turning shoeboxes into custom shadowboxes. They then painted them, added an animal (or two), and some found treasures. I love the results, and so did they. And the book "Mr. Cornell's Dream Boxes", by Jeanette Winter, accompanied the project nicely.

Check out the warm-up exercise from Tuesday's adult collage workshop. We played a sort of "exquisite corpse" game: Each person glued down one piece of paper, said whether it was to be a human or creature, and then passed it around for everyone to add to it until deemed finished. The results are great, sometimes very funny. I'll be posting some new upcoming workshops soon, too, so check back and see what's on the horizon!

Printing on Fabric workshop for adults: Sept. 13th, from 6:30-8:30PM

I'm not saying that you should stop buying dishtowels, but you could make one with me and satisfy that crafty urge, too. September 13th, from 6:40-8:30PM.

next adult art workshop: August 29th, from 6:30-8:30PM

Join me for a 2-hour workshop on August 29th, from 6:30-8:30PM: Channeling Children. We'll be making playful, colorful, collage animals, inspired by a project I've done with children. (Which was in turn inspired by artist Clare Youngs). 🐸

Collaborative architecture printing project

This is a new favorite project of mine. I have each of the kids draw the name of an architectural element (row of rectangular windows, double doors, cupola, chimney, brick wall, pointed arch, etc.). They then make a stamp of that element, using adhesive-back foam and cardboard. They are then to make at least three more architectural details of their choice (the first ones assigned just get them all started). When they're done making the stamps, all of the stamps are piled in the center of the table and the printing begins. Each kid composes a cityscape using the stamps, and they all come out wonderfully different! We used black acrylic paint because it dries quickly and won't run (as will block printing ink), if they decide to add color, once it has dried. We did these on BIG pieces of paper, and the results were just terrific.

Inspired by Pablo Picasso's cubist period portraits

Inspired by Pablo Picasso's cubist period portraits, the kids in one of my (many!) summer camp classes at the Fillmore Arts Center made these great, wonky, colorful faces from cardboard. I showed them works by Picasso, asked them to make at least the eyes of their faces asymmetrical, and then let them loose on a huge pile of cardboard. They glued them together, colored them with oil pastels, and then painted over the whole face with watered-down black tempera paint (they then blotted the excess off with a paper towel). The result are fun funky faces with their three-dimensional quality emphasized by the black paint, that stays best in the crevices between pieces. This was one of the kids' favorite projects.