10's

Exquisite Beings

Lets end the school year by playing a little art game.

A little game about connecting different drawings together

to make one drawing.

You may have played this before but did you know there are different versions?

One version is drawing with other people.

The other is experimenting drawing on your own.

Here's how it goes...

Materials:

9"x12" or larger paper

Scissors

Pencils and/or Pen

Sharpies, Colored pencils or Markers

How To with Others:

Start with a blank piece of paper.

Fold it in three sections.

Fold the paper so only the top section shows.

Person #1 draw a head and neck,

any type of head and neck.

Important!! Don't show the drawing to others, otherwise it will not be a surprise at the end.

Make sure you extend a little bit of the neck over the fold, onto the next page.

Important!! At each step, keep the paper folded so you will not see the drawings of the previous person.

Person #2 take over.

Begin drawing from where Person #1 left off.

Draw the body and arms.

It can be any type of body and arm.

Do the same thing as Person #1,

Make sure you extend a little bit of the body or arm over the fold, onto the next page.

Person #3 take over.

Begin from where Person #2 left off

and draw the legs, feet or shoes.

It can be any type of legs, feet or shoes.

At the very end

Open up the drawing and see!

Artist Tip: If there are more than 3 people, fold the paper more times and divide more body parts.

Example: for 5 people, fold the paper in 5 sections. Divide drawing into 5 sections like the head, neck, upper body, lower body, legs.

It can get silly but Fun!

This is my artist friend Jeff Quinn's Drawings.

He calls it "JQ Quarentine Solo Exquisite People"

He challenged himself by playing a game usually done with others by playing on his own.

How do you think he did it?

How To Make an Exquisite Beings Drawing Book:

Another take on this game is making a flip book

Fold the piece of paper evenly into 3.

Cut it into 3 even sections on both sides like so,

So you have 6 flaps.

Draw a full body at the center.

Make sure head and neck is within the top section,

Body and arms within the second section,

Legs and feet within the bottom section.

Fold the top right flap down.

and draw a different head.

Do the same for the top left flap.

All together you will get 3 heads.

Do the Same for each part.

You will get...

3 bodies

3 legs and feet.

ALL TOGETHER

You will get

9 parts.

Add Color.

Then play with the different combinations by flipping the flaps!

Hope You Will ENJOY!

It has been a pleasure teaching you all in person and online

and getting to know the GHS community this year.

Have a wonderful summer doing things you enjoy, being with family, friends, reflecting.

See you in September!

Be well and Stay well.

-Miki

Mosaics with Things Around the House

A mosaic is putting together scrap pieces together into a picture like a puzzle.

At first, artists used broken pieces of glass, ceramic or pottery, but now we can use anything.

Lets see if we can find things around the house to make a mosaic.

Materials:

Recycled paper of any kind

Objects around the house with or without color

Background paper (any size)

Scissors

Glue

How To #1

Paper Mosaic

Look through your paper recycling bin and choose what interests you.

Artist Tip: color, intersting texture, pattern, design, text..etc.

Cereal boxes or any kind of boxes are also good materials.

Rip and tear the papers...

Or cut the papers with a scissor...

Artist Tip: it does not have to be a square, it can be any shape.

Arrange them by color, image or any category you like to make it easy for you to work with.

You can sketch an idea of an image and fill the mosaic pieces in like a puzzle,

or dive in and arrange pieces as you go like a puzzle...

Randomly

Or neatly,

and Glue.

Artist Tip: you can either put glue down on the paper first, then put the pieces on top,
or you can put glue piece by piece, but this will take you longer.

Cut paper mosaics...

The trick is to fill the entire page as tight as possible, with no blank spaces.

Torn paper mosaics...

This one uses different kinds of magazine paper with construction paper.

This one uses a variety of different papers cut randomly.

You can get very creative with the mix of papers!

How To #2

Found Object Mosaic

Hunt for and collect any materials around the house.

Arrange them by color, object or any category you like.

The trick is to fill as tight as possible, with very few blank spaces.

These are arranged by color.

But you can arrange them in any way you like!

You also don't have to glue them.

You can arrange as a mosaic and take a photo of it.

The photo will be your work of art!

Is there another way YOU can think of to create a Mosaic?

Be Creative!

The examples are not the limit.

Words as Art

When we write words, it is most often in a specific way- from left to right, right to left, up and down, depending on the culture.

In art it is not so specific. In fact, nothing is specific in art.

The artist makes the rules.

This week, lets try experimenting with words and see how we can change it into a work of art.

What is a font?

A font is the way a letter is written.

Graphic Designers are artists that design fonts that we use on a computer, poster, anything.

The way each letter is designed is paying a lot of attention to line.

Although no one knows the exact numbers, there are 200,000+ fonts in this world!

Designer Dan Fleming took it a step further and created graphics that combined image with fonts. Can you guess what they are?

How To:

Materials

Paper

Pencil and eraser

Thin black Sharipie marker or anything similar

Color marker

Choose a thing, object or animal.

Sketch an outline of the thing, object or animal.

Fill the outline with letters of the word that describes it.

I wanted mine to look like gummies in a jar, so I drew in a curvy font.

I changed my jar outline so that it's snug fit.

The more you fill the outline, the more interesting your design will look.

You can even erase the entire outline of the jar, as long as the letters make up the shape of your thing, object or animal.

Add color the way you'd like to describe your thing, object or animal.

You can also try...

Concrete Poetry

Concrete poetry is when words or poems are arranged to make an image that describes it.

"A click a sputter a whoosh to roarA flick a shudder a push to soarThe nose held high the wings steadyThe plane is ready to touch the sky."

"In the night the children talked of home in their mangy pack."

"The clock on the wall says it's five 'til three but the kids in my class say it's five 'til free."

If you have any questions or would like to share your work with me,

email to:

miwamura@greenehillschool.org

Photography

A photograph captures a moment in time.

The camera is your second pair of eyes, and with it you can see, explore and capture your world and the world around you.

It is about being in the moment,

capturing the extraordinary in the ordinary.

This week, lets explore the world around you in detail

and capture what interests you, what catches your eye.

Materials:Digital camera of any kind or iPhone, AndroidYour pair of eyes and hands

Photo Assignment #1

Experiment with Point of View

Point of view is the angle from where we look, and the way we point our camera.

Birds Eye View

Looking and taken from above.

How is this ordinary?

How is it extraordinary?

Worms Eye View

Looking and taken from below.

How is this ordinary?

How is it extraordinary?

Close Up

Looking and taken up close.

How is this ordinary?

How is it extraordinary?

ARTIST TIP: Playing around with how close you put your camera to what you are taking a photo of is one of the fun things about Photography!
This photographer stuck her camera inside a rolled up leaf to take a photo of someone far away.

Eye Level

Looking and taken straight head.

How is this ordinary?

How is it extraordinary?

ARTIST TIP: This is slightly a worms eye view. The photographer, William Eggleston, layed down on the street and pointed his camera up just a bit to take a photo of this tricycle.

Now your turn.

Take at least 4 photos:

Eye level, Birds eye view, Worms eye view, Close up

of anything that interests you.

Photo Assignment #2

Experiment with Focus

Where you decide to focus the camera decides what is most important in the picture.

What is the difference between these?

Where is the focus?

Now your turn.

Take at least 3 photos of the same thing, by changing where your focus will be.

Artist Tip: Changing how close, how far, and from what angle you take the photo will change the focus.

Photo Assignment #3

Experiment with Composition

Composition is how things are placed inside the frame, your viewfinder or screen.

An ordinary thing can be captured in a unique way by playing around with where it goes inside your frame.

On purpose, the photographer framed it so we can only see the arms.

On purpose, the photographer framed the coat hanger not centered but off-set to the right.

Refelctions on still water are fun way to experiment with composition.

Artist Tip: it all depends on the point of view and the angle from where you take the photo.

Now your turn.

Take at least 3 photos of the same thing, by changing the composition.

Photo Assignment #4

Experiment with Subject

There is no limit as to what you can take a picture of!

You can hunt around the house, photograph what you see and interests you

You can set up and arrange objects or people

or play dress up like in a photoshoot.

The Fun is Yours!

Take as many photos as you like to make a series.

Here is an interesting series of photographs titled "Kids with their Favorite Toys" by photographer, Gabriele Gamllmberti.

Australia

Costa Rica

Mexico

Philippines

USA

Thailand

Morocco

Zanzibar

Kenya

Algeria

Nicaragua

Italy

I would LOVE to see some of your photographs.

Please send to:

miwamura@greenehillschool.org

If you are interested in seeing some of my photography work, feel free to check out my website at:

www.mikiiwamura.com

All About Tape

There are many things we can use to draw with. And an artist finds any means to do so when that urge to create rises.

Tape is another material you can use.

From small scale to large scale, the type of art you can create is limitless.

Watch this video by Tape Over to see how they used tape.

How To 1

You can experiment with the way you rip or cut the tape.

Tiny pieces of masking tape were ripped to make the shadows and details of the face.

End part of the tape were cut thinly and taped in interesting ways.

Each part of this bark was carefully ripped and cut with a scissor or xacto knife.

It can be realistic or abstract, large or small, color or plain tape.

If you have patterned tape, you can make interesting compositions with it also.

Check out these large scale tape drawings!

If you have enough tape and space in your walls or floor, maybe you can try something simple in your home or outside.

How To 2

You can also use tape to create a positive and negative tape drawing or tape painting.

For today's lesson...

Positive=Parts that have the most color

Negative=Parts that have the least amount of color

Materials:Tape (masking tape or painter tape works best)Paper, cardboard, posterboard, recycled paper or cardboard or canvasAny drawing materials (see below)orPaints (see below)

Put tape across your paper. It can be any shape or size.

Color or paint over it.

For drawing materials, you can use chalk, pastel, crayon, oil pastels, markers, even pencils.

Artist Tip: You don't have to worry about getting messy with the edges. Color "out" onto the tape, so you can get sharp edges when you peel the tape off.

Artist Tip: Slow careful peels, so you won't end up ripping the paper.

The tape makes crisp black negative lines.

Instead of coloring, this one was painted with one color.

Before painting, the design was made with tape on white canvas.

This one was painted using multiple colors.

Artist Tip: For painting, acrylic paints work best. But you can use other paints as well. Make sure your painting is completely dry before peeling the tape off.

This is a different technique from the painting on the left and above.

The aritst painted multiple colors first, let it dry, then taped the design on, and painted the entire canvas black. When she peeled the tape off, this is what she got.

As a challenge, you can also experiment with layering tape, layering shapes and drawing or paint colors.

You can layer shapes on, by making the shape with tape, paint or color the inside...

and peel the tape off once it is dry.

Experiment!

Combine techniques or discover new ones.

If you'd like to share the work or have any quesions, email to:

miwamura@greenehillschool.org

Spice and Food Painting

No paints to paint with at home? No worries! We can make paint by using things that we have at home.

In fact, people made paint from nature during the olden days before buying paints in stores was common.

Finding Materials

Look around the house for things that...

Are liquid with color.

Are powder like and have color, like spices.

Have color and can be squeezed, like fruits and vegetables.

How To Make Paints

Pour a tiny bit of the spice or powder into any small bowl.

Important! Spices, fruits and vegetables we need to cook with or to eat. So we don't want to waste any. Just 2 - 4 pinches, or tiny bit of the food will do just fine.

Add a little bit of water, just enough so it will be easy to paint with.

Mix, and let it sit for about 30 minutes so it can get absorbed with the water well.

Artist Tip: The less water the better. the color will come out too light if too much water is added.

Here are examples of what I found at home.

Turmeric spice

Sumac spice

Spinach

one leaf goes a long way

Hot sauce

Blueberries

The ash from incense sticks that were burned.

You can also use things like flowers, leaves, roots, and dirt.

There are many things you can use.

Sky is the limit.

(there is no limit)

Experiment and Have Fun!

How To Paint

Other Materials you will need:

Paper (watercolor paper works best, or any paper that absorbs water well)

Paint brushes

It is a lot like painting with watercolor paints. The only difference is, you don't need to add water.

Artist Tip: Have a cup of water to rinse out your brush. Have a paper towel or cloth to wipe your brush.

Stroke marks with Spinach.

Sunset painting

Hot Sauce skyTurmeric and Incense Ash sunSpinach grassSumac dirt

Dabbing the brush with Turmeric.

Overlapping dabs with Incense Ash.

After it dries, you can also use regular or sharpie markers to add details.

I added seeds for my flower.

These are just examples of the many things you can paint.

Experiment with brushmarks and ENJOY!

Please take a pic of the work you create and email to:

miwamura@greenehillschool.org

Accordion Sketchbook

A book tells a story.

A sketchbook is also a book and tells a story about you.

It is a personal book,

an artist's mind and heart.

During Spring Break, lets create a personal sketchbook.

Inspirations:

An accordion is a portable musical instrument that's like a piano. The only way it can be played is by pumping air, through squeezing it closed and open repeatedly.

An accordion book is a book that's in the shape of an accordion. Do you see it? It also opens and closes like an accordion.

Artists can get really creative with the shape and make of an accordion book.

You can use any materials.

This artist used color tape for the cover.

This artist used recycled paper related to NYC streets, and made a collage of the city with black paper that goes across all the pages.

This artist created a theme. She made a box door for the cover, and cut the accordion pages into a house shape. The images on the book are also houses.

This artist used cardboard with pockets.

Another collage that goes across the pages.

This is a mini gallery. The artist cut out a frame on each page with an Xacto knife, and glued his art from the back.

This artist cut out all the pages of the accordion into a dress shape.

You can also make things pop out by cutting slits at the fold, and pushing it out in the opposite direction.

How To: Making the Accordion Book

Materials

These are materials I have at home. What materials do you have and can use to make a book?

If you don't have markers you can also use colored pencils as well as paints. If you have collage materials like construction paper or recycled paper, you can use those too!

Step 1

Fold the paper in half.

Go to Step 4 if you want large size.

(do this for 8 pieces of letter size paper)

Go to Step 2 if you want smaller size.

Step 2

Fold it again and cut it in half.

Step 3

I used 4 pieces of letter size paper here, which gave me 8 pieces.

Step 4

Stack each pieces of paper like this- one page facing up, the other page facing down.

Step 5

Glue each page together at the fold and around the edges .

Keep going until all of your pages are glued together into an accordion shape.

Artist Tip: If you have glue sticks, use those! If not thin layers of elmers glue along the edges works best. Too much glue makes the paper wrinkle.

Step 6

If you want your book to be a specific shape, Fold the accordion book closed, and cut it in the shape you like.

The shape can relate to a theme or random.

Important! Do not cut off all of the folded edges to the right and to the left. If you do, the pages will no longer be connected.

Step 7

If you don't want a hard cover, you are done at Step 7.

If you do want a hard cover, trace the front end and back end to the thick paper and cut.

Step 8

Make 2- one for the front of the book, the other for the back of the book.

Artist Tip: Cardboard or any thick paper from your recycle bin works great! You can even play around with printed design.

Example: choose a box or package with interesting pattern or design.

Step 9

Glue the cover to the front end and the back end, and you have an accordion book!

You can also try to figure out how to make one of the books from the Inspirations.

How To: What to draw or collage?

It can be...

One long drawing or collage...

across all pages...

front and back.

Or each page...

a drawing or collage...

of the same theme or different,

front and back.

Something you see...

An experiment with materials...

A thought...

or an idea...

Or from imagination...

See more of this artist's imagination sketches at :

www.behance.net/gallery/51793087/Sketchbook

Express Yourself &Your Interests and ENJOY!

Please take a pic of the work you create and email to:

miwamura@greenehillschool.org

Other Art Activities You Can Do During Spring Break:

You can find lots of activity ideas at the below website.

It is divided into age groups and varied enough for all different skill levels.

kinderart.com

If you would like to learn or practice how to draw, here are some How to YouTube classes by industrial designer, Michael DiTullo. If the link does not work, you can also look him up on YouTube.

alumni.risd.edu/news-events/ditullo-michael-1

Etching and Embossing

Engraving in art means to dig in from a surface. Embossing means making a surface stand out.

Aluminum foil that we use for food is a great material to create works of art that include these techniques.

Inspirations

How To Choice 1:

Materials:Aluminum foil (heavy duty)Cardboard Pen (or any tools that you can draw with well on foil)Any tools that will give good textureColor permanent markers

Smooth and spread the foil on top of the cardboard.

This will give you something semi-soft to work on, and it can be a backing at the end.

Draw your design with a tool.

Artist Tip: The trick is to press hard enough but not too much since that will put a hole into the foil. Pens work great, since it is not too sharp and allows fine detail.

If you want something to pop out, press into it with a soft tool with a roundish edge.

Example: drawing stub, eraser on a pencil...etc.

Once in a while, flip it over to the other side so you can see what it will look like. You'll see that the design pops out on the other side.

Experiment using different kinds of tools to emboss and engrave patterns and texture.

Example: different kinds of pencils, pens, kitchen tools, sowing tools, harware tools, Anything!

Having different textures makes the design look and feel interesting.

To finalize and make it look neat for hanging, wrap the foil around the cardboard you worked on.

If you have permanent markers, you can add color with it.

Unfortunately, the marker has to be permanent. Otherwise it will smudge.

How To Choice 2:

Extra materials you need for this:

Elmers glue bottle or any thick glue bottleGlue stickQ-tipShoe polish (liquid kind works best)orColor permanent markers

Make a sketch of a design or drawing on the cardboard.

"Trace" your drawing with your glue bottle, and let it completely dry.

Once dry, lay the foil over the glue drawing. Use a Q-tip to rub the foil in flush to the glue.

Artist Tip: The foil will stick nice and flat if you add a thin layer of glue stick on your glue drawing before putting on the foil.

Add any other details you'd like to add with your tools for more texture.

Once done, paint the entire foil with shoe polish.

Wipe off the polish while it's still a little bit wet. This technique will add contrast to your foil drawing- certain parts of your foil drawing will stand out.

Other option is to color the entire foil drawing with permanent markers.

Artist Tip: Leave the parts that are embossed alone, and color inside and around the shapes.

It will look a bit like stain glass.

How To Choice 3:

Extra materials you need for this:

Textured materials (or any materials that pop out)Elmers glue (or any glue)Soft toothbrushQ-tipCloth or ragPaint (try anything that is not watercolor paint)Paper (white or any color, preferably thin like printing paper)

Lay the materials down onto the cardboard into a design.

This one has nails, string, and sandpaper.

Lay foil over the design and fold the edges of the foil onto the cardboard as flat as you can.

Use the Q-tip and cloth to smooth out a piece of foil onto the design.

You need something dry for the foil to be smooth and flat. Just our fingers will not work too well.

The harder you're able the press and smooth, the more your texture will show.

Spread some paint.

Artist Tip: If your paint is too thick, add a tiny bit of water, so it will go on the foil smoothly.

Spread the paint with something soft like a toothbrush. The bristles on the brush will spread the paint onto the textures really well.

Spread and wipe the paint with a cloth evenly, let some of the paint remain, especially in the textured areas.

While the paint is still wet, lay a piece of paper over it, press and rub over the painted foil with the palm of your hands, around the edges and in the middle.

Peel the paper... Congratulations you just made a print!

I would love to see your creations!

Please take a pic of the work you create and email to:

miwamura@greenehillschool.org

Upcycle Sculpture

Being creative with materials is a big part of being an artist. When artist don't have materials that they need, we find other materials to take its place.

There are lots you can create with recycled materials and things you find around the house. Lets give it a try and see what we can create!

Here are some materials you can use:

CardboardBoxes of all sizes that are cuttable Toilet paper rollsPaper towel rollsReycled paper of any kindStringWireAluminum foil

Keep in mind there's more to this list, Your choices are limitless!

Inspirations

Can you guess what it is made of? And how it is made?

this is a pet cricket's home

How To Sample #1

Building

Here's what I used to build:

Masking tape (or any strong tape)Recycled cardstock paper (or any thick paper)Toilet paper rollsPaper towel rollTea box

First I looked at the shape of the recycled materials I had and asked myself ....

"What do the shapes remind me of? What can it turn into?"

I decided on a giraffe.

Here I am making the neck and legs to attach to the green box that will be the body.

Artist Tip: to attach any pieces together, make tabs by cutting slits and folding it out.

The challenge is finding the best way to attach with tape. Think balance.

Artist Tip: To make a secure attachment, put tape on all sides.

Use similar techniques you used to make your mask.

It's not always just cutting, you can also bend. I bent the paper towel roll to make the giraffe's face.

I added rolls of tape to the back of the face to secure it, so I won't loose the shape of the face. (putting tape over it will turn it into a blob)

With the scrap carstock paper, I cut and attached details like the ears and a tail.

To add color you can use anything:

Construction paperScrap fabricPaints MarkersorWrap the whole thing with tape

How To Sample #2

Sculpting

Here's what I used to sculpt:

Aluminum foilBrown paper bagElemers glue ScissorsGlue brushSharpie markerL hook nails

Sculpt a shape with aluminum foil.

I saw a sparrow out my window and it inspired me to create a lifesize bird.

Artist Tip: Think loose squeezes and pinches when you are sculpting. If you squeeze too tight, the foil will no longer bend.

For the surface, I ripped the brown paper bag into workable bits that will cover the shape.

Mixed a tiny bit of water with Elmers glue so it will be easy to brush on.

Spread the glue on both sides of the brown paper, overlap each piece and cover the whole thing so no foil is showing.

Artist Tip: pinch, squeeze and wrap around the foil tight, while the glue is wet, so it will stick well and the shape shows well.
Artist Tip: the thinner the paper the easier it is to apply.

Once it dried, I drew in some details with Sharpie markers.

I found some L shape nails and used that for its legs.

You can also use...

Color markers & Paint to add details.

These are just samples

Be Creative!

with your

Choices in Materials

and What You Decide to Create.

I would love to see your creations!

Please take a pic of the work you create and email to:

miwamura@greenehillschool.org

Design a Postcard

Before emails, texts, snapchats...etc. people communicated with those who are far away by sending postcards and letters.

Design your own postcard image to 1-2 of your friends or family you miss.

The image can be abstract or realistic- still life, scenery, or portrait.
The image can be personal- something you want to share with your friend or family member.
The image can have a hidden message- something that you and the person share, like a shared memory or inside joke.
The image can be just an image or mixed with text.
The image can be a collage.

The Choice is Yours.

Materials:

Two 5x7 watercolor paper (from at home packet, one for each friend or family member)Any white blank scrap paper (small in size for the stamp)Sharpie marker (from at home packet)
Things from home you can use:PencilsMarkers, Crayons, Oil pastelsAny kind of Paints- watercolor, tempera, acrylic, inks Collage Materials- scissors, glue, color paper, magazines, newspaper, anything with letters or image Ruler (or anything with a straight edge will work)

Front Side- Inspirations to Drive Ideas:

How To:

View the inspiration images to drive your ideas. Or you may have some at home that you find interesting and can get ideas from.
Plan a composition. Sketch lightly with a pencil where you would like what on the 5x7 paper. Or if you want to "let the material speak" and plan as you experiment with your materials, that is also an artists way.
It can be made of one material or however many materials you would like that you can find at home. Sky is the limit (there is no limit).