Joe's Virtual Studio
Lower Elementary
In my elementary program, I emphasize drawing and painting. The students increase their awareness of technical skills and explore a variety of media, including clay, wood, paint (tempera, watercolor, and acrylics), color pencils, charcoal, dry pastel and oil pastels. Many projects involve assemblage and collage, and combinations of two or more techniques. Projects are based on my developmental art curriculum, which combines studio processes, art history, and the individual interests of the particular class. Students also learn about the different roles of art in society.
Jose´& India / Jonathan & Sanidia
Adaptable to all ages with varying results.
Geometric Robot Collages!
Let's recycle for this project...
A great way of using up scraps of paper and recycled cardboard from around the house is to create ROBOT COLLAGES.
Start with a little preparation. Carefully cut various geometric shapes. Rectangles, squares, circles and triangles will be the most useful the most useful.
Glue and stick shapes onto card to make a robot, or take a picture.
You can add details and extra features like a faces, antennas and hands with found objects from your junk drawer. Be creative push this idea in a new direction.
LeaF People Collages!
Get outside and be creative...
Now is the perfect time to get outside and make art from nature. No need to cut live trees - use weeds, yard scrapes, and fallen leaves!
This craft is super fun and easy to put together. Go for a walk around the your yard or neighborhood and gather colorful leaves and nature of all shapes and sizes to make some adorable leaf people.
Directions:
After you gather all your leaves just glue them to a piece of paper to make a person. There is no right or wrong way. Get creative and try something new. You can add goggly eyes and marker at the end for the face. Hint - don't worry about buying goggly eyes make them out of scrape paper from the recycling bin for better expressions. Simply cut white circles any size you need and add a dot of black paper to that!
Since these pieces of art will eventually change back to compost it is important to take a picture of your work. In fact, sometimes I don't even glue them down - I just take a photo and print them out! Email me an image of your leave people and I will post them on instagram! Follow along at https://www.instagram.com/paideiaart/
WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO MAKE LEAF PEOPLE:
leaves of all shapes and sizes and colors
glue if you want it to stay together, but take a picture too!
scrap paper or cardboard
markers, and paper goggly eyes
LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems!
Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence at Home
Around the world, people of all ages have joined Mo Willems in his studio for weekday LUNCH DOODLES. All episodes and their downloadable activities below.
Episode One: Welcome to Mo’s Studio!
In his first LUNCH DOODLE, Mo welcomes you into his studio at home and guides you through drawing activities using one of his favorite characters as inspiration!
A note from Mo with more about the project:
"When I became the Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence, I didn’t realize the most impactful word in that title would be ‘Residence.’
With millions of learners attempting to grow and educate themselves in new circumstances, I have decided to invite everyone into my studio once a day for the next few weeks."
Start here with Episode One and follow the series.
Grab some paper and pencils, pens, or crayons. Doodle together with Mo and explore ways of writing and making.
Printable Mo Willems coloring challenges
Perhaps the greatest advantage youngsters obtain from coloring pages of animals or their preferred anime characters is the advancement of great motor abilities. When monitoring young youngsters discovering how to color use mild instructions to motivate them to hold the writing implement near the tip, supported between the ideas of their thumb, index finger as well as middle finger.
mo-willems-coloring-pages-cool-designs-coloring-pages-coloring-pages-coloring-pages.pdfmo-willems-coloring-pages-cool-designs-coloring-pages-coloring-pages-coloring-pages (dragged) 2.pdfParrot/Bird Drawings
You can learn various ways to draw a parrot or tropical bird by drawing different beaks, bodies and feathers. Children can add pops of color and pattern using markers. The background can be painted or colored with crayons or oil pastels.
Once you understand how to make a basic bird you can draw any style. Go to any bird site online to look for images of specific types. I really like the
poppy-parrot-drawing-guide final (dragged).pdfpoppy-parrot-drawing-guide final (dragged) 2.pdf
Drawing Around objects
‘Drawing Around Objects’ is a fun art challenge for everyone. Find 5 objects around your house and simply draw around them. Don't over think it - make an actual drawing of something, or just a pattern. If you love your creation share it with me - ask someone at your home to photograph your completed piece and email it to me.
ARE YOU STUCK OR WANT TO TRY ANOTHER APPROACH? HAVE A SHOT AT THESE CHALLENGES!
What is it? There is no right answer - try to finish theses drawing in an interesting and creative way. Print them out, or copy on paper from your screen.
WhatIsItSheets (dragged).pdfWhatIsItSheets (dragged) 2.pdfWhatIsItSheets (dragged) 4.pdfWhatIsItSheets (dragged) 3.pdfMicrosculpture
Microsculpture is a ground breaking project by the British photographer Levon Biss that presents insect specimens (dead bugs) from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History like never before. These images reveal an unexpected and often breathtaking beauty and make visible the many intricate adaptations to the form of insects - what entomologists (bug scientists) call their microsculpture.
Go to this website: http://microsculpture.net/. Watch the video. Click on the word ‘Explore’ in the top left-hand corner. Click on an insect. Zoom in to see the amazing detail. Spend 10 minutes exploring the different insects. Preferably in your sketchbook or on any paper, draw an insect or close-up of an insect. If you have coloured pencils you can create your drawing in colour. Look at all the fantastic textures and patterns.
Draw the Beetle USA.pdfDraw the Missing Half of the Spider.pdfInspiration with Artist Andy Goldsworth
Spring has finally sprung, consider going outside to create new and exciting works of art. British artist, Andy Goldsworthy, is an excellent example of an artist who is not only inspired by nature but creates art using natural materials.
His land art sculptures are intentionally temporary and left in their environment, later to be destroyed in that environment. Look at the different examples of radial, symmetrical, and asymmetrical balance in his work above. Look at contrasting colors or values to lead the eye around the artwork.
Let's get started building your land art. You will act as collectors, sculptors, and photographers throughout the process. Gather materials from the environment to help demonstrate balance, contrast, line, shapes, etc. If you have siblings work together to build your land art sculpture.
Take a relaxing walk around outside and pick up potential materials to use. Pine cones, sticks, rocks, leaves, etc. would all be useful for this project - use a bucket to collect. Look at the sample below for inspiration.
Once the work is complete, photograph the creation in a way that represent their sculpture in a single image. Have a few sheets of paper, pencil and eraser. Alternatively you make a small sketchbooks to take advantage and make three drawing of your sculpture.
Spice Painting
Unfortunately, many students will not have access to paint at home. Consider using this as a time for exploration to introduce yourselves to new types of paint.
Landscape Collages
When we created " An Animal in its Habitat" students actually glued animal cutouts onto a painted landscape which usually included a horizon line. Remember the horizon line is where the sky meets the land/water. In this project students carefully rip/cut up magazines in the colors they want to use and glue/paste them together to form a simple yet colorful landscape with a definite horizon.
Contour line Drawing
Contour line art is a method of drawing where you draw only the outlines found in an object, without any shading. “Contour” actually means “outline” in French, which is where the name comes from. For example, if you wanted to do a contour line drawing of a pear, you’d simply draw the outline of the pear, add a stem, and include outlines of important interior shapes such as wrinkles. Because you’re focusing on just the shape of an object and not any minor details, contour line art is a great drawing method for beginning artists as well as those looking for some quick drawing exercises.
Abstract Coffee/Tea/Spice Art
Adapted from the Artsy Teacher - theartsyteacher.com
Instant Cofee/Coffee/Tea/Spice art is a great activity to do at home, especially if you don’t have any paint. This get inspired by looking at tree barks. To complete this activity you are going to need:
pencil and paper, paintbrush/QTips, Coffee/Tea/Spice
Read through all the stages of this process and then come back to the beginning and re-read the stages and complete them as you go along.
First, draw a very light spiral on your page. It needs to be light as you are going to erase this line. Next, go around the outside of the spiral with a wiggling line so you end up with something that looks like the image on the right below.
Next, look at all the shapes that you can see in the bark in the example picture.
In the spiral you have drawn, draw shapes inspired by the bark above. Save the above image to a device so you can easily view it when you are drawing. Look at how the shapes, inspired by bark, have been drawn inside the spiral below.
When you have filled your spiral with shapes it should look like the image below.
Go over your pencil lines with a black ballpoint pen. Sometimes ballpoint pen can look a little grey. Go over the lines more than once if necessary to ensure your lines are black.
When you have finished, rub out your pencil lines. You won’t be able to rub them out after you have applied the coffee. Your drawing should look like the spiral below.
Mix up some coffee that is roughly one part coffee to 2 part water. Carefully paint in three of your sections. Crush some of the coffee granules so they are really fine and sprinkle them on the wet coffee. The granules will bleed a little into the wet coffee creating an interesting texture.
Continue painting 3 or 4 sections at a time and then sprinkling with crushed coffee.
When the spiral is complete, it should look like the picture below.
Now you need to paint in the background. Protect the pages beneath with some newspaper or scrap paper. Don’t worry if the coffee pools a little bit as this adds to the interesting texture.
Finally, mix up some really, really strong, coffee. Add the dark coffee around the edge of the spiral, dabbing it on. Your finished artwork will look something like the image to the side.
Torn Paper Collages
Torn paper collage can be a lot of fun. Using knowledge you have already learned about collage construction try to create one of each example type. Create an animal or any thing you can think of collage (use a vector graphic as a springboard, or just draw outline first.)
