Beading with Soulshine Studio

First Friday Art Club for November honored Native American Heritage Month.  I invited Ann Recotta, owner of Soulshine Studio on Market Street in Corning to lead our program with a beading project.  The sample above depicts a Thunderbird.  Ann simplified this pattern for the group and taught a new beading technique we have never tried, bead embroidery.

Foreign information--at first

Each student received a felt square with brown lines indicating the Thunderbird's wings and head.  They also got a graph with the pattern, but no one understood that at first.

Beginning the project

Giving needles and thread to these students proved to be a big deal for most, who have never sewn anything before.  There were so many facets of learning in this short program.

But having a great instructor, a clear pattern guide, and a sample gave everyone a lot more confidence.

Persistence is key

With some guidance from Ann and me, as well as persistence from the students to undo mistakes and correct their errors, projects progressed and the pattern became clear.  Some of the students worked too fast for us to go around in time with more supplies!

"These buggers keep running away from me."

Like any project, you must have interest in the process.  The difficulty is persistence and confidence to keep trying, despite mistakes and mishaps.  Threads kept fraying at the ends, but that's what happens with thread.  Beads kept running away, but that's what happens with little round objects.  Almost everyone looped their thread around the felt, creating a knotty mess, but that's what happens with beginners.

Slowly, success occurs....

By the second half of the program, everyone had several rows of beads sewn down and got very excited.  There was a buzz in the room and flurry to finish these projects before parents picked everyone up to go home.  This project ended an hour later than scheduled, but we are pleased with the results!

"This is better than my sample!!" said Ann, master beader

Once given the tools, time, and patience, each student achieved their goal and had a sweet Thunderbird embroidered tag to finalize at home with a clip to use as a zipper pull, back pack tag or decoration of some sort.  I say this was a successful endeavor.

Projects and the sample, can you tell the difference?

This concludes 2015 First Friday Art Club events.  Next month, First Friday Art Club and Teen Cooking Club combine for Make & Bake Gifts.  This program allows students to create delicious and fun gifts for their friends and family without having to spend any money.  Check in to Teen Tones for coverage of that event in mid-December.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Creating!

~erica

Tin Soda Can Boxes

We took an introductory leap into tin-work by transforming soda cans into boxes and pouches in First Friday Art Club for October.  I prepared each can by slicing off the top and bottom of each can with a utility knife, then cutting up the side with scissors to reveal a sheet of tin. This process is a little demanding when prepping over 25 cans for this class. I supplied ballpoint pens, rulers, books for design inspiration and a quick demonstration.  

Mark making is easy to do with ballpoint pens.

I provided templates to fold tin sheets into pouches and boxes.

Kids made their tin unique with their own designs.

This project was inspired by this tutorial by Atomic Shrimp.  I simplified this process in consideration of time for the class, but would love to try the original version.  

That little trinket box is so enticing. 

Rulers, pens, tutorials and a little creativity aided this project.

There were struggles in precision with this project, but we all learned how to take trash and recycle it into something of beauty.  Many students were excited to take extra cans to make more boxes at home.  I know several parents were involved, too!

Pouches make cute gift presentations.

There were learning curves to folding the tin, which gives me the idea to try paper origami in the future.  Mastering folding techniques could have made this project a bit more successful.  

This little pouch has seem some troubles, but looks very sweet.

Even with learning curves, the students made great art!  Their designs on the tin were fabulous.  Their ability to work together was fantastic.  

Visit again next month for the results of beading with Soulshine Studio!  We will be making these cool necklaces for Native American Heritage month.

photo courtesy of Soulshine Studio, Corning, NY

 

Tie Dye

Since this First Friday Art Club seemed to mark the end of summer vacation for my students, I planned a fun Tie-Dye program outdoors so we could design fun fashions for the new school year.

I selected several books to inspire students to a particular pattern.  These books included instructions on folding or wrapping fabric in ways to achieve specific results.  I highly recommend checking our catalog for books which inspire you>> of course, you need to live in our region to borrow books from our library system.

Dye!  Quickly!!!

Searching for patterns seemed too much effort for my students.  Luckily Tulip Products offer Tie-Dye kits with excellent, concise instructions and simple to follow steps on producing your own projects.

I instructed the students to wrap, fold and bind their fabrics with rubber bands before we went outside to made a glorious mess.  Once we covered the tables with plastic sheeting, I covered some basic rules and words of caution>>> THIS DYE IS PERMANENT.  IT WILL STAIN EVERYTHING IT TOUCHES, EVEN YOUR FINGERS THROUGH THESE GLOVES!

Once that bit of "housekeeping" was final, I let the kids loose with the dyes and aided when needed.  We were even lucky enough to have a photographer from our local newspaper, The Leader, stop over to grab some shots for the Saturday paper. >>> FYI, our club made the paper!>>> stop in our library to check the archive of The Leader from Saturday, September 5, 2015.  My First Friday Art Tie-Dying kids are famous!!!

I would share the article, but there are copyright laws to respect.  Just come down and visit us.  You will be glad you did!  

"Uh-oh!  I just dyed my jeans!"

This group worked quickly.  The dye is "active" for only 15 minutes to get the brightest colors possible.  While I helped set up a student to work on a different dye method, "ombre," our guest photographer did his job.

"Ombre" technique

This little lady got her image in our newspaper, but also got A LOT of that purple dye on her shirt...perhaps it will be another tie-dyed creation.

The only hard part of tie-dying is waiting for the dye to set, usually best to rinse the fabric 24 hours after processing.  Luckily I have wonderful students who love to share their results with me.

The Results!

Next month we will make trinket boxes out of soda cans.  Check back next month to see some precious items made from recycled products.

Happy Friday!

Discover and Draw in the Contemporary Art & Design Galleries of Corning Museum of Glass

First Friday Art Club visited the new Contemporary Art & Design Galleries of Corning Museum of Glass in June.  We watched a Hot Glass show.

Heather Spiewak and G. Brian Juk on deck

The group entered a raffle to take home some gorgeous glass.

We did not win the raffle :-(

We then traveled to the newest wing of the Corning Museum of Glass, the Contemporary Art & Design Galleries.  These beautiful galleries are housed on the footprint of the old Steuben Glass factory.  Steuben Glass is once again owned by Corning, but the production of the glass occurs off campus.

Meet, then disperse to draw!

We gave the students drawing supplies, then sent them into the galleries to draw what interested them.  Many of the kids had never been to the new galleries, so this was a treat.

Constellation, Kiki Smith

My favorite piece in these galleries, at least at the moment, is Kiki Smith's "Constellation."  It is set in a room solo from the other works, giving it a grand presence when viewed in the gallery.  The set up of this piece was quite intensive.  I love this time lapse video showing the process.  

The students were quite content to sit and draw their favorite pieces throughout the galleries. 

The hard part of this program was pulling the kids away from the galleries to go home.  I call that a major success!  Next time we visit, I want to display the drawings within the library.

This blog will be on hiatus for summer chaos.  Check back in September for our Tie Dye results, just in time for back to school season.

Happy Creating my friends!

-erica

Visual Thinking Strategies

VTS or Visual Thinking Strategies is a "problem solving process" that most art students develop in college.  It helps people work in groups and respect each other's ideas and perspectives.  This technique is valuable to all age groups in many subjects.  VTS works well within the Common Core standards and I thought it would be fun to try out in

First Friday Art Club.  

Mieke Fay from Corning Museum of Glass is a VTS enthusiast, 

so I invited her to lead the group in this activity.

We started with this image.  Can you tell me, "What's going on in this picture?"

The group was smaller than usual.  Once kids see the words "thinking" and "strategies," their eyes glaze over and they look for ways to escape.  Only the most art focused joined the group, but it was an educational experience nonetheless.

It was slow going at first.

The ladies were fairly silent at first, but I had a sense there was a very valid reason for that.

Black and white does not appeal to this age group.  I clearly remember a disconnect with black and white imagery.  Give me color photography or paintings and I could decipher the image for hours as a teen.  This was the same circumstance for this group of teens.

Color imagery and a little patience makes the difference.

Once we shifted to a color painting, we had a slightly larger group of participants and much more enthusiasm.  I did recognize their urge to create their own artwork, but these ladies proved respect and patience within in their peer group, which is a VTS skill.

A lesson in this process is to give the kids hands-on  projects.  They spend enough time sitting and thinking in school that all their hearts desire is freedom for creativity.  Once we handed collage supplies to create their own "Self-Portrait" collage, the room was a-buzz with activity and excitement.  When I attempt VTS again, it will be in a critique setting after work has been created by the students.  That way, the skills are being developed, but the teen's need to create is also being nurtured.  

Please enjoy the self-expression collages made in a rush by these creative young ladies.

Crayon Encaustic

Encaustic is a wax based paint, applied while hot.  Our never ending crayon supply donated from various families needed to go, so I thought Crayon Encaustic would be a neat adventure.  This is the blog entry that goes from "Hmm, that's interesting" to "Oh My Goodness, this is an atrocity!"

With an overflowing crayon collection, this Crayon Encaustic for Kids tutorial surfaced in my Google searches.  Candle burning is NOT ALLOWED in my library, so I considered another method.  Lo-temp hot glue guns were suggested in other tutorials, so I decided to venture down that path, hoping along the way that no child get marred in the process.

Things started like this

The very small class of 4 girls helped me set up the space with drop cloths, extension cords and color stations.  We labeled each glue gun a different color to keep the color true through the gun.  We did not want muddy colored paintings.  It was quickly realized that imagery was not very reachable, the crayon just dripped from the gun.  It was further realized that the guns were terrible!  They leaked crayon from the seams and even shot hot wax crayon out unexpectedly.  I am lucky that mature students were present for this class.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS PROCESS TO ANYONE!! (<if you've had luck with this process, please leave a comment--I'd love to hear your experience.)

Things were really just a series of colorful drips of wax.

Imagery might be achieved if we used a different method.  A few years ago, we used hair dryers and heat guns with more direct results, but not better imagery.  Perhaps we need a hot plate and lots of brushes like the pros.  Since I was using up old materials, I took the least expensive route.  Canvas panel boards (8x10") were sourced from Amazon.  Lo-Temp glue guns were sourced from Walmart.  This program cost about $60 with enough supplies to serve 24+ students.  Perhaps on another day (our class was on Good Friday) more students would have been present.  Perhaps more students would have experienced the frustration we did with this terrible art process.

Next month, join us for a lesson on Visual Thinking Strategies with Mieke Fay from Corning Museum of Glass.  Until then , please enjoy my Crayon Encaustic painting.

My own "Series of Dots"

Still Life Drawing (Part 2)

Setting up a still life for drawing is pretty fun.  I went around the library and collected so many various items from unusual locations to create an interesting scene.

There were a few story book characters, lots of textures, and plenty of objects to focus upon and draw for the second part of our Still Life Drawing session.  I provided view finders to aid students in finding their preferred scene, setting up their composition and keeping track of item placement.  The results of their focus was remarkable.

Despite any personal fears of class excitement, these students excelled in focus and drawing dedication.  Simply seeing and drawing what they saw was plenty of excitement for them.  Several were enthusiastic to take their drawings into the digital realm on March 20 with the Teen Tech Friday program.

The idea of meshing First Friday Art Club and Teen Tech Friday is to introduce the artistic method to our students.  We also want to introduce career possibilities.  In our fast paced world, considering career options is important.  Investigating creative avenues can also provide more critical thinkers who are able to face a problem and think "outside the box" to discover solutions.  Although art and technology are the focus of these programs, our students are likely future scientists, engineers or politicians who are building their keys to success through art.  Art matters.

Visit again in April to see our Crayon Encaustic creations.

Still Life Drawing (Part 1)

One of the fundamental skills of fine art is drawing.  Getting the eye and hand to work together as a team is a challenge.  Your brain will fight your hand to draw what it knows is there, while your hand struggles to draw what it THINKS is there.  This skill can be scary.  I programmed two Still Life Drawing sessions this year to begin training my young artists to force their minds and bodies to coordinate with each other.

This Still Life Drawing program is a three part session.  Two sessions of drawing, then one session in Teen Tech Friday on March 20, in which the drawings created can be digitally altered.  These programs provide young students with a view of the real art process, which prepares them for real world art experiences.

Everyone had a supply of drawing pencils of varying density.  We took each pencil and created a VALUE SCALE.  I discussed the difference of paper quality.  Copy paper is smooth and great for quick sketches, but final drawings should be on high quality paper that has a tooth.  This is the comical sketch I discovered as I oversaw the class progress.

"I am a tooth of my paper."<<some kids always kid!

With multiple objects of varying textures and purposes, I created 5 still lives.  Each student had a small still life set before them at their cluster of tables.  My main goal of the afternoon was to connect the eye and hand to work in unison.  Contour drawings and LOTS OF SKETCHES were the result of this first program.

Everyone had their own approach to the process, but they all settled into taking one object from their still lives and drawing one object at a time.  The result was fascinating!  It is always impressive when students go from chatting away to focus and quiet.  That is when the real work is created.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

By the end of the first session, each student had over 10 sketches, some great enough to further embellish.  I have a different plan for the second part of this drawing class, but the first sketches are so great, they can be digitally altered in Teen Tech Friday on March 20.  

Check back soon for Still Life Drawing (Part 2).