Art at Hosmer: Mixed Media

Showing posts with label Mixed Media. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Family Traditions Mixed Media Collage, Inspired by Carmen Lomas Garza

This winter, 1st grade artists finished their mixed media collage artworks that tell the story of a family memory or tradition. This project took us a few weeks! We began by looking at two paintings by the Mexican American artist, Carmen Lomas Garza. Students were asked to look at the artwork carefully and then think about what is happening and what supports their thinking.

Carmen Lomas Garza, Barbacoa Para Cumpleaños (1993)

Students noticed that there is a girl hitting a piñata, a cake on a table, and many people of different ages gathered together, so it might be a birthday party, a backyard BBQ or a family reunion. A few students noticed the papel picado or cut paper flags hanging between the trees as decoration and made connections to their Mexican heritage or what they already knew about Mexican holidays, such as Day of the Dead. Our observations helped us to "read" the painting and understand the story visually, without words. We noticed that the artist paints the story, using a lot of details to help us understand what is happening. Carmen Lomas Garza is a Mexican American artist who was born in Texas. She paints about her experiences as a Mexican American and her paintings feature her family.

Students thought about a time they have spent with their family and family traditions they have experienced. They tried to remember who was there, where it took place, and what people were doing. Then they made their own sketches and drawings of this memory. For many students, it was a family tradition or annual event such as Christmas, Hanukkah, or Thanksgiving. For others, they remembered their birthday or a sibling's birthday. Some students drew about a family summer vacation to the beach or a long roadtrip, while others drew about playing in the park, weekend picnics, and building snowmen.

The following week, students used their sketches and created a painted background for their artwork. Removing the details, students painted paper with solid colors for their background, whether it was yellow sand, blue sky or white snow. We let the painted paper dry and the next class, students began adding the people and details in their foreground using a variety of different materials.

Students cut and tore shapes from colored paper, tissue paper, fabric, felt, and yarn and put them together to created a mixed media collage of their family memory. Students thought carefully about how the colors, patterns and textures of the materials would help tell their visual story. They tried to make the setting clear, whether it was indoors or outdoors, daytime or nighttime.

Students worked very hard on these mixed media collages, and wrote a sentence on the back about their work, describing the memory or tradition. We participated in our first gallery walk, which is when we walk around the room to observe everyone's artwork. During a gallery walk we make sure not to touch the artwork, just like at a museum. We also did our first turn and talk, where we picked a partner and shared our artwork with them. Students took turns talking about their work and asking questions, considering what their work was about, what they were proudest of in their work, and what was the most challenging part of creating it. Below are some examples of our work, with a description written by the student.

Kaleb, 1st Grade (Landay)
"Building a snowman with my brother."

Beatrix, 1st Grade (Landay)
"Celebrating Christmas with my younger sister."

Daniela, 1st Grade (Mandile)
"Sharing a Galette de Rois with my family."

Kaylie, 1st Grade (Mandile)
"Decorating the Christmas tree with my dad."

Nathan, 1st Grade (Mandile)
"Getting our Christmas tree."

Jacob S., 1st Grade (Mandile)
"Lighting the candle on the seventh night of Hannukah."

Ranvir, 1st Grade (Salvucci)
"Playing on the playground with my family."

Maya, 1st Grade (Salvucci)
"Celebrating Christmas with my grandparents."

Avantika, 1st Grade (Salvucci)
"My family at the beach."

Zoe, 1st Grade (Massa)
"At the beach with my brother."

Leo, 1st Grade (Massa)
"My family at the beach."

Amelia, 1st Grade (McIsaac)
"Decorating the Christmas tree with my family."

Mateo, 1st Grade (McIsaac)
"Decorating the Christmas tree with my family."

Cem, 1st Grade (McIsaac)
"At Launch with my sister."

Thursday, May 3, 2018

Self Portrait Assemblages

Back in March, Kindergarten artists created self portrait assemblages! We learned that a self portrait is when a you create an artwork, like a drawing or painting, of yourself. Only you can create your own self portrait. We also thought about what our bodies look like when we are doing our favorite physical activities. We shared ideas by having students act out different activities to see what their bodies look like when they are running, jumping, dancing, swimming, practicing ballet, doing karate, playing hockey and more.

Next, students used cut cardboard shapes and glued them together to create their bodies, arranging their arms and legs to show what their bodies look like when they are doing their favorite activities.

During the following class, we added clothing to our self portrait assemblages. There were many different materials to choose from at the materials table, including paper, fabric, metallic paper, felt, foam and buttons. Students chose different materials to add to their self portrait to give their clothing different colors, patterns and textures.

Many students thought about what kind of clothing they wear during their favorite activity, to help select materials. Some students wear a uniform or special outfit for their activity, such as karate or gymnastics.

During our last class, we discussed the different parts of our face and students added their facial features, as well as their hair. Students chose different colors of paper for their skin tone, since we all have different skin colors. Students could add their facial features using paper or draw them with pencil and Sharpie markers. Students added yarn for hair, choosing colors that were closest to their hair color.

After everyone was done, we shared our self portrait assemblages with the class. We noticed that there were such a wide variety of activities represented! We also worked on being respectful of each other's work. Here are some examples of our self portrait assemblages that were on display at the Watertown Art Show recently:

Andrew, Kindergarten (Martignetti)

Blake, Kindergarten (Beatty)

David, Kindergarten (Blackwood)

Eila, Kindergarten (Segreve)

Ethan, Kindergarten (Tan)

Joshua, Kindergarten (Martignetti)

Kaleb, Kindergarten (Tan)

Keegan, Kindergarten (Bolton)

Naadufie, Kindergarten (Beatty)

Nifemi, Kindergarten (Bolton)

Sorayah, Kindergarten (Blackwood)

Zoe, Kindergarten (Beatty)

Friday, February 9, 2018

Family Traditions Mixed Media Collage, Inspired by Carmen Lomas Garza

Recently 1st grade artists finished their mixed media collage artworks that tell the story of a family memory or tradition. This project took us a few weeks! We began by looking at two paintings by the Mexican American artist, Carmen Lomas Garza. Students were asked to look at the artwork carefully and then think about what is happening and what supports their thinking.

Carmen Lomas Garza, Barbacoa Para Cumpleaños (1993)

Students noticed that there is a girl hitting a piñata, a cake on a table, and many people of different ages gathered together, so it might be a birthday party, a backyard BBQ or a family reunion. Our observations helped us to "read" the painting and understand the story visually, without words. We noticed that the artist paints the story, using a lot of details to help us understand what is happening. Carmen Lomas Garza is a Mexican American artist who was born in Texas. She paints about her experiences as a Mexican American and her paintings feature her family. Students thought about a time they have spent with their family and family traditions they have experienced. They tried to remember who was there, where it took place, and what people were doing.

Then they made their own sketches and drawings of this memory. For many students, it was a family tradition or annual event such as Christmas, Hanukkah, or Thanksgiving. For others, they remembered their birthday or a sibling's birthday. Some students drew about a family summer vacation to the beach or a long roadtrip, while others drew about playing in the park, weekend picnics, and building snowmen.

We let the painted paper dry and the next class, students began adding the people and details in their foreground using a variety of different materials. Students cut and tore shapes from colored paper, tissue paper, fabric, felt, and yarn and put them together to created a mixed media collage of their family memory. Students thought carefully about how the colors, patterns and textures of the materials would help tell their visual story.

They tried to make the setting clear, whether it was indoors or outdoors, daytime or nighttime. Students worked very hard on these mixed media collages, and wrote a sentence on the back about their work, describing the memory or tradition. We participated in our first gallery walk, which is when we walk around the room to observe everyone's artwork. During a gallery walk we make sure not to touch the artwork, just like at a museum. We also did our first turn and talk, where we picked a partner and shared our artwork with them.

Students took turns talking about their work and asking questions, considering what their work was about, what they were proudest of in their work, and what was the most challenging part of creating it. At the end of class, we shared them with class on the rug so that everyone could take a look at the finished work, and we could learn more about each student's story. Below are some examples of our work, with a description written by the student.