Monthly Archives: January 2023

8th grade art, acrylic, Karen Tashkovski, sculpture

The Donuts

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A small class of 8th graders created these trompe l’oeil donuts. They each created a half dozen to be placed in a real DD box provided by the local Dunkin’ Donuts on Route 5 in Chittenango, NY.

Here’s how they did it –

  1. Armature consisted of aluminum foil and masking tape with paper towel pieces wrapped around each. The goal was to create life-sized donuts of the same size and thickness. Two classes.
  2. Papier mache was added in the form of paper towel bits adhered with Mod Podge. They used bamboo brushes. This step took several classes.
  3. Celluclay is a paper pulp that when mixed with water, makes a type of gooey glue/clay substance that sticks when dry. This was used for the frosting element. One or two classes.
  4. Students painted the Celluclay portion of the donuts with acrylic paint. They used different tints of colors plus browns to depict chocolate. Each donut a different color. Two classes.
  5. They added designs with paint. This included dashes and dots, stripes and/or splatter painting. One class.
  6. Finally, they painted Mod Podge in spots and sprinkled various glitters/sequins/glass beads to the donuts. One class.

Everyone who sees them in the boxes thinks they are real. “Oh, can I have one?” LOL – so great! <3

found money, Karen Tashkovski

Found Money 2023

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Found January 18, 2023 – Wegmans parking lot, East Syracuse, NY
Found January 21, 2023 – Target parking lot, Fayetteville, NY

These are my money finds so far in 2023. Forty-one cents.

For the past seven years, I texted the photographs to a friend and we called them pennies from heaven. I thought they meant the two of us had a strong connection that would last forever but now I understand that it is the personal connection that I have with my own spirituality that is the meaningful one.

So, thank you, universe, for giving me clarity and making me realize that the money finds are still incredibly special and that their meaning doesn’t lead to a particular result less one – I am abundant. <3

Found January 25, 2023 – Chittenango Middle School hallway, Chittenango, NY
Found January 28, 2023 – PetSmart, DeWitt, NY
8th grade art, art, art education, art teacher, found object, Karen Tashkovski, sculpture

The “Humanoids”

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My friend Joyce introduced me to Ithaca brand hummus. I also take various vitamins and eat cottage cheese on occasion. The recycling began to accumulate and I thought, if we add styrofoam balls, we could make humanoid sculptures.

I kept thinking about the sculptures from Sharif Bey’s retrospective at the Everson Museum. His work represented his heritage.

It is so fun to create something new. A derivative of a contemporary artist based on found object materials that reflects cohesive themes. My sample was an angel (not pictured). I added the Ithaca hummus container lids for wings. It, sort of, resembled a Golden Globe award, so I added that concept. It would be the Angel on Earth award.

Students assembled their armature, used paper towels and Mod Podge for papier mache then used at least three different materials for texture and design. They considered themes based on personal interests and/or were inspired by classroom materials.

I had patterned papers with animal motifs and packages of fabric papers, Origami paper, African designs and Navajo-inspired designs. I also had actual fabric donated by the Home Ec. teacher last year and wallpaper sample books that someone recently shared with me.

In addition, I have a backroom stocked with old Barbie dolls that we harvested for parts. I brought a few things in from my personal art supplies (antique flag toothpicks, an extra lion head cat costume, assorted buttons, twine, peacock feathers).

Students were graded on construction, use of materials, theme and quality of papier mache application. Can you guess what award each sculpture represents?

P.S. Artists are 8th graders who have art class every other day for one semester. Chittenango Middle School, Chittenango, NY 13037

hiking, Karen Tashkovski, painted rocks

Rocky Road

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The M to the K to the T. Does that mean anything to you?

They are the trails I hiked at Highland Forest today. There are twenty miles of trails at this spectacular park where you can also take a horse drawn carriage ride! Once it starts snowing again, there will be skiing and sledding too.

Highland Forest is located at 1254 Highland Park Road, Fabius, NY. They open tomorrow at 8:30 am in case you want to go and search for some bear rocks.