My Studio in Art students spent three days drawing lions in anticipation of the annual Lions Club peace poster contest. They will be incorporating lions in their posters, which they will begin working on next week.
These lions are pencil only on 8″ x 8″ white tagboard. Students are 8th graders at Chittenango Middle School, Chittenango, New York.
Of all the art exhibits I have ever viewed, this one is the one I think my students would like the most. It is so easy to understand the complex clarity of this man as he visualizes it all on the page.
Frank Buffalo Hyde was born in 1974. His artwork reflects a Native American heritage with the modern twist of American popular culture imagery to include the ever-evolving role of modern technology as it relates to his 1980s childhood.
Primary colors, bold brushstrokes juxtaposed with more nuanced ones, figures emerging from the canvases as if they’ve been removed from a photo album of memories and planted here – all offering a sense of pride and joy.
I don’t see social (in)justice, like in the work of Jaune “Quick-to-See” Smith. Her retrospective exhibition is currently on view at the Whitney in New York City. For an art lesson, I used her paintings as reference to create mixed-media paintings using collage to link images of horses with personal message text.
Instead, Frank Buffalo Hyde’s work is autobiographical. The paintings are personal and yet, we can identify with them. I admire him for this – that he can tell this intimate story through a visual language that me and eighth graders can understand. I mean, I think we can. There is always that bit of mystery in everyone.
I want to be like Frank.
Native Americana is currently on view in galleries A and B at The Everson Museum of Art. You have plenty of time to see it. The show is up until September 10th, 2023.
401 Harrison Street
Syracuse, NY 13202
(315) 474 6064
Museum Hours
Monday: Closed
Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Thursday: 11:00am – 8:00pm
Friday: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am – 5:00pm
Sunday: 10:00am – 5:00pm
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MCIvoted
Please use the above link to vote for your favorite potential sticker. Students from schools in Madison County were encouraged to enter this sticker contest. There were over eighty entries and I want to say that at least half of them came from my students because I gave it as an assignment in eight of my classes.
The assignment was to create a patriotic image with “I VOTED” as text. The winner’s artwork will be made into a sticker and handed out to Madison County voters in the upcoming November elections.
They’ve narrowed it down to seven finalists and those will be judged by the public via the above survey monkey link.
Two of the finalists are my students and they are two of the best fourteen-year-olds I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. One created the eagle design and the other the one with the two flags that looks like confetti or fireworks.
Please vote. Notice I didn’t say vote for one of mine – you have free will, after all. I don’t think the students receive any monetary prize – only the pride of recognition, I guess. And maybe a roll of stickers? I don’t know. Maybe one of them will grow up to be the POTUS.
Voting ends on July 21, 2023. The winner will be announced on August 1, 2023.
The bunny sculptures are finally finished. My 8th grade Studio in Art students (Chittenango Middle School, Chittenango, NY) created these papier-mache sculptures just in time for Orthodox Easter. They are currently on display in the school library.
We recycled Ithaca hummus containers for the baskets and Starbucks iced coffee bottles for the armature. In addition, we used paper towels, aluminum foil and masking tape.
The papier-mache is paper towel bits adhered with Mod Podge. Then we added acrylic paint.
Since it is the year of the rabbit in the Chinese zodiac, I thought it a good time to try this first-time lesson. I am pleased with the results. They are really cute!
My Art-8 students viewed the paintings of Canadian artist Daniel Bergeron, specifically, his installation in Regent Park in Toronto.
Then they painted the teachers and staff at our school! The steps were as follows:
This is my sample (above). We used acrylic paint.
Here are the results. They are on display in the school library. I’ve got one more class finishing up tomorrow for a total of fifty-five paintings. So fun! <3
Vince’s Gourmet Imports is an Italian grocery store on Route 11 in North Syracuse, New York. I love the depth and breadth of the merchandise. What works here is rhythm – the repetition of shapes and color.
These are acrylic paintings on 16″ x 20″ canvas panels created by students in my 8th grade accelerated Studio in Art classes. (Chittenango Middle School, Chittenango, New York) The trick is to start with white paint, add Raw Sienna (a yellow ochre color) then add the color of your choice. One color then permeates throughout the canvas, which is pleasing to the eye and causes non-artists to say something like, “I don’t know why I like this, but I do.”
We looked at the work of Janet Fish, specifically the techniques used to create the illusion of reflective surfaces. I am so pleased with the results.
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 –
Everyone who sees them in the boxes thinks they are real. “Oh, can I have one?” LOL – so great! <3
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
Some of my Art-8 students created clay fish using slab and hand building.
First day: use a rolling pin to make clay flat. Fill with crumpled paper towels and fold it like a burrito leaving one side open.
Second day: add extra clay to create the head and tail.
Third day: add fins, gills and eyes.
Fourth day: finish the fish. Add any other details and make clay smooth using hands and/or clay tools.
Next let all projects dry for two weeks before bisque firing.
We spent four days glazing. A dozen different glazes were available. Students were asked to use at least six – three coats of each.
