Blast from the Past: Art projects from Stephanie's Childhood (circa 1980-1996)

Dug out the portfolio box of art projects, from my childhood, that had been hiding in my grandparents' basement. What a fun trip down memory lane. Here are some of my favorites that I will resurrect soon in the art room. Maybe you'll try one with your little one or class too!

Foamcore & Texture Relief Sculpture- High School Project
I created this relief sculpture my junior year of high school.  It was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. The photograph below shows the layers of foamcore. I remember I perfected my exacto knife skills with this project. Rice in the sun and cereal in the fence and field create the texture. Painting was the fun part; the construction and texture was a lot of work. Luckily the mice didn't eat all of my project in the art room~ they had quite a feast on the projects.

 

Relief Sculpture and Print- grade 5

What a rich, multi-media project this is. In the end you have a relief sculpture (covered with foil & paint) and many crayon prints from the sculpture. I believe the original (now covered with tinfoil and black paint that was steel wooled off in some parts) was created with thin cardboard. Before covering with tinfoil, prints were made by doing crayon rubbings over the sculpture. Make sure to use the flat side or "belly" of the crayon. For an authentic artist's touch, sign the prints, name the series and mark prints as 1/4 or 2/4 depending on the order it was made (numerator in fraction) and the total amount of prints (denominator in fraction). This is a multi week project that teaches kids about shapes, texture, cutting, gluing, printmaking, unusual paint techniques and working with a theme.

 

 

Color wheel Pumpkin- grade unknown

A smart color wheel project that can be adapted to any theme or season. The cut out pumpkin spins on a brad and the color wheel is behind it. The open mouth reveals the colors below. My teacher had me use brown and black in the color wheel. Since I teach the traditional color wheel heavily in grades 2-5, I would use the 6 colored color wheel (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). I'm looking forward to trying the project this school year.

Mexican Folk Art- grade 4

2 separate projects (1 from camp, 1 from school) inspired by Mexican Bark paintings.  A great use of florescent paint on brown kraft paper or recycled paper bags. I guess I hadn't learned about perspective yet.

Negative Shapes in Pastel- grade unknown

A simple yet striking way to work with pastel. Create a positive shape template out of thin cardboard/cardstock. Make marks with pastels and brush outward with kleenex. Voila!

Name bug- grade unknown

The ever popular "name bug" project. I am impressed my teacher had us cut out our name, using cursive. This was strictly a collage project followed by information on the notecard. Behold, the Stephaniebuggle.

Pin Jewelry- grade unkown

I can't identify the clay used in this jewelry piece, but it feels a bit soft and like it was an air dry clay. There are safety pins glued to the back and I recall enjoying the splatter paint process (with the help of old toothbrushes). What mom doesn't love jewelry made with love in art class?