Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Our Legacy Projects



Each year, our sixth graders create a Legacy Project to leave behind for our school. The first year I introduced this, we worked pretty small, framed it without much pomp and circumstance, and hung it quietly in the hallway. It's beautiful, but I underestimated how powerful a project could be if over fifty students worked on it at one time. We used Kandinsky's painting as our inspiration and now this piece rotates between the hallway and the Art Room (depending on the empty spots in our Hallway Gallery.) 

Kandinsky's Squares with Concentric Circles - 63 small canvases

The second year, our school was undergoing a large renovation and I stumbled upon the very fitting quote "Without change, there would be no butterflies." Each sixth grader received a butterfly shaped canvas and selection of acrylics in our school's new interior color scheme. Next thing to figure out was where we were going to put all those butterflies! There is a long, empty hallway that every student goes through to get to our music room and gym and it was just aching for some color and pizzazz  I adore these butterflies and am really pleased that the heavy-duty double-sided foam tape has held them up without any problems.

Without change, there would be no butterflies.

Last year, we jumped on the Bottle Cap Mural bandwagon. It was the first time all the kids worked on one piece together. Logistically, it was a little strange having over twenty kids work in one small space, but I saw beautiful teamwork. They had gone to school together for so many years that they knew each other's strengths and knew how to work really well together.

Celebrating the four seasons of Wisconsin weather ( using +2,000 bottle caps)

This year, I wanted to make the final result more random and not so teacher-planned (that's hard to admit for this control freak!) Each student rolled a set of two interactive dice on the SMARTBoard; one to choose a shape (circle, square, heart, sun, star or zigzag) and the other to choose a color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple). The combinations and options seemed endless and so were their imaginations! Each student then painted a 5" square with watercolor paints. They also applied what they knew about composition, emphasis, value and stippling (which they had used within previous projects.) The finished composition of all sixty squares is just stunning! And considering how "random" it was, it sure looks balanced and organized! Now, it will hang in our school's health room for all to enjoy! 

To see each piece up close, check out our Artsonia Gallery.

I've got some more ideas in my head for the next few years - the computer lab is a little lackluster and the hallway into the gym needs some fun, active colors! Hmmmmm……

~Amy

13 comments:

  1. Seeing these beautiful projects makes my day more colorful...and inspiring!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a fantastic idea! I especially love the most recent one- each square so unique and creative!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the quote .. . . Without change there would be no butterflies. Perfect for 6th graders. Thinking about metal butterfly templates and using Vintaj Patina (that I've heard people rave about). Thank you so much for sharing and inspiring us all!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for all the positive comments! I can't wait to share them with my students!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really like the kandinsky, it is just like the real thing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Where did you get the frame for the roygbiv project?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I found a really great frame shop locally who worked within our budget and gave us a quality frame. If you're near me, I'd recocomend Artistic HangUps in Franklin with an enthusiastic Two Thumbs Up!!

      Delete
  7. I love, love, love the legacy project above where the kids rolled the virtual dice to select a color and design choice. Did you mount the final squares on the large paper or board or did your framer do that? Was it difficult to find a framer who would frame such a large piece?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The amazing frame shop we found actually cut each hole individually in one large mat. She said mounting them onto the mat board would have been WAY to expensive and time-consuming.
      If I was going to do this kind of project again, I would check with the framer FIRST to see what the maximum size of the frame/mat could be and then do the math backwards to see what size art would fit. I was living on the edge a little by doing it the way I did! It all worked out in the end though! :-)

      Delete
  8. Great artwork - I love it! Especially the 5" squares in watercolor - so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You are really an amazing teacher! Those kids are so lucky to have someone so passionate in their corner!

    ReplyDelete
  10. These are beautiful! Can you tell me the directions or "lesson plan" you used to translate to the students how to construct the Bottle Cap Mural project and the Kandinsky piece? I am a new Art teacher at a Middle school and I would like to introduce these fabulous projects to my 8th graders!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks and welcome to the coolest job on the planet!!
    For the Bottle Cap Mural, the kids started out by brainstorming possible image ideas. Once they decided on one, I drew out their final image on plywood. Day 2 was for painting "coloring book style" just in case the bottle caps left some gaps. When that was done, I showed them how to worked the caulk gun contraption with the clear, paintable adhesive. (That was funny!) and then it was pick a cap and glue it down, pick another one and glue it down. Some kids wanted to glue, others wanted to sort caps by color and size, and others were "quality control" and stood on the table looking down at the image to make sure everything was working. The last part was buying self-tapping screw (about 1500 of them) and having a very generous parent volunteer come in to screw all the caps down for us! He brought his own drill and it took him about 8 hours!!! He's an angel!! What I loved about this project was how the kids all used their own strengths and made a beautiful piece together! And if you search "bottle cap mural" on Pinterest, I'm sure there are more specific directions out there, but hopefully gives you a start.
    And for the Kandinsky piece, I ordered the small canvases (2" maybe) from one of the art supply catalogs (probably United because I adore them!). Then, after counting how many students we had and setting the canvases into a rectangle, went to Office Max with my image and asked them to enlarge it to the corresponding size of the canvases. I then measured, numbered, and cut up the color copy so each student had a piece of the puzzle. They were instructed to match the composition and colors as accurately as possible. They worked beautifully as a team and quickly figured out they should share paint colors and check lines/shapes with other students who had bordering canvases.
    When it was all done, I hot glued the pieces to a piece of tag board so they didn't shift, and then brought it to a local frame shop.
    The Legacy projects are a great tradition that kids look forward to, an opportunity to showcase your art program to the entire school,and encourages teamwork within your Art Room. Give it a try - you'll love it!

    ReplyDelete