Our Collaborative Art Pieces
If you were expecting handprint turkeys, I hope you are pleasantly surprised! We approached these art projects as a collaboration between the children and the teachers. Each project attempts to fuse the joyful creative experiences of the child artist, with the form and finishing touches of the adult artist. Each piece is meant to symbolize the experiences and creativity of the children, framed within a more complex form.
Check out the teaser photos and descriptions of the creation process below!
Infants
With the plentiful donations of cardboard egg cartons, we sought to create an item with the infant class that was representative of the first year of life, while also engaging them in the process. The egg carton mobile (or chandelier, as we like to call it) achieved both. The older infants were welcomed into the atelier to get messy and help paint the individual carton pieces. Already exposed to writing and painting tools in the classroom, the children’s skills and use of the large paintbrushes was amazing! In between paint tasting, they wielded the paintbrushes in one hand and a carton piece in another, pressing the two together to paint. For the younger infants, sensory bottles were filled with different color paints and pieces of egg carton, allowing them to manipulate the bottles and paint the pieces in the process. We rolled, shook, and flipped the bottles!
This piece has come to represent the sensory and explorative experiences that helped give it color, the fine motor and writing tool skills developed in the process, and the wonder with which children look up at the world.
Ones
As the interest and skill in drawing and painting has been booming amongst the ones, it seemed natural to incorporate this into the project. The children worked on beautiful watercolor and crayon drawings to create a beautiful base for the project. When it came time to decide upon an image to sculpt out of their paintings, the namesake of the classroom stuffed animal seemed well suited.
Each brushstroke, each crayon mark represents the emergence of the creative expression and skills that will blossom into drawings, paintings, and words in the following years!
Twos & Threes
With a desire to incorporate natural materials into the project, the class creation sought to merge this with their drawing skills. Smalls groups were welcomed into the atelier to create block prints (or stamps as we called them). They started by etching foam pieces with the “silly” end of the paintbrush, then rolling ink (don’t worry, it was water soluble) onto their stamps, then pressing them against paper, and finally pulling them off to reveal their creations. These designs were then printed onto the wood slices and will be arranged around a hanging mirror.
Each printed tree slice is not only a tiny piece of artwork from each child, but also a representation of a process that they engaged in to create them. One step led to another, which lead another, which lead to their final project.
Preschool
A wide variety of steps and experiences led to this geometric, recycled, and natural art piece. Starting with a dismantled pallet which was sanded and cut into shapes, the children used indigo, turmeric, and beet dyes to stain the wood. The green pieces even came about by accident, as the children experimented mixing the yellow turmeric and blue indigo. Once the pieces had dried and been coated, the children revisited their colorful shapes to create mosaics within the frame. Once a final design was decided, small groups worked with screwdrivers to attach each piece. Lastly, we glued the heads of upholstery nails to cover the screws and add beauty.
This multi-step art piece utilizes recycled materials and natural stains to represent the preschool’s creative group designs and mastery of tools!
Pre-K
Ephemeral art has been an interest of the Pre-K for a long time, so it seemed natural to create an ephemeral piece. Using crayons and an embossing heater, the children carefully melted wax onto a canvas. Paper flowers, created using beautiful designs from the classroom’s drip paintings, were then attached to create a field scene.
This piece incorporates techniques and patterns from multiple art projects, working them into one fantastic scene.
If you haven’t purchased tickets yet,
Please do so!
It’s a great chance to have fun night out,
win some awesome raffles,
mingle with fellow parents and teachers,
have a drink,
support the schools mission to reach ALL children and families,
and maybe even take home an amazing piece of art your child was a part of!!