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After-School Art Exhibit
The theme for our art exhibit this year was the incredible world of paper. We chose paper because it is a common material that people work with every day worldwide. Paper is a very simple material, and yet what can be done with it is very complex. The processes we chose to work with, which are described briefly below, adapted well to the wide range of ages in our program, kept all students engaged, and represented the breadth of ways that paper is used in many different cultures. All After School students worked on our mural, and all chose additional work they wanted to display from the other pieces they had created. In addition, they chose the background color they felt best complemented their artwork. Mural Project Before we began working on our mural, we watched the video Eric Carle:Picture Writer. The video depicts the well-known children’s book author and illustrator explaining and showing the process he uses to make his collage illustrations. Our mural was assembled in a number of stages. Small groups of students painted simple backgrounds, one of the day-time and one of the night-time, while other students painted large sheets of paper with a wide range of colors. Students used plastic forks, sponges, rollers, toothbrushes, spatulas, and large and small paint brushes, as well as splatter painting techniques, to create interesting textures and mixtures of color. Once these sheets were dried, students used the colorful paper to create creatures, birds, flowers, trees, and many other objects to collage onto our mural. Lastly, we added origami to give our mural a three dimensional look. Maskmaking A number of students in the grades 4 and 5 group created paper masks, drawing from a variety of paper sculpting techniques. The only requirement was that the masks be made entirely out of paper. Each student chose their own subject matter, and subjects ranged from "The Stinky Cheese Man" and unicorns to Cyclops and wild animals. Techniques explored included paper curling, scoring, fringing, folding, poking and scratching. Texture was created by using hole punches, X-acto knives, clay needle tools, and scissors.
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Monoprints Students in pre-kindergarten through grade 3 learned monoprinting, an unusual printmaking process because only one print can be made from the original painting that is the student's starting point. Students painted on cookie trays with primary-colored tempera paints and liquid laundry starch, swirling the colors and experimenting with mixing their own colors. When they were happy with the paintings that they had made, they laid a piece of paper onto the paint and rubbed gently to transfer the paint onto the paper. Next, they slowly lifted the paper to reveal their print. Styrofoam Prints Students in kindergarten through grade 5 carved images out of pieces of styrofoam using a dull pencil. They rolled these pieces with printing ink, experimenting with different colors rolled on in many combinations. Next the students laid paper over their inked styrofoam forms, and rubbed gently until the image completely transferred to the paper. Origami Many students in After School had previous experiences with and knowledge of paper folding, and in many cases, taught teachers as well as each other what they knew. Papermaking After School students continued their exploration of paper by making their own. They used white and colored recycled paper, colored construction paper, newsprint, laundry lint, dried leaves, and glitter. Students began the papermaking process by shredding paper into small pieces. The paper scraps, lint, leaves, etc, were blended in a blender with water and then poured into a bin. The students strained the “pulp” through screens, and then pressed the “pulp” flat and strained out the excess water. The final step involved laying out the new sheet of paper to dry flat on a sheet.
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