THE ONES WHO FLEW THE COOP

PAPER MACHE' BIRDS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

aluminum foil, cardboard, newspaper strips, starch, paper collage, wire

These wonderful birds were made last school year by my 3-D beginners,

and man oh man,

 did they have fun building up the foundations with the aluminum foil.

That was the first step.

Then 2 layers of paper mache' strips were put over the foil,

creating a very strong surface.

Wings were added with cardboard,

and legs with wire and nails.

All the students brought in a color resource to work from,

but they were allowed to distort or exaggerate to give the birds more whimsey if desired.

But I have to say that not many of the students took advantage of that option.

Let me show them to you.

We start with 8th grader Annie Nguyen's adorable piece.  

We all loved it's quizzical expressive quality as well as how she mounted it.

It was Annie who thought to use nails for it's legs,

and the pinecones for embellishment that she found outside the art room door.

I was most impressed with her paper collage work to achieve the color and texture she wanted. 

 Junior Dustine Ansibly really nailed this incredibly realistic toucan
and it feels as if it is giving us the business.

I also liked the way it looks so naturally perched on the piece of wood she found.

Senior Hana Kim was able to capture the sweet gentleness of her bird. 

Her paper collage was applied so very delicately with just the right amount of color

on her white body..

And senior Inna Sikar was able to pull off a highly realistic form

and then used primer and paint to finish it off so expertly.

I really enjoyed how senior Ricky Gallardo finished off his sculpture 

with select pieces of Asian newspaper over his primer for a very graphic style.

And junior Sahana Ramesh came into this class with years of painting experience

outside of school,

and impressed us all with her skills in both the building of the form and the finishing.

And don't you just love this little guy by 8th grader Shivani  Kedila?

Especially the eyes and legs.

And he has so much personality.

I just want to adopt him.

I'm hoping that this year the kids will name their pieces.

This beauty was made by 8th grader Sophia Oporto.

The form is outstanding as is the paper collage finish and the legs.

Way to go Sophia!

Here is another personal favorite by senior Sophia Yang.

I love how dimensional the body is, 

how she added the wings and the tuft on top of the head,

The paper collage is also remarkable.

But it was this last one by junior Angelica Luza that completely captured all our attention

when she unveiled it.

Hysterical,

we were all cracking up because it was so very realistic looking

and because of the way she posed it.

I believe she used textural paper towels for the paper collage

then she stained it brown.

And displaying it on the plate was a brilliant idea.

Can't wait to see what this years group will come up with!

IT'S FOR THE BIRDS

PAPER MACHE'

BEGINNING 3-D ART

newspaper, starch, & paint

Because of time constraints,

I changed up the beginners paper mache' assignment this year by limiting their subject matter.

Only birds.

I immediately pulled out my great bird magazine resources donated by Mary Pinedo,

a bird and garden expert,

and our beloved ex-resource specialist here at Whitney.

The kids grabbed them like candy, 

excited they didn't have to research for their own images.

The kids came up with so many fun and creative ways to mount their sweet birds

like senior Evelyn Aldana above.

Evelyn enjoyed the process so much that she made several birds.

But before I show more,

I wanted you to see them before primer and paint were added.

I had the students use cardboard & aluminum foil for their foundations 

before applying the paper mache'. 

Sophomore Shreya Sheth went all out with her Tucan.

I really like how she thought to use Polymer clay for the beak.

I feel so badly that I didn't write down and can't remember who made this sweet one.

But if I had to guess by the impeccable craftsmanship 

I'd have to say either junior Joann Chung or Liana Chie.

.

Let me know young ones if I guessed correctly.

Senior Sunny Kim did this amazing Woodpecker.

I was also really impressed that she built the log to go with it.

I love that junior Nicholas Aoki chose an owl.

He was the only one and it turned out great!

One of the class favorites here was created by junior Hazel Cruz.

She spend hours painting layer upon layer of paint to get a very realistic look.

And then her branch is so cool,

built with wire, safety pins, and yarns.

Another class favorite was done by junior William Kim.

We all loved his mount which made it really eye-catching.

And I want to guess this last cutie was done by junior Antoniette Jabat

or perhaps Amber Wu.

I really like the details painted on as well as the value achieved with the paint.

Help me out you guys with the names!

A Bug's Life

PAPER MACHE' INSECTS, FISH AND BIRDS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

paper mache', paper collage, acrylic paint & misc. embellishments

I haven't taught paper mache in a couple of years so I thought I's bring it back.  

We didn't have a lot of time left in the school year so I scaled down the assignment to miniature pieces.

So what you are seeing on your screen are probably about the actual size of the finished pieces.

I also asked the kids to simplify whenever they could, again to reduce the amount of days it would take to finish on time.

The results were adorable, I hope you like them.

This first one was made by senior Jasmine Lim and it had so much personality, right?

Next is senior Ema Shah.

Love how she's using two different paper collage patterns for wings and body.

This next one cracks me up.

It was done by junior Bianca Tolentino.

And just look at 8th grader Cassidy Chansirik go on her Father's Day gift to her dad.

the fish is paper mache' and the fisherman is made from Polymer clay.

Clever!

And speaking of 8th grade superstars, here's my other one, Annie Lin.

Her snail was so beautifully crafted.

Love her paper collage design on the shell.

Junior Katy Uchiyama found gorgeous peacock feathers to embellish her bird with.

This one was a class favorite. 

And this sweet little chick was done by senior Jinnie Choi.

Again, so much personality!.

And we end with this adorable puffer fish by senior Alyssa Wakamiya.

Too cute!!