THE OTHER ASSIGNMENT

INSPIRED BY...MIXED MEDIA WIRE SCULPTURE
INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART
wire w/ mixed media

We saw the post yesterday that featured the work of senior Helen Park.
I had talked about the other assignment she began while she waited for her clay pot to be fired.
Well this is it.

But first...
The magnificent piece below was done by Professional Mixed Media Artist Peggy Zask
 of Zask Gallery in San Pedro, Ca.
I posted about her and her work a while back here.
I've been dying to come up with an assignment that was inspired by this piece.
So once again I used Helen as a guinea pig because of her strong critical thinking skills.

So Ta Daah,

here is her adorable little critter.

Again we worked together on the minimum requirements,

fiber, wire, polymer, & embellishments,

but sadly she ran out of time to try to incorporate them all.

Her little guy is needle felted and suspended with wire.

She's also brought in a bit of fabric, beads & button.

We were both delighted with her result,

 but decided the assignment would need way more time

 to be able to produce anything near the likes of Peggy Zask's Horse.

So thank you Helen for allowing me to test out new ideas on you!

I hope you enjoyed creating both pieces.

You are greatly missed this year.

ANOTHER GUINEA PIG

CLAY & FIBER VASE

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

clay, sawdust kiln, twigs/spokes & plant fibers, wire

Great sport senior Helen Kim let me try out an idea for a new assignment on her

that I felt was appropriate for her 2nd year 3-D level.

On Pinterest I had found the remarkable clay /fiber pieces of Marc Jenesel and Karen Pierce 

at Willow Bend Studios and showed them to Helen.

She found them as spectacular as I did,

so putting our critical thinking skills together we can up with a rubric for the assignment,

and Helen proceeded to execute out our plan.

I started one too,

but of course I never finished it.

Typical.

Anyways, 

I was super pleased with what Helen came up with 

having been inspired by Marc & Karen.

Check it out!

Here are views from both sides above & below.

Helen began by handbuilding her clay base.

She had to pre-plan where her spokes would attach to the pot

and pierced several holes to lash them on at a later time.

Believe it or not,

this piece only measures about 3 1/2" to 4" high.

Just thought I'd stick that in so you can get the feel for how tiny it is.

Anyways,

as she was waiting for her clay pot to dry, be bisqued then sawdust fired,

 she began another assignment which I will post tomorrow.

When the pot came back to her she found a few twigs

and lashed then onto the pot with waxed linen.

I have a plethora of weavers in my storage room that Helen chose from to be her weft.

She selected some of my favorites,

the dried out date palm stalks where the fruit grows from.

But what I love that she also incorporated 

was the copper wire as a finishing touch around the lip and base. 

A fabulous piece Helen!

A TRAGEDY

ECO-DYED TAPESTRY WEAVING

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

cotton warp & weft, rusty hardware findings & handmade tapestry loom

Poor senior Helen Park,

she wove this super cool tapestry below,

secured her rusty findings,

loved the whole process,

and even eco-dyed it with all kinds of plant windfall.

Then somebody thought the bundle sitting outside my classroom door amongst the potted plants

(where we always put these bundles to dry up before we open them)

was trash and threw it away.

Or perhaps made off with it.

We didn't know and couldn't locate it anywhere.

Both Helen and I (maybe mostly me) were distraught,

we (I) tore thru all the potted plants,

looked thru the trash cans,

did everything we (I) could think of to find her sweet bundle,

and finally gave up.

It was gone.

But at least I was able to get a pix of it before she put her windfall on top

so you can see how cool it was on both the front an back side.

What are those silly expressions?

"That's how the cookie crumbles"

"Que sera, sera",

"What will be will be",

"It wasn't meant to be",

and so on and so on.

I just know I felt really badly and was so disappointed we didn't get to see the final dyed result,

while Helen on the other hand 

seemed to take it in stride.

Once again,

so sorry Helen.

OUT OF THE CHAOS COME BEAUTY

TISSUE PAPER PORTFOLIOS

BEGINNING 2-D ART

tissue paper, Modge Podge, cardboard

Making portfolios to 18" by 24" with 35 kids requires a lot of room,

even more than I have.

So a lot of the young ones end up on the floor.

The actual requirements to pull off these designs are extremely complex,

and involves all that the kids have learned about the Design Elements and Principles.

Too many to list,

but the results were well worth the effort.

Enjoy!

We are seeing the tail end of the project here

 where the kids really have to spread themselves out.

Here is senior Helen Park assembling & gluing  her paper collage pieces on top of her cardboard. 

And junior Inna Sikar is applying clear mailing tape over top her entire portfolio 

to protect her design from lifting.

The students store these in a cupboard on top of each other so they take a lot of abuse.

They also go home in the rain and the tape protects them as well from the elements.

An extra expense but well worth it.

Tah Dah!!

Some of the finished pieces.

We start with the uplifting colors and design of junior Mary Kim,

a natural born artist I'm finding out,

and destined for greatness.

Next up is this adorable and complex design by junior Tiffany Chen,

another future Art Major.

And love those rich colors together.

They make this piece POP!

Woo Hoo!!!!

And check out this gorgeous peacock design made by junior Vaishalee Chaudhary,

I'm in love with how it reverses itself!

Next we have the gorgeousness that is senior Melissa Ongko.

Fantastic use of color young one!

And it's super cool how the hair morphs into the stark trees.

Future Art Major and senior Lauren Kennedy outdid herself 

with this extremely complicated design above.

She is the only student who has ever created this difficult of a design

 with this many pieces to cut and re-glue together.

And of course the message is terrific.

Wow,

way to go Lauren!!

What a fun and playful design senior Deborah Harris has pulled together here,

with great use of a monochromatic color scheme.

And not to be outdone is senior Jocelyn Chou below with her elegant birds & cage.

Jocelyn's craftsmanship in the cutting & gluing was impeccable.

Bravo!

And one of my personal favorites was this next one by junior Julie Guan.

If you look closely you will see some recycled tye-dye papers 

she incorporated into the yellow/greens,

and lots of recycled 7th grade stamped papers in the purples.

It all comes together as great looking texture,

and is extremely pleasing to the eye. 

And we've got to see how senior Helen Parks' portfolio turned out.

It's fabulous Helen,

as is everything you give your attention to.

A really dynamic design with a lot of movement, rhythm & texture.

Now if I could only get you to wake up in the morning and get yourself to school on time.

Ha ha!!

See ya at 8:00 a.m. sharp sweet woman.

Now I better make sure I get there on time  LOL

We end with super star junior Sarah Oh 

and another of her wonderful pieces.

Remember her from last Friday and the post about Pinch Pots?

Her pot was the first one featured with the lizard climbing into the bowl.

A special congrats to Sarah.

She has already sold her bowl to fellow mixed media artist Grace Forrest.

Thank you Grace for supporting this fine young artist!

She was thrilled to hear that you were interested in buying her pot. .

xoxoxo

TRASH TO TREASUES

PLASTER SCULPTURE

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

plaster, empty milk carton, pigment if desired

Meet Helen Park,

one of my top art students this year.

She is bravely taking two classes with me in her senior year,

Beginning 2-D and Intermediate 3-D.

She is a joy to teach because she is a quick study;

she takes to everything like a duck to water,

just like I mentioned in the learning to knit a scarf sampler post a week or so ago.

Mixing plaster is like cooking to me,

I never measure anything.

I eyeball how much I need,

how it looks and what it feels like.

But with plaster I refrain from tasting it.

hee hee

The poor kids are flying by the set of their pants after my demo.

wondering how much they should use.

ha ha

So I have them do a tester first in a tiny milk carton.

And that's what Helen is sculpting here over the trash can,

cuz it's really messy.

Her prelim was a success,

just the right amount of plaster to water,

because like I told you,

she is an attentive audience.

And this beauty below is her final piece.

She wanted to capture a swimmer doing the backstroke.

What do you think?

Notice the slight change in the camera angle?

 It really makes it look like the figure is guiding thru the water.

Her wood mounting is wonderful as well.

I really get a sense of peace and solitude as I look at her sculpture.

Makes me actually want to get in the water and give it a try.

It's been awhile.

Just lovely Helen.

And your piece is being put on display tomorrow for the Accreditation team to see

 when they get here in a couple of days.

I'm so proud to be able to show it off!