A Possible New Assignment for My 7th Graders

WIRE ORNAMENTS/GROUP QUILT

7TH GRADERS

Recently I found this new design idea in wire and I thought it must work for my 7th graders.  It involves all recycled materials which is always great.  these could be displayed as individual ornaments or for display, you could hook them together for a wire quilt.  Let me know what you think thru your comments.

I showed junior Laarnie Barcelon, my Intermediate 3-D student as well as my Art Technician, the idea and asked her to whip up a couple wire ornaments.  I also told her to make them completely different from each other, and she came up with these cuties.  I can totally see hooking 30 of them together in the front office to create a giant sculptural bas-relief quilt.

Wire Faces - Student Work

This is the first time you are seeing this assignment, can't seem to find the pix from 2 school years ago when I first tried this project.  Have to tell you the Beginning 3-D kids in both school years HATED IT, complained the whole time.  but I'm going to keep teaching it because the results are so wonderful as you will see. The requirements were to bring in a pic from home to work on top of.  The kids lay their wire on top of the edges of all the facial features and conform the wire to them.  Easy breezy right???  Nope, the kids really struggled to make these happen.  My view is that sometimes you need a good struggle to help you grow as person and as an artist.

The one above with the wonderful red lips was done by senior Mylan Jefferson.  

And the expressive one below by senior Leah Huang.

The pretty piece with the roses was made by senior May Luong,.

And the one below by sophomore Reis Misaka with the great curly hair.

Sophomore Laarnie Barcelon created this next one above with the cool matt ( they also had to mount their piece when done).

Below is the work of 8th grader Jenna De La Paz.

Here's another very emotive work by senior Jessica Barnett.  I really like ow she combined both the gold and silver wire.  They also had copper to choose from.

One of my favorites was done by very creative senior Alison Lee (above), of Albert Einstein.   Love how she mounted it. 

And below we have Walt Disney (who also looks like Lauwence Welk to me), made by senior Michelle Yoshimoto.

And lastly we have the work of senior Priyanka Shah, who really did an outstanding job manipulating her wire to look exactly like her resource.

Woo Hoo...New Assignment - Woven Nest

Every year I teach my Beginning 3-D students how to spin their own yarn as well as to weave with it.  And I usually have them weave a pouch, but this year I tried something different, we wove bird nests.  The requirements were to build a foundation for the nest out of wire, then use at least 4 different kinds of fibers to weave the nest with, one being their own hand spun yarn.  They also had to fill the nest with something that worked visually, then make something special to put inside their nest.  The medium was up to them.

These nests turned out so spectacular that instead of just showing off a couple, I've photoed at least half of the classes projects, so this is kind of a long post.  I hope you enjoy it.

This first one above was done by sophomore Lydia Kim.  I was so impressed by her choice of fibers and then figuring out and making a pattern to sew a felt bird.  Bravo Lydia!!

This next very feminine and lovely nest was built by senior Aparna Vanchewaran.  This was an end of the year project and I turned the kids loose to find whatever they could to weave with.  I have boxes with laces and ribbons that Aparna made use of, and then just look at her incredible butterfly she made for the inside.  Wow! 

In this one, junior Alice Zhang used chenille, jute, feathers and newspaper strips to get this very realistic looking nest, plus her white hand spun.  And she splintered a piece of wood and used our woodburning tool to etch "Home" for her inside.  So creative!

This next playful piece was done by junior Sheila San Agustin.  She recycled a notebook spiral binding, and papermache'd  this adorable little guy holding his fishing pole.

I asked senior Jaimee Chirico to make a prototype so the students would be able to see an example before they started.  This is her wonderful piece.

Her bird and nest's foundations were built from wire before they where woven.  And her eggs were made from paper mache' and then paint was speckled on.

Junior Emily Yang has made a gorgeous piece here with lots of wonderful fiber choices.  she also made paper mache' eggs. 

Junior Tiffany Lee got crazy creative and built this fabulous sculpture using all kinds of recycled materials.  I was so impressed when she turned this in.  She is such an outside of the box thinker, and I'm hoping she goes on to major in design.

Look closely at this next one with it's sleeping angel inside made from polymer clay and feathers, and the little sign that says "Be back in 2 hours"  So cute junior Lydia Ko

And then there's the sweet pomegranate angel by senior Stephanie Pascua, and the wire chicken below by senior Luis Gomez.

Junior Sara Shams peeled apart a plastic woven netting material to line her basket with, and then made a golden egg to nestle inside her lovely nest.  And sophomore Alex Rendon went all out with a purple lace he found to weave with that created a great fringe. 

Junior Ashley Chowdhury created the most lovely piece with her ribbons, laces and roses, and sweet butterfly.  And very clever senior Shavanti Kariyawasam dedicated her nest to the senior class and how they were ready to spread their wings and leave us.

One of my very favorites was this one by junior Stella Park, loved the form, the color choices, the fiber selections, and all the beautiful hand spun around the lip.  Gorgeous work as always Stella!!

And this last one, by junior Julia Chanco, is another well thought out piece in both form, colors, and hanging devise.

And her egg was so lovely with the collaged papers.  

Fantastic job all of you, I'm so proud to show these off!!  Just sorry it took me so dang long!

Senior Jaimee Chirico

Jaimee is currently taking 2 classes with me; Special Studies (Art IV), a contract based independent study 2 & 3-D class, and Ceramics I.  So this was made in Jaimee's Special Studies class in which she gets to design her own assignments.  It's a mixed media piece that she started with a large piece of plywood for her foundation.  She watercolored it, collaged it with text and glass, and she built out in bas-relief the lower front area from another piece of plywood that she attached the skyline to.  The figures she sculpted out of wire and she also built out another narrow platform for them to stand on.  This is a brilliant piece Jaimee, I'm so proud of you.

Artrageous - Annual ABC District Art Show

Here are a few highlights from our annual district art show. The high schools that participated were Whitney, Cerritos, Gahr, and Artesia.

Several of our pieces below.

Some of my favorite works in the show were done by the Cerritos High School clay students. I always admire their coil pots.

I also really liked this abstract figure sculpture from Cerritos, as well as this wire sculpture . Unfortunately, I can't remember which school it's from. My guess is Artesia or Gahr.

The deadline for my art students to turn in their EXTRA CREDIT based on visiting the show is this Friday June 3.