BUSY BEAVERS - PART II

WOOD ANGELS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

I'm hoping you enjoyed yesterday's post

and are ready for more creative goodness.

We start today with senior Jenna Llamas.

She has chosen to work to a beach theme

 in a fun & pleasing complimentary color scheme of orange and blues.

I took a side view shot so you could see her wood burned edging.

Were they required to wood burn somewhere in their piece?

Yes.

Senior Hapshiba Kwon,

and outstanding student in so many arenas,

brought in some of her poetry and love of rain in Eau de Rain. 

Notice the empty spool that she used for the torso and how she paper colleged it?

And then to go back to the bird's nest unit and used what she learned there to build the umbrella skirt.

Brilliant!

I asked Hapshiba to say a little something about her piece and what inspired her.

So in her own words:

Hello, I’m Hapshiba Kwon, a high school senior, and I will be guest blogging about my piece!

My piece is titled “eau de rain,” a slight play on the “eau de toilette” phrase that I see so often on perfume bottles and colognes. The title has been wood-burned onto the base and stained over with lavender acrylics.

I started off with a small wooden block for my base. It had been pre-stained on the bottom with pink and aqua colors and studded with metallic “stars.” I built my figure on top of this block, fitting a wooden dowel (later collaged with blue tissue paper and music sheets) into a small hole to serve as legs...or rather, one leg :)

Next, I built a wire nest so that I could weave a variety of yarns through it. We learned to use this technique during our bird’s nest project, and I wanted to turn the nest upside down to use as an umbrella. I utilized baby blue, pastel purple, gray, white, and silver yarns to create my umbrella, and then used this color scheme throughout the rest of my piece.

I definitely had the most fun stringing all sorts of beads on wax linen threads to hang around the edges of my umbrella, so as to encapsulate the movement of falling rain.

As for the bodice, I used a tan spool and collaged on top of it with tissue papers and yellowed hymn book pages. I also marbleized white and black clay to create the polymer head, and then stained it with teal metallic compounds for a subtly glittery effect.

To finish off the piece, we all needed to add a special accessory to personalize our figurines. I chose to add a miniature book with one of my poems titled “Little Moments.”

I think my piece strayed quite a bit from what I’d originally had in mind (as per usual), but I enjoyed the assignment because it allowed me to pay attention to small details and also gave me a chance to work with a variety of materials--wood, yarn, wire, clay, beads, and even aluminum foil for the arms. I imagine it on a bedside table in a little girl’s bedroom because of the soft, fairy godmother/rain princess feeling it gives off, but I suppose that’s wishful thinking because my room is a big mess, hahaha.

Thank you for reading ^_^

This next one is English teacher Deliana Park's second piece.

(we saw her first one in yesterday's post)

This piece is so deep that I asked her to write an explanation.

So in her own words:

This bird man is in his office cage,

 locked and  restricted by his own drive to succeed and work long hours

His facial expression is semi shock 

and his color pallid from being indoors.

A dragonfly ironically rests outside his cage, 

beckoning him to come out.

The quotes on his work desk are from Dante's Inferno

 and the epitaph from Fahrenheit 451

 - a contrast of warning (to all who enter)

 and advising (to escape restrictions).

Wow Mrs. Park, 

that was a fascinating read,

a glimpse into your mind.

Thank you for sharing your message with us,

and for putting so much of yourself,

and your time and energy into this class.

We love having you here with us.

This next beauty was made by junior Insha Khan.

She took great pains in constructing this exquisite dress

with all the lovely details.

Incredibly gifted 8th grader Sydney Eng constructed this amazing chest board 

to go with her figure.

Her's was one of the class favorites for it's creative design

 and the amount of effort she put in it to pull it off.

All her little chest pieces were made with Polymer,

her board wood burned, 

and board edge paper collaged.

And finally we get to junior Helen Park's piece.

She was the gal in Part I who was carrying in the chair and sawing.

Was she able to incorporate any part of that chair?

I don't think she did,

but I'm sure one of these years someone with do something special with it  :)

So thanks Helen for your donation!

Helen's design is very clever in that it is two sided.

Warm & Cool.

And her wood burned saying leads us to think about what she is trying to convey.

Perhaps I will remember to ask her one day and slide it in here.

We finish with junior Cheryl-Mae Mallabo.

Super complex and thought provoking,

it takes some time to see all that she has put together.

Cheryl,

like Hapshiba,

used rebar to build out the front shoulder of her form (above),

then she came into it and wove yarn thru.

I just love when these kids use their critical thinking skills and apply earlier learning.

Cheryl spends hours looking thru all my bead and hardware containers,

selecting just the right pieces to incorporate into her creations.

And as you can see the amount of effort as well as attention to detail in her work

 is truly remarkable.

Thank you all for working so very hard for me.

It's always a pleasure to show off what you do here.

BUSY BEAVERS - PART I

WOOD ANGELS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

wood scrap, wood burning, saws, drills and paper, c-clamps, miter boxes, paint staining, 

paper collage, & embellishment

My little crafty  woodworkers have been busy recycling,

tearing apart and putting back together again

to create these fanciful little creatures you will see.

Here junior Helen Park is bringing in an old chair 

to be used for the assignment.

And here she,

 is in complete safety gear,

 using the jigsaw to cut out the main body of her creature.

Tah Dah..,.

some of the finished ones that sit or stand 

and the others that hang.

So let's take a closer look at several.

This first one was crafted by senior Eileen Wang.

I added a new requirement to the assignment.

Eileen has done so many clever things to make her piece special.

Wood burning on the cork body,

hand spun yarn for the hair,

and recycled eyelet fabric for dress.

The next one by senior Clarissa Gutierrez conveys such peace and happiness thru facial expression.

This year they had to make their faces from Polymer clay and paint or stain them,

and I'm thrilled with their results.

The kids had a choice to attach wings or not.

I love that Clarissa did.

Adorable! 

And let's check out what Mrs. Park created.

She actually made two,

and we'll see the other tomorrow in Part II.

One of the things she thought to do with both touched my heart so much.

She found two old wooden play toys of her kids,

sanded them down, 

sawed them up and used them as bodies for both her works.

I also really like that she surrounded her piece in wire,

incorporating other lessons learned prior to this.

and the crochet dollie was rescued from a garage sale.

Deliana made it her own by embroidering on it with little blue flowers.

Next we have 8th graders Carl Estrada and Iris Lin,

both super stars from last years Art Wheel.

Carl thought to marbleize his Polymer before making his face (clever boy),

and both their faces are so very expressive!!

Iris has reused lots of hardware and flip top cans in her piece,

and Carl has done some cool wood burning and staining on his arms.

Great job you two!

And this little cutie was done by senior Iris Xu.

Check out below the awesome wood burning she did on the side of the body,

and the amazing feet she created out of Polymer.

Well this is it for Part I.

I hope you'll stop by again tomorrow for Part II of Busy Beavers. 

IT'S ALL ABOUT RECYCLING...

WOOD ANGELS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

wood scraps, recycled materials, paper collage & wood staining

And these recycled wood figures are a great assignment to put at the end of the year.

This way we get to use up a lot of bits and pieces that are left behind from other projects.

I let the kids pick their subjects:

people, animals, insects;

as long as they are abstracted yet still recognizable.

Senior Sunny Kim made one of my personal favorites above.

Note all the adorable details:

the woodburned kitty faces on the feet,

the wire wings,

the Polymer clay face that has been stained with acrylic paint to bring out the facial details,

two different screws for arms,

the coiled wire spring for the pelvic area,

the list is long.

Another favorite was made by senior Anna Lee.

Two of the requirements were to include text and a bit of woodburning.  

Anna combined them on the inside of this clever and whimsical piece.

And junior Chirag Bisht knocked it out of the park with his cool skateboarding figure.

Clever young man used a wrench for the board which gave his piece so much personality.

And love that plant thingy on the top of the head that curls over.

Fun, fun, fun!!!

Sophomore Shreya Sheth went all out on her piece,

in this interactive caterpillar.

Sadly she ran out of time to get the features on,

but it was still remarkable 

and one of the most popular pieces at our Open House display.

And this cutie belongs to junior Liana Chie.

Notice the recycled paintbrush,

wire, nails, etc.?

Fun piece Liana!

The kids found the most interesting items to recycle like junior Hazel Cruz here.

Her father's broken watch face that she wired into the holes she drilled.

Yeap,

the kids were required to learn how to drill,

saw and sand their wood foundations.

They did this on a preliminary piece first to practice.

Here is Shreya using the drill as she starts the base of her caterpiller piece,

and below is junior A.K. Manivannan having fun with the jigsaw 

as he cuts a curve into his foundation.

Another requirement was to bring in an expressive quality to the piece 

through facial expressions or body language.

Both these pieces here,

top one by senior Adhora Islam,

and bottom by junior William Kim,

were done with the woodburning tool.

Some type of fibery goodness was also a requirement,

along with paper collage and paint staining.

I made these children jump thru a lot of hoops for this assignment,

and they never let me down.

Thank you all for working so hard,

it pays off big time!!!

Recycling At It's Best

WOOD ANGELS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

When I first started this assignment about 5 or 6 years ago, I required the kids to include angle wings on their abstract human figures, thus "Wood Angels".  But as the assignment has evolved, we've dropped the wing requirement, and brought in more whimsical characters.  So not just abstract human figures, but animals, insects, you name it, it's been done.  

The kids love working with the wood, especially learning to use the power tools.  I do a big safety demo., then monitor and check the students as they are learning to use them for the first time.  They learn to saw, sand, drill, chisel, dremel, wood burn, stain and use the jigsaw, and circular miter saw.  

Scary, yes, a little, but so worth it, as you will see in the results. 

Youngster Kaili Hamada (junior) here accidentally chiseled into her finger.  

So occasionally accidents do happen but all is well, it's all healed up now, and she's a happy camper as you can see. 

Here we go!

One of my favorite wood pieces this year, because it had so much personality, was created by senior Megan Yeu.  

I was thrilled that she was able to do a lot of up-cycling with hardware store findings that I pick up at garage sales.

Senior Jinnie Choi made this adorable, interactive bunny.  The head bobs back and forth, and I really like how she has shredded up fiber and glued it down for fur.  Very tactile!

Another favorite was made by junior Jonathon Madamba who took advantage of the wood burning tools as well as paper collage.

Junior Clarissa Bloemhof also brought in a lot of wood burning along with her wonderful paper collage.  Love that she has built an umbrella as an accessory which brings even more appeal to her work.

Senior Vinisha Kothari went all out on hers.  You can't tell the scale from the pix , but it was ginormous, and very impressive; full of color, wood burned designs and fun!  Below you can get a better idea of the size of this piece.

Here is senior Rebecca Tjahja cutting away with the jig saw to shape her wings.  And above is her finished piece.  Notice how she has built her boy and girl figures completely with hardware findings on top of the paper collaged heart?  Very cool solution!

Next we have the work of the very handsome and debonair young junior Justin Jang.  Love his take on Spiderman!

8th grader Annie Lin has cleverly used twigs for her arms, legs and neck.  She has also done a beautiful job with her staining and wood burning.

Senior Esther Woo has made this adorable young girl by incorporating recycled laces, and hardware pins for arms and legs.  But it's the idea for the dolls hair that is brilliant; gluing down the sawdust shavings that we were going to throw away.  Fantastic critical thinking woman!

8th grader Cassidy Chansirik brings so much personality to her doll by the tip of the head, the miss matched buttons, crooked smile and wire wrapped hair.  So sweet Cassidy!

This next one by junior Bianca Tolentino has so much content built in thru attention to detail.  Wow, heck out the side view below as well!

Senior Ema Shah made an adorable Santa complete with toy bag.

And junior Daphne Chiang gives us a sweet young woman dressed for the prom.  

  At least that's where I think she's going.  :)

I hope all of you have enjoyed seeing so many of the finished wood pieces.  

These kids worked so very hard to make them as wonderful as possible.