Make-at-home instruments

We're planning on doing a Drum Circle at school soon so we thought we'd post some tutorials/instructions on how to make your own homemade instruments.

Urban Organica shows how to make these drums and shakers out of things you probably have around the house.

The Imagination Station has instructions on how to make rhythm sticks. These are basically just sticks that you tap together to make a beat.

Tutorial - Making Panels to paint on

Anything can be a canvas for art - paper (graph paper, lined paper, blank paper, junk mail envelopes, cardboard, old blueprints, paperboard (think cereal boxes), index cards...well, you get the picture! But, if you are wanting something hard to make art on, you can use Masonite, which is a thin 1/4" brown board (it also is the same stuff that pegboard is made out of) that comes in 4x8 sheets (sometimes smaller too) and you can find it at Home Depot or Lowes in the lumber area (usually). They will usually cut it into smaller pieces for you - just ask!

I wanted to share a tutorial I just found on how to finish a piece of masonite so that you can use it as a canvas. You'll need gesso, which is white (but also comes in clear) and is an opaque, white, thick paint-like coating. You can find it at arts and crafts stores.

Here's the tutorial, from artist Debbie Miller's blog.

Favorite Artists - Norman Rockwell

So, a great way to learn about new artists is to ask people who their favorite artists are. I posed this question to teachers and parents and others I met and know and I'm going to compile the answers along with links to sites where you can learn more.

The first person to answer this question was Sue Ackley, 4th grade teacher @ LJM. Her favorite artist is Norman Rockwell because "He was a prolific artist who painted vivid yet touching portraits of everyday life in America." I googled his name and found the Norman Rockwell Museum which has so much good stuff! Rockwell's paintings are detailed and on the site you can view lots of his paintings along with reading background on them. He was an illustrator and did many illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post. 

Here are a couple that interested me because of their obvious art themes.

This one is called Triple Self-Portrait, painted in 1960. Here's some background which was interesting! 

"Most observers of the portrait believe the drawing on the easel flatters Rockwell, making him look years younger. But it is an almost exact likeness of the photo taken for reference, with the exception of a wrinkle or two. The more puzzling discrepancy is the use of a paintbrush on the pencil drawing. The only solution, unless we agree that it is intended as a trick, is that although the drawing is not complete, he is about to begin his imprimatura—the glaze of thin color used under oil paint for the purpose of imparting warmth to the skin tones. This would be believable if it were not for the used paintbrushes on the floor. They don’t make chronological sense." Read the rest here

Many of us can relate to this illustration. This one is titled, Deadline (Artist Facing Blank Canvas) painted in 1938. Here's the backstory: "“Meeting deadlines and thinking up ideas,” Rockwell remarked “are the scourges of an illustrator’s life. This is not a caricature of myself; I really look like that.” In addition to deadlines, taboos on subject matter were additional restrictions with which Rockwell had to contend. He wrote that for years the Post would not allow him to show a cigarette. Later they allowed him to show a man smoking, but not a woman. Also, he described how he once painted a man holding a glass of beer, and the Post changed it to a glass of milk." Read more here

Thanks for reading! I'll post more artists as I get them! Who's your favorite artist? Post below and maybe your artist will be featured in a future post!

Inspiration - What can art do?

What can art do? As an artist and a person who is passionate about art in all its forms, this is a question that I can answer in many different ways. One of the most powerful things that art can do is inspire someone; and that inspiration can manifest itself in an unlimited world of ways, as simple as making someone feel good to energizing them to do something creative themselves and art can even change someone's life.


Here's something I found from the National Performing Arts Convention site:

The England Arts Council published a strategic framework titled "Achieving Great Art for Everyone" that seeks to do just that.  In addition to a relatively nuanced definition of "excellence" in it's opening pages, their report contains the responses of several British artists to the question, "What Can Art Do?" 

Tim Etchells, Artistic Director of the acclaimed avant-garde company Forced Entertainment, was one of those artists and his response is complex, clear, passionate, and worth a read:

'You asked what art can do
I wanted to write you that it
can make a spark flames
and a puddle ocean
a river tears
a room a world
a cry song

and it can tell a story of a time
and it can slow time

some love art because it's a really good mirror
in which something - a place or an era perhaps - is naked
or vivid
I mean
seen like it wasn't seen before

others love the art thing
because it brings postcards of the world transformed
redrawn or on its head
strange or stronger
worse or better
and people need those kinds of views on what isn't,
just as much as they need
a good view on what is

I meant to write you that art
can close a wound
and open a legal case
that it can stare further than a telescope
go faster than Internet and
beat like a loved one's heart

it can bring people together and
of equal and not opposite importance -
it can split them up,
make them doubt or wonder who they came in with
or who they live with
sometimes - watching science TV - I think art
it's like the large hadron supercollider of the soul,
other times it's just making people laugh
no shame in that

I wanted to tell you that art is loved as a hammer
because of how well it breaks lies and speaks truths
knocks down obstacles
the Incredible Hulk it is or the Superman, a good thing to have on your side

it can say something
many things
any things
can say much
or little in the best way of things
and I think it has value not always bound up with price

when I was 22 I first moved to Sheffield
and one spring in the high rises near us
someone had sprayed on their window, high up
I LOVE APRIL
and I thought that was art. Very beautiful. Very wise.

And in case anyone is wondering, art is not a servant of any government
nor of any policy, nor of touristicism
nor a servant of money
nor an icing on a cake
it's more the heart of the matter than the wrapping paper
or something to do afterwards
and it does not belong to liars

Some years back, I went to see a Derek Jarman retrospective
at the Serpentine Gallery in London
I came out of that all fired up.
I was alive again and I hadn't even noticed I might have been dead
I was thinking a lot about that special place of both art and reality that he opened up,
how valuable that was
and I was thinking
that in future we might have to be a lot kinder
and a lot angrier.

That's what art can do.
And people should be careful with it.
Otherwise they may wake up one day and have to live alone
With no hammer of change, no truth, no laughs,
No bringing together or wondering apart
With no reflections, no possibility to reflect
Just living alone with only their ghosts and their ideologies muttering at them.'

Tim Etchells, Artist, writer, performance maker, Forced Entertainment

Read more answers to the question 'What can art do?' here.

Art Walk and Museum to visit

The Mission Federal Art Walk in taking place next month April 30-May 1 with lots of things to do and see for kids and adults! Visit their website for more info.


Here are a few things that are worth noting:

Community Collaboration: Paint with an Artist
Sponsored by the San Diego Visual Art Network (India Street between Cedar & Date)

Mission Federal ArtWalk guests become the artists as they work with Rosemary KimBal or Kira Carrillo Corser on large-scale collaborations throughout the weekend.

Saturday, April 30: Dancing Brush
Experience a taste of Zen Brush Painting Artist Rosemary KimBal will demonstrate and teach attendees how to work with a "Giant Brush" on large canvases. 

And the Kidswalk activities include:

Get Creative with Tape
Explore new ways of painting with tape.

A museum for all ages: New Children's Museum is designed for children of all ages, from toddler to teen and is a place where kids are encouraged to touch everything – to think, play and create.  (plan a trip to the New Children's Museum if you haven't been there yet - it's free every second Sunday of each month. Membership is $85 for a family and they have a 10% military discount. Membership gives you free admission for a year plus discounts to day camps and more.)

4 Square Art
Use hot and cool colors to create a mini masterpiece with repeated images.

ArtReach is a non-profit visual art organization that takes professional artists into elementary schools to work with and inspire children. 

Musical Projects
Make Music! Experience your inner percussionist. Recreational Music experiences / Drum Circles throughout the day – explore and play a wide variety of drums and percussion instruments. Make an instrument to take home, too!

RhythmWorx provides educational enrichment, strengthens and unifies teams, and enhances well-being through rhythm-based experiences

Take your family down to the Artwalk and show them the many kinds and styles of art. It's in Little Italy and while you are there, visit Dick Blick for art supplies!

Visit the Mission Federal ArtWalk website for all the details!

Coffeehouse Night - got musical or artistic talent?

Well, it's official - our PTA is planning a coffeehouse art and music night! It's an opportunity for our students, parents, alumni, staff and any local artists to show off what they can do. Right now we are looking for musicians, singers and artists who may want to perform (music, poetry, etc.) or display their art. If you are interested, please contact Art Liaison Clara via the contact form on the LJM website.

The event is scheduled for Friday evening on April 29 - the week we come back to school from spring break. Details are still being developed but a flyer will come home in the next week or two about it. (Yes, we're putting it out there early because we want to give our talented peeps plenty of time to practice, rehearse and make art!)

stay tuned! 

Rock it

Here's an idea that is super easy and fun and evokes wonderment. Collect some rocks and paint them with colorful, bright and fun faces then place them around public places for people to find. We could have an afterschool creative ART Attack session and paint away. Everyone could then take one of the painted rocks and place them somewhere that people could admire/see them. It's kind of like an Easter egg hunt, except you don't collect and pick up the found 'eggs' - you leave them for others to find. (Reminds me of geocaching - have you tried that? Fun!)

Read about the painted rock idea here.

By the way, Exit Through the Gift Shop, is a very interesting mockumentary! (It's on Netflix)

Art Lessons

I buy a lot of my art supplies from Blick and I was just on their site and saw that they have a section for educators with a listing of a LOT of art projects in many different categories ranging from Art History, drawing, sculpture, mixed media, and more. They are also grouped by age ranges. I saw a lot of ideas that would be great for us to do here at school as a workshop. What are some that interest you? Take a look and post your favorite one here. Maybe we can make it happen!

See the art projects @ Blick

Children's book illustrators

 

I find a lot of inspiration from different children's book illustrator's sites and blogs. Doodle Diner is a great one! If you feel like exploring the world of children's book illustrators, Doodle Diner has a page with several artists' bios. Enjoy!

Monster Engine

I happened upon this artist and his work through the Doodle Diner and just had to share. Dave Devries is his name and he takes drawings from kids and turns them into 'real' paintings using his illustration skills. I wish he were closer - he's from New Jersey, b/c I'd love to have him come out and do a presentation at our school! Well, nevertheless, seeing his work is inspiring to me and I am going to try and find some local painters/artists who I can get together and see if we can't do something similar. See what I'm talking about in the video below.

Visit Monster Engine