Nature Art Challenge: DAY SIX!

Ever since my neighbor tipped me off to the shiny rocks near the mailroom, I’ve been itching to get over there and check it out! So, for today’s challenge, I decided to pay a visit to the mailroom (though I didn’t actually venture inside to check the mail). My neighbor was absolutely correct! The ground was covered with sparkling rocks (at least whenever the sun decided to make a brief appearance!)

Here is the result of my explorations, dedicated to the keen observations of my neighbor: 

On my way back, I decided to check on my installation from Day Three. Although most of the shells had vacated their mushroom bed, nature seemed to have been kind to my work over the last couple of days. Here’s an updated picture: 

Only one day remaining in this month’s challenge! If you haven’t given environmental art a try over these last 6 days, give it a shot tomorrow! Take a little walk. If something happens to catch your eye, take a few minutes to explore that object further…see what you can create!

‘Til tomorrow…happy explorations!

Nature Art Challenge: DAY FIVE!

Brrrr! Texas is finally starting to feel like Christmas! While I am enjoying the colder weather, the freezing, biting wind made for a tough–and quick challenge today! While walking around, I was astonished at the difference that a few days of good rain can make to the verdant plant life in the area! Everything was SO GREEN! After a few minutes of hunting, I located a shape that held my interest–an acorn top. As was the case with the little shells on Day Three, I immediately became conscious of the existence of hundreds of these acorn tops, scattered every which way. Gathering a handful of these tops, I headed back to the greenery I had passed earlier. There I found a luscious bed of clovers–the perfect location for my acorn tops to find rest.

Here’s the result of today’s relatively brief explorations: 

I can’t believe this month’s challenge is drawing to a close…only two days remaining! Hopefully the wind will be a little more friendly and warm tomorrow…

‘Til later…happy explorations!

Recycled Art: Just a Fancier Word for Trash?

I know in my own teaching, I have often shuddered at the idea of teaching recycled art lessons–which inevitably turn into the students making toilet paper roll towers, or some sort of trash “sculpture.” These are then either a.)tossed into a school trash can by students once they are done with the project, or b.)tossed out/added to the clutter at home. Don’t get me wrong–playing with trash is COOL–and students LOVE building and cutting and taping oddly shaped items together. However, the finished products rarely reach that aesthetic quality that just screams, “hang ME on the wall!” or “display ME on the table.”

This is quite unfortunate, because recycled materials can be used by artists to create absolutely PHENOMENAL works of art! Here are a few examples of recycled artists’ work:

HA Schult’s “Trash People” installations

German artist, HA Schultz has created many different installations similar to the one shown above. For these installations, he creates thousands of “trash people,” which he then displays in various environmental locations (both rural and urban). His installations comment on our “throw-away” culture and lack of environmental awareness.

Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s shadow sculptures

Tim Noble and Sue Webster use trash in a different way in their shadow sculptures, as they transform what appears to be a pile of trash, into shadows of figures. In a similar fashion, their work addresses the clutter in our society and its impact.

Enno de Kroon’s egg carton paintings

Rather than simply building egg carton sculptures, why not ask students to use the carton as a canvas for a work of art similar to that of artist, Enno de Kroon? He describes his work as “egg carton cubism,” due to the interesting texture afforded by his working surface.

Gugger Petter’s Newspaper Art

Artist, Gugger Petter utilizes newspaper clippings to create beautiful images that are “informed by current events and history.”

These are just a few examples of the incredible possibilities that are really out there–and the best thing about using recycled items for artwork….IT’S FREE! For art teachers, artists, and parents on a budget, recycled “trash” can provide vibrant patterns, colors, textures, and surfaces for beautiful sculptures, paintings, and mixed media collages. The possibilities are endless—and stretch WAY beyond toilet paper towers and egg carton animals. But, if using toilet paper rolls as your medium appeals to you, check out these awesome artists’ works:

Junior Fritz Jacquet

Yuken Teruya

During the TAEA conference that I attended in Galveston last week (mentioned in previous post), I was able to attend a workshop about recycled art–which provided me with several cool ideas as well! Due to the length of this post, I’ll wait until another time to post some of those ideas!

Happy Tuesday!

 

 

Galveston Tree Sculptures!

Apologies for the lack of posting over the last week or so! Although it would appear as though it were due to exhaustion from my nature photography challenge (no way!), I actually headed to the coastal city of Galveston, Texas, where I not only got to attend the Texas Art Education Association’s annual conference, celebrating its 50 year existence, but I also had the chance to explore the town and do a little bit of hiking at Galveston Island State Park. For the next week or so, I’ll probably post little gems that I ran across during this adventure. For tonight, however, I’d like to tell you a little about the Galveston Tree Sculptures that I was able to check out while I was there. After Hurricane Ike hit in 2008, uprooting thousands of trees and destroying much of the city, three local artists decided to breath a second life into some of the destruction. Since the project began, months after the disaster, many locals from the area have carved their own tree trunks, or prepared the remains of their trees for an artist to carve. While the artists often get their inspiration from the shape of the tree itself, they often collaborate with families on the design of the tree. Below are a few pictures I took from inside the bus (apologies for the poor quality!). If you’d like to see some better shots of the sculptures and read more about the project, click here.  Such a cool example of artists at work in the community!

Enjoy checking out the tree sculptures!

Have a wonderful Sunday evening!