Recycled Basket Weaving Project Idea!

In the midst of holiday travels, cookie decorating, and wonderful times with family and friends, I thought I’d sneak in a quick  post for a homemade recycled gift idea. Gail’s blog: that artist woman provides a variety of art project ideas. One of her recycled art projects, Recycled Basket Weaving, is a quick and easy  way to reuse plastic and paper cups and bowls–and the finished project looks awesome! If you’re looking for a last minute gift idea, or just a fun little side project, give these a try!

‘Til later, happy explorations!

and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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!

 

 

Dirt Art!

This is slightly off topic, although still deals with making art from natural materials (dirt). Artist Scott Wade creates amazing paintings using brushes, water, and a dirty car window. Check out his website to see more of his awesome work!

This puts a whole new spin on the “dirt painting” lessons, in which students paint with different colors of mud. Side note: There is also a wonderful book, titled “Dig Your Hands in the Dirt: A manual For Making Art Out of The Earth” that talks about creating amazing murals using certain types of dirt and clay. I highly suggest reading this book for additional Dirt Art ideas!

But, back to Scott Wade’s works–his paintings could very easily be adapted to a classroom lesson!

Check this out:

Materials: 

Dirt

Small glass objects (These could range from donated recycled picture frames (which would work great for this project) to glasses)

Spray bottle

Paint brushes

Dark Colored Paper (black, blue, red?)

Fixative

Steps:

1. Mix a very watered down mud mixture in spray bottles.

2. Spray the glass object with mud mixture. Be sure to cover entire surface.

3. Let dry.

4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 two or three times.

5. Sketch idea for painting on a separate sheet of paper.

6. Place colored paper on the back side of your dirt canvas–so the color shoes through once you begin removing dirt.

6. Using brushes of your choosing, begin creating the darker areas of your painting by removing the dirt with your paint brush and water. Leave the dirt on the areas that are lighter. (Could practice this process before starting on the real “canvas.”

7. One finished, spray with fixative and allow to dry.

You can tweak this lesson as you see fit–or come up with a lesson plan of your own to share! Happy painting

What is an Art-Based Approach to Environmental Education?

Nature journaling, anyone? Most often, attempts to combine environmental studies and art education result in one of the following activities:

1. Nature Journaling/sketching

2. Landscape paintings

3. Recycling art sculptures (a.k.a. art teacher spring cleaning)

While these projects are not inherently bad, their full potential is rarely realized, as the focus of these projects often remains on the visual–what you see around you–which is then depicted on the paper/canvas in front of you. Or, as is the case with the recycled art, the focus becomes “what can I make with this stuff” (much of which consists of toilet paper rolls, milk jugs, and egg cartons). At the elementary level, these sorts of sculptures often turn into cute little animals with marker-drawn eyes, monsters, or a stacking competition to see who can tape together the highest tower of toilet paper rolls. While the students enjoy the building/creating associated with the project, a deeper meaning is missed.

An art-based approach to environmental education is much more than simply making art outside or creating egg carton animals. It is an awakening of the senses. I know that description sounds rather convoluted, but that is the ultimate goal of art making–a newly discovered awareness to the subtleties of existence. An art-based approach to environmental education promotes experiencing and perceiving the world with all of the senses, and articulating those experiences in a new way.

Landscape painting in-and-of-itself is not environmental education, as Meri-Helga Mantere states in her lecture, titled, “Art and the Environment – An Art-Based Approach to Environmental Education”. “But if it can be done with environmental consciousness, understanding the interrelation of the visual processes–by which I mean biological, as well as cultural processes–the painting process itself can also be a study of environmental processes. The students spend many hours [in] the woods painting not what they saw, but how they felt the process of growth and change: the energy and interrelation.”

 

In much the same way, recycled art becomes much more than simply sticking recycled “throw-aways” together to create a new, recognizable creature. A recycled art project should focus on the act of recycling–taking materials that are used and turning them into a new, purposeful product. So, rather than simply trying to get rid of all of the donated egg cartons and milk cartons that have been piling up around your classroom, why not try one of the following ideas (as mentioned in Meri-Helga Mantere’s lecture)?

- Making new clothes from old ones

-Making vases and drinking glasses from empty bottles

-Making textiles from rags and paper scraps

-Making a hammock from old blue jeans

Or, if you’re itching to clear out some of those old “throw-away” donations (as I know I was when I taught k-8), I would recommend cutting or tearing everything into pieces. The simple fact that these paper rolls and egg cartons are no longer in their original forms will inspire new creations and an increased likelihood that new, purposeful products will emerge.

On a side note: This website is FANTASTIC! Check it out. Now.