A Work Of Art

I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way 

- things I had no words for.

~ Georgia O'Keefe ~

 This is something Ms. Beaudry must know. 

She brought her smile and a project to inspire our kindergarten children and 

give voice to their imagination.

The children gathered materials throughout the room.

Coloured tissue paper was offered.

A collaborative collage began to emerge as the children sparked each others thinking.

"I know! Let's go get some beads!"

"Sometimes we just need a dab, but this time I need a puddle of glue. 

I'll make it a little puddle."

"We can use the clay and make a long line and make the line look like 

a necklace with the gold."

"Look Miss, a spiral!"

 

Once the children had finished their collage, the next step was to let it dry.

It dried for several days.

It needed to be good and dry for the next step.

Can you guess what the next step was?

It was time to cover the entire collage in paint!

Many types of brushes were used. Foam brushes and wide and narrow bristled brushes.

We used the colours of a sunset and blended the colours.

The children worked together, switching places, moving about the collage as they 

chose and blended colours.

Brushes gave way to fingers and hands. The children were very excited when 

they blended some colours and made the same colour as their skin.

"Miss! Look! Look! It's peach, just like me!"

"We're gonna need some brown to make darker skin."

 

Many children enjoyed soaking the cotton batting with paint and rubbing their hands 

over and over and over it. "Feel this!"

 

Some of the children just ran their fingers through the paint and followed imaginary lines, 

leaving tracks as they went along.

 

 

They say, 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.'

This stunningly beautiful masterpiece, sets...like the sun...in our room.

It reminds us of the beautiful voices, 

heard and unheard, 

our children surround us with each and every day.

The Creative Process

We've said it before and we'll say it again,

...we LOVE our open art studio!

White paint, small paint brushes and black paper was set out in the morning. But, as the children know...that's just the beginning. They had some ideas of there own. 

Before long, sparkly glitter appeared. 

And one thing led to another....

Trays were brought out to capture the excess glitter. Everything moved to the floor where there was so much more space. The next thing we knew, the children had taken out the bottles of coloured sand.

A whole new medium was created!

Glitter and coloured sand was added to the white paint and mixed and stirred.

When asked about how the paint would be used in their pictures, Laila let us know that there was more mixing to do. The process of creating the new medium became the interest at the art studio.

The new paint is now available at the art easels...

ready and waiting for our creative children.

You might recognize this picture from the recent blog post about literacy. 

But it deserves a repeat here.

Both of these activities were happening at the same time. Alivia decided to make 'ever so tiny' pictures and cut them out. 

A new object was created that the children hadn't made before. 

The mobile was a wonderfully creative way to display the tiny pictures. 

The moral of the story is...

we LOVE our open art studio and the creative process that it supports!

Painting with a Q-tip

Using nature to create art

Thanks to our concurrent student Katie Moore, very creative pieces of art were produced after the children collected a variety of natural materials from their walk to the hill.

On our nature walk, the children peeled their eyes for pieces that would be just right for what they had in mind.  "This could be a leg."  "Look, this is a head."  "We need more sticks."  "This is as big as my body."  It seemed like they would be making a population of people.  But, artists always have a way of interpreting as they create.

The children found things they hadn't expected.  "Look, it's Humpty Dumpty's Wall!"   "Is that the last dandelion before winter?"  "Mrs. Brent, look what Cameron found!  It's a slug!  He was hiding to stay warm."

They found rocks, leaves and a huge branch that had fallen from a tree during the wind storm.

Once in the art studio with Miss Moore, the children suggested using the sticks they found as paintbrushes.  That was... until some decided the sticks should become a part of their art!

What was amazing was how each child used the materials in their own creative way.

The artists were filled with ideas and we had so many unique creations by the end of the day. Some children even began using their hands to paint with! We were amazed with all the different shapes and pictures we could make with the nature we found.