I learned a long time ago to trust children when they divert from an original project plan. Great things have always been the result.
My original project was to have the kids create Day of the Dead inspired boxes. I had pulled several reference photos and as a group we discussed the details they discovered in the photos. I told them about the Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico and they shared with me storied of loved ones who had passed away in their families. We talked about how when we shared stories of our loved ones who were no longer on earth with us, they continued to live through those stories- the basis of the loving and beautiful holiday tradition in Mexico.
I learned about Pancake Grandma. A child's great grandmother who was famous in the family for making the world's best pancakes and several other wonderful family members.
But in the end, the kids were not to interested in creating decorated skeletons.
Not interested at all.
They wanted to create Halloween boxes and sculptures of themselves trick or treating.
9 year old.
One wanted to create a box of bats flying on Halloween night.
9 year old
So while using the design elements of the Day of the Dead boxes as inspiration, the class project took a sharp turn left with the students at the wheel.
Using oven baked clay, each child created the characters for the narrative scene they wanted to create. They also painted the box with acrylic paints.
Close up of 9 year old box, she's a cheerleader this Halloween and she even added details like the skeleton on the shirt and her pigtails with ribbon, along with the black stockings.
At that point, the hour and a half was finished.
The following week, they painted their sculptures and then built their boxes to tell their unique Halloween story.
Close up of 9 year old box, he consciously chose to simplify the bat form and make one bat a different color. This was a great example of learning about back, mid and foreground.
There was A LOT of glitter applied to the backgrounds.
Rhinestones and holiday themed wasabi tape I picked up on clearance along with some holiday theme greenery.
5.5 year old box. Mom and dad are pirates, she is a princess and their dog is dressed up as Olaf. She added spooky faces to the tree branch! And enjoyed creating a stack of jack-o-laterns for the dog.
I had sticks and wood blocks the students could apply their imagination too.
And they had a ball painting their characters and assembling their shadow boxes. Most of them were creating until the very last minutes of class and they were so thrilled with their final results.
Close up of 8 year old box, "Vampire" Love the "harvest moon" he created in glitter.
I had them each take a moment to write a note to their future selves on the back of the boxes. The wrote Halloween 2016 and then the story they had created. Since most used themselves as the hero/heroine of the box, in their costume holiday choice for this coming trick or treat night, I believe these will become a cherished decoration of their childhood in years to come.
Close up of 9 year old box. Best friends (you'll notice the cheerleader again from the above box) out trick-or-treating with the artist's pet cat, Taylor. Again the Harvest Moon makes an appearance.
Regardless I am glad I handed control of the project over to the students so pure magic could happen in the studio this holiday season.
Happy Halloween Everyone!
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