clay and paper collage assemblage

When the curator and I were first walking through the Ben Lim exhibit a couple of weeks prior to the Seymour Art Gallery summer art camp, one of the artworks I gravitated to quickly were Lim's clay and paper pieces.

I love them so much I had recently purchased one to give my daughter for her 19th birthday.

A panda, her favorite animal since she was in preschool.

(obviously not the panda artwork) Ben Lim

During the tour with the children, they discussed his subtle use of paper color to suggest the background along with other nuances they observed in the work- including using the clay to cut shapes out and layer to create the animals.....almost like paper.

These artworks are truly magnificent and were one of the first projects I conceptualized for the camp. The process seemed like such a natural draw for children.

Each child started off with a rectangular piece of wood that I picked up for under a dollar at the local craft store.

8 year old

Using matte medium, (Modge Podge or a glue/water mixture would work well too), the kids cut and began to layer tissue paper onto the wood surface to create a background. The only thing I really needed to stress during this part of the project was keeping the tissue paper contained within the board, easy to do since wrinkles were a great addition to the texture of the artworks and tissue is so light it is very easy for kids to manipulate with the glue.

9 year old

They quickly realized layering the same color added value and really seemed to understand and were inspired by the processes Ben had used in the pieces they observed during the tour.

8 year old

They really loved and got lost in cutting the papers, adhering them to the wood, watching how each layer added to the nuance of their background, and throughly enjoyed "painting with paper".

9 year old

It was a pure joy to see them enjoying this project as much as they did! I gave each child a small amount of oven baked clay in white. They rolled out the clay and began to cut shapes out to create their animals. They took time to add textures and seemed to really catch on and enjoy the abstract nature of Ben Lim's animals in the artwork they had spent time enjoying during the tour.

6 year old

Once it was baked and hardened, they kids lightly painted the clay with acrylic paint and we used some strong glue to place them on the wood boards with their tissue pictures.

7 year old

The kids were quite excited to see the artworks finally come together and were quite pleased with the final outcome.

8 year old

The curator, myself, the artist working with me and the gallery assistant were all quite excited about them too after camp finished when we looked at them as a group.

8 year old

This was a great project for a wide range of ages, very engaging and a great way to build their artistic confidence. There was not one child in this group of 12 who did not fall in love with this process.

12 year old

Each and every one of the kids were fully engaged in each step of this project and it is one I have already decided to do again this fall with a lunchbox program I am running at a local school. I felt it was that successful from beginning to end.

12 year old

But the part the kids were most excited about? Putting on those chops! They could not wait until everything was complete and it was time to stamp their artworks with their signatures.

The perfect end to a perfect project.

clay finger puppets

While the morning camp created plaques of their family pets, the afternoon camp of Pets-n-Art created finger puppets in clay of their pets.

Pushka. 7 year old

After molding some clay around their fingers, they then added the features of their sweet pets.

Q-Bert. 7 year old

The finger puppets happened by chance to be truthful. I had found these cute little boxes in the spring that I purchased figuring I would create a project around them. My first thought was the kids would just create a sculpture of their pets to put inside the boxes I had planned to have them paint. The easiest way for them to create a sculpture that would fit inside these small boxes was to have them create them on their fingers.

Tigg's, her favorite stuffed pet.  7 year old

Then I saw them all sitting around the table with their pets attached to their fingers and thought,'what cute finger puppets' and the project morphed into it's final form.

Pushka. 5 year old

The kids loved creating puppets of their pets.

Krystal. 7 year old

They enjoyed sculpting them, painting the boxes, and ultimately the puppets themselves.

Fiddy. 9 year old

They loved that it was a surprise element to their final works too. It was fun to watch their faces while they surprised their parents with the knowledge they were much more than a simple sculpture, they were puppets!

I think all of these little boxes and puppets came out so sweet. And I am quite thrilled to see such a wide variety of ways the kids created their puppets too.

I hope they have lots of fun playing with them at home.

animal bust plaques

Last week I ran a morning and afternoon camp inspired by children's family pets.

Violet. 10 year old

On Monday, the morning class started off by creating knee cap sculptures of their pet's face.

Colby. 5 year old

It is quite easy. The kids take the clay and use their knee cap to mold it and create the face. Once they are happy, they finish it up on the table until complete.

Aussie. 5 year old

(boy did he enjoy color mixing throughout the week!)

I used oven baked white clay for this project, so they were able to paint them on the same day.

Froda. 4.5 year old

My initial thought was to call the project complete at that point, but when looking at them finished, they seemed to need a little something more so I bought some wooden "plaques" for the kids to mount them on for display.

Sandy. 9 year old

However the faces looked a little lost on the plaque and seemed to scream for the kids to do a little more artwork on them. It seemed natural to add the animals bodies to the plaque and it created a really nice juxtaposition to the three dimensional faces.

Cassie. 8 year old.

The kids had a great time working on these and I think they turned out lovely.

Duffy. 9 year old

I have a feeling the kids are going to enjoy having these on display at their homes.

Aussie. 7 year old

clay animals

I realized it had been awhile since I had done a clay project with the kids and so decided in some form or another, I would do clay with most of the classes.

So prepare for a lot of clay projects coming up as they kids complete them.

For the Wednesday class, a class full of little girls, I knew animals would be a big hit.

Each girl could create the animal of their choice.

They could give it any personality they wanted.

And what an adorable group of creatures they created!

I used an air dry clay because I'm still dreaming of that studio kiln....but I have finally settled on a clay I really like, that doesn't crack or break easily. I love the way it holds paint too and although it feels expensive when I buy it, in reality it goes a very long way and still falls within a reasonable budget that makes it feasible for large groups of children.

So the first week, the girls spent the hour and a half creating their clay animals. For those that finished a little early, I brought out some chalk pastels and had them draw their clay creatures.

6 year old

A few weeks ago, these young artist created doughnut paintings inspired by Wayne Thiebaud and one artist has been obsessed with doughnuts ever since. At the beginning of class when they draw whatever they want for warm up, she draws doughnuts and that carried over to her clay animal too. 

Her little bunny is holding a doughnut. In both the above pastel portrait and in clay.

6 year old

With sprinkles even! How cute is that one spotted eye also?

So as you can see, the following week when the clay was dry, the artist used high flow acrylic paint to add color and details to their works. The girls came into class so excited to paint. The only thing more exciting was the anticipation of taking the work home that night and several times they asked for reassurance they would indeed be dry enough to go home with them.

I can't blame them as I put them on the table to dry, they are all so precious!

Like this turtle created by one of the six year olds. She was painting pretty fast and I was looking for ways to not only slow her down but also add a bit more detail to her painting. I suggested adding some spots to the turtle.

She was quite indignant when she exclaimed, "Turtles don't have spots" as if I had just suggested she add a third eye to her piece. I took out a reference folder full of all types of turtles and showed her lots of spots and stripes that turtles sport.

She was still not convince and so sorry to the big man upstairs, but she was of the opinion spots and stripes were "weird". I couldn't help but chuckle and let her continue on with her spotless turtle.

6 year old

We had a couple of dog creations.

8 year old

The above artist was so proud of her dog that she created of her real life pet.

8 year old

Or her good friends' dog with a carefully painted blue collar.

8 year old

And how can you not be smitten with a bunny wearing a top hat? And I love the expression the artist carefully painted on the face. Obviously he's a little concerned someone is coming for that yummy carrot or is he admiring the doughnut of the other classroom bunny? Either way, this is just too cute.

6 year old

Another bunny and please take a moment to look at that smile. The artist worked SO HARD on it and painted it several times to get it "just right".

Then there is this sweet piece. Her mother had some surgery the day before we started the clay project and this weighed heavily on her heart. She was thinking of her mother the entire time she was creating the work, a cat holding a heart. She planned to write "get well soon" on the heart.

By the following week, her mother was doing better and the message changed a bit.

10 year old

What a lovely little present for her mother. I know this little cat will mean a lot to her.

And finally this elaborate animal from my class artist who I affectionately call "the caboose". She is quite thoughtful in her decisions. She is extremely detail oriented and likes to take her time when creating, something I always admire in her. 

10 year old

And if you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince, if they are this cute, who cares? I love her color choices and the small detail of the flower she added.

And there you have it. As excited as each child was to take this project home that night, I would of loved to keep them for a week to admire. As you can imagine, the artist were having none of that suggestion when I made it.

I can't say I blame them. I'm sure each sweet sculpture has found a place of honor in their new homes to be enjoyed and loved for a long time to come.