Guadi inspired Sagrada Familia sculptures and Hannah Hoch inspired photomontages

On the last day of the "Studying Under the Masters" camp, I had a couple of fun ideas planned but as they say, "best laid plans of mice and men often go awry". And so it was with my plans for the last day of camp.

There were a couple of unfinished projects we needed to complete.

And I wanted to leave time for the kids to be able to play together with the Paul Klee inspired puppets they had made during the week.

And so poor ol' Antoni Gaudi and Hannah Hoch, two artists I was quite excited to share with the kids, had to share time in the studio.

This past fall my husband and I spent some time in Barcelona and Madrid. It was my first visit to Spain and will not be my last! What an amazing country to visit for anyone who possesses a creative spirit! I left both cities full of inspiration for future projects in the studio.

One of which was inspired by truly the most breathtaking church I have ever visited, Sagrada Familia, by Antoni Gaudi.

Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

I had a collection of early 1900's encyclopedia's that I had bought last spring in hopes of using for projects and they came in quite handy for this one. I shared with the kids the architecture of Gaudi's church and I think they all found it quite interesting to learn that although he has been dead for a long time, his church is still currently being completed. For me, it was exciting to share with the kids that art takes all kinds of forms, including buildings!

I then talked to the kids about creating a deconstructed book. I told them that they were giving books a new life that otherwise would of ended up thrown away. (I bought them in the last hour of a church sale for $2.00) And showed them a couple of "rules" they needed to follow when starting to fold the pages and then let them go using the Sagrada Familia as inspiration.

This project requires the kids to use some math skills, focus on symmetry, and precision when folding. At the beginning of the project, it is quite challenging but within a few minutes they all have mastered the techniques and wow! it was very exciting to watch what they began creating.

One of the boys declared this the best project of the week, which shocked me a bit because I thought the Paul Klee puppets would hold that title.

It is always quite amazing to watch what can be created with an old book, a pair of scissors, some glue and a whole lot of folding. The boys did not finish these pieces and were quite excited to keep working on them at home.  I would love to see what they look like today.

As awesome as Gaudi is I could not leave Hannah Hoch unseen and so I presented Gaudi and Hoch at the same time. I gave all the kids the option to choose which project they wanted to do inspired by the artists. Interestingly enough, all the boys chose Gaudi and the two lone girls in the class chose Hannah Hoch.

I fell in love with Hannah Hoch's work during the Mash-up exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. I was inspired by her work the minute I saw it on display. She is a German Dada artist and the originator of the photomontage.

Hannah Hoch, self portrait

I had printed off 8 different photos and clipart for each child and I gave them the same 8 images. I thought it would be interesting to see how each of them montaged those images together based on their imagination.

Once the girls had their images created, I handed them some colored pencils to add any other details they wanted. It took a bit for the girls to embrace the process, they kept wanting to use the entire image without cutting it apart, but they came around although they both deemed the entire project "weird".

Which is probably why I am so drawn to Hoch's work, because I love weird.

One of the boys looked over while the above art was being created and commented, "poor Queen Victoria".  But I think it is a wonderful image of the late Queen as she truly did love "her king" all the while having her hands in dozens of things running the country. I'm not sure the 7 year old girl realized the symbolism she created by giving her octopus arms, (what mother at one time or another has not wished for more arms to manage things?!), or the "king" card attached to her head, then reiterated with drawing, of just how much the Queen's spouse was on her mind and in her heart.

Either way, cool image, if you can get over the fact that the poor Queen has been chopped up in the most unusual way.

The projects came to an end all too soon, just like camp, as the kids spent the last bit of the day creating puppet shows until their parents arrived for pick up.

I sure hope the kids had as much fun with the projects as I did creating them, several I can't wait to try again! 

In fact this summer I have created an entire camp around the Paul Klee inspired puppets called, "Puppeteer". It will run August 22nd until the 25th and kids will create a shadow box theatre along with puppets out of plaster and felt. I'm quite excited about it after watching the kids enjoy creating puppets in this camp.

Registration for summer camps has started and with a maximum of 8 children in the camps, they fill up quickly. Further information is available for all the camps on the website or the Facebook page.

Book Sculptures

On a display shelf in the studio I have some past projects, including a book sculpture I created inspired by Gaudi's architecture.

I have one particular little boy in the Monday's class who is fascinated by the book sculpture and is always asking me when we are going to make them

And so after several months of asking me the same question,  I thought it was high time we had fun creating deconstructed book sculptures.

I have a large quantity of old books I have gathered from church sales and the thrift stores and for this project gave each child a small encyclopedia from the early 1900's. (I paid two dollars for the incomplete set)

Any hardcover book will do that is past it's prime.

8 year old

The kids first need to find the middle of the book. The easiest way for them to do this is to find the last page number and divide in half. We did this as a group, the older kids helping the younger kids, to make it easier.

Then I stressed just two rules for the project.

Whatever you do to one side, you must do to the other and fold away from the center into the gutter.

Then I put out some scissors and glue and told them to have some fun.

Instead of trying to explain how to do some basic folds, this is a great video to get you started. In fact, I had each child start with the basic ten folds in this video in order to get them started on their way to an original creation.

10 year old

Once the students got the hang of the project, the sky was the limit. It was fun to see them get lost in their creations and try out a variety of things as they built the sculptures.

10 year old

Buildings, fighter jets, and oceans became inspiration for these sculptures. As their confidence grew, the build became more and more elaborate.

7 year old (wave)

By the end of the hour and a half class, the floor was covered in bits of paper as the kids proudly showed their parents what they had created.

9 year old

This is a fun way to up-cycle books that are past their prime. The project takes just the simplest of supplies to create, some scissors, glue, and if you want even a hole puncher. Add a little imagination and the sky's the limit on what you can do with an old book.

8 year old (how cool are the paper flames coming out of this fighter jet?)

Fighter jets, buildings, and whatever else one can imagine. I'm pretty sure these kids will be giving this project another try at home in the future.

math and art

The last project I have to show from Sculpture Week at North Vancouver Community Arts Council is deconstructed books.

I did this during the school year at Kudzu Studio and it is a project I find the kids really enjoy and they tend to get lost in the production of the sculpture.

I especially like it because it is chock full of math and a great lesson in symmetry.

Bonus is that it is a very cheap project to put together.  All you need is a damaged book that is looking to be revitalized in a new and beautiful way, scissors, and a glue stick.  You can add a hole punch and speciality scissors with different designs if you have it, but it is totally unnecessary.

all good things

8 year old

I brought in some old Shakespearean paperback textbooks of different plays and picture books for the students to pick from for their project.

First they have to find the middle of the book, which means they have to count the pages in total if it is a picture book. For books like the Shakespeare plays I brought in, the kids have to locate the last page number and then add any additional pages not numbered to come up with the total pages. 

Once they know the total pages of the book,  they have to divide this number in half to find the middle of the book. (which with this age group I helped with the division, thank you iPhone App!)

Lotsa math!!

Once they have the middle of the book open, the only rule is that whatever you do to one side, you have to do to the other side also. 

Hello lesson in symmetry!

From there it is an exercise in pattern and numbers.  Paper folding, paper cutting, paper tearing, paper building....well you get the idea.  The sky is the limit and open to wherever their imagination decides to go!

so fun

6 year old

You want the students to fold away from the binding when doing this project.  And they have to make sure they bring the edge of the paper into the binding before folding for it to stay in place well.

They can cut pages in half to curl or fold and even pull them out to cut, curl and add back into the project for height.

Again, whatever happens to one side though must happen to the other.

7 year old

As you can see, a couple of students were inspired to add even more of their own personal touch to the work by using markers to color pages, adding origami, and making cut outs.

Like I said, the sky is the limit.

I love the beauty of these finished projects and I still have a bundle of books that were destined to be thrown away waiting to be brought back to life in a new way.  Next time I want to try this project as a mobile.  I can't wait!!!

Deconstructing books

I have a slight problem.

I'm addicted to online art classes.

I find it extremely difficult to pass one up.

For some women it's shoes, for me?

Online art classes.

I am currently taking one, OK, five courses.

This is a huge problem for my husband when he sees our Paypal account.

For me?  Just fun.

And one of them that I have been enjoying is by Jeanne Oliver called, Studying Under the Masters.

In week two, Junelle Jacobsen did a focus on Antonio Gaudi.  I took the opportunity to apply his architectural style to a project I had been dying to try for quite awhile and seemed to lend itself perfect to Antonio Gaudi.

Deconstructed book sculptures.

Above is me working out the process inspired by Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia.

The above project has been sitting down in the studio half finished and waiting for me to do something else with it but has garnered the attention of my students regardless.

Each week I hear, "When are we going to do this?" 

So when the local library had their damaged book sale, I bought a ton of books for next to nothing.  And tonight, TONIGHT!, I was so excited to tell the kids when they came to class and asked, "When are we going to do those books?"to hold onto their hats because we were doing it tonight!

And guess what?

The two twelve year olds went, "Eh.  I want to do a multi-media work on Jazz" said one.  The other went, "Oh.  I want to do another Marilyn Monroe work.  A lady wants to buy it"

Not exactly the reaction I was expecting and quite frankly I was shocked.  Shocked they didn't want to do it and shocked the twelve year old is selling more original artwork than me!

But bless the heart of the dear eight year old in the class.

He was ALL IN!

I knew he would like it as he enjoys to build.  And when I went to explain the importance of symmetry and the definition of Symmetry, I was met with a "I know what symmetry means"

That child is smarter than me!

Deconstructed Book Sculpture, 8 year old

I love his sculpture,  that was inspired by my sculpture, that was inspired by Junelle Jacobsen's class, created by Jeanne Oliver's course,  that was inspired by Gaudi's church!

Phew.  It's the telephone game with art!

And just to show you how much you can vary the project, here is a work that was completed in a Spring Break camp by very precious six year old.  In this case, I let her choose from a bunch of picture books I salvaged.  She choose one that was full of line drawings, so even colored in the illustrations.

A very different look and equally charming.

Deconstructed Book Sculpture, 6 year old

I love this project. 

Giving books on their way to the recycling bin new life.

Math skills.

Problem solving.

And at most the need for a pair of scissors and a glue stick to create magic.

I know the twelve year olds are going to love it too.

Just as soon as they are through counting their bank from the sales of their current projects in progress.

Maybe they will lend me some to buy another online class.