Happy 5th Birthday to Miss E!!!

Today there were eight children at the studio to celebrate a fifth birthday.

It was a ladybug theme.  You should of seen the cupcakes the mother made for the party!!  so cute.

After a couple of discussions with the mom, it was decided that the project would be a ladybug sculpture.

birthday girl!

I had some beautiful stones in the studio that my oldest child, who knows how much I love collecting the cast offs of others, brought home from her retail job when they were changing out the store decor. I thought they would make a great base for a ladybug to take a rest.

So we started off building a ladybug out of Fimo clay. The kids had the opportunity to make a form out of aluminum foil, which all but one did, and then I told them to cover it completely in clay so it would be "top secret" what was underneath.

One little boy literally would not tell his mom what was inside his ladybug when she picked him up!  He loved having a "top secret" from her.

Once they had it covered, I asked them to roll it between their hands "like a meatball" to smooth it all out.   Then with a bit more clay, they made their wings and added them to the body.  Then they made another meatball and placed it on as the head.

kindergartener

Now it was time to add the spots.  I gave them a few options.  They could use a toothpick to poke holes, the eraser on a pencil to make indented circles, or add small clay "dots".  I don't think anyone took me up on the dots but we had a variety of toothpick and eraser holes.

first grader  

I had cut some wire before they arrived and each child had the opportunity to add legs and antennas.

All added the antennas, but only some added the legs.  

Ladybug sculptures complete. phew.

While those were baking, I handed each child a palette with blue and yellow acrylic paint.  I'm a big believer in teaching children to mix their own colors.  I think it is a skill that will serve them well as they grow.  They all knew blue and yellow made green, but I wanted to show them how they could make different colors of green just by changing the ratio of the two primary colors.

kindergartener

I even delved into a bit of optical blending, showing them they could make lines of just pure yellow or pure blue and still end up with something that the eye would read as green.

I then asked each of them to mix two different colors of green.  One blue green and one yellow green and all of them were very successful with this task.

kindergartner

And with sound effects just for fun, I even suggested they add whisk of color to look like blades of grass.

Once that was all done, it was time for snacks and cupcakes.  Boy did the kids have a good time "sucking the heads" off the ladybugs.  

Yes, one little boy gleefully told all of us, "I sucked the head right off!"  

fun, fun, fun

Once the tummies were full and sugar was running at full steam through the blood streams of eight little partygoers, it was time to paint the now baked ladybugs.

first grader

  

It is always interesting to me to watch the kids begin to understand that they need to turn a sculpture up, down and all around to paint.  Their first instinct is just to paint what they see and they will let me know they are "done" and then when I ask them if they checked all sides and the bottom you can see the lightbulb go off.

ah! not done.

second grader

Once they were done painting, the birthday girl opened her presents and my oldest and I frantically dried all the ladybugs with a blowdryer as old as me, then hot glued the ladybugs down onto the painted stones.  The kids were able to bend the legs and antennas however they wanted and I think they came out cute as a bug.

yea, I went there, the world of the double entendre.

kindergartner

I love all the different perspectives created from the exact same directions and instruction.  The choices each and everyone of the kids make are so very charming and make for fantastic work that is all their own.

As unique as each and every one of them.

On another note, fall classes are now up on the website at Kudzustudio.com.  If the times and dates don't work, please send me a note and we can work something out since it is still early.

Until then, a very happy, happy 5th birthday Miss E!!  Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day.

one more look at the birthday girl

Tjanpi Central Desert Weavers inspired fibre bird sculptures

Awhile back I saw a post on the blog, "Use Your Coloured Pencils", regarding an aboriginal inspired fibre sculpture that I found quite intriguing.  It was nice to see something other than "dot" paintings for a change by the contemporary aboriginal artist group, Tjanpi Central Desert Weavers. After doing some research on the work of this group,  I have been dying to try a project based on this post and figured Sculpture Week through North Vancouver Community Arts Council was the perfect time!

Blue Jay, 8 year old

Not perfect timing on my part however was introducing this project at the end of a three hour day in almost 100 degree heat...no air-conditioning!  Because living in Vancouver, you don't really need air-conditioning, except on the record breaking temperatures we were having on this particular day.

Exhausted 6,7, and 8 year old students, who were being asked to start a THIRD sculpture project at the end of a hot day, were unimpressed with my desire to cover newspaper forms in twine.  Thankfully the day ended quickly and I put this project to the side for a couple of days before they worked on it again.

Day three, rested children and blessed cooler temperatures more in keeping with Vancouver summers brought a whole new attitude to the project and not only were the kids far more impressed with my desire to continue on with the twine, they welcomed the variety of wool colored yarns, wires, and other found objects hidden in the recesses of the art cupboard that I pulled out to use.

How darling is the above bluejay?!

Snow Owl, 7 year old

I had gathered a bunch of sticks from around my cedar tree at home. I had the students wire their finished work on the branches but as you can see, some of them were not content to stop once the bird was on the branch. (which is where I thought the project would end) In amongst the junk, one child found a scour pad that became a nest, adding a bit of wool roving stashed in an old box and some pom pom's for eggs.  This then inspired another student to create her nest out of some pipe cleaner with pom pom eggs.  

I love when they are inspired by their peers' creations.

Flying Bird, 6 year old

As they started seeing the fun in working with found objects, the sticks I had brought in even became fair game and were quickly being turned into wings for flying birds!  

I offered to put a hanging wire into the above bird so the sculpture would be a mobile, but she was so in love with her work at the end she wanted to be able to play with it and "fly" it at home.  How cute is that?!  I love to see them truly enjoy their creations, especially this child who was the least impressed on the first day.  To see her overcome something she deemed "too hard" and after complaining numerous times about "not being able to do it", not only complete the project on her own, but LOVE doing it was the best!  Needless to say she was proud of herself and I was so proud of her too.

Fashionista Bird, 8 year old

Then the birds started taking on personalities!  Flying stick wings with an extra long neck in order to wear a lovely boa made from found roving.  Meet the "Fashionista Bird".  She did want her bird to hang like a mobile and it was equal parts funny and so, so darling.

7 year old

Then there was the bird with stars in their eyes.  This student was all in with every project and was the creator of the extra long tail that inspired a similar tail on the Fashionista bird.  She enjoyed this project from the beginning, even in the 100 degree heat.  She was such a good sport.

Although overall we got off to a slow start, once the kids got their second wind this was a very successful project.  As you can see, it took on a life of its own and I found it exciting to watch as their imagination took off and they were happy to go along for the ride and expand upon the original introduction I had given for the work.

I will be sad to see these sweet birds leave the studio, the heat yes, the birds, no.