Halloween inspired shadow boxes

I love when students take a project idea and make it their own.

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! 

Day of the Dead inspired bird assemblages

I have discovered that kids love creating any type of assemblage art.

In the Birds of a Feather camp, I thought the kids would think it was fun to create a bird skeleton assemblage box inspired by creations I had shared with them of shadow boxes created for the Day of the Dead holiday in Mexico.

They were quite fascinated by them and quickly honed in on the bane of every art teacher and the highlight of every student......glitter.

So with some oven baked clay, each child created a skeleton sculpture. When it was harden, they used permanent black marker to create their skeleton. I had put out reference, but most children decided to just work from their imaginations.

To be truthful, we had lots of birds start out from their imaginations with this project.

Then they painted the inside of their boxes and the outside rim.

For those that wanted, and the majority did, I had glitter for them to add to the inside of the box.

Let me just say that for some reason it seemed each child had come to camp that day after being served at least two bowls of sugary breakfast cereal and for some insane reason I felt adding glitter to the mix was a good idea. I'll just leave the aftermath to your imagination....

By the time they had finished painting their boxes and adding glitter the camp day came to an end.

Which was perfect as it gave the boxes time to dry and me the day to clean up the glitter extravaganza left behind on the tables, the floors, and every other crevice in the studio. The floor is still sparkling like a disco ball two weeks later in just the right light if I'm truthful.

But what's important is the kids had fun and if you can't use glitter at an art studio, where can you use it?

When the kids arrived the next day, there were rhinestones, feathers and whatever else I could find on the tables for them to finish up the boxes.

They were all so pleased with their finished creations. Aren't they fun?

I especially love this little girl who highlighted her family's cat that ran away. When explaining the holiday to the kids, I had told them this wasn't a sad or scary day but a day where their loved ones were celebrated and that by remembering them, the relatives continued to live on. She took this to heart and wanted to create her shadow box to remember their cat so it would continue to live on in their lives, even if it was not physically present.

Pretty sweet.

Once again the kids proved that creating assemblage boxes is a popular project. They truly enjoyed themselves and were so excited with each and every decision they made during the process.

They could not wait to share them with their parents and I think of all the projects they took home that Friday, this is the one the kids will be most excited to give a place of honor in their homes.