Collage of Chance

Hello everyone!

Today we will be exploring art and math by creating a collage made entirely by chance. Or was it?

This project is geared toward early childhood classes and young kiddos. It allows them to experiment and explore mathematical theories like probability. Although your little one may be too young to question whether randomness exists, we can certainly introduce them to the idea of making predictions and observing results using glue, yarn and paper!

Supplies –

paper, card stock, cardboard or any other surface you will use to be your canvas.
glue – liquid glue works best.
collage materials – I used different lengths and thicknesses of yarn, thread, rope and tape. You can also use different types of paper. You can even use dental floss!

Steps –

art is messy – make sure you spread newspaper or a plastic garbage bag on your work surface
lay your canvas down and cover with glue. I don’t paint the glue on because I’ve found that the collage materials need a thicker line of glue to adhere to the canvas.
the application of the glue can also be “random” by squeezing the glue bottle and moving your hand around the canvas or squeezing and letting the glue drip where it will .
once your canvas is covered to your liking, start by dropping your collage materials, one by one onto the canvas.
try dropping the yarn or paper close to the canvas, from farther away or even stand on a chair and drop them onto the canvas placed on the floor!

large collage — I used yarn, ribbon, paper strips and even duct tape to make my collage.

The idea is that the collage materials will land where gravity takes them and so the result will be a collage that is determined by chance and not by the purposeful placing of the materials.

Once your collage is dry, you can preserve it by covering it with clear plastic wrap or paint on a coat of watered down white glue.

2 finished collage — I covered my collage with Press ‘N Seal. You can cover the finished piece before the glue dries. Little hands love to pick off the materials before they are dry. Cut a piece a little bigger than the collage overlap and tape edges to the back.

Project Extensions –

can you predict where a piece of yarn or paper will land?
does the placement depend on how thick or thin the material is?
do you see any pattern in how the pieces landed or where they landed on the canvas?
if you use yarn and thread, once dry your collage makes for a great sensory experience too. The glue and yarn make interesting textures!

Art History – Jean (Hans) Arp was an artist that was part of the DADA movement. One of his most famous artworks is; Untitled (Collage with Squares Arranged according to the Laws of Chance).

You can learn more about Hans Arp and his technique here – MOMA Learning

I hope you are enjoying the projects and getting a chance to watch the videos at https://www.facebook.com/artoutofanything/

See you next week, on Tuesday, when we will be learning about Jackson Pollock!

Thanks for visiting and keep creating!

Patty

Drawing with Glue

You can watch the step by step video for this project at Art Out of Anything on FB and Instagram. New projects posted every week on Tuesday and Thursday!

Today’s project is an old favorite, with a new twist. In keeping with our motto of “work with what you have”, drawing with glue just got a little interesting.

Supplies –

white glue
paper – construction paper, card stock, cardboard or all of these
sand
glitter

Sand and glitter will be used as your pigments (colors). No sand? No glitter? You’ve got great powdered pigments right in your kitchen cabinets!

I used the following:

salt
sugar
pepper
condiments like onion powder, paprika, nutmeg, cinnamon, dry mustard, ground or instant coffee etc.

cups with powder pigment 2 — I put my powdered pigments into little plastic shot glasses, but you can use yours straight from the original containers too.

A great addition to this project is to have some music playing and “draw” to the music. Music and art are very good companions. It’s interesting to see how different kinds of music can inspire you and your kiddo to create.

You can start drawing a free hand design by letting the glue flow and drip from the bottle.

If you want to get a steadier line, place the tip of the glue bottle at an angle on the paper and use it like a pencil to draw.

Tap the container to control how much powdered pigment is added to the drawing.

You can use only one color at a a time for each drawing or you can use a variety of colors to get lines that fade into eachother. That’s my favorite technique.

Multi color on white paper

Give the glue a little time to dry so it doesn’t drip when you pour off the extra colors. Remember, the thicker the line the longer it will take to dry.

Once your piece is complete, be sure to save the excess pigment. Now you’ll have what I like to call, the very special Pre K Rainbow color mix that you can use for more projects 🙂

I’ve gotten a little fancy with my paper here and will use my Pre K Rainbow color mix as my pigment.

As you can see, there are so many different ways you can experiment with pigments and one of the most interesting results, is that you end up with a pretty fragrant work of art. See if you can find condiments that work well together in terms of their scents. Nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar might just inspire you to make a glue drawing of cupcakes or a pumpkin pie!

Resources and Project Extension – When I do this project in an Art Out of Anything workshop, I always start by introducing a popular art from from India called Rangoli. Here’s a link to the history of this beautiful art form, the traditional process and free templates to download to try your own – https://www.dltk-kids.com/world/india/mrangoli.htm

Once all of your amazing artwork is completely dry, shake off any excess pigment and if needed, carefully brush off any left over pigment with a soft paintbrush or tissue.

One last thing, no white glue? No problem, glue sticks work just fine too.

glue stick fish 13 — Glue sticks dry much faster than liquid glue so you have to work a little faster, this would be a good time to play some peppy music!

Thanks so much for visiting.

Keep creating,

Patty

Marbling with Nail Polish

Today was the first day of our “Work with what you have” video series! You can visit us @artoutofanything on FB for the full video.

Nail Polish Marbleizing explores science and art concepts by focusing on surface tension and the Japanese art of Suminagashi, with which you can create beautiful designs by using ink and water.

Working with what you have in this case means using nail polish instead of ink.

Here are some fantastic websites that explain it all in more detail:

Teach Engineering: Surface Tension and Suminagashi – a complete lesson plan for teachers and homeschooling families using ink and water.

Geeky Nail Polish – a fun post about nail polish marbleizing for your actual nails with some really good follow up questions and answers from scientists!

Suminagashi.com – all you need to know about this beautiful art form.

Be sure to watch my video @artoutofanything on FB for the how to’s and be sure to follow and post your own versions of nail polish marbleizing. I would love to see what you come up with!

I’ll be back with more on Thursday!

Patty

Cultural Competency in the Classroom Using Proverbs

Although I have been presenting Professional Development workshops for teachers for quite a few years, I just recently started offering them as an independent presenter. I was thrilled to have been able to offer this workshop for Long Island teachers via the Huntington Arts’ Journeys in Education Program, which brings multicultural programming to Long Island schools.

The Path is Made by Walking: using Proverbs to Develop Cross Cultural Competence –

An introduction to cross-cultural competence in the classroom. Cultural competence is the ability to successfully teach students who come from a culture or cultures other than our own. By participating in activities that connect the cultures that shape us personally and professionally, we can begin to develop personal and interpersonal awareness and sensitivities that lead us to understanding certain bodies of cultural knowledge, to begin to acquire a skill set of effective cross-cultural and culturally responsive teaching.

Every culture passes down proverbs in the oral tradition. These traditions cross cultural lines by connecting us in a way that is personal and human. Participants will share proverbs and sayings that they remember from their childhood or adolescence. In choosing proverbs, we understand the commonality of cultures. In this workshop, participants create mixed media collages using a chosen proverb, followed by sharing time, discussion and Q&A.

It was a fantastic experience to meet 24 enthusiastic, engaged and talented teachers from many different backgrounds and disciplines. It was really special to know that not all were art teachers since this workshop is designed as a multidisciplinary project.

I am happy to see more core curriculum teachers embrace the idea of an arts integrated lesson and explore their own creativity.

Here are some in-progress and finished pieces from that day and some super nice quotes from participating teachers.

Contact me at eljaiekart@gmail.com or use the contact form below, if you are interested in bringing Art Out of Anything classroom or PD workshops to you school or organization.