Artists that Inspire Us

Welcome to the first of my monthly posts as a member of the new Art Ed Blogger Network!  A group of bloggers have all gotten together to post on the same day each month all on the same topic.  You can find links to all the other blogs in the network at the bottom of this post.  Have fun checking them all out!   

 For our first month, we've selected the topic "Artists That Inspire Us"  I've chosen three artists to talk about today: Henri Matisse, Laurel Burch, and Dan Reeder.  I hope you'll join us all each month!

HENRI MATISSE
On Facebook, I recently shared a pic of a new painting I was working on, and a friend told me it reminded him of a Matisse.  To me, that was the ultimate comment; it's no secret I'm a huge fan.  I am always smitten by artwork with vibrant,cheerful, and rich color, and the playful use of patterns and shapes.  Matisse just has it all for me, along with a joyousness of spirit that makes me happy.  Which is why, I suppose, I've used his work as inspiration for so many art lessons over my years of teaching, a number of which I've posted about on the blog and will link for you in this post.

First up is one of my favorites Matisse lessons: 3rd grade "Fauve Fauves" - wild beasts (we used African animals as our inspiration) painted in wild 'fauve' colors!  Ive blogged about versions of the project HERE and HERE.  And my 2nd graders made inventive collages of 'fauve fauves' using various scrap materials.  I posted about them HERE.

And Matisse was the inspiration for my 4th graders' wonderful still life paintings (example above) that I shared HERE, and my second graders' still life work (below) posted HERE. 

And first graders used Matisse's 'painting with scissors' process as inspiration for the colorful and textural pieces that I shared HERE. 

You can find a link to another 'painting with scissors' project that I developed, for Pacon, HERE. You'll have to go there to see what it is!

LAUREL BURCH

It is many of the same characteristics found in Matisse's work, the rich joyous colors and use of decorative pattern, that excite me in Laurel Burch's work.  I love that her work is so commercially accessible, too. And just as Matisse faced physical adversity (we know his physical limitations, due to his health, are what inspired the 'painting with scissors' body of work), so did Laurel Burch.  She lived a life of pain, with a disease that caused her to have fragile bones that broke easily.  Yet the pain is never visible in her vibrant and joyous artwork.  We looked at her Fantastic Felines as inspiration for these gorgeous papier-mache cats, made by my 5th graders. I blogged about them a few times, including HERE and HERE. 

Her Celestial Dreams were the inspiration for these works by grade 2.  I posted about them HERE. 

DAN REEDER
When I first began teaching elementary school, after 8 years teaching high school, I was terrified.  What do elementary art students do?  I thought "they make stuff out of papier-mache, of course!"  Unfortunately, I'd never used papier-mache in my life.  While at a state art ed convention, I came across a book named The Simple Screamer, that outlined the process for making a goofy-looking papier-mache monster.  The book was by Dan Reeder ("Dan the Monster Man"), and I was hooked.  A couple of students and I worked together to build a silly 'screamer' using his instructions.  Dan's hints on the process really got me going and helped me be successful.  When I discovered that Dan was actually a teacher (he's now retired; he taught 5th grade), and had a passion for making papier-mache dragons, it excited me even more.  You can find out more about his and his work on his website, Gourmet Paper Mache.  Here's another one of Dan's books. Many of you have probably seen his work, in particular his time lapse videos of the construction of his dragons.   

Since that time, papier-mache has definitely become one of my passions, both to do myself, and to teach.  Over the years, from time to time I've touched base with Dan via his blog. I contacted him a couple of days ago.  Knowing he lives in Seattle, I thought maybe there'd be a way to tour his studio while I'm in the city for the NAEA convention. But his studio is in his basement, and since he retired from teaching, he no longer lets people tour his studio.  I'm disappointed but I'm retired too, so I understand.  I'm hoping there's some places in the city where I can actually get to see one of his dragons or other creations.  By the way, while my process wasn't identical to his, he inspired me to build Lucy, the dragon in my art room!  Yes, there was really a dragon!  Here she is, relaxing on an art room table while her wings were undergoing repair. 

 I used Dan's 'cloth-mache' process to build her.  Because she's about 5' long, I had to work on her in my backyard over the summer, and it took me about 3 years to finish her (it was weather-dependent, and I'm easily distracted)!  Then she went to live in my art room, where my students loved her.  She is named Lucy (in the Sky) after the Beatles song, of course. For the complete story on Lucy and her construction and life, check out this old post, HERE.  In the pic below, she's under construction.

Nowadays, Lucy is, like me, retired.  She resides at our 'camp' in the Adirondacks.  Most of her time is spent snoozing on the bunk bed, but sometimes she gets out and suns herself on the rocks.  

I hope you'll come back on the first Tuesday of each month to see what the Art Ed Blogger Network has in store to read! (also in between, because I have lots of other posts planned, too!)

This post is a part of The Art Ed Blogger's Network: Monthly Tips and Inspiration from Art Teacher Blogs. On the first Tuesday each month, each of these art teacher blogs will post their best ideas on the same topic.

Participating Art Teacher Blogs:

• Art Class Curator
• Art Ed Guru
• Art is Basic
• Art Room Blog
• Artful Artsy Amy
• Capitol of Creativity
• Cassie Stephens
• Create Art with ME
• MiniMatisse
• Mr. Calvert's Art Room Happenings
• Mrs. T's Art Room
• Party in the Art Room
• shine brite zamorano
• Tales from the Traveling Art Teacher
• There's a Dragon in my Art Room

Here Comes the Sun... 2nd graders & Laurel Burch

My 2nd graders looked at the "Celestial Dreams" designs of the fabulous Laurel Burch.
Here are a couple of samples of her artwork that I shared:

The kids said my window-shade (pic below) reminded them of Laurel Burch's suns. Thanks, kids!

The kids drew on 18" square paper, each incorporating some sort of frame into their design. Some drew suns and moons in a split design; others did just suns. They painted solid areas of color with bright pre-mixed tempera colors, mimicking the colors of Laurel Burch. Then they used oil pastels to add pattern, outline, and extra details. I'm so proud of their exuberant work!



Here's a couple of bulletin boards full of them. So cheerful!

A few more cats and a little more insanity

Nancy's colorful cat. The collar will be getting bedazzled with jewels.


Connor's cat has a wistful expression.


Jeff's camoflage cat. Not exactly Laurel Burch, but he loves it, so I do too.


Chelsea's Glamour Puss got a necklace and earrings today and I think will be getting jewels on her collar too.


Anna and Grant have rainbow cats in progress.

And what's this below? Shredded paper - lots of it - three full garbage bags - I poured in a couple of buckets of warm water to break it down a bit, and tomorrow it will get a bunch of papier-mache goo mixed in, because my 4th graders will be building hunks of CAVE WALLS and I want them to be bigger than last year. Check out here to see what I'm planning with this glop.


As if I don't have enough stuff in my room, I have a tower of teddy bear chairs stacked practically to the ceiling on my counter, and 18" square paintings in the drying rack, and clay pinch pot clusters on a shelf, and... and... and... INSANITY.

I must be insane.

It is taking FOREVER for the 5th grade kiddos to finish their Laurel Burch style papier-mache "fantastic felines", but I thought I'd show you a few that are almost done. I should have a bunch more to show you next week. I'm loving Olivia's glamorous kitty on the left above, and the one on the right, proudly built by a sweet Down syndrome child, has personality plus.
And Chelsea's cat has the most gorgeous whiskers, and I think it will be getting a jeweled collar. The dots that are all over its body have sparkly (with glitter-glue) outlines.

And here's a couple of views of Colton's dramatic black, white, and gold cat. He hasn't done the facial features yet.


So why am I insane? Because, with the cats still filling my cabinets and counter-tops, and the 6th grade Darumas all still in the art room, today my 3rd graders starting the armature for THEIR papier-mache project. Can you guess what they will be? (answer below the photo)

No, not robots, not rocket ships. They are going to become garden gnomes! (they don't have arms added on as of yet) and the kids are very excited. Yeah to my custodian who left me a carton filled wit Gatorade bottles.

Meanwhile, things are INSANE in my school this week, as some jobs cuts were made public and nobody is happy.

Sneak Peek

My cats, today after one got painted and received eyes, and the other was primed with a coat of gesso. The 2nd photo was taken before the paint job. Next time you see them the little cat will be painted with rich reds and other jewel tones; my taste totally!

The idea is that the kids will WANT their cats to look like this.

I put my foot down today. A couple of 5th graders were showing their bratty sides, and I didn't like it. I told them they would HAVE to step out of the box and try to paint their cat with rich colors and designs. If they want to change the look of their cat when they get it home, that's fine. But they will start out MY way.