Easy, affordable ornaments/ hanging sculptures

 I have been making ornaments with my students in the art gallery program and the after school program. I even used the first one as a station project when substitute teaching for art. These are quick easy and affordable.

primary color scheme ornament

 The first one is a paper ornament. Any paper will do but card stock will work the best .You could also recycle thin card board boxes from tissue or cereal(already patterned on one side, less coloring).  These are two same size circles sliced in half and and the slices slide together. I traced the bottom of a cup for these ones. I use one piece of  scotch tape where the pieces connect then pop it back put 1 hole punch at the top of the bottom circle which has the slit facing upward to hang the ornament. If you are making a couple tracing the circles is easy enough. For use in the classroom I recommend tracing a sheet of circles drawing the slits and using the copier to run sheets of circles and then cut them in groups of twos.

Secondary color scheme ornament

Step 1 Trace circles
Step 2 Cut out circles
Step 3 Color front and back of circles with markers, crayons. pencils etc.
 Step 4 Slide slits together
Step 5 Hole punch the top of the bottom circle( the one with the slits facing up)
Step 6  Tie yarn or ribbon through the hole
Step 7 Secure center circles with small piece of clear scotch tape or white glue where they meet up.




 Card board tube ornaments

Cardboard tube ornament painted with acrylics

 Thinner cut version of ornament

 These project uses card board tubes from paper towel or toilet paper.  You can choose to cut the tube into  thicker pieces 1 inch to 2 or thin1/2 inch pieces.  I have included pictures of a few finished ones to give you some ideas.


Step1   Choose to make an ornament with 3,4,5 or 6 pieces.

Three piece ornament

Five piece ornament

 

Six piece ornament

Step 2  Press the tube flat to make the cutting easier, cut the piece of the tube so they are all the same size.
Step3   Hole punch the pieces at one end in the middle of the piece.
Step 4  Decorate the cardboard pieces with paint, markers etc.
Step 5   Thread yarn or ribbon through the holes and tie them tight together so they pop out.
Step 6  Choose the top the the ornament and tie a loop of yarn or ribbon through it to hang it from.

The thing I like about these is that they fast, easy and can be personalized any way you want. These do not have to be a "holiday project." They are good for gifts, party favors, or for teaching: color schemes, 3d vs 2d,spatial reasoning, numbers and counting, sculptural elements and positive and negative space.

Paper pots

I was fortunate enough to be a teaching artist for a family day event at the Memorial Art gallery for the Native American family day last weekend. I wanted to share with you the project that we did and a few finished examples of it. I used some construction paper to create a template which I then scanned and was printed onto card stock so that participants could cut the template, decorate the cut out shape then fold on the lines to create their own small paper pots. We had images of Native American south west pottery there to serve as inspiration and some finished examples. These are the full page templates that you can print out.

I just love fall! I get so much inspiration from this season. The sights, the sounds the colors. I love picking pumpkins and painting/ carving them. I love hayrides, long walks to see the changing leaves and warm apple cider. So I have been working on a series of different fall themed drawings with students. For my Saturday classes for 7-10 year olds we have been creating fall scenes using markers. We talked about how to get different values out of the marker color be varying the pressure you apply on the marker. We also have a small how to draw a pumpkin tutorial and a discussion on horizon line and foreground, background and middle ground. We discussed how items in the front are larger then items in the back.

I created another variation of a marker drawing. The one below was draw with water based markers then a used a brush and brushed water back into it for a more water color effect.

The drawing with a hole in it

I was at my local library looking for books for the children's classes I was teaching and I came across "The Book with a Hole In It."  by Herve Tullet. Just by looking at the spine alone  I was intrigued. This book is full on scenarios that all revolve around the hole in the book. On each double spread image there is a question for the reader as to what they want to but in the hole. You can throw balls of paper through a "basketball hoop" or make your face "whats for dinner." I not only really enjoyed reading this book to my young 3-5 year old students and letting them interact with it. I also enjoyed sharing it with older students and having them created their own drawing with a hole in it. We folded large poster sized white drawing paper in half then using scissors I had older students,7-9 cut a hole in the paper then draw a scene around it when they were done kids put their faces in the hole. One girl made a dog with the hole in the dog's face with grass and a yard around it another made the hole be the top of a lollipop and the rest of the paper was a lollipop stand selling the candy.

Here I am with an example I modeled after my dog.

More sandwhihces and ATC's-last batch of sat classes for 2012

I just completed me most recent session of sat classes at the art gallery. Kids picked their favorite works of the first few we made and hung them in the show.Here's their work on display.

The gallery has some pieces by Claes Oldenburg that we got to look at after we made our sandwiches.We used craft foam and paper to make these sandwiches.


We also looked at examples from my collection of ATC and ACEO and then kids created their own using crayons watercolors and the resist method.










We did so much more then this but I did not get pictures of all the other work we did. We made collages, artist's books with their own prints,gumball machine mixed media pieces, polymer clay,and so much more in our 8 week session.

Super Sandwhiches

Feast your eyes on these fancy foods. We made super sandwich drawings then we made sculptural sandwiches with my sat class at the gallery. To make a Super sandwich drawing stack a draw a top of a bun at the top of the pages and a bottom of a sun at the bottom of the page. Then fill with ingredients. Draw cheese lettuce, burgers, meats, gravy you can even add, candy, eye balls, etc. Here is my unfinished--( the plight of the art teacher) example.

I will post student examples later.

Collage day

We recently had a Open house at the art gallery I work at. It was a day off from our art classes and was a day of open activities that families could drop into and try.

I was in the collage room we set out cafeteria style lunch trays and loads of supplies for people for people to use. These supplies included glue sticks,Elmer's white glue, yarn, ribbon, magazines, construction paper,Easter grass, tissue paper, craft foam,pencils,markers and colored pencils.


I brought my own little bag of collage goodies that I have had for years and refuse to part with until used up for collage. In my baggie were iridescent shiny reflective Kleenex box pieces, misprinted scrap booking background sheets i had photo copied, felt,shiny metallic foil pieces, old home economics book pictures, interesting scraps from other projects and other bits of fun stuff.

More kids making artists trading cards

 

I  taught a day of art day school at the Memorial Art Gallery during February recess. We dedicated this day to a day of making Artists Trading cards. I love teaching this art lesson.. one of the many things that i love is that there is no wrong way to do it. As long as the card is 2.5 by 3.5 inches and you trade it-- It' s a trading card. I explained to students the difference between an ACEO which is a original 2.5 x 3.5 inch card that is for sale and not for trade.. We had a little "test" where I
held up several items and asked them if it was an artist trading card of not and how it could be one..

The other thing I really like about artists trading cards for kids is that it is a quick project it hold there attention span for just long enough and you can move on and make another.. I challenged students to make 11 cards within a 2 and 1/2 to 3 hour time. I presented a materiel and how to use it and then let kids loose to make their own.. This time we used Bristol board, watercolor paper, and some of the kids made fabric cards which I ironed a fusable interfacing onto white cotton blend fabric that I had. I also used a very old box or playing cards that I found in my parents basement. We sanded the protective coating off of them them colored with markers on the card.We also had some scratch art cards to make our own images on.

We got some plastic trading card sleeves for kids to keep their cars in and I gave them a template to make their own envelopes to keep cards in.

I first showed kids how to use colored pencils then how to use paper punches and aluminum foil. I showed them how to use watercolor along with sharpie and or crayons.

This students was really into Doctor Who can you tell?

Photos from SoulSELFSpirit

 So last Friday  was the opening of the show at Stella art gallery and studio. This is a group a show which had a open call to artists in the Rochester area.This show currently features work by Adrien Stiles, Dennis Furioso,
Kat( Lanza) Baldwin,Myself (Susan Link) and Krystal Petito.

                                                        artwork by Krystal Petito

Artwork by Adrien Stiles and Katusica Lanza Baldwin

Wool needle felted wall hanging by me, Susan Link

Artwork by Susan Link(left, center)Kat Lanza Baldwin right center and Krystal Petitio

Kathy's Copenhagen's sock monsters available at the gallery's gift counter

Two art shows this month."Tarot" and" SoulSELFSpirit"

 In addition to the polymer clay work  I  also paint and draw! I will not only have my works up in the Tarot show at Genesee Co-op credit union next month but also at Stella Art Studio for the show SoulSELFSpirit.Others artist who will be exhibiting in this show include Dennis Furiouso, Kat Baldwin, Come join us for a Free admission opening from 6-10 on Friday Jan 6,2012.

"Tarot" an Exhibit of my oil paintings

 There will be an exhibition of my paintings at The Genesee Co-op credit union here in Rochester NY. The show will be hung on Jan 8th and will be on display in the lobby of the Credit union. The paintings will be visible during normal bank branch hours and there will be a reception on Sat Jan 21, 2012 from 7-9.

In addition to the hair things and polymer clay things I make I also love to paint.I paint with acrylic sometimes at home but I have also been taking advanced classes in oil painting at  The Memorial art Gallery for a few years now. I began working with oil paints in 2000 while studying Arts for children and a studying as a sculpture minor at SUNY Brockport. My initial experience with painting for years had been only working with acrylics and my instructor there insisted on me using oils. Since the process of working with and disposing of oil paints in so hazardous I refuse to use them at home but have been happy for the chance to work with them at the MAG and use up the old paint remaining from my college days.

I have been working on a series of canvases based on imagery from the Deck of Tarot. As a teenager I became intrigued with the cards and wanted to get my cards read. I then took classes and studied bought myself a few decks. The symbolism and what we make out of it the personal connection to these images is what intrigues me most about the cards. Some people see them as evil but really they have suites just like playing cards but use wands, cups, coins, and swords in exchange for  hearts, spades, diamonds,and clubs.Their are also kings and queens in a Tarot deck just like in cards. Their are Pages in Tarot and Jokers in playing cards.

I have currently created roughly 25 out of the 78 cards that are in a Deck and hope to photograph these canvases and turn them into a deck some day that could be sold.

Stella Art Gallery

 So I got a knock down drag out leave you on your couch miss two days of work type of cold/sinus infection last week. So I  was a little behind on my blog..  I try to post at least one time a week...

I wanted to share some news about a good friend of mines gallery space  that just opened. My good friend Kat who  I have blogged about before just opened a  art gallery. art studio space in the store front space right next to her sign shop Instant Sign Center in East  Rochester.
The first Friday of the month in Rochester is a large event for art gallery's here in Rochester and Kat took part with her new space. My good friend Becky Phillips who is a talented young photographer currently studying photo journalism at Rochester Institute of Technology who the headlining artist for this first show.

Stella art will be offering weekly classes for children and adults, as well as studio time for people to drop in and work. They will also be having several shows coming up with a call for artists!  There is a webpage with all pertinent information and below is a link for the facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/stellaartgalleryandstudio

Summer camp week one!

 For the summer I go from 5 part time part time jobs ( yes five:1. private lessons,2. before school care, 3.after school care,4. subbing 6 districts and 5.working weekends at the Memorial art gallery teaching and coordinating plus 6 if you count the etsy shops) to one full time position. I am the Art day School Coordinator for the  Memorial Art gallery's Creative workshop. Last week I got to be a teacher for week one. I conducted a lesson called "BIG Paintings". We worked on three mural projects, one large poster size painting, and made several large paintings on paper.

I used a PDF file from a art teachers blog called "Art Projects For Kids" I downloaded the PDF file"Ode  to Matisse" and printed it out twice one on card stock and once on copy paper. I had 12 students in each class so this 24 piece project had just the right number of pieces. Each student got one 8x10 inch piece to paint. I let student pick there own colors then they had to talk to the other people whose pieces touched theirs to make sure to same shapes had the same colors. It forced them to talk to one another and work together.We used acrylic paints to paint these.The second copy students used at the end of the week and colored it in with oil pastels.

We looked at images of Matisse drawing, his painting, his stained glass designs and cut outs in book and on the internet.

We worked with tempera and acrylic paints. We also touched about different types and brushes different painting mediums and what they all do. We used foam brushes, foam rollers, fan brushes, mop brushes, liner brush, flay and round brushes.I demonstrated each brush and told them how to use each one and why each brush was called that. I also talked about mixing colors and getting to right amount of water on your brush proper rinsing and watching out for your neighbors while painting. After the demo I let them loose on large paper 18" x 24" paper and encouraged them to make abstract paintings with tempera. I brought in some examples of my own abstract paintings to hang up and we went to the gallery and looked at the several examples there.


Here are some examples of students work.

I  put up large paper on the bulletin board walls in the classroom and traced each students body with a pencil onto the large paper. I was trying to make students bodies over lap so the the image would like like they posed for one big class photograph.Students painted in their bodies and their clothing.We did a one day lesson on facial proportion and how to draw facial features correctly and to scale as well as hair then student s could start painting in their faces.

Here's a section of the seniors wall mural (students ages 9-13)

In addition to the murals students created their own paintings where they traced their arms. For seniors I gave the kids their "homework" of choosing their favorite belongings and making them arranged all over the floor like they just spread all their favorite things out on the floor and were grabbing for them.

Here are some examples

For juniors we did a variation of this were students traced their arms and then use layers and acrylic and gel medium to put their arms in an environment that they like grass and swimming in water.

We also experimented with using sand as texture medium.

So it is finally summer

 I  have been struggling through this last few days of school with Bursitis in my hip I finally go in for the Cortisone shot today. I am not sure what this will  mean for the all the dance rehearsals and performances we have scheduled for the Tribal Goddess Collective. I have some art shows booked and will be teaching/ coordinating the summer camp at the art gallery starting this upcoming Monday. I really need to spend this weekend preparing. I have spent the last few days just trying to heal and laying on ice packs.

I have been working on a second etsy shop called Tribal Trends. Me and my fellow dance sisters are posting tribal dance accessories for sale in this shop.Above is one pair of the chandelier style beaded earrings I have been making for this new shop.

Guest art teacher atHamiedye academy

Over this last  school year I have, amongst my other jobs, been working at a small private Islamic academy as the guest art teacher. I went in to the school using their lunch room to teach in. I brought all the art supplies with me. The first session met at the art gallery and students looked at works of art as well as working on a brief drawing of objects discussing contour and gesture drawing styles.

Other future sessions included poetry along with painting, cartooning, painting with tempera, drawing and clay work.The cartooning session I had posted earlier in the year and was  the one post with the snowmen.

The most recent completed project was ceramic clay tiles I rolled slabs in advance with a slab roller. I cut the slabs into square and rectangular pieces then I also used a pencil to make holes in the top of each tile shape.

We used red clay for the tiles then used white clay and a dark brown color clay. I showed students how to slip and score how to roll coils and how to use premade hand carved ceramic stamps on clay to make texture. These clay tiles are currently on display at the Memorial art Gallery's Creative Workshop Lucy Burne gallery.