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Saturday, June 8, 2013

Inspired by the Art of Andy Goldsworthy - 5th Grade

Collaborative student piece


One cloudy (and later very rainy) morning a class of enthusiastic fifth graders, their teacher and their art teacher went into the woods and created art in nature from nature.

Before we left on our adventure the class became very familiar with the art of artist,
Andrew Goldsworthy.





They were fascinated by how he would build these arches!
I found several video clips of him working in nature on pieces.
If you do a google search there are many to choose from.





As the kids worked some amazing pieces began to form...






Each piece evolved...









This one was a snake curled up in the grass...



I saw a dragon's head...



They worked with colors...



These students created a snake out of leaves that curled around the tree and branches.
The only thing holding them together is water.



They were amazed how well spraying water on the leaves held them together!



Only natural items could be used...
Water and earth clay were used as adhesives...



This is the leaf snakes face...



Some of the kids really wanted to create a stone piece but were limited by what was available in the space we were in...






I love the use of the smaller, lighter color stones in the spaces between the large rocks.

The students were able to create some great pieces before the rain started to come down upon us later in the morning.

By doing their own pieces the kids realized that sometimes an idea works and sometimes it does not.
An idea is an evolution of trial and error.



The school year is quickly coming to a close...

We have one full week and six half days and then we are done!  

In that time I have SGO paperwork to finish up, two rooms to straighten up, end of the year paperwork,  
finish handing back student work, final grades for 900 plus students and project planning for a summer art program.  This summer I will be working with our school's summer care program to teach art to our summer care kids one day a week. The ages range from K-8th grade.  I know all the kids and it will be  creating art for arts sake! (yeah!) I'm excited to start.  I am planning a theme for each week.  Our first week will be Art in Motion!  

Mrs.C  :)
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5 comments:

  1. These are wonderful! I would love to do something along these lines and will keep this in mind for next year. This is a terrific idea for summer camps, too. This would have be a fantastic idea for when I ran Girl Scout camp as a partner project to fairy houses.

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  2. It was a lot of fun! We have some wooded property that was donated to the school many years ago to use for educational purposes. It is about 10 minutes from school by bus (if that). It's utilized by grades K-8 all year round. :)

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  3. How amazing!!!!! The best ideas from that age group yet.

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  4. Very talented young people, love their creative ideas.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  5. A fascinating post and great to see where the children went with their constructions. You sound as. Though you have a busy time ahead....hopefully then a breather...break! Mrs A

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