Week 11

The middle school class started a new project this past week with Gary that went along with the found-objects show in the school's gallery. It is a project he likes to do every year and is very in expensive. The students build an architectural sculpture out of cheap hot glued-together plastic silverware. The need to build it at least 18" high and use different techniques, such as X-ing the pieces, fan shapes, pyramiding ,and building a solid substructure. After the base, the students can apply decorative forms out of the silverware throughout the structure and at the apex. They had a lot of fun building and had somewhat of a competition to build the highest or most elaborate. using the hot glue gun was a plus for the boys. This project went quickly (about a week or less since they have art every day). Would take longer at a public school when you only have art once or twice a week. this project would be a good precursor to a larger found objects project. The larger could be a cooperative effort with students bringing in or finding objects and working together to design and place the materials.

Tuesday and Thursday I also worked with a high school student that i have mentioned in previous posts. he is working with the over grazing of fisherman and especially the shark fisherman off the coast of Japan harvesting fins and throwing the rest of the fish out. I took in my airbrush and showed him techniques to get a nice blended appearance on his fired-clay shark fins. The mastery will take a while because it takes a lot of practice to understand the techniques. The student is doing well and has improved the patina on the fins dramatically. He is considering acquiring his own air-brush. he has a lot of pieces to work on, so this will be an on-going project that I look forward to assisting him in.