This whimsical process based activity is accessible to very young artists and artists of any age with special needs. The large round surface of the fox's head provides a great "empty canvas" for play and experimentation with watercolor paints. With very few additional steps, the process based painting is transformed into a large and happy fox face that will surely put a smile on anyone's face. Enjoy and happy springtime!
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Diatom Paper Sculpture
Description: This activity pairs science with art, observing and exploring with making, and gives students the chance to take a tour at the OSU Museum of Art. It is inspired by Glass Houses, a multimedia artwork by Marguerite Perret and Bruce Scherting that is currently on display in the exhibition The State We’re In Water: Constructing a Sense of Place in the Hydrosphere (until May 29, 2021). This exhibition explores humanity's complex relationship to water- our dependency on it, our awe and love for it, as well as our careless waste and destruction of it. Glass Houses is a large, colorful installation piece that celebrates the tiny micro-organisms known as diatoms. Diatoms provide the earth with much of its oxygen through the process of photosynthesis and they are known as the "gems of the sea" because they are encased in glass and made of all the colors of the rainbow.
Spring Break Art Camp - Humans and the Hydrosphere
Prairie Arts Center is excited to partner with the OSU Museum of Art for this year's Spring Break Camp. Humans and the Hydrosphere will be an exploration of the museum's current exhibition, "The State We're In Water: Constructing a Sense of Place in the Hydrosphere." The hydrosphere is the sum total of all the water on the planet. Students will be using the lens of art and art-making to learn about watershed habitats, wastewater recycling, and the imprint of water movement on the land. They will also have the chance to explore and express their own relationship to water and participate in an interactive tour of the exhibition led by Cat and Christina at the museum.
Harriet Powers Story Quilt Collage
In our last session of Art Academy for 6-10 year olds, we focused on folk traditions from around the world. This lesson is inspired by well known American folk artist and quilter, Harriet Powers. Powers was born into slavery in 1839 in rural Georgia. She was a wife, a mother of nine, and it is speculated that she earned a living later in life as a seamstress. Only two of her quilts survive, both of them traditional applique and piecework. They are bold and skillful examples of so called story quilts, an art form which extends back to ancient African textile traditions. Each panel uses symbols and figures to tell a story. Powers' stories are an interesting mix of the mythical and religious and the personal and local.
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Mixed Media Winter Tree
This activity combines two mediums (watercolor and collage) and has both an exploratory, process-based step and a more focused, compositional step. In other words, a little something for everyone. The salt mixed with the watercolor will create an interesting and somewhat surprising snow storm effect that is sure to please. If you find this lesson after the holiday/winter season, you can always make a night sky and let the salt effect become the shining stars. Enjoy!
Talking Forest Collage
Description:
During our 2020 Summer Camp series, Art and the Ologies, we paired up two fields of scientific inquiry and explored the various ways that artwork illustrates and aids human understanding in those particular fields. From our week with "Entomology and Botany," we offer this particularly successful lesson about how, why, and with whom trees communicate. This is a fascinating topic that held the attention of our 6-9 year olds, as well as our 10-12 year old cohort. At the heart of this lesson is learning, appreciation, discussion, and something akin to shared wonderment.
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During our 2020 Summer Camp series, Art and the Ologies, we paired up two fields of scientific inquiry and explored the various ways that artwork illustrates and aids human understanding in those particular fields. From our week with "Entomology and Botany," we offer this particularly successful lesson about how, why, and with whom trees communicate. This is a fascinating topic that held the attention of our 6-9 year olds, as well as our 10-12 year old cohort. At the heart of this lesson is learning, appreciation, discussion, and something akin to shared wonderment.