Students watched the movie Wall-E as a consumption wake up call. I wanted students to realize what objects they were discarding and what those could be repurposed and reused for. I collected objects for several weeks in order to have enough. Students went in table rotations to claim supplies. A requirement was to use 10 different objects and they could only used recycled or repurposed objects on their project. I bought nothing, but what the students made was incredible! The sculptures were on display for the duration of the school year in the high school library.

Arty on! 

Students in Mixed Media studied pop artist Keith Haring. After research, students designed a figure in the style of the artist. The sculptures were assembled using recycled materials. The structures are made from cardboard which were glued together. After this, they were reinforced with newspaper and paper mache glue. Students chose one color to paint their sculpture. 

The challenge for students was to incorporate all figures from their peers. The students used one color of Sharpie to add their designs in the style of Keith Haring. Beyond their classmates figures, students were encouraged to add words, shapes and animals similar to Keith Haring.

Students took their sculptures around the school until they chose a location to display them. At the end of the project, we used my demonstation sculpture as a piñata with review questions from the project! 

Arty on!  

A Mixed Media class of 17 students worked together on a chandelier inspired by artist Dale Chihuly. Chihuly is well known for glass blown sculptures that are hung, suspended and floating. He works with a team of artists so my approach to the project was similar to his; create several sketches of inspiration and guide others through the process of creating the work. I enjoyed seeing a group of students come together like this for several reasons: collaboration, communication, problem solving, compromise, flexibility, excitement, recycling and a new and fresh way to see another type of art. 

The process included collecting plastic bottles (we did not limit this to just 20 ounce plastic bottles but also took Gatorade, juice, soda bottles. The group of students collected plastic bottles during lunch for 10 days (2 weeks of school). The school at the time did not have accessible means for plastic recycling so it became a call to action and an awareness campaign for them as well. 

The students washed the bottles and allowed them to dry. After this, colors were chosen. The group of students decided to do school colors (red, white and gray). The bottles were divided into large containers. There were stations that students would rotate through: 
1. Wash and remove all caps and labels
2. Paint bottles solid color and place on newspaper to dry
3. Cut the bottom of the bottle off and sit aside (keep the mouth on the bottle)
4. Using scissors cut the bottle from the bottom to the top in spirals (different widths and amounts are great!)
5. Attach the bottle to the sculpture (put hot glue on the mouth of the bottle and place into the chicken wire structure)
6. Build from the bottom up and space out colors as desired!

The structure was made from two recycled hula hoops, chicken wire and wire hangers and twist ties to attach together. The bottles were attached using hot glue. The mouth of the bottles fit tightly and securely into the chicken wire. 

To end the project, the students all took one last bottle and completed all of the steps and signed their name. This was very special to the group of students and myself as we had never done a project of this size and time duration and all were proud and excited about the work! I still have kids from this group come up to me to show me different Chihuly sightings since then!

Arty on!