Ringling Art Museum

 As a kid, we always went on little educational adventures. Nana and Papa brought us to numerous museums and parks, including visits to of homes of past presidents. Now as an adult, I think museums and house tours are getting up there with brewery tours as one of my favorite things to do. Of course, the art teacher in me is also appreciative of a nice little art museum! This winter break, I was able to enjoy a great house with beautiful grounds AND an art museum, all with my Mom and Nana in the warmth of the Florida sun.


To me, the Ringling Art Museum is like a hidden gem. Its really more than just an art museum too! I had no idea what to expect, in fact it was either Mom or Nana who asked me if it was going to be all art about the circus. (First of all, this was Nana's idea and second of all, do I really want to spend a day looking at circus art!?) I wasn't even sure if it was the same Ringling let alone where Sarasota was in relation to where I was staying. I knew nothing! And was pleasantly surprised.

Come to find out, it is the same Ringling as in the Ringling Brother's Circus. In one of the buildings on the grounds, which was the old art museum, there was an informative half hour video about the life of John and Mable Ringling. Both came from nothing. Before the stock market crash and the Great Depression, John had made some good investments, including real estate in Florida, and was the youngest brother of the successful Ringling Brother's Circus. He and his wife Mable taught themselves about art and began collecting. Also, like Isabella Stewart Gardner up here in Boston, the Ringlings designed a Venetian pallazo which was their winter residence. After Mable died young and the economy took a down turn, John refused to sell their art collection, even though he was pressured. When John Ringling died, their art collection, home and grounds were given to the city of Sarasota for all to enjoy.

The first building we went to, above, was the circus museum. An amazing artist (whose name I can't remember) built an entire miniature circus. The detail was incredible! It was encased in glass and the lights even dimmed to simulate night, and visitors could walk around to see every aspect of unloading, preforming and reloading the circus. I read Water for Elephants about a year ago and it was cool to compare my visual images to what I was seeing in the miniature. I was surprised to see the book in the gift shop on the way out too!

The next building was even cooler. There was a refurbished train car that was once John and Mable Ringling's car. Seeing the train car in person really brought to life many of the scenes I read in Water for Elephants. Plus, I have been reading a few other books that have taken place between the 1900s and 1930s where a lot of train traveling takes place. I'm fascinated!

But then there was more in there! In another room there were life size wagons with the signs advertising the side shows.

That kind of circus art was cool!
Then Mom and Nana got nostalgic because there the wagons that were used when the circus would bring the parade through town. I don't ever remember seeing these, but the craftsmanship was gorgeous!

Then there was the pallazo.
Mable really took over this project and as the video told us, she spared no detail. I don't know if I could ever live in it, but it was nice to day dream and think myself a part of the Great Gatsby.

AND THEN, there was the art museum.
At this point we had already been on the grounds for hours, with a little picnic lunch at the car (only later did we realize there were tables). I enjoyed walking through the sculpture garden. I also appreciated that in each gallery there were laminated cards with information about the images and sculptures. Nana wanted to catch a tour from a docent. I usually don't mind a docent, but this one went on and on and on. Nana did a great job keeping up and looking interested, but I was getting tired. Much of the collection is also religious in nature or Baroque. It felt like freshman year art history all over again. But, how amazing that these pieces were collected by one man! Try to check out the link at the beginning of the post. You'll be impressed.

 This was probably my favorite piece. The curators even painted the gallery to match and hung a chandelier like the one in the image, just above the piece.

There are four or five Rubens in the collection! Massive paintings filled with symbolism.

Creative use of the bougainvillea!

Such an awesome day.
And I got to use my student discount to boot. Four awesome places for five bucks!

And thanks to my mom for many of the photos in this post!

DIY Bookends

Can I just say, I stinkin love Pinterest!?
Its funny, in college one of my professors encouraged us, no- required us- to keep a "box" full of things that inspired us. Twyla Tharp in, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, encourages people to do the same, and that semester we read many excerpts from her book. I actually took it out from the library this summer as part of my Seminar in Creativity class.... I'm getting off topic.
My box was full of pictures of eyes, women adorn with fabrics that flowed , patterned and whimsical interiors and skate/ pop punk culture pictures, all torn from the pages of any magazines I could get my hands on.
Pinterest is kinda like that box. Many of the things I "tear from pages" are now lessons, and less inspiration for my own work. (Which is a shame, but once my Master's degree is done, I need to will schedule a "date" night at least once a month for me and my art supplies.) But my boards are a place that I can keep going back to and find inspiration from. And like the satisfying feeling I got when I used the box to complete my textile design senior show, its such a pleasure to find an idea online and make it your own.

So the impetus for this rant:

Originally pinned from: PBteen
When I saw this, I immediately thought of my boyfriend. But swap the dogs for dinosaurs and its the perfect (hopefully) Christmas present.

I started this project in early November. I'm sure that the original is made in a factory and probably a mold of some sort, but I knew I could figure a way to put this together. I planned to find two plastic dinosaurs and some scrap wood bases and spray paint everything.
I started at a toy store looking for cheap, plastic dinosaurs. But there was no such thing! All the dinosaurs were EACH over ten bucks. They were almost like little scale models, and the sales staff couldn't think of anything of a decent size that they carried.
I decided to look online.
I found two of the same, about four inch tall, dinos on eBay and scooped em up as fast as I could.

The base was the next struggle.
My local big box stores didn't have solid blocks of wood, that were not curved like chair feet, that would work. They also wouldn't cut a four by four, so they say, nor did they have a scrap bin. So I asked a couple of friends but then it came down to crunch time. I asked a custodian for any suggestions and they pointed me to a pile of scrap wood! AND offered to cut it for me. At home of course. Perfect!
I had to glue two pieces together, which is my only qualm about the final product, but I LOVE how my dinosaur bookends came out. I really hope my boyfriend likes them as much as I do.

Middle School Art "Choice" Day

First of all, this was the longest week on record! I was as bad as the kids, anxious for Winter Break, but had a crazy schedule and a cold to contend with before making it to Friday.
As I looked around my classroom yesterday afternoon though, I realized how lucky I am. Despite my hemming and hawing trying to figure out what to do this week, my kids were so content with what they were doing in the art room. That was a good feeling. And as I took a step back and observed, I realized that I am so lucky: I have a job that I love, great students and a supportive staff. The tragedy in the news mixed with the feeling of the holidays made this week surreal for me, but in the end I'm glad I had that little moment to step back, enjoy and be thankful.
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Creative Minds Tempera and India Ink "Batik"

I always LOVE this activity!
I knew after the first meeting of Creative Minds that this group of kids could handle the long term dedication needed to see this to fruition. I first did this with a group of elementary school kids in preparation for our first ever "After School Art Show." The image above, of Venus fly traps, is probably still my favorite. (Side story, this student was in 4th grade when she did this. I then had her as an art student in 8th grade when I was finally hired in the public schools. I now see her from time to time at the high school. Side, side note, five years later after I no longer work for the program, the "After School Art Show" still continues each spring!)

So I probably found this idea over five years ago at Kinder Art.
Since then, I have done this with three groups of kids, two of which were after school art clubs. When groups only meet once a week, this can take up to a month to complete. So heres whats up:

1. Plan a design. I typically talk about motif and random pattern. Some of the most interesting works have been just simple shapes.
2. Draw the design on larger paper using chalk. I have always used the standard 12x18 manila, school grade paper. 
3. Paint the design with tempera paint paying careful attention NOT to paint on the chalk lines. It is also a good idea to apply the paint heavily. Not so heavy it cracks when it dries, but heavy keeping in mind that some may wash away later.
4. When the paint is dry, evenly cover with semi diluted India ink. Adding some water I think helps to wash it away later. When applying, be careful not to "scrub" the ink into the layer of paint. I typically use a 2-3 inch wide brush so that only a few lines of ink are needed to fill the page. Due to the staining nature of the ink too, I have kids paint at a station.
5. After the ink is dry, run a faucet to warm water. Using a board to support the page, have the warm water run over the inked page. I have used lunch trays in the past. If needed, use a paint brush to gently remove the ink. I reiterate to students that the more wet the page becomes, the more fragile it is. So they need to be super careful when rinsing the ink. I also explain that the more they rinse, the more paint that is under the ink, will rinse off too.

  

A handful of my Creative Minds kids are at the point of needing to rinse the ink. Hopefully I will have more images tomorrow.

UPDATE:
Below are a handful of the final products.
Unfortunately, I think most of these are examples of washing off too much ink. In fact the student who created the first design told me that she felt like she washed off too much. Still a beautiful image though!

Water and fire

The seasons

detail of above

Fall Reflections

I've found this year that every once in awhile I need to throw in a one day lesson. Or at least vary it from long term (more than two classes) to short term activities with my middle school students. About two years ago I found this lesson on The Incredible Art Department and felt like it really fit in as a transition from printmaking to painting with a focus on nature, which upcoming in sixth grade.  

Before students arrive, premix a light blue. I made a big batch in a large yogurt container that has lasted for my five sections. Also, figure out how you will dispense paint. I used a method like you see below and use red, yellow, green and the premixed blue (tempera)

 

1. At the beginning of the lesson, I have the word MONOPRINT on the board. I always start by asking what the prefix "mono" means. Usually one or two students knows that it means one. I then explain the difference between the prints we just did and what we will be doing.
• This year, I am super lucky to have a document camera, so I got to do the activity along with my students. I went back to my old saying of "watch what I do, then you do it too." However, I also explained, that once I show students, if they have another idea, and its still within the materials available AND printing, then go for it!
2. Fold paper in half like a hot dog.
3. Add a land mass by painting above the fold. Before the paint dries, refold the paper and apply pressure.
4. Add bare trees by using oil pastel heavy and dark. Refold the paper and use a popsicle stick to rub the paper. The pastel should "jump" to the other side.
5. Add leaves and print as before
6. Paint and print the sky in sections as the tempera can dry fast.

Printed Calaveras

This lesson is straight from Calvert Canvas.
However, instead of linoleum, we used foam AND mounted two (out of three) instead of four prints.

I started my lesson with this image:

I used Visual Thinking Strategies to get student's minds going. 
I asked, "Whats going on in this picture?"
Eventually students started to come up with a story, after pointing out elements of the work, and I would ask "What evidence do you have of that?" in order to have the class see the visual clues. As students were talking, I would point to what they were talking about and paraphrase. 
I think this activity, in addition to the rest of the power point presentation, helped students understand that a skull and skeleton might have different meanings in other cultures. I have done this lesson before and this has been the only time where the majority of the calaveras are not creepy and frightening.  

First we viewed the power point and practiced drawing a calavera as other students completed the previous assignment.
The next class, we revisited symmetry, finalized our calaveras and traced them onto foam.
Finally, after a printmaking demo, we created at least three prints. This took about two classes. At each table, there were written directions in case students forgot about the demo from the previous class. I was stationed with the ink, in order to monitor how much was being given out. We used a variety of colors and I pretty much used all of the random papers that were donated over the last year. 

 I love that the student above wanted to make her calavera into an animal. I love her enthusiasm too. 

I think that if I were to do this again, I would make the foam and paper smaller. The prints and foam above were 6x9. I was afraid that 3x4.5 would be too small to really get detail. However, I think the smaller size would balance out the negative space, as the majority of students had trouble drawing large.  

 

Creative Minds Wks 1 & 2

In addition to starting a new position at the high school and my two graduate courses, I have taken on an after school club called Creative Minds. For the last few years, the school's secretary along with one other person, ran the club, doing a variety of crafts and even cooking. Between her duties in the office and the club, it became too much. Recognizing the importance of such a club for middle school kids, I offered to keep it running on my own.
The kids are great! I have had some rough weeks lately, but I look forward to hanging out with my Creative Minds kids each week. Here's what we have been up to so far:

The first week we designed silhouetted windows.

• We started by using watered down Elmer's glue to layer pieces of tissue paper onto a white page. Next, we cut a frame out of black paper to look like a window. Some were traditional like this one, while others created different outlines. 
• Finally, students used the remaining black paper/ scraps to cut out bats, cats, pumpkins, trees and haunted houses. These pieces were then glued into the open window panes. 

The above image is an unfinished example.

The following week we used scratch board and white paper, inspired by  Art Projects for Kids Scratch Tree. 

Some kept with the Halloween theme while others, like to top two, were inspired by video games and cartoon characters.

For the last two weeks, Creative Minds started painting designs for an India ink batik. I love how these always turn out. This will be the third time I have used this lesson. The black of the ink makes the designs really bold and graphic. The kids are always in mourning almost that they have to paint over their designs with ink, but thrilled when they get to wash it all away. I will be sure to post after Thanksgiving break.