Clay Whistles - will they whistle?

Just before Spring Break we made whistles from clay.  This is much harder than it looks.  It's not so hard to make the whistles - but it's really challenging to make them have a whistle sound.  We were at least 95% successful in doing this, possibly due to some good youtube vidoes on making clay whistles. The air we blow in has to split with some going out the top and some going into the clay chamber in order to make sound.  Here is a photo of the first batch drying on a shelf in the art room. We will begin painting them with non-toxic acrylic paint after the bisque firing and I'll post photos of the finished work.  And maybe we can get a little video of sound happening!

Japanese Manga

Below are drawings by students in the Japanese manga style.  This style includes big eyes and exaggerated features.  Students were challenged to try to express emotion in their drawings, and also encouraged to include something to represent themselves.

 

Row 1: Kaylee, Kylie D, Kate C

Row 2: Wendy, Alicia, Ever

 

 

More Manga:

 

Row 1: Kenzee, Brianna, Amanda

Row 2: Isabel, Jed, Ashlyn

 



 

 

Row 1: Madison,  Emmy, Sadie

Row 2: Lacy, Sierra, Nayeli

 

 

 

Row 1: Andrew, Amberlyn, Savannah  B

Row 2: Bryan, Alex, Tate

 

 





 

Finished and Ready to Plant in our Rock Garden

Here are a few of the rocks which are finished and now reside in the planters in the front of the school.

 

Clockwise from top left: Ashley, Ashlyn, Bryce, Cadence

 

Clockwise from top left: Kaycie, Kenzee, Lacy, Ever

Rock painting in progress...

Our Eagles are Flying High in 2014-15!

We have taken a slight detour from our goal of looking at art from cultures and countries around the world this year (180 Days Around the World of Art) to participate in a public art project.  Students are hard at work decorating rocks for our rock garden in front of Vulture Peak.  We are getting close to ready for the rock installation. 

Rocks have been chosen, designs drawn, and now we are painting. We learned that some rocks are easier to paint than others.  Rounded river rocks take the paint the best, it seems. We also have learned that not all paint products will work for outdoor painting.  Experiments were first done to test the paint for adherence to the rock material.  We will seal the rocks so the designs last longer.  It will be interesting to see the effects of our Arizona sun.  This year we have very heavy rains so that may also be an issue. 

Busy hands at work:

 

 



 

Stay tuned - more to come!

Adding More Black Light Paintings

These were so fun so we are sharing more of the paintings.  The first photo is the original work under natural or florescent light.  The second is taken after the room is darkened and the black light is turned on.  These paintings also stay illuminated in the darkness for a few minutes after the lights are turned off, however I wasn't able to figure out how to get a photo of that.  So here we go.  Thanks for stopping by!

David

 

Danielle

  

 

 Emmy

 

Gaby

 

Hailey

 

 

Henry

 

Jenny T

 

 

Kaelyn

 

 

Kylie D

 

Kyra

 

Lea

 

Madi

 

Nick

 

Sadie W

 

 

 

 

 

Experimenting with Black Light Painting

In the summer last year I came across an article in Artist's Magazine by Tom Bacher, who creates beautiful landscapes using phosphorescent and fluorescent paints.  Here is a link to his website: www.tombacher.com.  Because of the properties of these paints the paintings continue to emit light after the lights have been turned off, or under black light.  Mr. Bacher corresponded with us and we were delighted to learn that he had visited Wickenburg and had painted the Saguaro Theater. 

This assignment was a challenge for the students because they drew the city buildings in 2-point perspective, which makes the buildings look three-dimensional.  The students used both types of paints, as well as metallic colored pencils to color their drawings.  The photos show the original drawing, followed by the drawing under black light.  I cropped the photos in Adobe Photoshop and where noted with an AF I used Photoshop Auto Fix setting.  This setting actually gives a better idea of what the painting looks like under black light or just after turning out the lights.

Some of the artwork:

Alex 1 with black light below

 

 

 

Chase with black light below

 

 

Jazmin 1 below

 

 

 

Jazmin 1 with black light below

 

 

Jazmin with black light and Auto Fix

 

 

 

Olivia 1 below with black light next

 



 

Sierra 1 with  black light following

Victoria 1 with black light following

 

 



 We hope you enjoy these artworks.  The classes had a lot of fun painting and then turning off the lights in order to see their work under black light.