Vans Custom Culture

This year I got my students involved with the Vans Custom Culture shoe design contest.  I had never heard of it before and when I got the email this year I decided to sign up for it.

I then actually forgot about the whole contest, you sign up in early Jan., until the shoes arrived on my desk in late February.  In a moment of panic I just assigned students to certain shoes based on their skills and abilities.   If we do this again next year I will make it more into a contest, but I had too many things going on this year and I didn't want to have to judge that too.

Here are our enteries:

Art Shoes

Local flair

Music Shoes

Street sports shoe

Group shots

Mad Scientist?

I am probably not the only one out there, but this week I feel more like a prom coordinator then an art teacher.  And sometimes that means I have to be a mad scientist in order to make the props that I refuse to pay for.   Since out theme is "Under the Big Top", a vintage circus, I wanted to make that giant barbell that the strong man used to pick up.  You know the one that said 1000lbs and he could lift it with one hand.

So my girls first thought of using beachballs, which would have been perfect, but our local Walmart doesn't have them out yet, not to mention I wasn't sure if they would spray paint.  My husband and I looked at the large rubber balls at walmart, but I was having the same issue of wondering if paint would stick to them.   So then my hubby suggested expandable foam.

What a great idea.  I just knew I didn't want them solid so I came up with the idea of putting an old volleyball in the middle.  I even got smart and wrapped the ball in saran wrap ahead of time so I could use it again and again.  What I didn't know is that is would take three cans of foam to make half of a dumbell.  So I had to go back to Walmart last night to clear out all of their spray foam so I can finish this project.

I have learned several things about how to spread the foam, so I am getting closer to two cans of foam per half sphere.  But I am actually thinking about doing a project with this next year.  I think it might be a great carving medium for students.

At least that is the thought now, ask me again tomorrow when I am actually carving and pulling my hair out.

To Hate or To Love....Chalk

I have a love/hate relationship with chalk.  I love the projects that it can produce with bright colors and nice smooth coverage, but I hate the mess that is left behind on my tables, and counters and seats and floors and clothes and hands.  Did I mention it gets everywhere!!!

With that being said, I do one chalk project a year.  That is it!  So I love doing Georgia O'Keefe chalk flowers.  We do them on really big paper (18x24) so that they can spread and move all of the chalk around.  Before we start we look at her works of art and then I have a tub of fake flowers (since there are not many fresh ones around in March in South Dakota) and I have them draw close ups of four different flowers in their sketchbooks.

From there they need to pick their favorite flower and favorite composition and have them sketch it on a large sheet of paper.  Then they have to chalk it up, even the background.  I encourage them to blend colors and make the flowers bright and colorful and the backgrounds dark.  Here are some of my favorites.

Alex G.

Mikayla R.

Ali R.

Paige Q.

Bella J.

Malary M.

Yeva S.

And the kitchen sink

Art 3 has been doing so many projects that I am just posting highlights on this site of some of my favorites.  If you would like to see more, than check out my website.  https://dewittart.shutterfly.com/

Chad V.'s  - painting on an unusual surface

Kenzie S. - Perspective drawing

Lexi B. - Perspective drawing

Marcelle W. - Painting on an unusual surface

Mariah B. - Choice project

Olivia M. - Choice project

Sabrina L. - Painting on an unusual surface

Sam Kj. - Choice project

Sammy K. - Perspective

Advanced Cubism and some other stuff

I am falling behind in my posts of my advanced artwork, but that is usually what happens around the end of the quarter.  But these are some of the projects that were created from the theme of cubism/shape deconstruction.  I like that some of the kids branched out and tried to do cubism in clay and other techniques and styles.

Courtney M.

Danica H.

Erin S.

Kelsey C.

Hanna S.'s choice galaxy cat

 The rest of these are from old projects that just got finished, or the last project which was a choice project.

KaSandra K.'s Sticky Messy

Maggie H.'s unconventional self portrait

Cube it up

Art 1 is working our way through the "isms" and are now working on cubism.  So of course we looked at Picasso and Braque and some Franz Marc.  I decided to direct our cubism, oil pastel project towards the Franz Marc style.  It is a little easier for them to understand, and with the contrast of light and dark colors and bright colors and blending options, they have a little bit more fun with it.

I also tried to encourage them to not only look at using cube shapes, but to mix it up and have some fun with any shapes or designs that they wanted to use.

Here are some of my favorites, but I had so many good ones this time and if you want to see more check out my website at https://dewittart.shutterfly.com/ .

Mikayla R.

Aleah B.

Kaitlyn G.

Paige Q.

Jaymon L.

Mykah W.

Madisyn V.

This is a sticky situation

For Art 2 I decided to take a tip from Art at the Apex and I used the theme "Sticky/Messy."  That was basically all I told them.  They could make something or anything that is sticky/messy by drawing or painting something or actually doing a messy project.  This was one that was kind of fun because the kids were all over the page in what they used for mediums and ideas.  Some went with serious subjects and others just had fun getting messy.

Demi H. - Maple tree

Jaykob S. - paper mache ribs

Karly N. - Clay pancackes with mixed media syrup

Kelsey C. - Nail polish with pained glue

Maggie H. - paper bees

Meghan H. - Spray paint