third grade shibori

Happy Mother's Day!

Shibori is the Japanese term for the dye-resist techniques of binding, clamping, or gathering cloth so that dye cannot reach certain parts. The result is a wonderful combination of carefully structured design with the organic freedom of the unpredictable. The third grade artists learned how to do a kumo (spider web) and tesuji (pleated) shibori technique. Why is shibori blue and how is the color and design related to Japan? Just ask one of our third grade artists!

I forgot to take photos of the process but it is very simple to do: we used white cotton fabric and waxed dental floss to tie the knots (I always love the look I get from the cashier when I buy 15 packages of dental floss at one time). I dye all of the pieces at once with indigo dye.

After spending a good part of our art time in making just 3-4 kumo shibori knots, I like to show them
a dvd that shows artisans creating shibori garments from start to finish. As we watch the kumo section, the kids ask me if the dvd is sped up because she ties so quickly! Her movements are so practiced she flows from one knot to the next. And soon we see a curl of hundreds of precisely bound knots in the fabric. We are impressed with the process!

This is another segment from the same dvd:


The third graders very carefully unfolded their kumo and tesuji shibori this week and were very impressed with the results! The tesuji was made to unfold into the perfect scarf for mother's day and they loved wrapping their art up for special gifts this weekend.

fifth grade naturalists

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
-Henry David Thoreau

Each fifth grade artist used one of his/her own photographs taken on our photography field trip to the beautiful Missouri Botanical Gardens to use as inspiration for a drawing, ceramic sculpture, and painting. This is a rigorous exercise in observation and perspective! It is also a wonderful way to experiment in different mediums to discover new strengths and work with challenges.

For the drawing portion of this project, students learned how to make a value chart and show roundness of form using shading, highlights, and shadow with special 2H-6B drawing pencils. They chose to render their full photograph, a portion of the photograph, or to abstract the photograph.

won't you be my neighbor

These sweet little houses were created by the kindergarten artists. We are still busy working in our "Building a Better World" theme!



You've probably heard of this before: all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. This BBC story, Crossing a St. Louis street that divides communities, has really stayed with me since I saw it last month. In fact our school is very near to the Delmar divide. I feel dismayed and hopeful at the same time.


(this image is a still from the BBC video news story)

kindergarten architecture printmaking

I love introducing printmaking to the kindergarten artists. The printmaking process is such a magical one and the kinders get completely absorbed in experimenting, collaborating, and creating. I see kindergarten for 30 minutes each week. That is not a lot of time to introduce the lesson, admire a wiggly tooth, demonstrate the technique, have the class create, reflect, and clean up! But during this project, I really do enjoy standing back and watching moments of creativity and collaboration go off like a fireworks show.



We focus on famous local Saint Louis architecture for this project but Maggie had different ideas. She really wanted to do Big Ben:) She tried really hard all by herself to make the numbers backwards on her printing plate (because I had warned them that their names would appear backward if they wrote them on the top of the plate)- so clever! I've since added some famous world architecture references for our young globe trotters.



I show them how to print one time on the middle of the paper. It usually takes them one print before someone realizes they can put multiples on a page. And that student shares this idea with another student and so on. If I had told them to do this they would have missed the joy of discovery. These moments are like fireworks that start off with a squeal of delight and then spread around the room as discoveries are shared.



I love how this one fills up the entire paper.



And this one is the Chain of Rocks Bridge. It looks like the bridge and its reflection in the water.



Another discovery I wait for is for someone to ask if they can use more than one color. I watch even more fireworks of collaboration and experimentation go off!



A natural printmaker at heart! This artist really collaborated to collect some of his favorite prints from his friends all on one paper.



Great night and day scene.



This takes two art times to complete. The first art time is spent drawing on the printing plate and the second time is devoted to printing. Fireworks show included!



Even their leftover printing plates look great!