5.22.2011

kindergarten snails

We watched a short Art:21 interview with Korean artist Doh Ho Suh who described the feeling of missing his home (watch the video here).







He said that he wished he could pack up his home and take it with him wherever he traveled just like a snail. The kinderartists shared their stories about missing home and then imagined what kind of homes their own snails would carry.




The use of line and special use of color give these imaginative drawings a strong sense of design.






















5.11.2011

kindergarten building a better world


Thank you to everyone who came to the art opening to support our kindergarten artists! There were lots of proud smiles, noshing on snacks, and compliments galore! This show represented months of art work from the kindergarten artists on the theme of Architecture: Building a Better World.

Each class has its own poster collection of architecture prints. Part of the proceeds from the sale of these keepsakes will be donated to ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY. This organization works to bring design, construction, and development services to communities in need. This is a wonderful opportunity for our kindergarten artists to use the power of art to help make a difference!




Here are some installation photos in case you aren't able to come visit the show before it closes on May 27th!






Here are some of their Beverly Buchanan inspired art. Beverly is an artist who is inspired by the rural architecture that she grew up around. Her shack inspired art is an homage to the ingenuity and creativity of these homes. Beverly uses bright color and pattern to imbue her paintings and sculptures with the same energy and strength that she finds in the architecture around her. Beverly inspired the kinderartists to use paint and oil pastels to create color and pattern to build their own amazing homes!




Photos of one of my favorite kindergarten projects- the bird nests. Animals are architects too! The kinderartists pretended to be mama and papa birds that needed to build a strong and safe nest for their eggs. We spent time outside in the nature walk area looking for good nest building materials. Each nest demonstrates ingenuity and turned out beautifully.









This artist is talking about the many different kinds of cityscapes in art. Joy’s kindergarten class played an art game using examples of cityscapes in art history. This is a fun way to introduce the kindergarten artists to art criticism. Each student had 5 tokens to place near their choices. They did a nice job of using their interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences as they made brave personal choices and discussed their choices with their peers.

Heart = their favorite piece of art
House = the city they would most want to live in
Happy face = art made them feel happy
Sad face = art made them feel sad
Cloud= art made them think differently about cities






These two little guys are looking at their geodesic dome inspired sculptures. We talked about the life of the architect Buckminster Fuller and the geodesic dome. We have a great example of a geodesic dome right here in Saint Louis at the Botanical Gardens! The kindergarten architects know that the triangle is a very strong shape and combined their logical-mathematical and spatial intelligences to make tetrahedron sculptures.




This young artist forgot to sign his name so he asked his mom for a pencil to fix that! At first I thought he was adding some last minute details. I know this is a long post so I'll post more on these sweet little snails next time.