3.02.2012

hope is the thing with feathers


Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all...
-Emily Dickinson

The second grade artists thought of this poem and the bird metaphor as they created a clay bird on which to place their own hopes! Above is a bird shaped collection of their hopes. I also did this project with my fifth grade advisory at the beginning of the year as a place to put their academic and personal hopes for the year. Something about stamping each letter of their hope into the clay really helps to strengthen the concept for them.



I was inspired to do this project after seeing Kristin Love's beautiful Poetry Birds. The second graders really responded to her use of texture and fluid shape.


I love the way Andrew creatively stamped in his name and his hope for more art in the world!








Hope for strong friendships.


Hope for quiet- from his sister:)


His original hope was to discover that dinosaurs really do still exist. After considering the space constraints, he shortened it to find.




I am always asking them to be brave artists so I was pleased to see some hopes to be brave!




Aashna was proud to share with us that her name means hope.


19 comments:

Chesterbrook Academy Elementary said...

These are absolutely gorgeous.
I love the textures and colors.
I wish I could have one :)

Your students did an amazing job.

Hope Hunter Knight said...

well, how adorable are these? love them.

Marcia Beckett said...

I really love those! The colors are beautiful. Can you explain how you did the glazing? Was it black glaze in the crevices? What kind of glaze on top?

Gabriela said...

I love this idea- super cool.

Shannah said...

Thanks for the nice comments:)

Marcia- They put on a layer of black glaze then wipe off the surface with a damp sponge leaving the black in the texture. Then just glaze right on top of that. We used Amaco low fire glazes for this. Helps to make all that great texture really pop!

Theresa Gillespie said...

Love your blog! I nominated you for a Liebster Blog Award! - though I'm sure you have over 200 followers - I couldn't find a count of your followers. http://splatsscrapsandglueblobs.blogspot.com/

Samantha Melvin said...

Shannah,
Once again, your students' work is outstanding! Thanks for sharing. I just nominated you for the Liebster Blog Awards. Take a look at my announcement on my blog http://thefineartsstudio.blogspot.com/ You may have way more readers than 200--I couldn't find it on your blog. If so, then you'll get a bunch more, as everyone will love what you do.
~Samantha
PS--will you plan on coming to NAEA in Ft. Worth?

Shannah said...

Thank you both for the blog love! I am in very good company:)
Samantha- I'll send you an email!

Ali said...

The stamped texture and colouring on these birds are so lovely!
I have just found your blog - I too am a primary Art teacher and have found so much inspirtation here on your blog! thank you.
Ali

Shannah said...

Hello Ali from Australia! Thank you so much for stopping by and saying hello:) Love your blog and etsy shop too!

Miss said...

Stunning, stunning, stunning! I am in LOVE with these. So sophisticated and sweetly personal.

LOVE ART WORKS by KRISTIN LOVE said...

Hi Shannah~

I just stumbled upon this thanks to "google analytics" and I wanted to let you know that I am completely Honored that you used my Poetry Birds for inspiration in your teaching. There is no higher form of praise and to see what the children did using their emerging Creative Force brought tears to my eyes and Big Joy to my heart. Thank you so much for bringing the inspiration of my Poetry Birds into your classroom and I wish you all the best.
Peace and smiles....
Kristin Love

Shannah said...

Wow!!! Thank you so much for the kind words Kristin. I can't wait to share this with the kids. We LOVE your art! Lots of good wishes your way:)

Anonymous said...

I absolutely loved this project so much that I am doing it with my students in Florida! I am doing it with 4th and 5th grades, and they really do respond to the physical stamping of the word. Love it!!

-Jackie
jacquelynjuaristi@gmail.com

Shannah said...

Thank you Jackie!

Anonymous said...

These are so beautiful! I can't wait to try them with my classes. What did you stamp the words with?

Shannah said...

Hello, thanks for stopping by:)
We used regular rubber stamps you can find at any craft store and sometimes the Target dollar bins.

Alisa DeFalco said...

I love this idea, so beautiful and inspiring. Can I ask where you got the stamps? Are they just regular rubber stamps? Thanks so much!

Shannah said...

Hi Alisa:)
Yup, just regular rubber stamps. You can find them at any craft store and sometimes the Target dollar bins. I've also seen people use alphabet pasta!