ARTEFFECT Unsung Heroes Ambassador Program

This year, I was a member of the inaugural cohort of ARTEFFECT Ambassadors. The program is part of the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes and is described as “an online fellowship for educators working directly with K-12 students to foster the visual arts. Educators learn from and alongside other high-level practitioners through art-focused, project-based learning about the Unsung Heroes. During the 2024-2025 school year, Ambassadors will participate in online modules and complete a capstone project to make an impact on their schools and communities.” For me, the program was an incredible opportunity to learn and grow as an educator while creating a dynamic program for my students.

For my capstone project, my fourth grade students learned about the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes. The website is here: https://www.lowellmilkencenter.org/programs/projects

In Art Class, students chose an unsung hero to create a hero portrait. They chose their hero by looking for things they had in common with the hero or admired about the hero.

Their English teacher worked with the students to create a short writing piece detailing these comparisons which we will put with their art.

On the night of the school art show, my students wore pins that said, “Ask Me About” with their hero name so that people attending the event could ask them about the project and their hero. My students enjoyed this project and learned a great deal about themselves and each other while learning about the unsung heroes.

Art inspired by Hugette Caland

For this lesson, we looked at art by Hugette Caland. Huguette was a Lebanese painter, sculptor, and fashion designer. She was born in Lebanon but often worked in Los Angeles. Her artwork can be seen in collections all over the world. The students and I discussed the shapes and colors as well as how she used different media and made clothing.

They used black staonal crayon for the outlines then added color with tempera cake. It was so awesome to speak with them about what they drew and painted. I love their thought processes behind all the colors and shapes.

We had a few students who made some errant lines and were unhappy. We had some great conversations about how artists are flexible and creative and how to make changes as we create. We also talked about the fact that a viewer won’t know if a line we drew is meant to be there or not.

Pies inspired by Lauren Ko

My students created these bird’s eye view images of pies after looking at pies made by Pie Artist and cookbook author Lauren Ko.

She has the most beautiful account on IG @lokokitchen. Her pies are colorful and fun and she always has a pun to describe them. “When they go dough, we go pie.” or “Weave it all to chance.” or “Over the river and through the woods, to cranmother’s house we go.”

I had large circle templates for them to use as a tracer. They then used colored pencils and markers to add color. They could add a bit of water to soften the edges or blend the colors if they wanted to.

Her cookbook is Pieometry: Modern Tart Art and Pie Design for the Eye and the Palate

We had the added pleasure of having these on display in our local public library over our winter break. We have a great partnership with our librarian, Ms. JeanneMarie! She always welcomes the students AND their art with so much joy.

I was told by the librarians that a couple of students were so excited to see their art on display that they went to the library the very day after we created the art. I do not think they realized that I needed to prepare their art for display by mounting them on paper and labeling them. Don’t they look amazing?!

Found Object Printing

For this image, my students use watercolor to wash over the background then black paint for the printing.

I love using found objects for printing. My students enjoy it also. Sometimes we start by painting a background.

Found Objects such as cardboard tubes, lids, kitchen utensils, spools, legos, cardboard strips, bubble wrap, blocks, plastic forks, cotton swabs, combs-the only limit is your imagination. You also need tempera paint and paper

Depending on the objective of the lesson, students can create patterns or images.

For backgrounds: you can use white or colored paper or students can paint the paper with a watercolor wash or use pieces of colored tissue paper to cover the background.

Linking Picture Books to Art

I use a lot of picture books in my classroom. I use them to introduce an artist or a subject that we are learning about. I love that there are video read-aloud books. I use the close captioning option on the videos because it is a great scaffold for many students. It is also nice to be able to put on a read-aloud video while I set out materials or during clean up as it is engaging and adds another layer to the lesson.

I recently used Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughn and Pamela Lofts to introduce my first-grade students to different Australian animals. They then created images of kangaroos in a setting.

For my kindergarten lesson on Georgia O’Keefe, I like two different books: My Name is Georgia by Jeanette Winter or Through Georgia’s Eyes by Rachel Rodriguez

When we did a collage lesson based on the Gees Bend Quilts, students listened to Belle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend by Calvin Alexander Ramsey & Bettye Stroud.

Here are a few more books I have used in my classroom

When creating houses or treehouses: Homes by Carson Ellis and Everything You Need for a Treehouse by Carter Higgins

I used this when we did weaving: Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett

This was a fun read when we created gemstones and also underground images: Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett

Look, Look, Look, A Sculpture by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace was a good introduction to sculpture for my preschool and Tk students.

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Jeanette Winter. I used this book when I did a book-making class.

I love picture books and love using them in my classroom.

Confidence Cards

Originally created by my 2016-2017 Art Club students 

They are a variation of an Art Trading Card. Why? They were grappling with adult world issues & campus changes and wanted to do something to help everyone feel better.

The guidelines they created:  

• Read a card and put it back
• Take a card to help you smile all-day
• Give one to a friend who needs a smile 
• Return the card when your confidence returns or pass it on to someone else.

These were again used in my summer bridge program to add to our SEL focus right after the pandemic. Students created them for themselves, their families, and each other. We initially dedicated some time to creating them as a group and then left the materials out all four weeks as an option for early finishers. It was so well received that at our back-to-school whole district meeting, I was able to demonstrate how to make them to all the teachers in the district.

Materials:

2 ½” x 3 ½” card stock-you can order blank cards from online vendors. Stickers, Stamps, Markers, Washi tape, Ribbon, Scissors, Glue or glue stick, you can also use pre-printed short quotes, magazine pictures, or colored paper

Cardboard Tube Animals

A few months ago Aree Chung’s Creativity School, had Youa Vang as a guest. He made a cardboard tube dog. I made my own dog and decorated it with just markers.

I thought about what other animals there could be and played around with the idea and made a few more cardboard tube animals. I think they look better painted than just with marker.

Egg Carton Characters

Because we were virtual, I made kits for my middle school students that included two sections of egg carton and a cardboard substrate. There were other materials for our other projects as well.

The lesson was inspired by IG artist @allmad.e.here and teacher Nylah Kahn

Sculpture with Found Objects

This project was based on Alexander Calder’s stabiles and mobiles.

Kindergarten students were given a piece of cardboard with a chenille stem attached. I gave them bins of supplies and they chose how to use the supplies to make their sculpture. Some made figures. Others just added materials together in an abstract fashion.

They could string things on as with the beads, twist items in or use glue dots to attach. So fun to see all the different combos.

Career Placemat Project

In Fall of 2018, I was working at a very large suburban school. I was asked by their District Office if I thought my students could create 100 placemats with student art for their State of the District Luncheon.  Because of the large size of the school, this was only about 10% of our students so I knew I could do it.

I organized six after school workshops for all grade levels Kindergarten through Fifth grade. I even had a couple of preschool and TK students who came with an adult or older sibling.

The workshops were all done by me with occasional help from a parent. I had small groups of about 20 students. For the workshops, I had some idea lists for different careers that I thought they might want but I also told the students to come up with two to three career choices of their own so that we could have a lot of diversity. Because they knew these would not be returned, I allowed students to make two if they wanted to.

Each student sketched their work on a small paper then did a larger drawing in pencil then went over that in black marker. We then painted with watercolor paint. I was so impressed with all the different jobs they came up with from gardening to scientists to dancers to race car drivers and everything in between. It was really one of the most rewarding projects we did that year.

After they were dry, I labeled each artwork on the back with the student’s name, grade and their career title. It was a huge job and when they were delivered to the district office, the staff decided they were too pretty to use as placemats and instead put them up all around the meeting room. After the luncheon, they were returned to the school and went on display on the gallery wall in the lobby.