The Great Quarantine Art Adventure

Greetings artists!
So we had some issues with this link, but the great people at West Irondequoit, especially Dan Fullerton, fixed the problem and we are up and running. Well the good thing about all this is I now am able to properly spell Quarantine without the help spellcheck!

Alright, moving forward for today, there is a daily drawing prompt going on that was created by art teachers in Webster. Think "Inktober". That's when we have 31 drawing activities or ideas in 31 days. Artists from all over the globe participate and it's really wild to see how each artists tackles each word. The list began yesterday and the first 2 are as follows:

Day 1: Growth
Day 2: Melt

You can draw, sculpt, animate any of these ideas. The main page is on Instagram @greatquarantineartadventure. If you have access to instagram you can follow and tag your art with #TGQAA You don't need to post though, get a collection of papers or whatever you create with and start a portfolio. The great thing about art is it is a document of your time spent. I love seeing friends I haven't seen in a while and when they say "what have you been up to?" I break out my sketchbooks and paintings. I will post the new prompt here every day so if you don'y have access to instagram you can get it here. You may contact me through schoology if you have questions or comments.
Stay safe and happy arting!
-Mr. Perry

Back from the depths of the internet!!

Greetings artists! If you're here that means you actually looked through the huge packet attached to your laptop and found the best part! With all that's going on, you might be a bit scared or have some anxiety, know that you're not alone. I feel it too. However, look at all the time we now have to DO ART!!! ...and maybe some of those other subjects. So on this platform I will try to provide some instructional pieces to help you out with your creative exploration. I provided a series of drawing prompts on the sheet in your packet, pick one and try it. Sometimes when I'm given a choice of things to draw that are outside my comfort zone, I still try it, because maybe, just maybe, I might learn something new. The goal is always to get better.
Now the hardest of the list is hands, its always hands. Drawing hands correctly is difficult. You have to practice time and time again to get them right. It's like trying a skateboard trick, you're going to have to bail and crash a few times before your start to get it. My advice is trust your eye! When you start drawing your brain will pipe in and offer its opinion of how it should look, but the eye already knows. Below is a mini tutorial with some notes, try it. You can even draw my drawing just to get started. Get a nice cold glass of water, some good tunes, and get after it!

You don't need to work from a photo, but it helps.

This isn't a necessary step, but it helps.

Tubes help keep the hand and fingers 3-d. Watch the angles

on how the hand actually bends not how you "think" it bends.

DRAW LIGHTLY!!!!!

you will make mistakes, I did

Food!

Cupcakes, donuts, cakes...OH MY! The 5th grade clay assignment this year was food. Something delicious - a hearty breakfast or a tasty treat for after dinner? Students have a wide range of tastes and they were able to pull from these to re-create some of their favorites. This year we dove into multiple constructive techniques for hand building with clay. A full class demo included the use of coils, pinch pots and slab construction to make everything from spaghetti to donuts to full size cakes. Students were able to pull from a variety of techniques and tools to try an create a realistic clay version of the actual thing. I wanted them to make food that looked so real it would make everyone that visited the art room hungry.
     Once fired we added acrylic paint to the clay and in some cases Mod Podge was used to create a glossy sheen to greasy burgers and wet frosting. Real packaging as well as sprinkles and cones were incorporated into the final design.

Wanted!

Wanted!
This year we tried a new project with a new technique. Behold the image transfer! There are times in art when a photographic image is the best fit, this is one of those times. To do an image transfer we use a photocopy and a product called gel medium. Gel medium is a product designed for acrylic paint and when added to acrylic paint it mimics the effect of oil paint. However, when used in this process, it locks the photocopy image onto whatever surface it is applied (in this case a piece of wood). We went with the idea of an old "Wanted" poster from the wild west. The process of doing a transfer is unpredictable and you don't always get everything you lay down.  Corners tear, parts of the image rub off...but this renders itself to the weathered look of an old wanted poster....BONUS! Students were photographed, their poses were of their own design along with what they were wanted for. 6th graders have a great sense of humor and it showed on this project. Here are a few of the examples...

In 6th grade we started with Jackson Pollock. Many have seen his paintings and probably thought "I can do that". Well, you're right, but he did it first. We looked at a Jackson Pollock and shared our opinions on his art. Afterwards I showed the students a small clip from the movie Pollock. We watched a scene that unfolded on January 1947. We see Jackson wake up and proceed to his barn/ studio. He paints on large canvases on the floor in this clip. While pausing to decide what and where to paint, a drizzle of paint falls off of his brush and lands in an interesting pattern on the floor. He takes notice...then BAM! Abstract expressionism is born! The clip is inspiring because we get to witness the exact moment of an accidental discovery.
We discuss this in class and prepare our canvas. Once we do actually paint, we use brushes, spoons, squeeze bottles and eye droppers to apply the paint to our paper canvases. We also do this to music just to help inspire the paint lines. Afterwards we add a creative title and our signature. Poems are written to summarize the experience. Here are some examples...

Our first 4th Grade project is called Mystery seeds. It's a large format watercolor painting. The process begins when I hand out seeds that look a little different than ones we are used to. They have various colors and patterns on them. Students are asked to recreate the image underneath a set horizontal line on their paper.

Once the seed is finished in crayon we draw some roots that work towards the line we drew. We take a class and practice watercolor techniques including, crayon resist, wet on dry, wet on wet, dry brush and a cool effect with kosher salt. When we return to the painting I tell the students that I've never seen these seeds before and I have no idea what grows out of them. That becomes the conceptual problem for them to solve. My only criteria is that it must be solid color and the plant must touch the remaining three sides. Once finished we hang them like in the picture above creating a garden. Even though the solutions are all very different, they come together as a unit or garden. Here are some close ups.

Welcome! A new Year and new posts. Well, here's a look at the art room. A few years ago it was painted the bright green to give the feel of a creative space. This is a very active room that can go from neat to controlled chaos. There's really no place I'd rather spend my day.