Romero BRITTO! Adventures in COLOR and PATTERN!





 Romero Britto is a modern up and coming artist & painter becoming more of a household name in the artworld more and more everyday! Infact, I was just watching tv (reality tv that is, I know sad:/ )and low and behold, I spy with my little eye a Britto print in the background hanging on their wall!!! My friend Becky, another art teacher told me a while back to check him out....very intriguing style! He combines pop art, cubism like style, along with graffitti like interpretation! He's a Andy Warhol, Keith Harring, and Picasso all rolled in one! Based on his artwork you can definately pick out bold characteristics and elements and principles of art. Bold line. Bright colors and combinations of color. Pattern. All things my students should know!

  

                                    

I had my students look at the visuals projected on my white board and pic whatever subject they wanted. Then we talked about what we saw in the famous paintings. Color. And he also divided the drawing into sections with bold line and in each section there is a different color with a colored pattern. So I told me students to do the same. Draw one of the subjects. Divide into sections with pencil (so you can make changes and erase!). Then use crayon to trace over pattern only. And for stripes, do every other because....we're going to do watercolor over the large areas! It then becomes a watercolor crayon resist. Then, when dry, use black acrylic paint to make bold lines where you sectioned off the areas of pattern and color with pencil previously. Voila! Britto like paintings!

Romero Britto famous paintings and prints below

My students are just starting their Brittos, but I can't wait to show the finished products!

 Look at the great start they have! (look below!)

apple

heart with wings

heart with wings

apple

heart

cat

butterfly

heart

Chihuly 'Glass' BOWLS and Forms!

                 

                                           

1st grade is making Chihuly 'Glass' bowls/forms!! We looked at how Chihuly makes his beautifully colored glass bowls, sculptures, and alien like forms. So beautiful!  I showed students how he likes to put some of his glass bobbles in boats to float around  in the calm waters to have the sunshine show the brilliance of the colored glass & reflect off the water. 5th grade grade concentrated on making glass 'blossoms' like Chihuly's that cover the ceiling of the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas but we used another method in making those. I'll get to the different options later! Here are some finished Chihuly bowls. Students simply used colored permanent Sharpies to add lots of color, line, and pattern on clear Graphix Shrink sheet (very close to clear shrinky dinks). It's basically a shrinkable, clear plastic sheet that thickens when it shrinks.



After students applied these elements and principles of art, I took them home, heated the oven to 300 degrees and placed a small glass in the middle of the sheet on a cookie sheet that you don't care if sharpie gets on it :). Then watch as the Shrinky dinklike sheet wraps around the bottom of the glass, but work fast. I then yank it out of the oven using pot holders, and push and mold it around an old mug to quickly mold it to keep it's shape before it cools. You have to work fast and be wearing pot holders, but they turn out awesome (more examples at the bottom of the page!).



students using markers to apply color and pattern



adding pattern



adding lots of color and line!





I had students work on tablecloths just incase it went off the table

My friend Jenny who is an elementary art teacher as well, found a great inexpensive way to make Chihuly 'glass' forms. She has students use Sharpie markers on solo clear punch cups. She then puts it in a toaster oven on BROIL for just seconds! Then pulls them out fast! When you take them out you have to let them cool.

student cups from Jenny:)



Voila! After being in the oven it creates a glass like form.

String them together and hang them as one of chihuly's chandiliers near a window
where there's lots of sun light to shine through and bring out the bright colors!

...more glass forms from SOLO clear punch cups

 Here are some of my students 'glass' Chihuly BOWLS below!

Here's what my 5th grade did for our Chihuly unit. We looked at the famous Bellagio ceiling and it's blossoms and tried our own take on the concept. We used clear, empty, plastic flimsy water bottles, cut them into different pieces and cut slits into the pastic pieces. Then using some scissors as a pair of pliers, hold on to plastic piece with them and hold them in front of a heating/embossing tool or gun. The heat makes the plastic piece almost dance as it's warped by the heat. We of course go over safety rules before any of this but the students see that it's almost like 'blowing the glass' before their eyes!

Then mixing paint and gloss medium together so it has a transluscent quality, paint plastic forms and let dry. Then we add all kinds of colored wire and straws with a glue guns to make some funky looking flowers and blossoms. Each piece can be looked at as a sculpture or strung together as a multi media installation!



Andy Warhol DIAMOND DUST shoes



Miss Oetken's Diamond Dust Shoes

5th grade just finished studying Andy Warhol I just visited the Des Moines Art Center! My friend Julia Mason from good ol' studio class days in drawing and other art classes, now works in the education wing at the Des Moines Art Center! She gave me a personal tour of the education and youth studios and the museum. It brought back memories of teaching a lot of my own art classes and programs before my public school job! If you don't know me, all through college I worked as an art teacher and gallery tour guide for youth at the Cedar Falls Hearst Center for the Arts and Gallery! I helped plan the themed weeks of classes, camps, and programs through out my years in college. I even did art themed birthday parties! I owe it all to my amazing Art Education Professor, Lisa Becker. She gave me a chance to volunteer, and the director noticed my talent and Lisa asked me if I'd like a paid position. She was amazing and taught me so much and helped make me the art teacher I am today! Anyways, back to Andy. I saw amazing famous pieces of art and then I saw an Andy Warhol I had never experienced....I had read about it, but never saw it in person. ONE OF HIS DIAMOND DUST SHOE PRINTS!

 

 


Andy Warhol's Diamond Dust Shoes!

I had read about Andy Warhol putting actual diamond dust in his black screenprinting ink and then printing with it. It was amazing to behold. It shimmered and glittered from every angle. Wow. AND it gave me a very good idea for 5th grade art. Make Diamond Dust shoes but leave it open for interpretation.

We watched Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists Andy Warhol video and talked about printmaking. Then I showed them Diamond Dust shoes that I saw at the Des Moines Art Center. I had made long oval tracers to position and trace on black paper. Then make your own designs of shoes with pencil, but keep it simple! Then trace over with glue, let dry, and color in with chalk pastel for a bright pop of color. After that is finished...bring on the diamond dust! I had watered down modge podge and paint brushes to paint around shoes. Then, sprinkle on pinches of clear white glitter here and there.



Check it out! Just went to the Science Center, then the Des Moines Art Center, and look!
What do you get when you cross Da Vinci Science Center exhibition with Andy Warhol? Mona
Lisa prints! How fitting!



OK. I couldn't help but stop at the
Science Center's Da Vinci exibition. Really cool facts! MONA
LISA DID INFACT HAVE EYE BROWS & EYE LASHES! Amazing?!

  
  Check out my student's work! This is before we did the diamond dust:

Picasso's 3 Musicians...with our own twist!

Miss Oetken's own "3 Musicians": The Punk Rock "Picasso's". They're so emo.:)

I am a huge advocate of the arts and firmly believe that art, dance and music form a strong bond and work hand in hand. I for one was involved in everything music (vice president of music and band) and everything art in high school. Kandinsky proves this point, not only was a he a successful musician but his music inspired his art and vice versa. They're both cohesive in the fact that creativity, emotion, and personality mold the product. They also evoke emotion. There is an evident connection between these art forms. It's also something very relateable for young people.....and not to mention, FUN! We were already studying Picasso and cubism, so it brought me to his "3 Musicians".

 

Picasso's cubist "3 Musicians"



5th grade talked about 1st what they saw in the cubist compostion, 3 Musicians. I made them guess what the title was and we explained what we saw and why it looked the way it did. We looked for clues and then revealed the title! We then went into discussion about what are your favorite bands/ music groups? We talked about different genre's of music. What type of instruments are out there? What is a musician? Are singer's musicians? What can be a trio? What kind of look do certain genre's of bands create?





Students then began to design a stage with model magic and use markers to design lights and the 'vibe' they wanted to set for the type of genre of band. Then they stuck in their 3 popcicle sticks that represented the 3 musicians. They used google eyes and construction paper to create hair, costume, microphones and instruments for their band. Let the bands take center stage! Enjoy the wonderful student work!