2009 TRIM-A-TREE ORNAMENT - WILD THINGS!

Rooftop celebrates our 18th year of participating in the Davies Symphony Hall’s Deck the Hall program. This year, we will be creating "Wild Thing" ornaments, inspired by Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.*
*For brevity, Where the Wild Things Are will be written as WTWTA in these instructions

YOUR T-A-T KIT WILL INCLUDE:
One WTWTA Book
Instructions & Printed Examples
Two sample ornaments - Full body and Head only
Class set of concept drawing / planning sheets (6 x 8 inches)
Class set of pre-cut tooling foil sheets (6 x 8 inches)
Class set of wooden stylus tools (sharpened chop sticks)
Assorted color permanent markers
Masking tape
Newspaper (for padding while tooling foil)


CLASS DISCUSSION: Read WTWTA aloud to the students. Many (most?) students will be familiar with this book, so if you get comments like, “I heard this book already!” invite them to explore the illustrations to find something they may have never noticed before.

While reading, call the students' attention to the exciting use of descriptive text such as "Gnashed their terrible teeth" "Rolled their terrible eyes" and "Showed their terrible claws". Draw attention to the way that Sendak created text and images that mirror each other in style and meaning.

Point out the Wild Things’ body parts in the illustrations, with the unusual combinations of mismatched feet, hands, horns, teeth, claws, tails, etc. from different types of animals.

Point out Sendak's use of visual texture, creating different types of fur, hair, skin and scales on the wild things using simple black lines in different patterns.

Ask if any students see the one trait that all the Wild Things have in common . . . YELLOW EYES!

Use printed examples to emphasize discussion.


Step 1 - CONCEPT DRAWING
On the 6 x 8 inch paper, students will draw their own Wild Thing. The paper is pre-cut to the same size as their foil sheet, so encourage them to fill the space of the page, without extending over the edges. Larger, broader shapes will translate better onto the foil.

Encourage imaginative combinations of body parts - duck feet, cows horns, etc. What type of fur, scales, skin, feathers do the body parts have?

Consider the GESTURE and body position of your Wild Thing. Consider the EXPRESSION and EMOTION on his or her face.

NOTE: Younger grades may wish to do the head only for the Wild Thing. The larger scale of the head will allow for more details to be added to the foil.





Step 2 -TRANSFER TO FOIL
Use masking tape to affix the concept drawing to the foil. Working with the foil placed on a stack of newspaper on the desk, have the students trace over their drawing with the pencil, pressing down to impress it into the foil At this point, students need only to transfer the basic outlines of their figure, they can add the details like texture, teeth, claws, etc. directly to the foil in the next step.

NOTE: Show the students that if they flip over the foil, they can see on the back where they've already traced, and what needs to be added. DO NOT LIFT THE PAPER until the drawing has been fully transferred.





Step 3 - TOOL THE FOIL
Remove the concept drawing paper from the foil. Using the wooden stylus, work directly on the foil (with newspaper underneath). Go back over the lines that were transferred to make them deeper. Use the stylus to add details and texture like fur, hair, scales, horns, claws, teeth. Remind students to work carefully. Go slowly or stylus will slide in unwanted ways.






Step 4 - COLOR THE FOIL
Use the permanent markers provided in the kit to color the Wild Things. Get fantastical with the color schemes, but encourage kids to color the eyes YELLOW as a tribute to Sendak. It will be so great if we can have all 550 ornaments with yellow eyes!
NOTE: If there's time, students can color both sides, but it's not necessary.





Step 5 - CUT OUT THE WILD THING
Carefully cut out the body using scissors to create an outline of the Wild Thing (leave a narrow border of foil around the edges). It's not recommended to cut out each claw, horn, etc. The ornaments will travel better and be less damaged without tiny body parts sticking out.
FOR KINDER THRU SECOND GRADE, this step should be performed by the art parents due to risk of sharp edges on the foil.




WAIT!! THERE’S ONE MORE THING! Be sure that EVERY ornament is labled with the students’ NAME, GRADE and CLASSROOM number, in a small, but legibible type somewhere inconspicuous. This is absolutely necesary so that we can return the ornament in January. Return all completed ornaments and unused materials to the art room.


HAVE FUN!!

Inspiration from Young at Art - MISCELLANEOUS PROJECTS

The San Francisco Youth Arts Festival "Young at Art" at the DeYoung Museum in May was full of so many creative, inventive and inspiring ideas for art exploration with kids. There were some really projects in the show, including:


These two pieces were amongst my favorites in all the show. It's a new spin on the classic lesson where the students trace each others' bodies on the large butcher paper. These however have been painted and collaged in a way that elevates them to true fine art. What a fantastic outdoor activity with the younger kids!






These pieces are a nice re-take on Asian inspired landscape drawings. The lines of the branches are created with India ink, then the cherry blossoms are created with tiny bits of pink tissue paper.




These pieces were created by our Mayeda students, inspired by last year's Maya Lin exhibit at the de Young. They explore the typography of land forms, as well as make for a great lesson on the use of negative space.





Perfect for third graders learning cursive, this is a cool oil pastel abstraction on the lines of a first name in cursive.






This dragon was a great example of wax resist and oil pastel with watercolor. The patterns of the swirls on the background vs. the scales of the dragon's skin really make this dragon POP off the page.






These paper bowls would make a great curriculum tie-in with Native American studies. Using a hexagonal base on a piece of manila tag board, the basket woven patterns are drawn in with color pencil. While the kids wouldn't have the true experience of basket weaving, it does give them the opportunity to explore the intricacies of Native American designs that they wouldn't be able to accomplish if actually weaving.







All kids love pop-ups! This cityscape is particularly clever as it's also a fun lesson in perspective.





These abstract drawings were a fun exploration of creating visual texture. I'm guessing that the drawings began with adding random shapes and lines to the paper and then breaking them into areas to create different patterns. It looks a bit like something one would see in a biological cross- section or under a microscope.






I went bananas for these silhouetted pieces. Granted, they were made by older students, but they were so charming and cute that I'm going to have to figure out a way that we can do this type of work with the younger kids.







These "stained glass" images were made from colored acetate with black puffy paint as the leading.




I've always enjoyed doing the foam sheet printing with the kids. There were two projects that used that technique in different ways to create different results. This one was interesting because the prints were done with the speedball inks, but when dry, the were further worked with oil pastels. It would make a nice exercise in a seasonal changes - a tree with empty branches could be the printed part. The student could then make multiples and add blossoms, green leaves, and autumn leaves. The color used to print could also help depict the seasons.






This one was also really fun with the animal blocks printed on fabric. The teacher did a really nice job masking off the fabric areas so that everything was very neat and tidy. This could make a great auction project.

Inspiration from Young at Art - GROUP PROJECTS

The San Francisco Youth Arts Festival "Young at Art" at the DeYoung Museum in May was full of so many creative, inventive and inspiring ideas for art exploration with kids. There were some really cool group projects in the show, including:

This is a fun collage of figure drawings that explores a group effort of depicting a community. A very nice collaborative project!







This carousel was quite clever with a nice variety of fantastical carousel animals drawn on cardstock and mounted on skewer. Assembled together, they pay great homage to the incredible craftsmanship that went into the carousels of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. If I were to do this project, I would change two things . . . 1- have the kids make the figures on tooling foil with sharpies for that vibrancy. 2 - I would make the carousel itself a little larger so each animal could be seen a little easier.





I was pretty crazy about this wire leaf form. It's made from chicken wire and it's woven with strips of construction paper on which text is written. What an incredible way to turn poetry into visual art.







This was a very cool fabric mosaic quilt. What an incredible textile art - and a cool inspiration for a potential auction project?








These sculptures features some very inventive re-use of the school cafeteria milk and juice cartons. These sculptures were kinetic and featured concentric circles that rotated and balanced pendants for a center pole. On each carton, children had illustrated themselves as their past (as babies) their present (their current age) and their future (what they aspire to be when they grow up.)

Inspiration from Young at Art - SCULPTURE

The San Francisco Youth Arts Festival "Young at Art" at the DeYoung Museum in May was full of so many creative, inventive and inspiring ideas for art exploration with kids. The following are a few of my favorite projects using different SCULPTURE / 3-D PROJECTS:


This was a elegant little bat skeleton made from popsicle sticks and coffee stirrers. The addition of the black shadow box allowed for the flying insects to "interact" in the bat's environment. It also gives it a cool Joseph Cornell sensibility.






This little project was just straight-up cute. It's the classic glue-soaked twine wrapped around the balloon, which is then popped when the glue has dried. A few years back, we made our Trim-A-Tree with copper wire using this technique. It might be fun to revisit that process once again - perhaps with less expensive materials, like embroidery floss and seed beads?





These painted "blocks" of notched cardboard make for a very fun building material. It would be great to see a project that used both notched flat pieces of cardboard along with notched pieces toilet paper rolls. I'm especially glad they painted these - it's colorful and cheerful, yet still structurally amazing.




These little figural sculptures start with the classic 2 strands of wire, stapled to a small plywood base. Bent into a figure and then wrapped with color wire to show the fullness of the body. These are particularly successful since they depict such movement - I love the beaded hula hoop and the handstand is quite charming as well. Many different materials can be used once the wire base is stapled . . . sculpey, baker's clay, model magic, modeling clay or plaster all make for great figures on a wire armature.

Inspiration from Young at Art - COLLAGE

The San Francisco Youth Arts Festival "Young at Art" at the DeYoung Museum in May was full of so many creative, inventive and inspiring ideas for art exploration with kids. The following are a few of my favorite projects using different COLLAGE techniques:


This fabric collage was really quite marvelous. I'm guessing that this is an illustration of a story about a sad seamstress, as the image really does have quite alot to say. I especially love the use of a real needle in her hand and buttons and rhinestones to make her jewelry and her tears.





This would be a simple project for Kinders to be able to approach. The results are quite charming and would make for a fun exploration of color, line, form and texture.





Simple in execution, this little collage is big on surreal conceptualization! It really gave me a giggle.





The attention to detail on these paper mosaics is truly incredible. These kids have an unbelievable amount of patience and the ability to sustain their attention span!!







These color tissue collage maps would make a vibrant art activity to go with a geography lesson:






I loved these cityscape collages that featured cut outs from those free San Francisco Real Estate magazines. It's a great lesson in perspective, as you can have the kids draw the diminishing line of the street and then built their collage around the lines, using larger scale buildings towards the front and getting smaller in the back. It's also super fun because it does truly end up looking like a San Francisco Street.







There were some really funky chickens done in collage as well, with both paper and fabric. Something about the texture of feathers translates really nicely to collage: