WALL-E Inspired MEMORY-BOTS for Trim-A-Tree

Each year, Rooftop is invited to decorate a 16-ft. holiday tree at Davies Symphony Hall. Every year, every student creates a hand-made ornament that is designed to reflect the year's "Art Is . . ." curriculum at Rooftop.

This year’s Trim-A-Tree ornament is inspired by the Disney/Pixar film Wall-E. Each student will design a memory-capsule robot using recycled materials to create an emotionally expressive robot face. Students will also engage in a short writing activity to record a memory to be inserted into their robot for safe-keeping.

Materials Provided:

• DVD of Wall-E clips and stills from the film
• Empty CD cases – to be used as the base of the robot face
• A wide variety of recycled materials to create the face
• Tacky glue, white glue (see notes in step 5)
• Silver foil tape, glue dots (see notes in step 5)
• Sharpies, glitter glue
• Pre-cut neon colored paper for inserting written memory into CD case
  
  

Preparation:

• Confirm the classroom has a DVD player or computer that can be used to show the film clips.
• Check with the teacher if they would like to pursue the memory writing activity as a classroom activity, or if they wish the art parents to lead the students in recording their memory. (The writing activity occurs after the robots have been created).
• Distribute 1 CD case per child. Write their name and classroom # on the back in Sharpie pen in an inconspicuous, yet still legible way. Without this info, we will not be able to return the ornament to its creator.
• Spread out the recycled materials across a table so the students can choose their materials.
• Bear in mind this year’s “Art Is . . . Shaping Memory” line of inquiry when prepping for the lesson: “How do artists use a synthesis of words, images, sound and movement to give shape to memory?”
  
  

Lesson steps:

1 – SHOW DVD of WALL-E clips. Suggested clips are “A Hero’s Journey” and “The Man & the Machine” (the last two clips on the menu) Total screening time of these two shorts is 5 minutes.

2 – DISCUSS and SHOW STILL IMAGES. Ask the students to share their thoughts on the film. Guide the discussion towards the artists who created the character of Wall-E and the way that they designed WALL-E to show his emotions with his facial expressions. Even though Wall-E barely speaks, we know when he feels lonely, happy, sad, curious, angry and in love!

3 – SHOW PROTOTYPE. Introduce the idea that students can use the geometry of the recycled objects to create an abstraction. Shapes can be put together to give us the sense of a face, and even an expression of a specific emotion. At one point in the movie, WALL-E even does this himself. (Show the image of WALL-E’s self-portrait sculpture made from garbage).

4 - CHOOSE MATERIALS. Send the students in small groups to the recycled materials table to pick the items they would like to use to create their robots. (A good way to manage this would be to suggest each student start with taking about 10 items. They can go back for more later if they need it). Students will likely comment on the fact that the materials are recycled, which is a great tie-in to the environmental themes of the film. Give the kids the chance to make that “discovery” for themselves, but if no one comments, be sure to mention it to them. Please note: The Symphony has strict rules about the ornaments being completely non-flammable. Use only the materials provided in the kits, as it has all be tested for flammability.

5 – EXPERIMENT WITH COMPOSITION. Hold off on distributing the glue for at least 5 minutes. Encourage the students to experiment with arranging the materials in different ways to create different facial expressions. Remind the students that in order for their robot to be able to hold their written memory, they must design their robot so that the CD case will close. (This is also important for flammability issues with the paper inside). Also ask students to consider weight issues when creating their robots – these ornaments will need to hang from tree branches.

6 – GLUE IT UP!! Students will share the tacky glue and white glue (2 students per bottle). The silver foil tape and glue dots are to be used with adult supervision, as these materials are both expensive and tricky to use, but they are very effective means of making difficult-to-adhere things stick! Sharpie pens and glitter glue are provided to add “final touch” accents, should the student wish to do so.

7 – CLEARLY LABEL ALL ORNAMENTS. Double-check that each student’s ornament is labeled with his/her name and the classroom number. We’ll need this information to get the ornaments back to them in January. Return all unused materials to the art room for re-distribution to other classes.

MEMORY-WRITING ACTIVITY:

WHO WILL LEAD? Again, check with teacher to see if they wish the art parents to lead this, or if they’d like it as a classroom activity. The memory writing can occur at anytime once the robots have been made.

DISCUSS. To get the ball rolling, discuss that in the film, Wall-E takes most of the trash and crushes it into blocks and makes big pyramids, but there are little things that he finds that he is curious about and takes them back to his house to store them.

GUIDING QUESTIONS. Why does Wall-E collect certain objects? Why do these objects have significance to him? What objects are important to you? Are they important because you associate them with a special memory?

RECORD THE MEMORY. Take the neon paper and ask the students to write down a cherished memory that they would like their robot to hold for them. Kinders and 1st graders can either draw their memory, or dictate it to an adult. If the kids have more than one memory, they can use multiple sheets of paper. However, the CD case will need to close tightly.

INSERT MEMORY. Open the case and slide in the memory sheet for safe storage!

Self-Portraits - Four Ways

Ms. Smith's first graders explored four different ways to depict themselves using a variety of materials.

With three art parents and Ms. Smith helping, the classroom was divided into small groups and rotated through four different art "stations."

Materials used were:

1 - Black sharpie on white paper.

2 - Oil pastels on black paper.

3 - Cut wire and clear tape.

4 - Magazine cut-out collages of facial features.

Each group of 5 children each spent 10-15 minutes at each station - some were manned with mirrors and some were from depicting onself from memory.

Depicting the same familiar subject (ones self!) with four different medium is a great way to teach students to understand the properties of the materials they're working with. Thanks for sharing a great lesson!

Matisse-Inspired Exploration of Positive and Negative Space

Led by Art Parent Danielle DiSalvo, Ms. Vaughn's first-graders explored the use of positive and negative space in a Matisse-inspired lesson.

The materials used are simple . . . sheets of different colored construction paper, scissors and glue sticks. Preparation is quite easy . . . just pre-cut different colored sheets of construction paper in 9 evenly sized rectangles (so that you have 3 rows of 3 pieces each). You'll also need to grab enough full-size sheets of paper for the entire class.

The lesson begins with a simple explanation of the idea that when a paper is cut, not only does the paper take on a different shape (positive space) but the empty space that is left behind becomes a shape of its own (negative space).

A simple way to demonstrate this is to use a piece of dark construction paper, cut it down the middle in a curving line and tape the pieces onto the whiteboard with a few inches between the pieces. The construction paper pieces will be their own shapes, but the white space in between becomes a shape of it's own.

After the demo, the children choose a full sheet of construction paper to serve as the background, plus 9 pieces of the smaller, cut-down construction paper in contrasting colors from the background color.

Instruct the children to cut their smaller sheets into abstract shapes, saving all the pieces that are cut away. Students can then experiment with arranging the cut pieces onto their full-size background paper. All pieces that have been cut out need to be arranged in the composition in some place or another.

A tip is to wait to give them the glue sticks until they've had an opportunity to experiment with moving pieces around to make a conscientious decision about their composition. Once the student has a composition that pleases them, give them a glue stick to affix the pieces permanently.

One final note . . . because the pieces are arranged in a 3 x 3 grid, the project could also be used as a basic mapping/math lesson if the grid were labeled with coordinates. A fun exercise would be to point to one cut shape and ask the children to find its match and name the coordinates where it's located.

Baker's Clay Recipe and Helpful Tips

Baker's Clay is a wonderful material to use for creating 3-D art with kids. Easy to mix and inexpensive, it's a great medium to spark creative exploration, and it's incredibly fun to feel the clay squish between fingers!!

Plus, allowing the young kids to mix the ingredients is a great math lesson in measurement and proportion and mixing in powdered tempera paints to color the clay also provides opportunity to teach basic color theory.

Baker's Clay has a long tradition at Rooftop, harkening back to the early days when Rooftop children worked with artist Ruth Asawa and to sculpt small scenes of San Francisco that were cast in bronze and used on the Fountain at the Renaissance Park 55 Hotel in Union Square.

A tried-and-true baker's clay recipe and handy tips on using the medium can be found on Ruth Asawa's website:

http://www.ruthasawa.com/clay.html

ADDITIONAL NOTES and TIPS:

The recipe and instructions on Ruth's website are to create uncolored clay which can be painted after it is baked or dried. Baker's clay can also be tinted with powdered tempera paints during the dry-ingredients mixing process. Add between 2 tablespoons and 1/2 cup of powdered tempera (the more you add, the more intense the color) to the dry ingredients before adding in the water.

Alternately, several drops of liquid watercolor can be added during the kneading step to color the clay.

Dry ingredients can be measured out and mixed ahead of time, but it's best to wait to add the water until right before using the clay. (Don't try to make it the night before an art lesson). The salt should still feel slightly grainy to the touch and not be completely dissolved in the moisture of the dough. This will give the clay a little extra "body" when being molded.

The directions on Ruth's website also mention that the clay can be licked to moisten it when adhering two pieces together. Please note that's it's probably wiser to use a finger moistened in a bowl of water instead - especially when working with bakers' clay that has been tinted.

Baker's clay sculpture can also be left to air-dry instead of baking it in the oven. Be sure to place the sculptures on a metal cookie rack so that air can circulate underneath the sculpture.