Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass

If your plans include a trip to Boston anytime in the near future; you're in for a real treat.  The Boston Museum of Fine Arts is hosting the exhibition Chihuly: Through the Looking Glass. Seemingly, Through the Looking Glass is an apt name for the exhibit.  According to a very dear friend (who just returned from a trip to Florida where she took in the Chihuly Museum), this is a must-see show.  The interplay of light, dark, color, reflection, space, and glass make for a visual experience that becomes otherworldly.  Completely mind blowing are the words she used to describe the Chihuly Museum.  And I'm all for that!
Information about the exhibit and a short video of Chihuly glass (useful if you're working on one of those wonderful Chihuly Lesson plans that are floating around the web) are posted on the Boston Museum of Fine Arts website.  You can watch the video and get details here.
If you planning to stay in Boston and would like a lead on a place to stay, check out the Buckminster Hotel.  It's a Sanford White building with a view of Fenway Park.  The Buckminster is within walking distance and/or T travel to the museum, the aquarium, Chinatown, Little Italy, etc.
See you there!

My Blog Button

I Photoshopped a button for my blog today.

Paper Swing--Another Art Room Freebee

I had a why-didn't-I-think-of-that moment when I saw this because it looks so simple.  It's called the Paper Swing, and it's used to dispense rolled paper.  The paper swing was developed by a Swedish design company that specializes in children and child development.  It resulted from watching children drawing activities in a kindergarten room where kids were drawing on large sheets of paper.  So much fun for the kids, economical for the classroom.  But doling out the paper is not so convenient, and the kids can't help themselves.  Add a dowel and a rope and the problem is solved.  According to the description, the swing hangs stable on the table by the weight of the paper alone where it is ready when needed and easily accessible.  Tiang Tang is sharing the design for free and you can see the details by clicking here .  

Kind of reminds me of the way paper is rolled out in the doctor's office.  Makes me want to try it just to see how it works.  I have a drill.  I know I can find a dowel and a piece of clothesline.  I already have the rolled paper.  So this project really is free.  

Zen Eggs for You

If you've got a sharpie pen and an egg you can make a zen doodle egg like these.  I saw this on Alisa Burke's Blog and am reposting it for all the Zentanglers and Doodlers out there (you know who you are).  These doodles are made on blown out white eggs, but I suppose you could do them on hard cooked eggs and color them as well.   

Free Download at Foldschool

My two favorite words in the English language "free stuff".  I love it.  I cannot pass by the free box at anyone's tag sale without peeking in.  Truth is, I've found some very cool things in free boxes over the years, but this post makes me want to spill out the stuff and take the box, because even better than free stuff,  is free stuff you can make with and for kids. 

Nicola Enrico Staubli is the Swiss-based designer behind Foldschool  furniture.  His design philosophy is to move design back to what he consider's its original mission:  to provide a product at an affordable price through a smart manufacturing process, and by jove, I think he's done it.    Foldschool has posted three FREE downloadable patterns for modern folded cardboard furniture.  Let the kids loose with the paint and they will have a personal piece of furniture handmade by you.  What's not to love?  When the child has out grown the furniture, dispose of the cardboard with clear conscience.  

Beautiful Vision: The World of Takashi Shuji

I'm posting this today, because I find it so inspiring.

"Takashi Shuji, 35, who has Down syndrome, works with pastels as a member of a painting club at Mukogawa Suzukake Sagyojo, a facility for disabled people in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.

Shuji's work, characterized by bold outlines and filled, at a frenetic pace, with pastel hues, is often completed in a single, unstinting effort of many hours, often leaving his face blackened. One of his pieces was used as part of the promotional poster for the Art Brut Collection Japon exhibition held at the same Lausanne gallery last year."(From The Daily Yomiuri)

Fish Pond Printing

Our fish prints are done, and boy are they cute.  To make them, kindergarten and first grade blew bubbles into a bowl of soapy water into which blue liquid water color paint had been added.  When the bubbles rose up over the rim of the bowl they gently pressed their paper onto the bubbles filling their paper with a foamy print and we set these aside to dry.
During our next class we did some practice drawing about fish.  We noticed oval shaped bodies and triangular tails.  We practiced drawing fins and scales.  When kids had a fish they were satisfied with they drew their final design on a piece of 3"X4" copy paper.  The paper was taped onto a piece of Styrofoam and kids drew over their lines pressing hard to make an impression in the foam, and we cut them out.
On week three we set up a printing station and kids inked up their printing plates and printed them onto their bubble print.  I folded a piece of masking tape on itself and taped the ends to the back of the printing plate to make a little handle for the kids lift their plate off the paper.  We worked in small groups, and kids cycled through the centers we now have up and running again.
Lots of fun watching little ones become printmakers.
Recipe for bubble prints:
Into a cereal-sized bowl add a squirt of liquid soap, a squirt of liquid watercolor, and the tiniest amount of water to barely cover the bottom of the straw.  Bubble away!