Julianna, our next artist-in-residence, introduced our Visual Arts Study this week. The children explored the spiral shape by looking at shells, fingerprints, and photographs.
For example, after sitting in a spiral shape on the rug, this is what some of the children had to say:
Zelda and Milan - "It's a spiral!"
Nathan - "It's made out of people."
Lucca - "It's a swirl. It's curvy."
Jovana - "There's a circle on the outside and a circle on the inside."
Lucca - "But they're connected."
Clair - "It goes around and around and around until the circle gets too small."
Then the children chose different materials (modeling clay, newspaper reeds, 2-dimensional collages, and outside installations) to explore these concepts. These projects will continue every Wednesday with Julianna for the next eight weeks.
Some children went outside to explore spirals.They first explored spirals with chalk.
Lilly noticed that a "half-spiral" makes a rainbow.
Then the children began using organic and inorganic objects to enhance their spirals.
Many children used their knowledge of patterns in their spirals.
Nola first made a small spiral on fabric, then extended her idea by building a larger spiral next to it. Her first spiral contained smaller, more fragile materials. Her second spiral contained larger, bolder materials.
Other children explored spirals with clay, trying different molding techniques
The children were surprised when Julianna suggested they take their pieces outside to create an outdoor installation on our tree in the small yard. The classroom community is learning how to live and play alongside public art installations.
Inspired by what the Core 3 students created with Julianna last semester, the children explored the strength of a spiral. They turned newspaper into paper reeds, spirally the paper and then wound it up again.
Students saw many different things in their creations: a basket, a volcano, a hat, a snail....
Children explored spirals through mosaics using glue, tiles and beans.
They used their own language to describe what they were making...swirls, curves, circles, and patterns and experienced working inside-out or outside-in. The children also had the opportunity to practice what to do when your art piece does not turn out how you expected, or if you run out of certain materials and have to re-think your original plan.
