Trophies

Papier-mâché Trophies

2nd Grade

2^nd graders began this unit by observing and discussing trophies from many cultures and time periods. 

Check out the trophies from around the world here:

https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/u/0/favorite/group/5QJSm4I62RhgJQ

What do trophies have in common?

Why do people give and receive trophies?

Who is someone in your life that is important to you? Who in your life deserves a trophy? Why?

Students sketched ideas for their trophy before building an armature using newspaper, recyclables, and lots of tape!  You can think of an armature as the bones of the sculpture, this is the structure that will later receive the paper mache.  

Students used a lot of experimentation, collaboration and persistence through failure to build these structures.

Next up, paper mache!  Many students love this opportunity to get gooey and messy while others find it too slimy for their comfort, nevertheless evey student did a great job with this new technique! 

I don't get many photos of this step because, MESSY!

Students painted a base coat of white before adding color with acrylic paint.  

They finished these works off by thinking about how they could use the materials in the art room to express their ideas.  

Check out how this artist wove pipe cleaners to make a lacrosse net!

Charlotte's trophy is for her family and she has colors to represent each one of them. 

How can you use materials to show why your chosen person is important to you? 

We celebrated the trophies by giving compliments to our peers!   Nice work on your thoughtful and unique trophies, 2nd grade!

Mythological Creatures

Papier-mâché Creatures 
Inspired by Mythology

For this unit, 4th graders expanded on their classroom study of mythological creatures.  Students had the choice of imagining a new creature, or creating one that they had learned about in class.   When the sculptures were completed, they were displayed as part of the 4th grade poetry cafe.   Some students even wrote poems about the creatures they built!  

There are many steps to creating paper-mache sculptures, read on to see how we made them.

The Process

Constructing the Armature.  (Think: the skull)

During this step, students were challenged to think in three dimensions, and to create a structure showing form.

Paper-mache:  newspaper and tissue paper
We thought of this layer as the "skin."  This layer adds strength, holds the sculpture together, and makes a layer on which to paint.  We also used tissue paper as a way to apply color to the sculptures.

Painting and Embellishments!
Students added personality to their creations with paint, feathers, yarn, glitter and more.

Final Artworks
The result of all their hard work, problem solving, and imagination!

Egg Transformations

Egg Transformations

6th Grade 

When these students were in 5^th grade, they took a trip to the Columbus Museum of Art.  We saw a lot of inspiring and interesting creations, but a crowd favorite was the "Art 360: Contemporary Art Hatching Across Ohio," project.  For this project, Ohio artists were given an ostrich egg with the challenge to transform it into something new

Artwork from the Art 360 exhibition

6^th graders began the same way, each creating paper-maché egg from a balloon. 

Students had a creative challenge day to warm up for this project.  In groups, students had to alter an egg carton based on two verbs they were randomly given (for example: to tear and to flow).  Groups then passed their altered egg carton to the next group.  This second group had the open-ended challenge of transforming what they received into something new.  Oh yeah, they had time limits for each part and limited materials!  Students had a lot of fun while thinking flexibly, fluently, and originally.  




Students then brainstormed ideas for their  paper-maché egg transformation, using either “What if?” questions or Richard Serra’s verb list.  

After landing on a final idea, students used their choice of materials to transform their egg into something new. 

Completed works: