Joseph Cornell Boxes (projects)

These are the results from this project. Remember, they were supposed to apply the principles of design to create boxes whose interior contrasts with the exterior. As usual I am super pleased with the results, 10th graders rock! You can click on the images to make them larger.

This one speaks about juvenile delinquency

While this one is a critique to plastic surgery and our society´s obsession with "beauty"

 

 This one reflects the contrasting cultures of Asia, from very traditional to ubermodern

 

This one, like the next, says a little about how sometimes people can be very standoff-ish but are actually very sweet inside

This was an elementary school favorite! Seriously, I had to wrestle it away from 5th graders almost on a daily basis

8th Grade Holocaust Memorials

This year our school had its Cultural Festival, and I had the pleasure of working with some 8th graders on their presentations. Since we were learning all about Art of the Holocaust (Propaganda, Degenerate Art, Spiritual resistance, etc.), It seemed appropriate to let them design and create mock-ups of Memorials. They did a lot of research on existing monuments and themes and in small groups made their pieces using papier maché, wire, clay, cardboard and even fire! Here are some of the most remarkable ones.

 

This one is called "Lost Souls", its basically a pile of bodies...very graphic, but powerful.

This beautiful piece reminds me very much of Anne Frank

These kids made a mock-up of an incinerator in a concentration camp, with a huge metal fist burning on top. I wish I had more pictures because shortly after this they went a little overboard with the special effects and nearly burned the school down! Very memorable ;-)

Art Magazine Assignment

Hey ninth graders! Together we are going to create an Art Magazine featuring interviews with some of history´s most famous artist. In pairs, you will research an artist and write interviews (obviously fake, since most of them are dead), design nice layouts and print so we can later put them together. This is part one of our proyect and must be turned in on or before next tuesday, May 1st, and is worth 50 points.

Part two will be to create a conmemorative piece based on their artwork, the kind of things you see in a museum gift shop (coffee mugs, plates, T-shirts, stuff like that—the more original the better). This is due on or before Tuesday, May 8th, and is worth 25 points.

Here is how you will proceed today:

1)   Choose a partner (only one)

2)   Choose your artist from this list, and let me know right away
http://totallyhistory.com/art-history/famous-artists/

3)   Research this artist online and write an “interview” for an Art Review magazine. DON´T JUST ASK QUESTIONS—you must write about their work as well.

You may research artist interviews online for ideas. Here is a good one:

http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2011/04/13/how-to-interview-an-artist/

After you have your interview, email it to me (a.casals@gcnewhorizons.net). Start working on your layout, which will be two 8.5”x11” pages (just like in a magazine). Get images online. When you have finished designing, you must turn printed.

In the next class we will put the layouts together to create the magazine and start working on your museum pieces, unless you bring them from home.

1000 Origami Cranes for Fundación Amigos Contra el Cancer Infantil

Seventh graders are currently studying all things Japanese, so in art class we are doing a unit on Origami. After doing some test runs with very easy designs, we got ambitious and decided to try to make 1000 Origami Cranes, like the story of Sadako.We will be making these cranes for charity, to help children with cancer through the Fundación Amigos Contra el Cancer Infantil. Our goal* is to have 1000 cranes done by April 19th, so we can exhibit them on the 20th and sell them each that day to raise money for the foundation. Only 2 seventh grades are working on this project so we need all the help we can get! If you want to give a hand, you may follow this tutorial and create as many as you can. Finished cranes may be left in the CBNH library with Rose.

Remember, the most important step for origami is PATIENCE!

* Another important thing we talked about in class was the difference between a dream and a goal; Goals have a date! Otherwise, they are very hard to accomplish.

10th grade assignment: Joseph Cornell Boxes

Welcome back! Now that we´ve gotten our creative groove back with the Impossible Product Design project, it´s time to sink our teeth into something more ambitious. The following project you will have 3 or 4 weeks to complete (NOTE: next friday´s teacher training was cancelled so we will be working next week).

This purpose of this assignment is to create a personal cabinet or box. Just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, or a person by their outward appearance the problem that you must solve in creating this cabinet is for the inside and outside of this cabinet to be different. An object of contrasts!

One of the most famous and noted artists who worked with boxes and the concept of placing images inside a shadow type box was Joseph Cornell. Before you delve further into this assignment, you will be viewing work by Cornell and other artists who use boxes and altars as a means of expression.

Design Considerations:

Doors. You will be using a jigsaw. Curved lines work well. Angular cuts are very difficult to do. As you design the door front, think about the size and shape of the doors - can you actually cut them?

Outside Design, Color, Pattern, etc. What your completed cabinet looks like on the outside must be different from the inside. You can paint, stencil, draw, stamp, carve, and wood burn the outside of the cabinet. Think about adding to/extending top of the box (to make a "shrine" or retablos)

You can add items to the surface of the cabinet on the sides, doors, and top- remember to consider the weight and balance and how added items will contribute to stability.

Inside: The inside of the box should be personal and meaningful to you. This is not just a useful box or cabinet, this is being created as a work of art. Use the inside of this box to make a personal, political or other such artistically intriguing message. Everyone will be expected to view the web sites listed on the back of this page. 

Legs or No Legs: This is a design decision you must make. You will need to decide this before you actually build the cabinet. If there are legs- what shape, and size? Think about stability.

You will be expected to design this box on paper before you begin.

EVERYONE will be expected to view the following sites for ideas:

• http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/cornell/
• http://www.wa-digital.com/LeoKaplan/index.html
• http://www.norton.org/Exhibitions/Archive/JosephCornell/tabid/
• http://members.aol.com/mindwebart2/Cornellcover.htm
• http://www.the-artists.org/ArtistView.cfm
• http://www.udayton.edu/mary/gallery/exhibits/luckett.html
• http://www.artchive.com/artchive/C/cornell.html
• http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_works_32_0.html
• http://altpick.com/spot/binkley/index.php
• http://www.casacorazon.com/jesus_sosa_calvo2.html. Also see Jesus Sosa Calvo's Facebook page. You have to be his friend to view his art work.
• http://www.artisticrevolutions.com/AR_gallery_artboxes.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoih3hluorM&feature=related here you can get an idea of how to make the box

List some of the ideas you liked from the sites you visited. From these ideas, make another list of themes, messages, or personal statements that will be used inside your cabinet. 

Here is how you will proceed:

From today until next class (Jan. 27) you will gather your materials. Begin by getting your box (if you find nothing else, a shoebox will do but try to find a much nicer box). Also, start sketching the outside of your cabinet (the doors), how it will open and what design it will have. The first thing you will work on is the doors.

Then, you will bring all the materials and work in class. I also recommend you buy a small tube of UHU, i have some large ones but personal ones would be better to work with. I will sit with each of you to check your sketches, answer questions and monitor your progress. Afterwards, you will take what you have finished so far and finish it at home (if you haven´t in class).

On the final day (Feb. 3rd or 10th, depends how far along you are) you will present your boxes along with an Artist Statement.

Good Luck, Have Fun Creating!

Chinese Landscape Scrolls

 
7th graders´ Social Studies curriculum focuses on Asia and so does their art program. They have explored Hindu Mandalas, Chinese Dragons and Beijing Opera Masks and recently we had a chance to try out some landscape scroll paintings.

For homework they had to research the main characteristics of these paintings and frequent subjects (cherry and blossoms, waterfalls, bamboo, and chrysanthemums)  and later in class they tried watercoloring their own designs based on these characteristics.

They are all very beautiful, but these are some of the ones that looked the most "chinese" ;-)

Haida Indians Masks

  
5th graders are studying the U.S. and Canada in their Social Studies classes, and they love all things Native American, so for Halloween I had them create masks like the Haida Indians of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They first had to research these masks in the internet and bring in examples. In class we compared them to see the common features. We saw that they all had very bushy eyebrows, the eyes were pinched at the end, like footballs. Also, we saw that the lips were rounded and looked like two hot dogs, and that they covered all the negative space with designs.

The first week we taped cardboard triangles on paper plates to create a nose shape, and covered the entire thing with papier-maché (no need to say how much they loooved doing this).

 

The following week they brought in sketches they had made and painted their masks, just in time for the school´s Halloween fair. I have to admit I´m quite impressed with these, they are so much better than I had anticipated—and, mind you, my expectations for this group are very high ;-)