Paper Planes

Ryan F (S2,OLSP) has been working on his paper mache tile for an S2 joint group project. The ‘Eco Tile’ has been based on highlighting air travel and the effect excessive, cheap, frequent flying has on the environment. Ryan’s design is very dynamic and action packed, it’s a mini sculpture. Above, he adds finishing touches with ripped paper towels to smooth out wrinkled paper, but to add a textured effect so that it can be dry-brushed to look like stone. Well done Ryan… A marvelous piece of work.

‘Twilight’ Zone

This week’s ‘A.O.T.W’ comes from Jennifer in S2. She attends Mrs McAlinden’s art class (a first for this art blog – a student who is not in my class). I have been made aware that the theme of this strange mask is taken from ‘Twilight’, though I have to admit that I hate the idea of ‘Twilight’ and refuse to find out more.

The mask is tremendously well painted with nicely cut chess pieces at the top of the face. It bears a ribbon that merges nicely into the painted face, who’s gold eyes stare intensely at the observer. Two silver lined hands emerge from the head holding a luscious apple. A beautifully made piece of art.

Days Of The Dead – Best Of The Rest

Below you will find a selection of the Days of the Dead artworks. Papier mache skeletons in cardboard and papier mache coffins, each pupil tried to make their work unique by creating individual themes. This is not all of the skeletons made, there were around one hundred actually made, though it’s a few that I thought stood out from the rest.

Jake The Funeral Director

‘Artwork of the Week’ comes from Louise in 2L. She made this amazing skeleton in a coffin for ‘Days of the Dead’. Her application of the Papier Mache and Paint was fantastic. It gives her a work a real smooth look and makes it look very professional. Probably more professional than they’d ever bother to make in Mexico, as they are very disposable. This is the second time Louise has had work featured on the blog. She is becoming quite a regular. Fantastic stuff.

Cow Parade Sculptures

The final cow sculptures look amazing. Although it was more difficult teaching the pupils to make every cow individual, it was worth it. The cows got an amazing response from all who saw them. Showing them at the Gleniffer final year show, a parent offered to buy Katherine‘s ‘Super Cow’ for £60. ‘Super Cow’ ended up being one of the major attractions of the parade, although I thought they were all amazing. It is really hard to pick a favourite.

The Making Of The Cow Parade Sculptures

The Cows’ bodies are made from rolled up newspaper. The cows were then papier mached with alternate layers of blank and newsprint paper. When the cows were made, a resource was chosen and the pupils tried their best to customise their cow sculpture. Block paints were used to paint the sculptures.

‘Hatred Destroys All’ – A Holocaust Day Sculpture

2A (Gleniffer) have been working on a group sculpture for the Anti-Hatred/Holocaust Day competition ran by Renfrewshire Council. They made an interactive sculpture, it consists of 16 papier mache pebbles (to resemble the pebbles placed on a Jewish grave), stenciled with letters that read “Hatred Destroys All.” The observer is invited to re-arrange the letters, destroying the phrase.

Skeletal Art

S2 continue to progress through their Mexican Art unit, some more faster than others. Chelciann is currently working on an artist themed skeleton. She has painted the coffin with little paintbrushes and has made a large paintbrush for the skeleton to hold. She is also planning to make a palette for him to hold. I really like his beret, it’s going to look fantastic when it’s finished.

Close To The Boyle Family

The final pieces below are the S2 outcomes from 2M (2007-08) at Gleniffer High School. The pupils took a street photo and made a 3D papier mache outcome on canvas stretchers. They named their pieces after streets in Paisley/Glenburn. The technique is similar to the techniques the Boyle family use when creating their relief work.

The pieces involve a great deal of techniques, the pupils had to learn simplification, collage, paint application, card cutting, relief building and dry brushing.

Mexican Pinata Puppets

As a little taster, below you will find the unfinished final pieces of a ‘Mexican Pinata Puppet’ unit devised for S2 Pupils at Thomas Aquinas in Glasgow. This unit was ran over a 4 week period, so the steps had been rushed, though the pupils had been keen to finish and so attended break and lunch time classes. The puppet’s heads should have contained a little sweet, though that had been advised against.

There were many tough elements in this unit for pupils to handle; Changing 2D drawings to 3D structures, achieving a smooth surface on the papier mache and getting good paint coverage on the puppet heads. The bodies of the puppets are photographed unfinished. I do not know if the pupils were given the chance to finish them off.