Today my Summer Camps kicked it in gear and finished their sculptures. We worked on painting final details and adding metallic accents. A Hershey’s Kiss just isn’t a Kiss without an aluminum foil wrapper, right?!

And here they are… our finished sculptures ready for their Gallery showing!!! I wish…

Baseball Hat & Baseball Bat – by Samara

Frozen Yogurt Cup – by Cecilia

Rainbow Coca-Cola Can – by Stella

Hershey’s Kiss – by Greta

Converse Hightop Shoe & Basketball – by Hannah

Bowl of Cheerios – by Dierdre

Starburst Fruit Chews – by Isabel

No. 2 Pencil – by Nicole

Hershey’s Chocolate Bar – by Rebecca

Starbuck’s Iced Coffee – by Isabella

Traditional Parking Meter – by Isaac

Dr. Who Dalek – by Sophie… or at least that’s what she “told me” it was?!!!

Sophie also made this Dr. Who Tardis… at least I recognized THIS one.

Hershey’s Kiss – by Natalie... and I especially LOVE the mis-spelling!

Movie Popcorn – by Audrey

Green Gummi Bear – by Ainslie

Converse Hightop – by Emma

And there it is… the end of our “Pop Art Sculptures” Summer Camp…
as well as the end of my “Tour of Duty” as this was my last Camp for the Summer!

Today my Summer Camp kids started painting their “Pop Art Sculptures”… in addition to memorizing their 23 Pop Artists.  The white plaster will be covered with acrylic paints as the campers bring their sculptures to life with acrylic colors.

Okay, so some of the kids had more fun painting their hands than their sculptures!!!

By the end of the day, my Summer Campers had pretty much finished up their “Pop Art Sculpture” construction. A lot of work & a lot of plaster gauze. They’re now drying overnight… for tomorrow we start painting.

 

Yesterday we worked to make sense out of those piles of cardboard & newspaper. My Summer Campers worked hard to pull their designs together and make their sculptures a reality. Yesterday we worked with the cardboard as armature, newspaper as filler and masking tape to hold everything together… a LOT of masking tape!!!

A lot of projects. A lot of sculpture. A lot of kids… in NOT a lot of space!!!

Today we switched to plaster gauze to cover the “armature” and give it a “skin.” Small sheets of plaster gauze are dunked in water, then placed on their pieces and rubbed into place. As the plaster dissolves, it fills the holes in the gauze. Sheet after sheet. Rubbing & smoothing all the way to cover their sculptures.

So much fun for the kids to see their sculptures come together. Their sculptures are starting to “look like something” and they’re all starting to see their visions come together.

Tomorrow we start painting the details…
as the plaster gauze will have dried & solidified overnight.

This week at Summer camp, my kids will be making their own “Pop Art” Sculptures.
However, my “mission” this week is to sneak in some Art History along the way.
So over the course of the week we’re going to talk a lot about Pop Art, and many of the “famous” Pop Artists along the way. We’ll discuss their styles, influences and what makes them unique from each other. By the end of the week I’m pretty confident that they will be able to recognize the following twenty-three Pop Artists.

How many of these Pop Artists can YOU identify?… no cheating…

So let’s start with an easy one… and now the answers have been added 8/21/14.

Pop Artist #1 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Andy Warhol

 

Pop Artist #2 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Jasper Johns

 

Pop Artist #3 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Erro

 

Pop Artist #4 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Peter Max

 

Pop Artist #5 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Alex Katz

 

Pop Artist #6 : ______________    … ANSWER? : David Hockney

 

Pop Artist #7 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Allan D’Archangelo

 

Pop Artist #8 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Robert Indiana

 

Pop Artist #9 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Claes Oldenburg

 

Pop Artist #10 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Joe Tilson

 

Pop Artist #11 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Keith Haring

 

Pop Artist #12 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Nicholas Krushenick

 

Pop Artist #13 : ______________    … ANSWER? : George Segal

 

Pop Artist #14 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Patrick Caulfield

 

Pop Artist #15 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Peter Blake

 

Pop Artist #16 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Gerhard Richter

 

Pop Artist #17 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Jeff Koons

 

Pop Artist #18 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Jean Dubuffet

 

Pop Artist #19 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Richard Hamilton

 

Pop Artist #20 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Roy Lichtenstein

 

Pop Artist #21 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Robert Rauschenberg

 

Pop Artist #22 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Wayne Thiebaud

 

Pop Artist #23 : ______________    … ANSWER? : Sylvie Fleury

So, how did YOU do with this little “Pop Quiz”???
Betcha my Summer Campers will have them ALL by end of camp on Friday!!!

 

Today was Day One of my new week at Summer Camp.
I’ve got a whole new batch of fresh faces… sixteen new kids to play with
and maybe teach a thing or two to this week?!

This week’s theme is “Pop Art Sculptures.”
So these piles of cardboard & newspapers may just look like a mess now,
but by the end of the week I’m confident the kids will transform the “mess”
into some great sculptures!!! More to come…

During our FEAST potluck lunch, another metals camp instructor stopped by to join in the fun. And she was promptly challenged to squeeze ten Takis atomic, flaming hot chips in her mouth. Susan tried… and tried… and squeezed… and squeezed… all the time knowing that the atomic fire flavoring would kick in soon!!!

Susan got them all in her mouth, but couldn’t actually eat them. She couldn’t crunch down without losing half of them. So she claimed a “technicality” and said that “eating them” was never part of the original challenge. Whatever?! She was still feeling the burn well after she spit them out… and the kids were still quite amused. Mission accomplished.

As part of our Camp this week, my co-teacher Pam and I decided to make two prizes for the kids. My “prize” was for the Best Cookie form our Cookie Bake-Off on Wednesday. My “prize” plate went to Max for his wonderfully delicious Sugar Cookies. Shocking, I know… no chocolate to be found anywhere, and STILL a winner!!!

Pam’s “prize” was a metal ball peen hammer spoon with a fitting message stamped into the handle. “I Sawed. I Hammered. I Won.”

But the question was who win Pam’s prize?… We all knew it would be based on the number of broken saw blades.

Typically, we give it to the one who breaks the LEAST saw blades during the week. However, this time we felt that “that” winner was someone who didn’t make enough & avoided sawing so as not to break blades. And a few others didn’t continue to mark their tally as they broke blades. So we let the class vote and decide the winner… and they went for the one who broke the MOST saw blades. Not typical for us to award that kind of breakage, but Jordan definitely gave it her best and tried really hard all week.

By the end of the week, my Summer Campers had completed their dinnerware sets. Two days of clay, two days of metal, and Friday for finishing touches & putting everything together. They worked really hard. Focusing on their projects and making sure they stayed on track. We had a great group of kids!!! I covered the clay parts. And my co-teacher Pam covered the metals parts… as I know just enough to be dangerous!!! So here are the finished dinnerware sets… each with a theme designed by my campers!!!

Max went for a sports theme… with each piece representing a different sport. Football platters, soccer serving tray, biking dinner plate, sailing bowl, and a hockey “puck” dish complete with a hockey stick!!!

Max’s younger brother Sam went for a camping theme. With possibly the best bowl & platter EVER!!! Yes, the bowl is “cooking” over the campfire platter – flames and all. Brilliant. You’ve got to admire the unbridled creativity of these kids!!!

Linnea went for a fruits & vegetables theme. With a pumpkin lid platter, watermelon plate, oranges bowl and an incredible asparagus cup!!!

Lena decided to pay homage to  the band Maroon 5… featuring dinnerware based on the names of their songs! Including “Lucky Strike” platter, “Daylight” dinner plate, “Sunday Morning” bowl, and a “Payphone” cup. Gotta love visual puns!!!

Lucy went a different route and honored her Greek ancestry. She spent a lot of time on her dinner plate with grape leaves, vines & grapes!

Elianna went Greek as well. Working the Greek key pattern into the rim of her pieces.

Isaac was working on a DC Comics themed set, but missed a day of clay. So his set was a little smaller than it should have been.

Jett did a sports theme as well. With a soccer ball dinner plate, a basketball hoop, net & ball cup and a golf bowl.

Jett also made the cutest little salt bowl & spoon!!! Cut, filed & hammered into shape.

Willem decided to go green. Not really sure what his “theme” was… but it was something about geometric shapes I think?! Not the most “focused” of Campers…

Sophia used The Beatles as her inspiration. With a “Yellow Submarine” for a platter, and the “Octopus’s Garden” for the dinner plate… she then decided “Here Comes The Sun” worked for the salad plate.

Shaina honored her Jewish heritage with a very symbolic dinnerware theme. Complete with a (sing it with me) “dreidle, dreidle, dreidle, I made you out of clay.”

Zoe went with a fruity theme… banana, cherries, grapes and blueberries!

Stella did a feline theme. Cats, whiskers, cat food and fish skeletons! I especially loved how the grommets in her cutlery were the eyes to her cats!!!

Jordan went all polka dots on us!!! Different size, different colors, different patterns!

Once we had finished assembling all of their parts & pieces, the kids had a great potluck lunch… the “FEAST” portion of the “Fire, Forge & Feast”… while I had to pack it in early so I could make it to Evanston to set-up my art fair booth!

Once again it was a VERY fun week. We had a lot of great kids… reminding me time & time again of just how much I LOVE SUMMER CAMP!!!

 

So the dinnerware pieces came out of the kiln… still a little toasty. Waiting for them to cool before we bring them into the class for our Summer Campers.

When they were cool, I brought them into the room and the kids were thrilled. We separated the pieces by kid and started to assemble their sets. Then I assembled their clay handles with the metal forks, knives & spoons they had made. One step closer to finishing their Camp projects.