What Will They See in an Old Shoe?

My thirteen year old son has enormous feet. They rip through sports shoes in a matter of months. Tripping over one of his castoff, man's size 12 shoes last week gave me an idea for an end of the year art project. At first I thought I'd stumbled over one of the two cats in our house. The shoes are that big and our cats are that fat! It was dark, 5am, I was barely awake. I looked at that shadowy shoe, at its creased and molded shape, it stared back at me, daring me to challenge its right to front stage center on the stair landing: a 3D Rorschach test that NEVER gets put away.
Old shoes do have character which is why the "Draw an Old Shoe" pencil project is a classic that's been around for decades. A nice, quiet, clean end of year project! At first I thought I'd just bring in a few shoes, set up a still life at each table and assign the pencil drawing, but one of the issues I have in teaching drawing and gradual tone shading is that a lot of kids can't get past the colors, logos and details of an object to see the form. They just don't "read" highlights and shadows very well at first.
So, on Wednesday, while students were wrapping up a printmaking project, I got out some old yellow house paint and proceeded to paint a shoe to see if making it monochrome would help reveal highlights and shadows. As expected, it did, but unexpectedly the painted shoe, or rather the act of painting the shoe, was what really caught the students' interest. "Can I do one?" they asked hour after hour as they caught sight of my mustard yellow transformation.
Out the window, like a birthday balloon, went my idea of a quiet end of the year drawing project and in the art room door came boxes and bags of old shoes. The pile grows daily as teachers and parents respond to my email request. Gallons of leftover house paint have joined the swelling, smelly pile of worn out shoes. Eager art students ask me daily, "When're we gonna paint the shoes?"
What will my students see in these shoes? Not the house cat, I'm sure. We're stepping into new territory and we're going to figure this project out together. What I do know is that the pile of shoes has captured their imagination and THAT is one giant step toward a successful end of the year project.
p.s. After we paint the shoes (all 50 or 60, rather than the 5 or 6 I had intended!) I will have them do that ol' stand-by: the pencil drawing. What happens with the shoes after that?...check back and I'll let you know!

Dangerous Art

Next year's seventh graders came to visit today from our 5/6 middle school. They looked so small! The first group entered the art room just as I was demonstrating how not to gouge a finger with a linocut tool. I was being rather dramatic, explaining that they could cut their finger to the bone if they don't follow the safety procedures and use the bench hook properly. The little 6th graders looked so scared! Art can be dangerous...but also fun, I assured them.
I asked the visitors to look around the room and pick something they'd like to do next year. I have a lot of abandoned art everywhere and one of the favorites today turned out to be the life sized rocker in gold glitter boots pictured here. Not only was this a favorite pick of the 6th grade visitors today, it was a hands-down favorite of art students last year.
To create these figures students worked in groups of 2-3. This project followed a figure drawing unit where we learned proportion. Students drew an action figure on a large piece of corrugated cardboard from various boxes that I scavenged.
Finally, they created a palette of colors by tearing up magazine pictures into inch sized random shaped pieces sorted by color in small resealable baggies. The action figures were then "painted" with these small mosaic pieces and white glue. Shadows were created with darker values of colors. Skin tones were built up with a wide range of colors. Features were both 'built' mosaic style and cut out whole from magazine pictures.
This was a particularly successful end of year project with my 8th graders who were ready to move on and move up to high school. They loved working in groups, socializing while they worked. The only dangerous part was cutting the cardboard figure out with craft knives, but no blood was shed with this one!

Any Ideas?

A student arrived at my classroom door this morning with the box of dense foam goodies pictured here- leftovers from a factory where his mother works which usually end up in the dumpster. Some have paper backing on a sticky side. Printmaking possibilies? The 'flower' shapes are about 6 inches across. She called to ask if I'd like more. Absolutely! Now, I just need to figure out what to do with these cool objects!
Ideas anyone?

More Green Art: This Time Recycled Pizza Boxes

I don't know about your teaching situation but in my middle school we consume a lot of pizza. There are pizza party rewards for fund raisers, team pizza parties, staff pizza lunches and occasionally the lunch room serves pizza - ordered from a local pizza joint.
I started thinking about the possibilities of using recycled pizza boxes in art projects last year when I walked past a mountain of boxes waiting to be hauled out to the dumpster.
It took me a year, but my 7th and 8th grade students are just finishing up one of the most successful projects I've ever done! They loved it and learned so much about painting and art history! Check back soon for pics and a project description!