Illustrating Whimsy

My daughters kindergarten class was spending the week learning about Dr. Seuss.  Inspired by Dr. Seuss' fanciful inventions and musical instruments, we did an illustrating workshop designing our own inventions of whimsy.  We looked at other whimsical/fanciful inventions by kinetic sculptors like George Rhodes and Rube Goldberg to inspire our drawings.

flying hearts

Inspired by a Sacred Heart my friend brought back from Mexico- we created our own flying hearts with little charms for our special valentines!

building a castle

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What better to do with all those boxes left over from the holidays?  With a group of 7 students we constructed and painted a castle, created a dragon, and made our own little figures: kings, princesses, knights, wizards, and jesters to live in the castle.

merry christmas charlie brown

I made Charlie Brown Christmas trees with a group of k-3 graders as part of a holiday workshop.  I made the armetures with wrapped wire and popsicle sticks.  The children cut and glued the needles and decorated their ornament with sequins and glitter.

Totally Awesome Paper Sculpture Kit

I just can't bring myself to buy regular birthday gifts: toys with little pieces, plastic, the stuff your kid asks for from the Saturday morning cartoon commercials.  Its the kind of stuff i find myself wanting to throw away when I find it on the floor around the house.
Anyway, I have a lot of fun creating unique birthday gifts.  It is something that Hannah and I have been able to work on together.

This is one of my very favorite creations:  The Totally Awesome Paper Sculpture Kit!!!
We used those Saturday morning commercials as inspiration for our box design: i.e. "Trick-Trick-Trick your your Bike!!!"

Paper Sculpture is a great activity for children.  It gives them the opportunity to problem solve and think about 3-d forms by using staples and tape (which the the kids "totally" love).

This kit contained rainbow colored card stock, tape, scissors, a stapler and staples, and some fun little extras like pipe cleaners and puff balls.

sand pipers

 

created for a fundraiser bennefitting the Missouri Theater.

Each artist was given a old instrument found in the theater to turn into an artwork.

Dale Chihuly

 

Dale Chihuly

the glass ceiling at the Bellagio 

Chihuly is a glass blowing artist.  He creates large sculptural installations with glass forms that are brilliantly colored and in organic shapes.

At Lee Elementary School, we created our own sculptural installation inspired by Dale Chihuly.

We used tissue paper and acrylic medium to create our organic form.

All of the forms were hung in the entry way of the school.

The contributing artists to this sculpture (the students) were able to share their

work with the school, and experience how an individual piece becomes part of a whole work.