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Category Archives: collaborative artwork

Collaborative Class Artworks

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Collaborative colorful drawing with stars and text "Wish Upon a Star" in the center. Various stars and designs fill the background, showcasing unique artworks by each participant.

Every year our school has a family FUNdraiser with a silent auction portion.  My art classes always contribute a few artworks to the auction.  This year, I came across an idea on an art teacher Facebook group.  The canvas had the words “You are my sunshine” written across the middle.  Each student contributed a sunshine drawn with Sharpie markers or paint markers.  We used painted white wooden cradled canvases similar to this one. First I did You are My Sunshine … Read more… →

God’s Eyes Woven Wall Hanging

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God’s Eyes Woven Wall Hanging

My 3rd and 4th grade class just finished making woven God’s Eyes (Ojos de Dios).  Students chose yarn and wrapped the strands around the sticks.  Then they were all tied to a large stick I found in my neighbor’s yard.  Some kids made multiples so they could take one home right away. I was surprised how almost all of them had never made these before.  I guess I went to a lot of summer camps where we made stuff with … Read more… →

Large Group Weaving on a Garden Fence

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A fabric weaving activity displayed on a pink bulletin board with a decorative border.

Thank you to all who voted for my blog in the AOE Blog of the Year contest.  While I did not win, I am still happy to have been a finalist.  Congrats to all of the bloggers in the contest! Today I am going to show you a super fun project that my students worked on this week. This summer we planted a garden.  My husband diligently set up a plastic fence to keep out the rabbits.  We watered it … Read more… →

Abstract Paintings Inspired by the Art of Shinique Smith

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Abstract Paintings Inspired by the Art of Shinique Smith

Have you heard of the artist Shinique Smith?  I just love her artwork!  It’s very gestural, colorful and it just draws me in to look at more closely.  I love the use of fabric with graffiti-like painted marks.  Her art combines traditional art media with non-traditional materials like clothing and stuffed animals.  She is influenced by street graffiti and Japanese calligraphy.  She works in paintings, drawings, installations, wrapped bundles, sculptures and videos.  There was an exhibit of her artwork in … Read more… →

Easy Collaborative Art Banners with Motivational Words

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Colorful "Word Banners" header featuring illustrated words: Read, Wonder, Succeed, Smile in vibrant patterns.

  At the end of the year in June, I posted about a collaborative word banner project I did with all of my students.  Write inspirational words using block or bubble letters on large banner paper.  Outline with paint.  Color patterns and designs inside with markers.  Use printouts of Romero Britto‘s artwork for pattern inspiration. I also used this as an option for students who finished their other art projects and wanted to help out.  I saved them for the … Read more… →

Easy End of Year Art Project: Collaborative Banners

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Easy End of Year Art Project

Are you looking for an easy end-of-year art project?  On the last days of school, I had some students that needed to finish up art projects and others that really just wanted to be done with the school year.  This was a fun and easy collaborative project that many students opted to participate in. I got the idea from Romero Britto’s word artworks, like this one and I think I may have seem *something similar* somewhere at some time.. but … Read more… →

Our Silhouette Mural is Finished!

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Bright silhouettes of children with colorful educational themes painted on their bodies decorate a white school hallway wall, showcasing a beautifully crafted silhouette mural.

Our silhouette mural is finished!  It went pretty quickly once we got started.   Each of the figures represents different subject areas at school.  Students in grades 4-6 did most of the painting and I had some students in 7-8 grade do touch-ups, edging and fine details.   I made a video slideshow of the steps we made to paint the mural to show for the whole school.  The school presentation has lots of photos of students in it.  I made … Read more… →

Group Eagle Bulletin Board with Patterned Feathers

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Group Eagle Bulletin Board with Patterned Feathers

Many of my students contributed feathers to this giant eagle bulletin board.  Our school is Eagle School and I wanted to do a group artwork where many kids could participate in designing a piece of the picture.  I was out sick one day and I had my students each create a patterned feather with the substitute teacher. If your mascot is not an eagle, you could do this bulletin board with a peacock or really any bird would work!

Cardboard Chairs and Preschool Bird Art

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Cardboard Chairs and Preschool Bird Art

Hi folks!  What have you been doing this summer? It’s already flying by, isn’t it?  Here is a recap of my summer so far. What I HAVE been doing: keeping Daria busy playdates with friends Children’s museum, zoo, pool, splash parks, playgrounds feeding Desmond and changing lots of diapers organizing my room at school (I will give you a tour of my revamped room when it’s all done.) grilling out, eating icecream, going out to eat family reunion in IL … Read more… →

Drawing Maps for Figurines with 2nd Graders

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Toy animal figurines, brown houses, and a colorful building are displayed on a map drawn by 2nd graders, featuring blue waterways and green spaces.

I came up with this idea from my daughter’s obsession with playing with her figurines and maps.  She has a few of these map sets that come with a large fold-out map, a book and a bunch of related figurines (they have these at Barnes & Noble). This project taps into children’s natural interest in miniature toys! I showed the 2nd graders this map with some figures (many of them had similar maps at home) and told them to bring … Read more… →

Creating a Collage with a Preschooler (My Little Pony!)

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Creating a Collage with a Preschooler (My Little Pony!)

What did I do on our two “cold” days off school this week?  Well, besides snuggling under the warm covers and working on some school work, my 4 year old and I made some canvas collages for her bedroom. While I would not necessarily recommend this for a project in an art class, I see no problem introducing appropriation in the context of Pop Art.  After all, Andy Warhol used cartoons in his famous art.  I observed a really awesome … Read more… →

Colorful Mobile for Kids

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Colorful Mobile for Kids

We recently finished a mobile that will soon hang in our window wells in the hallway. Third, fourth and fifth grade students created single strand mobiles using Twisteez wire, foam pieces, feathers, beads and other random materials.  They made these at the end of the year last year when they had a few extra minutes in class.  I got the idea from the Single Strand Mobile group kit on Nasco.  However, we did not purchase that kit, because I figured … Read more… →

African Adinkra Carved Stamps & Art for AUCTION– 5th and 6th grade

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A pattern of hand-stamped yellow symbols, including eyes, paws, and triangles arranged on a white background using Carved Stamps.

My 5th and 6th grade students studied Africa and the African Adinkra stamped cloths.  I showed them a slide show of images. Examples of Adinkra symbols were shown for inspiration.  Check out my African Adinkra Pinterest board for handouts of symbols.  The kids could use these ideas and embellish upon them or come up with their own symbol based on some of these ideas. They used linoleum cutters to carve their own rubber stamps on the Dick Blick Art soft carving … Read more… →

Third and Fourth grade collaborative circle paintings

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A vibrant and colorful abstract painting with various shapes, patterns, and swirls in multiple colors, inspired by collaborative circle paintings often created by third grade students.

I was so excited to see this idea of Circle Painting!!   I first learned about it at Barbara’s Thought of the Day and then at We Heart Art.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. for this wonderful idea.  We are making several collaborative canvases with this technique and they are going to be raffled off at our end of the year school FUNdraiser.  The kids had a blast creating these paintings.  This is the first video I have edited … Read more… →

Carved Stamps– 5th/6th grade

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Abstract painting with black flower patterns on a background of alternating pink and purple squares, using carved stamps for unique texture.

My 5th and 6th grade class carved stamps from E-Z Cut and then we printed them many times.  They looked at African Adinkra stamps and then used those designs for inspiration.  We printed them on artist trading cards, a design on paper and then on two large group artworks.  The ones pictured here are our large group artworks.  We are going to put this artwork in the school raffle fundraiser at the end of the year.  I’m also going to … Read more… →

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.