Friday, March 14, 2014

Robot Invasion Workshop

 Robot Collage Class
Materials : Recycled packaging, metal eyelets, cardboard, spray paint, metal washers, found objects, gems, glue.

Yesterday I taught a class over at Pigment School of the Arts here in Dallas. It was a kid's workshop and I had 5 students that varied in age. We had a lot of fun and I was very impressed with all of the creativity and imagination these young artists demonstrated.   The kids were all a breeze to work with, they were each very focused and enthusiastic. Here is a real quick little slideshow I created with some cell phone pics of our projects. My assistant Brittany and I did a couple that you will also see in here as samples ...



Below are just a few things I learned yesterday about working with young artists: 

• Younger hands are not as strong as mine and simple tools like a hole puncher may be difficult on sturdier card stock and cardboard. 
•  A little conversation and asking questions before you start creating can stir the imagination and ideas will emerge easily for them. We talked about Robots a little and what types of jobs they do ... even what types of hobbies they may have.
•  Kids use a lot of glue when making collages. I told them to use a lot to get things to stick and boy they did! I had plenty, and I am glad I took the big jug of weldbond.
• I took some acrylic sleeves for them to place their finished projects in ... the same sleeves we send our little 8 x 10 Etsy prints out in ... the sleeves were a big hit! Giving my students a way to neatly protect their finished works gave them additional pride in their creations and taught them at an early age about presentation.
• I should have taken my good camera to get decent photographs of all of the projects.  My cell phone pics captured the day, but the image quality does not do justice to their terrific Robot collages.







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