Kids can make something pretty incredible when they pool their talents.

Mrs. Susa's students and their awe-inspiring Art!!!

Kids can make something pretty incredible when they pool their talents.

We did a second print with new images from the kids

5 Collaborative Projects for Any Time of the School Year % %

CREATE GIANT KID SIZE SPIROGRAPH DRAWINGS

Collaborative projects! Collaborative projects are one of my favorite things. I love them at the start of the year and the end. I love doing them with the whole school or just a grade level. I love using songs, themes, artist-inspiration...you name it. I just love collaboratives! We've done a TON over the years and I thought I'd put them all together in one big ole blog post. So, here you go: my 20 Favorite Collabortive Projects. Be sure and click on the links, many of these have how-to videos. Check out this blog post on how we created several canvases in this style for our school and the school library! Students worked in table teams to create these positive four-letter words to describe our school! Here's a simple, fast and fun project using clothes pens, paint and words that describe who we are! A fun mural based on the book You Be You was created by nearly all of my students. You can learn about the process of creating our fish here. Read all about the making of the mural itself here! Another book we used for inspiration is the book by Todd Parr called It's Okay to be Different. You can check out how we created these collages here! The Our School Has Heart mural was a piece with a contribution from each student in the school. You can see the breakdown of who created what in this blog post. Our clay collaborative mural is a bright and shiny beauty that hangs in a prominent place in our school. Each student contributed something to this piece...you can read more about the process here. One year, we created a Village of Kindness as apart of our art show! Each student upcycled a milk carton that our cafeteria queen cleaned in the dishwasher. The students made little doors that opened and said kind words to those who peeked inside. Students worked together to create the landscape on the bulletin board. I love to do collaboratives at the start of the school year. I especially like ones where students celebrate our school and that set a postive tone. That was the idea behind this collaborative! Another fun way to start the school year is with some selfies! We've created them for a monochromatic mural. You can check out the video here. Inspired by the artist Romero Britto, this mural was created by my students when I was out for jury duty! My sub just played the video and when I returned, I assembled the mural! A collaborative mural that definitely made the rounds was this one! The kids loved creating the feathers and it was a beautiful thing while in the hallway but I will say...it was a lot of work to assemble. All the details here. My fourth graders created this collaborative one year that lives at the front entrance of our school. We even 'wrapped' it for Christmas and brought out admin out for them to unwrap it as it was hung on the wall of our school. We kicked off this school year with our What a Wonderful World collaborative mural. Details and video tour here. Here's another look of our school mural. Above that, you'll see our Learning for All collaborative! During our field day one year, my students rotated through many art stations. One of them was this alphabet and number series. My librarian requested them and we just love how they turned out. Click here to see them framed and hung in our school library. Much like our monochromatic collaborative, this map collaborative was created with a self-portrait of each of my students! We are the tigers at my school so we do tiger-themed artwork every so often. This mural was created by first graders of all of their tiger drawings. You can find a how-to video right here! In table teams, my third graders created a Rizzi City inspired by the artist James Rizzi. One year, we did super-sized works of art inspired by Andy Warhol and Vincent van Gogh! When these came together, they were stunning. All the details can be found here.

A lesson about a collaborative relief sculpture project. Supplies and how to included. Learn how to implement this project in your classroom!

I LOVE Libraryland! Have I mentioned that before? I have always been an avid volunteer, one that likes to try new things.. and I love connecting. Now, is libraryland overwhelming.. it sure is! Another thing I love is learning from others (and having a space to offer to different activities is great as well) The title of this blog is collaboration.. but when rethinking and writing it, I realize that the collaboration that I had with my art teacher was bouncing ideas off of each other.. and making sure the space was ready for various activities. That is still collaboration..right?? Before I became a librarian.. I was already following some amazing librarians (some that I will actually get to meet in person soon!!!) So, one awesome librarian/tech facilitator Nikki Robertson posted this way cool picture that she had found (if you are the original poster of this.. would you please let me know so I can thank you for the wonderful idea.. and give you credit!) How absolutely beautiful is this! So, I talked to my amazing art teacher on campus.. and the conversation went something like this: "Hey Mrs. R... want to work on something like this for the first of the year? The feathers can be students hopes, dreams, wishes and resolutions." "Sure! That is great!" A couple of weeks later.. Mrs. R approaches me and shows me the bag of beautiful feathers. "Yes, Mrs. R.. these are PERFECT! How can I help!?" "I am still getting feathers" We decided to hang this up for science night (as what better time to talk about wishes and dreams) "Hey Mrs. R.. what can I do to help with these wings?" "Help me hang them!" In other words.. I had nothing to do with this! (Well.. I did make the poster above the wings.. and I helped hang them) Seriously.. they are beautiful! She created a generic feather and then asked each student in the school to create/decorate their own and then combined them with this wonderfulness.These wings are right across the hall from the library, so I loved hearing the conversations that students had with their parents about their goals and dreams (and of course it was a perfect photo opp!) Mrs. R. the rocking art teacher At the beginning of January, Mrs. R. came to me and asked if I would like to help with a Chinese New Year Celebration. She did tell me that there would be no glitter! (Side note.. I love seeing things being created in the library.. and I don't mind mess. HOWEVER.. I HATE using glitter.. that is the one thing not allowed) Of course I said yes.. as the library is a great space to have people! We set a date, got it on the calendar.. and like before I asked what can I do to help. The space is how I helped (and help somewhat monitor the stations) The Chinese New Celebration ran much like the Late Night in the Library. It was an extended time with several stations set up. I read a short story in the middle of the time, but the hightlight.. the Dragon Dance! Stations: -Rooster stamp -Paper lanterns (like this idea.. but of course there are tons of ways that you can make them) -Chinese Plastic Spoon Dancing Dragon (like this idea, but did it with plastic spoons, string and paper pieces) -Chinese drum (much like this idea) -Write Happy New Year in Chinese (this was a super cool station because she had put out thin paper and brushes with the black paint) The art club students ran the stations, and we had over 30 attendees for a Friday afternoon. These art club students are also the ones who did the Dragon Dance. We are already talking about next year for this! We are going to do the Dragon Dance to end the day.. but before the event starts as almost a parade to the library. Did you celebrate Chinese New Year? How do you collaborate? Upcoming blogs- -how my lesson plans are evolving -February happenings (I just finished my first actual display!)

Brookeside Montessori School in Bechtelsville, PA inspires the development of your children Preschool through grade 6.

I apologize for being so behind this year on my blog this year! I've had so many other things going on with an action research PDP, Studen...

I saw this on Design Sponge over the weekend and was so wowed by it — both as a public art project and as a bit of DIY inspiration. It’s the brainchild of architect Tali Buchler, who describes herself on her blog like this: “I don’t design houses so much anymore. I use my design […]

Kids can make something pretty incredible when they pool their talents.

The past few months my students have been making feathers for a group mural. This idea was inspired by my friend and celebrity in the art community, Cassie Stephens! Head on over to her blog and check out her magical art teacher'n treasures at Cassie Stephen's Blog!! Her original inspo was international street artist, Kelsey Montague. Her inspiring murals challenge people to ask the question "What Lifts you" "What makes your heart Soar?" My students are going to be writing about their passions and inspirations that "lifts" them! I want each student that comes to my art class to feel as though they are walking out with wings on their back, so they can bravely rise up to their dreams with courage and passion! I want them to feel confident in themselves and know that the sky is the limit! First, students painted on watercolor paper with tempera paint using a value gradient of tints and shades using one color plus black on the left and white on the right. They had to blend the colors so thet the different shades did not look like stripes One group did primary and secondary colors red, orange, yellow, green blue, and violet. The next group would paint intermediate colors, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red=violet Fourth and fifth graders used 9' by 24' paper and 3rd graders used smaller paper the next class, students then traced different shapes of feathers using white prisma color pencils and cut them out then they decorated them with unique lines and designs with white prisma color pencils My wonderful and extremely talented student teacher, Naz Kaya Erdal and I layed them out on three large sheets of black butcher paper until the feathers looked symmetrical. Once we finished the shape, we taped each feather down to the paper with painter's tape Then I hung that bad boy with TONS and tons and TONS of staples!! The next morning the kids were SO excited to find their feathers turned into GIANT wings!!! I hope the parents who come to visit will snap a pic in front of the wings and post to #ArtisFly and #riseupandsoar hashtags for social media!

These colorful projects, which I call “Masterpiece Mosaics”, were a collaborative effort by my students in grades K through middle school. Each grade level created their own copy of a famous painting – six masterpieces in all. These were really pretty easy to do, and super FUN! We’re hoping they’ll command a high price at …

If you're looking for some unique art project ideas for adults, then you've come to the right place. Here are some creative ideas that you can use now.

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Norman Arts Council is looking to turn one man’s trash into everyone’s piece of public art with a project coinciding with the Pioneer Library System’s Summer Solstice Celebration centering around the public art piece Prairie Wind by artist James Johnson made possible by the Norman Forward

Magic happens when kids work together. From pudding paint to catapults, these collaborative group art projects for kids will be a hit in your home or class.

“Chromatic Cascade” by Jen Stark, Los Angeles Jen Stark herself! Parking Garage Mural by Jen Stark, Los Angeles Jen Stark is a Los Angeles based artist known for h…

See how a collaborative art journal can help you stay inspired, connected, and accountable. These artists collaborated over two years in two very colorful journals.

In a limited edition of 12 new sculptures created in a unique three part collaboration, weeping women mourn a decomposing figure. The cast white figures, partially collapsed in a kneeling pose, embrace amorphous forms that ooze and drip. Countering the somber tone of each sculpture, colorful coral and mushroom-like shapes grow from the decomposition, uniting life and death and forging new growth from the loss. To create this body of work, sculptor Stéphanie Kilgast (previously) partnered with illustrator Miles Johnston (previously) who conceptualized the base sculpture, and multi-disciplinary production facilitator MoonCrane Press who created the cast. More