Friday, February 2, 2024

Artists have HEART

Jim Dine- The Heart Called Paris Spring

It's now February and the Valentines Day holiday is right around the corner.  Everyday is a time to show love, kindness and care and many artists show kindness and care in their art.

The heart is a symbol.  A symbol is a picture that has meaning.  Can you think of other symbols we might know? What are some of the many meanings the image of a heart can hold? Let's look at artists who have HEART in their art!

"Girl With a Balloon" by Banksy. 
Banksy is an artist who uses stencils and paint to make the viewer think, often about current events happening in the world that we should care about.  This work, Girl with the Balloon makes us wonder.  Is the floating heart balloon represent she has lost hope or perhaps she is GIVING hope and love to the world?  or maybe she is reaching, grabbing at dreams and wishes.  Artwork can be powerful.

'Hearts in art don't get much better than this! This art might make you  feel immediately happy looking at this picture.  Pop artist Jim Dine's bright red hearts surrounded by dabs of vibrant color seem to be bursting with happiness and love.'



One Heart, Two Heart, Blue Heart, Gold Hearts. Jim even made 3D hearts.



"Can you spot the heart in this picture? I wonder what this artwork is about? It's called Valentine, which suggests it's about romantic love. It looks like a crane has been used to lift the heart right up to the top of a town. Maybe the artist, Julian Trevelyan, was so much in love he wanted to shout about it from the rooftops...so he made this picture. What do you think?"




Damian Hurst gave heart art a spin.  Spinning paint that looks like an explosion of color in all directions.


Damian not only filled hearts with rainbows of color he made the heart 'flutter' with butterflies. Have you ever heard this phrase, gives you butterflies, you might have a warm caring feeling or excited or nervous feeling.

Make a heart but make it Happy! Chris Uphues is a painter, designer and street artist. He is best known for colorful hearts that are often filled with smiley faces.

Chris uses mural artworks to send love and smiles out into communities.  A mural is a large painting often on the side of buildings or a large wall. He has painted several murals in Chicago.  How fun would it be to have one of his murals in St. Louis!






His colorful artwork is inspired by pop culture.  

His work can be found on buildings, t-shirts, wood, stickers and paper.  He believes his art work can spread love to the world.





Another mural artist is Jim Goldcrown, an international artist who has created the popular #LoveWall street art.  



Several years ago James was hired by a NYC pizza shop to create a mural on their store wall for Valentines Day.  Within days his artwork went viral on social media as a selfie backdrop.

He is a street artist, an artist whose art can be seen from the streets.  His Love Walls are said to be the most photographed murals ever created.  His Hearts became so popular that they went beyond the wall to be on shoes, suitcases, and clothing.
















Keith Haring's Pop Art is full of signs and symbols.  His heart art is often held up by a crowd of figures often a sign of hope and love.  It can also be a sign of community, kindness and caring for others.



From a young age, Keith loved to draw.  He grew up making art and visiting art museums.  After high school he studied art in New York City.  The NYC subway walls became a great place for Keith to share his art and visual messages with lots of people. 



Will you use SYMBOLS in your art?

Will you share love and kindness with your art?





Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Artists Make Books

Some artists draw.  Some artists paint.  Some artists sculpt.  AND there are some artists who make BOOKS!

Let's look at how a simple piece of paper can become a work of ART!  Book Art!



First there are many types of Books!
Accordion book:


An accordion book looks like the bellows or folds of the musical instrument with the same name.


Accordion books make for great displays because you can create on both sides of the page.

fill the pages with funny cartoons, fun drawings, or even paste in photos of friends and family. Then stand them up and view all the pages at once!

Evenly fold lengths of paper.  Take it to studios... collage, drawing, printing or how about FIBERS.  What would that look like?  Try cutting an interesting edge on the top of the folded paper.


Pocket Book--Take that Accordion book to the next level!

Before accordion folding the pages of your book,  fold up a portion of the bottom of the paper. Accordion fold and the bottom fold becomes a pocket!


Those prints you made last class, put them in the pockets!  What else could you add to the pockets? Drawings, collages, paintings!  Could you cut shapes into the pockets?




More Accordion inspiration...

Envelopes!
open envelopes and glue.


Could a box become a cover?



Create a fantastic cover for your book!


The cover can truly be a work of art!



Checkout this woven cover with a paper weaving.


Artists even get creative with the binding of the book.  The binding of a book describes the material used to hold together the pages, front and back cover of the book.  Most books in the library use glue or string that sews the pages together.  Let's give it an artists spin 

Try stacking paper and punching a hole at the top and bottom.  Attach a brass fastener in each.  

Try those hole punches again, this time use a rubber band and a stick.


Paper bag books!


Stack a few paper lunch bags.  Fold in half.  Saddle staple or hole punch and tie with ribbon or string.

As an artist you can get creative with the materials you select to become book pages:  maps, construction paper, puzzle pieces, tissue paper




What else can become the pages of a book?????


Key Stage 2:

Hidden Page Book
Fold 12x18 paper in half


Fold outside edges into the center crease


Unfold and fold in half like a book.  Find the folded or crease.  cut 3-4 cuts on the folded side of the paper.  stop at the crease.







Turn the booklet so that it looks like a Mountain Fold in the center.  The hidden page will be found by separating the fold at the "peak" of the mountain.

Star Book







How to fold a starburst book page:


Start with a square of paper and Fold side to side


Fold side to side in the opposite direction and corner
to corner ONE TIME!



Fold corner to corner and press in the sides.




ARTIST BOOKS







Did this make you think in a new way about books?  Can you imagine how you might turn a piece of paper or a print into a book?  How will you stretch your work if you choose to make a book?