Inspirational Resources for Art Docents

ALUMINUM FOIL BURNISHING PROJECT

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Great for younger students

Requires no expensive supplies.

Good for symbols projects: Native American, Egyptian hieroglyphics, etc. Doesn’t lend itself well to high detail.

MATERIALS

Aluminum Foil

Regular weight or heavy duty, heavy duty may be less likely to tear

Cardboard

Cut to size, not corrugated (will crush)

Stray Adhesive

Yarn

Fairly thick gauge suggested

Elmer’s Glue

Need to apply in thin line so make sure applicator tops are working

Burnishing Tools

Pencil tops, erasers, bottom of glue bottle. No sharp edges!

Food coloring/ glue mixture for painting

Newspaper

To protect work surface when spraying adhesive

INSTUCTIONS

1. Have students draw design on cardboard with pencil.

2. Trace design with glue

3. Cut yarn to size and lay down on glue pattern.

4. Crinkle foil lightly in both directions. Undo crinkles slightly but do not smooth out. Decide which side foil you want facing out: shiny or matte (I prefer shiny side out)

5. Spray cardboard lightly with spray adhesive

6. Apply foil loosely overtop cardboard, allowing it to wrinkle.

7. Burnish the foil onto the cardboard. Rub, rub, rub! Bottom of glue bottle works will to burnish large areas. Encourage students to burnish closely to yarn to define lines. Be careful not to tear/puncture foil.

8. Paint with glue/ food coloring mixture if desired. It will dry transparent.

*** bur·nish –verb (used with object)

1. to polish (a surface) by friction.

2. to make smooth and bright.

METAL EMBOSSING PROJECT

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Recommend for older students only due to sharp edges

Great for collaborative art auction projects.

Works with any theme.

MATERIALS

Metal sheeting:

Copper, brass, pewter, aluminum. The lightweight version is safest for use with kids, but still must be careful with edges to avoid getting cut. Available at craft / art stores. Art Emboss brand is easy to find.

Latex gloves:

to avoid fingerprints on cooper, and some protection from sharp edges

Semi-cushioned surface:

Place mats, then cardboard, newspaper, etc.

Embossing Tools:

Bic pen caps work great! Household objects for creating texture.

Wooden Stylus:

Try Misterart.com: Kemper spindle burnishing tool or $1.50 each

Metal Ball Stylus:

ArtEmboss Double Ended Stylus $2.50 each

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Determine shape/size of metal sheeting you want to work with. Can be cut with scissors, paper cutter or a punch.

2. If desired, tape a printed design onto metal and trace over with wood stylus or ballpoint pen.

3. After removing paper, go over lines again if needed.

4. Turn metal over and use flat/wide stylus tool to accentuate relief. Make image as 3 dimensional as possible- make it “puffy” by indenting up to the border of your outline. The more you work the metal, the more it will stretch and soften, allowing it to puff out further.

5. Create background texture either by doing a rubbing or freehand texture like for block print.

6. Create border if desired. Can use straight edge or freehand.

OPTIONAL / ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

· Metal can be stamped, punched or pierces. Repousee usually refers to hammering metal.

· If desired, metal can be mounted on a piece of cardboard or wood. Edges can be folded over. The back can be filled in with hot glue from glue gun to keep the image from sinking in.

· Can be tinted. Liver of sulphur will blacken the copper, then the raised image can be polished free of color. Similarly, metal can be painted or stained, then rubbed off. India ink works well on aluminum.

· Can be vanished to prevent patina from developing.

Picture 1.png (by Rebecca Stees)

“

I’ll bet I can find 1,000,000 people who think art education is important

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships. Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives. One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects. The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material. All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said. When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts’ position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young what adults believe is important.

SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA. (read less)

— Facebook | I’ll bet I can find 1,000,000 people who think art education is important