Sticks & Stones - Teacher's Guide

Sticks & Stones TEACHER’S BOOK

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Sticks & Stones

Copyright 2017 by Hoopla Education Pte Ltd, 8 Wilkie Road, #03-01 Wilkie Edge, 228095 Singapore www.hooplaeducation.com • info@hooplaeducation.com All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without prior written authorization.

Sticks & Stones TEACHER’S BOOK Curated by Contemporary Artist

Paul Frank Wagner

The invisible is real Walter de Maria

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INTRODUCTION

MATER I AL S

Art is everywhere. You don’t have to be an artist to teach art. Every child is an artist and you can find great inspiration from anywhere, especially nature. This study outlines the ground-breaking concepts, ideas and techniques that are found in Land Art and other major art movements of the 21st century through activities to be run with children ages 3yrs+. Teach children to use their imagination using natural materials such as stones, and empower them to create a world of possibilities available to them at any moment of the day, without the use of the latest action figures!

Sticks & Stones makes use of nature’s loose parts: stones, sticks and leaves as well as mud to explore sculpture and painting. Children are naturally drawn to these materials and focusing their attention on raw materials, that have not yet been manipulated by man, is fundamental.

Children will learn that art can be done with anything, anywhere, and with a simple intervention, material can be transformed to convey a lot of meaning.

The goal for Sticks & Stones is for children to produce aesthetic works of art that they will be proud to share, beautifully documented with the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio. In addition, the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio makes a beautiful keepsake children will enjoy looking back on in the years to come.

Everyone has access to natural materials. Go on a walk to the park and pick up some leaves, look on the ground for some stones. You’ll be surprised by how much nature has to offer you to use in the classroom.

In addition to sticks and stones, you will also need pencils, crayons, colored markers, children’s paint, paint brushes and containers to finish certain projects from time to time. Teachers will need a camera or smartphone all the time to document the children’s works!

My goal as a Contemporary Artist is to entrust teachers to talk knowledgably about Contemporary Art and inspire a new generation of artists to use innovative techniques to express themselves beyond the confines of figurative art. Sticks & Stones removes your budget constraints whilst taking children’s art to the next level.

Enjoy!

PROCESS One of the reasons that Contemporary Art lends itself so beautifully to young children, is that oftentimes it is more concerned with the process than the final output. Sticks & Stones follows a very simple process: 1. Explore – children are invited to spend ample time exploring matter and its properties, shape and form. Once children are familiar with the object, then we move onto providing specialized techniques. This process is identified with the magnifying lense icon.

2. Create – Sticks & Stones makes use of basic art techniques from drawing, coloring, painting to printing, in addition to more technical methods and procedures such as installations, layering and sculpture. These processes are identified with the draw, print, paint icons.

3. Document – The documentation process is fundamental in all Hoopla curricula and in Sticks & Stones can be identified with the camera icon. Here the teacher or children document their work by taking a picture of the final output when related to sculpture work or creating their work directly on their portfolio.

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T HE ENVIRONM ENT Nature is not ours to take and abuse of, we are its custodians for a brief period of time, borrowing it for the next generation to come.

When creating art using natural materials, be respectful not to impact negatively on the environment, being mindful to teach respect and preservation of nature. Create with minimum impact, allow for future use of the outdoors by leaving it in a better condition than you found it, this is of utmost importance.

Don’t forget to bring back the stones that you collected for this study where you found them, once you’ve finished this module. Do not leave rubbish on the ground whilst collecting your natural materials.

When children see a beautiful flower, encourage them to observe the flower, bend down and smell it without having to pluck it from the ground so that others can enjoy it when you’re gone. Thanks!

A RT IST IC A LLY SPEAKING Most activities in Sticks & Stones were inspired by one or multiple major art movement(s) and/or major artist’s work. Sometimes it combines art movements in a unique exploration of matter. Our goal is to familiarize teachers with these movements and define them so you can feel comfortable conveying the basic concepts to children and parents whilst being confident to apply new and exciting techniques in the classroom. This information is contained within the activity goal in each activity.

Below is a list of the main art movements that inspired the study of Sticks & Stones.

Land Art Land Art is an art form that is created in nature using natural materials such as soil rock, stones, boulders, logs, leaves and water. Land Art was mainly inspired by Conceptual Art but also by Cubism and Minimalism and typically, is site specific. Sticks & Stones is primarily a Land Art project.

Arte Povera Teachers often feel they are limited in their creative explorations due to budget constraints. In fact, this was an issue highlighted by one of the most important art movements of the 1960s called Arte Povera or “poor art” that grouped the work of a dozen Italian artists whose most distinctly recognizable trait was their use of everyday materials such as earth, rocks, clothing, paper and rope. Just like the artists from the Arte Povera movement, we want to empower you to use everyday materials – mainly natural – to do art and not feel limited by your budgets to facilitate beautiful works of art in your kids.

American Minimalist Movement Minimalism emerged as a movement in New York in the 1960s, its leading figures created objects which blurred the boundaries between painting and sculpture, and were characterized by unitary, geometric forms and industrial materials.

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Minimalism works so well for kids because it exposes something essential like natural shapes and forms, which are already naturally aesthetic. You can see this in nature with the honeycomb, which combines rows of hexagons together in a beautifully regular geometric shape. Another such example are the Fibonacci spirals that are found in nature – from pinecones to sunflowers. In fact, Minimalism combines a sense of form and geometry which is also an essential skill to develop for math, music and science.

In addition to geometric form, we explore the principals of engineering by balancing sticks, wood blocks, geometric shapes, and building spirals as we create minimalist works of art.

Conceptual Art Conceptual Art is art in which the idea or concept presented by the artist is considered more important than the finished product, if any such exists.

Some works of Conceptual Art, sometimes called installations, may be constructed by anyone, simply by following a set of written instructions.

Conceptual Art gives children the artistic freedom to go beyond an aesthetic presentation of their work, allowing them to focus on their ideas rather than on making their work “look good”. Children learn to see art beyond an aesthetic, visual context or experience, and can also play an important role in engaging the community. Conceptual Art is addressed in Sticks & Stones primarily through the example of the social project run in Greece, see Lesson 20.

ARTI STS Below is a list of masterful conceptual artists who used natural materials that you should familiarize yourself with.

Richard Long (Born June 2, 1945) Richard Long is an English sculptor and one of the best known British land artists. Long is the only artist to have been short-listed four times for the Turner Prize. He was nominated in 1984, 1987 and 1988, and then won the award in 1989 for White Water Line. He currently lives and works in Bristol, the city in which he was born.

His work heavily inspired Sticks & Stones because of the way he presents stones and mud drawings with geometric circles and lines.

There is a real poetry in seeing his stone circles in nature.

Deborah Kay Butterfield (Born May 7, 1949) Deborah Kay Butterfield is an American sculptor. Along with her artisthusband John Buck, she divides her time between a farm in Bozeman, Montana and studio space in Hawaii. She is known for her sculptures of horses made from found objects, like metal, and especially pieces of wood.

Walter de Maria (October 1, 1935 – July 25, 2013) Walter Joseph De Maria was an American artist, sculptor, illustrator and composer, who lived and worked in New York City. Walter de Maria’s artistic practice is connected with Minimal Art, Conceptual Art, and Land Art of the 1960s. His work successfully represents a concept like distance and bringing that into a visual context, such as what he did with the broken kilometer, which is composed of 500 polished brass rods measuring 2 meters. The rods are presented in 5 rows of 100 rods each. A great way for kids and adults to visualize distance (see photo on opposite page).

Walter de Maria, The Broken Kilometer, 1979. © The Estate of Walter de Maria. Photo: Jon Abbott Coutesy Dia Art Foundation, New York

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Robert Smithson (January 2, 1938 – July 20, 1973) Robert Smithson was an American artist who used photography in relation to sculpture and land art. Probably the most well-known Land Artist, he is famous for several pieces and writings but his Spiral Jetty sculpture (see picture on page 46) where he moved over 6,000 tons of black basalt rocks to form a coil in Northeastern part of the Great Salt Lake in Utah, is considered his crowning achievement. In Sticks & Stones, we will have the children play with small pebbles to recreate this masterful work in their Art portfolio.

Andy Goldsworthy (Born July 26, 1956) Andy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor, photographer and environmentalist, producing site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings. He lives and works in Scotland.

He works primarily with ice, sand, mud, leaves, sticks, stones and rock.

He explores geometric shapes and forms when creating his work. We will use natural materials the way he does in Sticks & Stones to create geometric shapes.

Jayson Fann (Born February 19,1973) Jayson Fann is an American visual artist, musician, educator and producer. His work is centered around creating community based interactive art, music, dance and cultural collaborations that foster intercultural literacy, positive life values, dialogue and awareness.

Jayson’s large-scale art installations set the stage for his productions that literally weave visual and performing arts with multi-cultural and environmental education (see photo below of his work).

Jason Fann, Spirit Nest Creation, 2016 Basalt, Colorado

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Christo (Born June 13, 1935) and Jeanne Claude (June 13, 1935 – November 18, 2009) Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude were a married couple who created environmental works of art together. Christo was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and Jeanne-Claude in Morocco. They fell in love through creating artwork together. Their works include: the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris, the 24-mile (39 km)-long artwork called Running Fence in Sonoma and Marin counties in California, and The Gates in New York City’s Central Park and many others.

We will explore some of the early works from 1958-63 creating packages of stones. A nice way of focusing on the “act of gifting” or in this case wrapping an object versus opening and finding a stone inside.

Carl Andre (Born Sept. 16, 1935) Carl Andre is an American Minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear format and grid format sculptures. His sculptures range from large public artworks to more intimate tile patterns arranged on the floor of an exhibition space.

Sticks & Stones features Andre’s sculptures with wood blocks which also explore balance and spatial awareness. Children can be challenged by balancing wooden blocks (such as Kapla) following geometric shapes laid by Carl Andre. It’s easy to apply Minimalism in the classroom, as it’s sufficient to take an object and position it geometrically for it to be considered art. Materials used should be natural, but perfectly shaped and cut. Also, Magnetic (Tegu) blocks makes creating this work even easier.

Joseph Beuys (May 12, 1921 – January 23, 1986) Joseph Beuys was a German Fluxus, happening, and performance artist as well as a sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue. His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his “extended definition of art” and the idea of social sculpture as a gesamtkunstwerk, for which he claimed a creative, participatory role in shaping society and politics.

His works tell a story more than anything. We believe that children should be passionate artists and take social responsibility for the Earth’s environment and use art for a greater good. It’s our role to help children find their voice and feel empowered to make a difference in the world. In Bali, two kids started the “ban on plastic bags” and it has grown into a socially conscious movement where plastic bags are no longer used. Joseph Beuys’ work reference in Sticks & Stones is the “Seven Thousand Oaks” project. It is a work of Land Art, first publically presented in 1982 that consists of “stone planted besides an Oak Tree”. Beuys planted 7,000 trees over several years in Kassel Germany each with an accompanying basalt stone – with the goal of enduringly altering the living space of the city. The project, which at first was thought as controversial has become an important landmark of Kassel’s cityscape, the goal being to show that everyone is an artist, wanting art to extend outside the art gallery into the city.

F ORMS O F ART Sticks & Stones moves the natural landscape into the classroom so that children can create their own works of art, rather than changing the landscape itself, as is typically done with Land Art. This study covers multiple forms of art, however, sculpture is by far the most relevant used because we are manipulating real materials like sticks and stones on a three-dimensional plane.

Below is a list of terms and explanations used throughout the study for you to get familiar with.

Sculpture The art of carving, modeling, welding, or otherwise producing figurative or abstract works of art in three dimensions.

Installation Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that often are site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space.

Drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which a person uses various drawing instruments to mark paper.

Photography Photography is the art or practice of taking and processing photographs. You will be using your cell phone cameras to record the children’s work.

TI MEFR AME Sticks & Stones is an art module that is comprised of 20 unique lesson plans and can last up to 20-25 weeks if run as a weekly class of 30-45 minutes each, depending on the age of the children. There is a combination of group and individual work: group work sparks collaboration and interest in the subject matter and the individual work helps develop children’s personal creativity and spatial awareness.

Alternating materials is strongly suggested to keep children exploring the materials and challenging themselves throughout the study.

D O CUMEN TAT I ON Documentation of children’s work is key to all Hoopla Education curricula, as our curricula is processed-driven and highlights the progression in the children’s creative explorations. In this study, children will build their own portfolio of work collected in the beautifully designed Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

Sticks & Stones makes use primarily of sculpture and installation, highlighted with the use of the camera or phone (with camera capabilities) and recorded onto the art portfolios.

Group works also need to be recorded into each portfolio. It’s fun when parents and children look back to see how engaged the children were playing with sticks and stones!

Remember – you are partly responsible for the final output of the children’s portfolios. To make your Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolios even more visually appealing, print some of your photographs on colored paper!

SAFETY As with all materials, make sure you speak about the safety concerns with manipulating sticks and stones in the classroom. Children should keep all materials close to their working space and not wave or throw any of the materials to or at each other. Address any such instances promptly and remove the materials from the child(ren) if they do not stay within the safety guidelines you set for the classroom.

Painting A painting is an image created using pigments (color) on a surface such as paper or canvas. The pigment used in Sticks & Stones are primarily using tempera paint, mud, ink, markers, colored pencils, crayons or acrylic paint.

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Week 1 - Lesson 1

Cir c l e t o S t o ne s Time 30-45 minutes Materials Stones, approx. 40, 10 per group Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal of this activity is for children to learn collaboration whilst exploring stones as a material, doing a relatively simple task. Children also work on developing their visual spatial skills and learn about their “personal space”. In this activity, children are creating an installation and sculpture by putting the stones on a plane, linking it back to Richard Long’s famous work of art, where in 1972 he positioned his stones on the floor creating three circles, each one inside the other – see Three Circles of Stones in Hayward London, 1972. In addition to running this activity in smaller groups as outlined below, encourage the entire class to act in one group or splitting the group into 3, each group being responsible for their own ring.

Social Emotional It’s important that this activity be done as a group because one of the main goals of this activity is to teach children to share materials and space together developing the collaborative skills to communicate how to create a circle as a group.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Take the stones and put them on the table in front of you • Allow the children to manipulate and experiment with the stones • Ask questions such as: “What does your stone feel like?”

“What do they look like?” “Do you see a shape of an animal when looking at your stones?”

• Group the children into 4-5 per group • Tell the children that they will work together to create the largest possible circle.

• Once the group is satisfied with their circle, document their circle by taking a photograph the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

Teacher’s Note Children ages 5 and under may find it difficult to create a perfect circle as they haven’t refined their visual spatial awareness yet. Have the children keep working on their circles until they are round. Oftentimes, one child will take the lead to create the circle, however facilitate group work as much as possible.

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Week 2 – Lesson 2

T he I n v i si b l e Li n e Time 30-45 minutes Materials Stones, 10 per group. Stones should be a variety of color and sizes but roughly the same shapes Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal with this activity is to create a straight row of stones. For children ages 5 and above, they will also learn how to sort by color, size and/or both. Have the whole class contour a corner of your classroom with three rows of stones, just as Richard Long did in “A Line of 682 Stones” at the British Pavilion XXXVII Venice Biennale in 1976.

Children are making an installation and sculpture by placing the stones in a row on a flat surface. In addition to creating two rows of stones, children also explore the invisible line in the middle. Remember the famous quote that “in art 1+1=3”? This activity illustrates it beautifully with the rows of stones, the third line being between the two rows of stones.

Social Emotional These first group activities serve the purpose to reinforce children’s ability to share materials and implement a common goal as well as learn to share their personal space.

3yrs+ • Notice how the line tends to wibble-wobble from one side to the next. Have the children repeat the activity, this time making two parallel lines. The second row of stones helps to straighten the lines or at least one of them.

• Ask the children how many lines they see. Point out the “invisible” line in the middle, between the two rows of stones.

5yrs+ • For children ages 5yrs +, ask the children to separate the large stones from the smaller stones and re-build the line from small stones to larger stones.

• Other sorting ideas include alternating light and dark stones or going from light to dark/ dark to light.

• Once they’ve created their line of stones, ask them what it looks like. Document their answers below: Class _______ [Date] _____________ [answers] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Class _______ [Date] _____________ [answers] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Class _______ [Date] _____________ [answers] ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Instructions • This activity is to be done on table(s) tops by putting them together so children can be seated on either side of the tables.

Alternatively, you can run this activity on the floor if you have enough uncluttered space.

• If children are working on tables, distribute half the children on either side of the table, so that each child is facing another child. Every group of four children will be responsible for a “portion of the line”. If they are working on the floor, then you will need to sit half the children facing each other so they can easily work in sections.

• Once you’ve set up your classroom, take the stones and place them in front of the children • Tell the children that they are going to create a straight line using the stones. It might help to ask them to visualize building a very long snake in a straight line.

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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------• When the children are satisfied with their rows of stones, take a picture of the children’s work and add it to The Invisible Line of Stones of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

Teacher’s Note When building the two lines you can use a ruler or a piece of paper as a guide to help them build their “straight” parallel lines, however only use this as a guide once they’ve done the activity at least once on their own. Repeat the activity as needed.

Week 3 – Lesson 3

S t on e P ro p e r t i e s Time 30-40 minutes Materials Stones, 2 per child Pen or pencil, 1 per child Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to explore the property of stones and extend children’s vocabulary in the process. In the previous two activities, children have warmed up with the group and are feeling more confident in using stones as a material to do art with. Here we will learn that in order to more fully explore the properties of one stone, having a second stone to compare it to, will help define it even further, just as with ourselves.

Step 2 • Now ask the children to choose a second stone and have them compare the properties of each stone against the other • You can also ask them to compare the patterns of two stones on the portfolio • Ask questions such as: “Which stone is: » heavier/ lighter » lighter/darker » colder/ warmer » Smoother/more rough » Bigger/smaller • Document each pair of opposite adjectives under each post-it of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio. For example, put smaller on one post-it with bigger under the opposite post-it, aligned with each word.

3-5yrs

Instructions Step 1 3-5yrs (or up to pre-writing age) • Ask children questions about the stone’s qualities: » Texture: smooth, soft, rough, hard, lumpy » Temperature: cold, cool, warm, hot » Color: grey, black, light/ dark » Shape: oval, round, square, rectangular, jagged • Document the children’s descriptions on the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

6yrs+ or children of writing age • Have the children write their own descriptions onto their portfolios

smoother

more rough

6yrs+ or children who can write • Have the children write their own descriptions onto their portfolio Teacher’s Note If you’re having a hard time noting every child’s answer keeping the rest of the classroom engaged, voice or video record each child’s answers and note their replies on their portfolios at a later stage.

Alternatively, for children who can already read and write, photocopy the page of adjectives on the next two pages, cut the words out and hand them out to the children to glue onto their journal as and when they use the words to describe the stones. You can also brainstorm a list of adjectives together and write them on the board for children to copy and use on their portfolios.

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smooth soft rough hard lumpy cold cool warm hot grey black light

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dark speckled dotted lined cracked marbled oval round square rectangular triangular jagged

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Week 4 & 5 – Lesson 4

S mil e y S t o n e F ac e s

• Here are some questions you can ask the kids: How can you make a face using stones? How do the eyebrows change the expression on the face? How does your face change when you’re happy? What shape(s) do your mouth/ nose/ eyes have?

Time 30 minutes + 20 minutes

• Take a picture of each child’s smiley face and insert the result onto the Smiley Stones page of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

Materials Stones, 10 per child Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal Children are creating an installation and sculpture of stones on a surface. Here the main goal is for children 4yrs and under to develop compositional skills to make a face. The use of a physical objects makes it easier for kids to play around with the different parts of the face and frees them to experiment without the worry of the final outcome. For children 5yrs and above, it is to master the subtleties of emotional expression using very simple materials, i.e. stones.

Social Emotional Recognizing emotions is an important milestone in a child’s development. Children here are experimenting with an inanimate object to produce animated expression, a very important tool for developing empathy and later even narrative skills.

Session 1 Instructions 3yrs+ • Take out the stones and place them in front of the children • Ask each child to take 10 stones, counting out loud up to 10 together: ”one, two, three...”

• Once all the children have their stones, ask them to work individually and explore making funny faces. Suggest that two stones can be used for eyes, one stone for the nose, and the rest can be used to make a smile.

Session 2 & Step 2 (to be continued during the next lesson) Materials Yellow post-its, 1-2 per kids Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The second part of this activity focuses on the importance of storytelling. Much of the best works of art tell stories that easily engage its viewers. This activity develops early narrative techniques allowing children to bring their work to life, giving it more meaning both to themselves and to the world.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Turn to the Smiley Stones page in the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio • Get your children thinking about a story behind the emotions asking questions such as: Why are your stones smiling? Why are they happy?

• Document the children’s answers on top of the picture of their work using post-it notes Teacher’s Note Have pebbles available for children so they can develop their stories using smaller stones on their desk. Visit Pinterest and look up “pebble art” for additional creative ideas!

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Week 6 & 7 – Lesson 5

Emotional Stones Time 30 minutes ea.

Materials Paper Stones, 10 per child Pencils 3-5yrs: Red tempera paint, red markers or red crayons 6yrs+: any color Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to explore emotion using stones and associate it with a color. Children are also developing compositional and narrative skills.

Instructions 3-4yrs • Hand out 10 stones to each child

5-6yrs • Same as points above.

• Next, pair the children up and have one of the two make an angry face and the other reproduce the angry face using stones on “Emotional Stones (1)” of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

• Give the children 5-10 minutes for the composition and then have the other child make a portrait of the angry face.

• Have each child trace the stones with a pencil. Once each stone has been traced ask the children to remove the stones from the page and color the traced stones in red. Why red?

Because red is angry!

6yrs+ • Turn to the happy page on your Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio. Point out that the next page is blank before the face turns red “angry”. Ask the children questions about what emotion is missing between the happy and the angry face.

• Pair the children and have them work on the missing emotion together, asking each pair to imagine the missing emotion and the other to reproduce it using the stones on the gray page. Give each child ample time to explore and compose the stones on the page and then exchange the activity with the other child.

• Ask the children to turn to the stone face with the red background of their portfolio and ask them what emotion they see.

• Repeat the process of tracing the stones and ask the children to color in the traced stones with one color of their choice.

• Once they’ve defined the face as angry, explore the emotion of anger and its synonyms. Here are some examples: annoyed, chafed, displeased, enraged, cross, furious, heated, hot, illtempered, infuriated, irritated, maddened, raging, resentful.

Facially mimic some of the emotions for the younger children so that they can understand the difference between the synonyms.

Sessions 2 3yrs+ • Repeat this process with the green and black page/ Emotional Stones (2) & (3) of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio, exploring different types of emotions.

• Have the children recreate the angry face and modify it slightly based on the synonyms you have found together as a group. If a child doesn’t understand a word that was suggested, be sure to explain it to him/her, making use of your stones!

• Now ask the children questions about why the stones are feeling that way. Encourage them to create a narrative around the emotional stones, for example – What happened to make the face angry? Why did that happen? How can we make the stones feel happy again?

• Document any meaningful answers onto their portfolios.

• Take pictures of the children’s emotions. Exhibit the ones that show the most expression, together with the stone faces.

• Here are some examples of emotions you might want to explore: anxious, calm, embarrassed, excited, relieved, scared, surprised, etc.

• Associate a color with each emotion. For example surprised may be light green and scared black.

• Alternate tracing the stones and using photography to document the children’s work, i.e. Emotional Stones 2 will be documented via photography and Emotional Stones 3 will be tracing.

Teacher’s Note Some colors may speak more to children than others. Don’t feel confined by the order or colors in the portfolio. Feel free to bring a multitude of different colored craft paper to associate emotions with.

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Document your children’s emotions here:

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Happy

Sad

S u r p r is e d

Angr y

Ex c it e d

Cal m

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M i n i m a l is m B l oc k s w it h K a i

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Week 8 – Lesson 6

Ab s t ra ct w o o d block st ru c t u re Time 30 minutes Materials Kapla, Tegu or other wooden blocks, 10-20 per child Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal of this activity is for children to learn and practice balance whilst reproducing unique geometric patterns inspired by the contemporary artist, Carl Andre.

Carl Andre is an American Minimalist artist recognized for his ordered linear format and grid format sculptures. His sculptures work beautifully in this study as children can use materials they are familiar with to create beautiful works of art, develop balancing skills and spatial awareness. Children can be challenged by balancing wooden blocks, such as Kapla or any cleanly cut age-appropriate wooden blocks, following the geometric shapes laid by Carl Andre.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Show the children the images of the child doing Carl Andres’ sculptures on the opposite page. For younger children, photocopy and distribute one copy per child so each child can easily see the position of the blocks.

• Distribute 10-20 wooden blocks (Kapla) per child and ask them to recreate the artist’s sculpture works as seen on the image.

• Document with a photograph and add the picture under “Abstract Wood Block Sculpture” page of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

M Y FAV O R I T E WOOD BLOCK SCULPTURE

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Week 9 – Lesson 7

S t ic k A n i m a l s Time 30 minutes for 3-4yr olds 45mins for 5yrs+ Materials Sticks, 7-10 per child (approx. 30cm/ 12 inches long) Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio

Children ages 5yrs+ • Once the children have mastered using the sticks to compose an image, ask them to build a 3-dimensional image of their animals, intertwining the sticks into each other so that they can hold up without the use of string or tape.

• Introduce the work of Deborah Butterfield, explaining that Butterfield makes her works of art from pieces of wood she finds in nature.

• Take a picture of the children’s works and add your favorite sculptures below.

Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to explore sticks as a new material and composition to create animals. Older children are challenged to make balancing sculptures of animals inspired by the horse sculptures of American sculptor Deborah Butterfield made of driftwood, i.e. discarded pieces of wood found on the beach. Introduce the artist’s work once the children have had ample time to explore their own ideas.

Instructions • Place a handful of sticks in front of the children • Ask the children to tell you what the sticks are. Encourage them to retrace them back to a tree! Explore the uses of sticks in nature, such as: “Sticks are great, they can be used to create nests for birds, bridges to go across a river. These sticks can even be used to build roads or animal shapes.”

• Distribute approximately 7 sticks to each child, 30cm/ 12 inches long.

• Tell the children that today they are going to draw using these sticks. Ask them to make a bird with their sticks.

• Give the children time to explore the different shapes they can make with their sticks for 10 minutes.

• Once they have had ample time to explore on their own, show them that birds can be made easily with two sticks, by placing them into a V-shape.

• Hand out the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio and turn to the owl page. Have the children place their compositions on the “Stick Animals” page.

• Ask the children to trace around their sticks, creating outlines of their work on the page.

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Week 10 – Lesson 8

The “ Y ” Tre e

6yrs+ • Introduce the works of Andy Goldsworthy and the use of sticks in nature. Show the children the image of the sticks positioned above water and the way the reflection creates an image of a full circle.

Time 3-5yrs 30 minutes 5yrs+ 45 minutes

• Distribute small individual mirrors to each child and have the children hold up the mirror “cutting” the circular part of the tree in half with their mirror. Observe the full circle the mirror makes.

Materials Sticks, 7-10 per child Pencil, one per child Post-it notes (teacher) Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio

• Now ask the children to explore making sculptures on top of their mirrors so that the reflection becomes a continuation of their work.

5yrs+ Blue ink or tempera Cotton buds/Q-tips Option: pencils 6yrs+ Small rectangular/ square mirrors to introduce mirroring, 1 per child Activity Goal This activity explores the basic outline of a tree and finishing a tree with a composition of sticks. For older children, they are also exploring the concept of reflection to make an illusion of a whole. This is the perfect activity to introduce Andy Goldsworthy. British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy creates transient works of art by arranging leaves, sticks, rocks or anything he finds in nature to create magical land works.

Look up “The Reflection of Sticks by the River” by the artist and explore making similar shapes or structures with children. For older children, introduce reflection and the way the artist used reflection to create an illusion of a whole circle.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Open the portfolio and turn to the “A Tree at ____” page, i.e. the tree with the orange background.

• Highlight the fact that the tree was made by using sticks to make up a complete tree. Ask the children questions like “What time of day do you think it is and why? Do you think it’s a windy day or a perfectly still day with no breeze?”

• Have them explain their answers and complete the title of the work “A Tree At _________ [time of day]”. Remember, there are no wrong answers.

• Document their works with photography.

Part 2 3yrs+ • Turn to the next page “The Y Tree” and ask the children what they see. Once they talk about a tree, tree trunk and/or tree stump, point out that all trees have a tree trunk that are anchored firmly onto the ground, especially when it’s windy..

• Hand 7-10 sticks per child. Ask them to look for a “Y” shaped stick or create one with 2 sticks. Now have them imagine a windy day and ask them to finish the tree.

• Have the children position their sticks on paper and ask the children to trace the sticks on their portfolio.

Option 1: 5yrs+ • Follow the same steps above.

• Next, ask the children to imagine that their tree is in a storm and it’s raining very hard. Position the branches so that you capture the idea of wind.

• Have the children add raindrops with cotton buds dipped in blue tempera or ink to their drawing, following the same direction as the wind on the branches.

Option 2: 5yrs+ • If the weather is bright and sunny and you have the opportunity to go outdoors to a park or under a large tree, take your class outdoors.

• Distribute the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio and a pencil per child.

• Ask the children to stand under a tree with leaves. Observe the leaf shape that are on the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio and have the children trace the shapes with pencils, completing their tree drawings.

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Week 11 – Lesson 9

S af e & S o u n d

Today we will explore the concept of home and the way that nature shelters us.

• Hand out a pack of 10-20 sticks to each child and ask the children to recreate a nest with their sticks. Encourage them to make circular shapes, interweaving the sticks into each other.

Time 3-5yrs olds 30 minutes 5yrs+ 45 minutes Materials Sticks, 10-20 per child Stones, 2-3 per child – preferably light colored and oval shaped Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to explore the concept of home and safety.

It replicates the use of sticks in nature to create a shelter for animals, allowing children to express themselves through sculpture. Highlight Land Artist Jayson Fann’s beautiful works where he replicated the nest structure in very large scale performing beautiful works of art that children can easily relate to.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Here is some narrative you can use: Many animals use trees as a shelter and/or as their home. For example, many species of birds, in the springtime or during mating season build a nest on trees where they will lay their eggs and raise their hatchlings.

• Once they have completed their nests distribute 2-3 stones each and ask them to position the stones in their nest as if they were eggs. Choose light colored, oval-shaped stones for this activity.

5yrs+ • Group children into groups of 4 and have them think about animal homes found in trees. Suggestions can include: bird or squirrel nests, bee hives, spider webs, etc.

• Ask each group to represent their homes using their sticks.

• If any of the group have chosen nests as their option distribute 2-3 stones per group • Document the individual works for 3-5yr olds and the group work for 5yrs+ and glue work on the “Safe & Sound” page of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Teacher’s Note This is the perfect opportunity to introduce the fact that eggs come in different shapes and colors. To vary this activity, paint the eggs blue or green to represent different colored and patterned eggs found in nature.

Jason Fann, Spirit Nest Creation, 2016 Basalt, Colorado

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Week 12 – Lesson 10

Tr e e L a y e ri n g Time 30 minutes Materials Tempera paint Paintbrushes Cotton buds/ Q-Tips Corks Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal Painting and layering multiple art techniques to create a unique composition. Layering is a technique that refers to exploring one medium, material or technique on top of the other to make it aesthetically more interesting and complete.

Instructions • Hand out the portfolios and ask the children to turn to the “Tree Layering” pages (blue or white background), depending on the child’s mood they can either start with 1 or 2.

• Focus on seasons, making sure that each Tree Layering activity depicts a different season. Observe the colors of nature around you and use those colors for one of the trees, the other one will be done using the colors the children remember the season to be.

• Activity narrative: We are going to complete this picture by painting the sky, background, trees, leaves to complete this page.

3-5yr olds • For younger children, ask them to paint the leaves of the tree by using dots. Dots can be created by dipping their fingertips or Q-Tips in tempera paint to make small leaves. For bigger leaves, explore using a cork to stamp and create round prints.

6yrs+ • Prepare this activity by making stamps with the cork by cutting the shape of leaves with a blade or cutter – done by you, the teacher! – and hand out the corks for the children to manipulate and use to finish their trees.

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Week 13 – Lesson 11

Leaf Printing (Paint) Part 1 Time 20mins Materials Leaves, 2-3 per child Construction paper or 200gr+ paper, 1 sheet per child Paintbrushes Tempera paint based on the season you’re in Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to develop observational skills of nature and colors surrounding children, whilst exploring print making techniques.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Distribute 2-3 leaves per child and an assortment of colors based on the season you’re in. Make sure the leaves aren’t too dry or they will break whilst using them as prints.

• Have the kids paint one side of the leaf and then gently place it on the paper, patting on the paper facedown. Demonstrate how to gently lift the leaf from one side, to slowly reveal the leaf print on the paper. Let the children practice the technique before reproducing it on their Sticks & Stones Art Portfolio.

• Repeat the process several times without applying anymore paint to the leaf and see which result the children like best.

• When they are ready, turn to the “Leaf Print (1)” page on the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio to create their own leaf prints next to the leaf prints that are already there, forming a circular shape.

• Explore this process using the colors of the season you’re in.

Green for spring, browns, black and grey for winter, or orange, yellow, brown and red for Fall/ Autumn.

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Week 13 – Lesson 12

Ink Leaf Prints (Ink) Part 2

Document their answers Class: Children’s preference: _________________________ because: ____________________________________________________

Time 20mins Materials Black ink and/or different colored ink pads, 1 per 1-2 child(ren) (stamp pads) Paper, 1 sheet per child Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to explore a mastered technique using a different medium, i.e. ink instead of tempera paint, to produce a different result.

_____________________________________________________________ Class: Children’s preference: _________________________ because: ____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Class: Children’s preference: _________________________ because: ____________________________________________________

Instructions 3yrs+ • Repeat the first 3 steps of the previous activity, distributing 2-3 leaves per child and a black ink pad per child or per every 3 children.

• Have the kids put black ink on their leaves by rubbing it on the ink pad, making sure that the ‘rough veiny side’ of the leaf is adequately covered and then gently place it on “Leaf Print (2)” page of the portfolio, patting it facedown. Gently lift the leaf from one side, revealing the leaf print.

_____________________________________________________________

Class: Children’s preference: _________________________ because: ____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

Teacher’s Note Experiment with different colors. Ask the children which result they like best, the tempera or ink prints and why.

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Week 14 – Lesson 13

Activity #1 - Fingerprints

Mu d D ra w i n g s

Instructions 3yrs+ • To make mud, you are going to need some earth and some water. Mix some potting soil, some sand and water together.

Results will vary depending on the quality of the earth you find.

Hard, compact clay-like earth is the best, but it might not be so easy to find in a city. If you live close to a park, you might be able to find some dry earth near a tree, take some of that earth to mix with water.

Time 30 minutes for 3-5yr olds 45 minutes for 5yrs+ Materials Mud Small container, 1 per child Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal Mud is a unique material to work with because its texture can vary significantly creating completely different results. It can get pretty messy but when dry it creates a beautiful work of art.

Introduce Richard Long’s work and his use of mud to create unique works of art in nature and within a space. He is especially known for using Avon River Mud (located near Bristol, UK) directly on the wall and using his fingertips to make his mark, combining action and primitive forms of art together in an innovative use of simple material.

• Prepare a small container per child, filled half way with earth in it and have the children mix the water with the earth. Make sure you don’t add too much water.

• Turn to the “Mud Fingerprints” page of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

• Have the children cover their fingertips with mud to make a pattern of repeated fingerprints around the beige circle. Ask the children to space their fingerprints approximately 1-2cm/ max 1 inch apart.

Teacher’s Note The repetitive pattern created from this activity is what makes it aesthetically beautiful.

Activity #2 - Mud Hand Print 3yrs+ • Repeat steps above to make mud, except this time have the children fill their entire hand with mud and print it onto the “Mud Hand Print” page of their portfolio.

• Be sure to allow the pages ample time to dry before closing, to keep the texture of the mud on the page.

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Week 15 – Lesson 14

F os s il L e a f P rin t Time 30minutes Materials Mud Small container, 1 per child Fresh leaf, 1 per child or every 2 children Optional: Paintbrush, 1 per child Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to replicate a fossil-like print by using mud on the image of a stone as well as explore the leaf’s veiny skeleton.

Kids are fascinated by these very primal prints, almost like going back to the caveman days!

Instructions 3yrs+ • Repeat steps from Lesson13 to make mud.

• Distribute a leaf and a small container per child and demonstrate painting one side of the leaf with the paintbrush making sure that the leaf is comfortably placed on the table, otherwise you may risk to overload it with too much mud. The smooth side of the leaf is the easiest side to paint.

• Alternatively, simply dip the leaf into the container making sure that it is completely filled with mud.

• When the leaf is covered with mud, turn it over onto the stone printed on the “Fossil Leaf Print” page of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio, gently lifting the leaf off the paper to end up with a mud leaf print.

• Now it’s the children’s turn. Have the children repeat this process at least twice but no more than 4 times on the image of the stone for a clean, beautiful “fossil print” look. For younger children, you may want to practice this process on a clean sheet of paper before printing on the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

Teacher’s Note You can repeat this technique, applying the mud leaf print directly onto a large stone that is at least 20cm/ 8 inches long and 15cm/ 6 inches wide. Keep the stones for the final exhibition.

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Richard Long, River Avon Mud Hands Circle, 1991. © Richard Long. All Rights Reserved, DACS/Artimage 2017. Photo: Richard Long 2017

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Week 16 – Lesson 15

Mud Hand Prints, Group Work

• Now ask the children to dip their fingertips filled with mud and print them on their individual pieces of paper. Have them practice a few times until they feel comfortable with the technique and the result.

• Next gather the children around the large sheet of paper and highlight the big circle on the page.

Time 30minutes

• Distribute the children around the circle and ask them to start mud hand printing on the circle line, keeping a distance of 2cm or 1 inch from each hand print.

Materials Mud Practice paper, 1 sheet per child 1 large sheet of construction paper or 250gr paper – A4 size Container, large enough for children to fit their hands in, 1 per 3 children Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio

• Once they have completed the first large circle of handprints, have them create a smaller layer of handprints right under the big circle, and continue this process until the entire circle is filled with mud handprints.

Activity Goal Oftentimes when you walk into a school or kindergarten, you see a single child’s handprint on paper. This activity takes hand printing further by exploring texture and making a beautiful image using a simple repeated pattern as part of a collective work of art made by the children. It is inspired by Richard Long’s “River Avon Mud Hands Circle” made in 1991 of mud handprints. You can find an image of this drawing on the opposite page.

• Take a picture of the final work and add it to the “Mud Hand Print Group Work” page on the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio. Add a picture on your teacher’s guide, , on the next page.

Teacher’s Note Make sure you coordinate the children’s personal space so that each child can comfortably work on the piece.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Prepare this activity by drawing a big circle in pencil on your large sheet of construction paper.

• Show the children the picture of Richard Long’s 1991 “River Avon Mud Hands Circle”. Explain to the children that you are going to do a similar painting as a class/ collective project, rather than an individual work of art.

• Repeat steps to make mud from Lesson 13.

• Hand out one container filled with mud for every 3 children, together with one piece of paper per child.

• Have the children dip their whole hands into the containers to feel the texture of mud. Ask the children to describe the texture: smooth, warm, cold, lumpy, etc.

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Class ________________

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Date ________________

Class ________________

Date ________________

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Social Project, Cultural Arts Center, Tinos, Greece

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Week 17 – Lesson 16

P ai n t ing on Stones Time 30 minutes Materials Large Stone, 1 per child 1 pencil per child Newspaper to protect the floor Acrylic paint, many colors or black + one other color Paintbrushes Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal We’ve been painting on stones since the beginning of time – whether on cave walls or on stones themselves. This activity takes children back in time and gives them a new appreciation for those marks by exploring texture and drawing on a different surface.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Put newspaper on the floor to protect it from getting dirty and place one large stone per child in one large circle on the ground. The stones must have a big enough surface for the children to draw and paint a picture on it.

• Have the children sit on the floor in front of their stones and distribute a pencil per child telling the children that they can draw whatever image they want on their stones.

• Have the children draw on their stones and paint the image with acrylic paint (acrylic paint markers make an excellent substitute).

• Once they have completed this task take a picture of each child’s painted stone.

• Document by sticking a picture of their work on the “Painting on Stones” page of the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio.

Teacher’s Note For a minimalist look, set up groups of 4 children and have each group paint their stones in one color, applying a dot with a different color on top, once the coat of paint is dry. Next make patterns on the floor with the children. Keep the stones to exhibit at the end of the study.

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Week 18 – Lesson 17

Pac k a g i n g S t on e s Time 30 minutes Materials Large Stone, 1 per child Fabric pieces, 1 per child Tape, string or Elmer’s glue, to keep the fabric tightly tuck around the stone Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal The goal of this activity is to discover the essence of shape and form by covering a stone in fabric. This activity was inspired by Christo & Jeanne Claude’s works. The artists explore permanence and impermanence of an object, as well as form that is hidden and given by fabric that is used to cover it. Their works of art made permanent of what is usually an impermanent creation.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Talk about how exciting it is to receive a birthday present that is beautifully packaged. Everything that the package represents is the beauty of it, making the inside almost less important.

Talk about the possibility of what is inside as being the most exciting part! Use this excitement to convey the activity you are about to start and how sometimes the act of giving or making something for someone is more beautiful than what is hidden inside.

• Distribute one large stone per child together with a piece of fabric that is big enough to cover the whole stone. You can also experiment using colored paper instead.

• Together with the kids, demonstrate how to gift wrap your stone. Give children glue/ tape or string if they need it to keep the fabric tightly tucked around the stone • Once the children are satisfied with their works of art, take a picture of their packaged stones, print and stick the final result on the “Packaged Stones” page of their portfolio.

Teacher’s Note Keep the children’s works of art for the final exhibition at the end of the study or use it as a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift!

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Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty,1970. © Holt-Smithson Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York. Photo: George Steinmetz. Courtesy Dia Art Foundation, New York

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Week 19 – Lesson 18

Rob e r t S m i t h so n ’s S pir a l J e t t y Time 30 minutes Materials Pencil, 1 per child Sheet of paper, 1 per child Elmer’s glue Small dark pebbles 30-40 per child or sand Toy bulldozer and dump trucks, 1 per child Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio

• Turn to “Spiral Jetty” page of their portfolio and ask the children to draw a large spiral with pencil, starting from the middle of the sea and ending on the shoreline.

• Once they have completed this task, distribute the glue and ask the children to trace the spiral line they drew with Elmer’s glue.

• Next have the children follow that pattern by loading the pebbles in their toy dump trucks and “offloading” them onto their page into the spiral shape and making sure they don’t cross the Elmer’s glue line. Be sure to take a picture of the children playing with their dump trucks full off stones as they create the piece!

• Once you are pleased with the result take the portfolios and store them in a safe place allowing the pebbles/ sand to glue onto the portfolios. Once dry, shake off the excess pebbles/ sand onto the ground and clean up.

Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to recreate the work of Land Artist Robert Smithson’s most famous work “Spiral Jetty” in a miniature format that children can easily grasp and have fun with! The small pebbles represent the black cobalt stones that Robert Smithson used to create the Spiral Jetty using a bulldozer in Salt Lake, Utah. Children get to feel the artist’s excitement when creating this timeless piece by playing with toy bulldozers and dump trucks.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Hand out the portfolios and turn to the “Spiral Jetty” page.

• Turn to the Spiral Jetty image on the opposite page and display the image so that it can easily be seen by all the children and explain that Robert Smithson, the artist behind this work, used a bulldozer and a dump truck to create this work of art. Explain that a jetty is a landing stage or small pier at which boats can dock or be moored.

• Give each child one or two pieces of paper with a pencil and have the children practice making spiral shapes on paper. The line must end or start from the edge of the paper, with the spiral towards the center of the page.

• Next, distribute a box of pebbles, 30-40 per child or group of 3 children together with one pencil each.

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Week 20 – Lesson 19

Plac in g S t o n e s i n T i m e Time 30 minutes Materials Pencil, 1 per child Stones, 10 per child Colored pens/inks/tempera Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio Activity Goal This activity is exploring the concept of the passage of time and is inspired by the work of contemporary artist Paul Frank Wagner. In a unique 3-step process – sculpture, drawing, painting – stones leave their mark in time.

Instructions 3yrs+ • Turn to the “Full Circle” page on the Sticks & Stones Children’s Art Portfolio. Explain that this is a work of art by contemporary artist Paul Frank Wagner who is attempting to freeze a moment in time by documenting his stones on the page.

• Next, distribute 10 stones per child. Ask the children to create a pattern with the stones on the table. Have them think about something that has particular significance to them at this moment in time – it could be their favorite number, shape or object – for example.

• Once the children have had ample time to experiment with their stones and have made a composition they are happy with, hand out a pencil and their portfolios to them.

• Have the children place their stone compositions on the “Placing Stones in Time” page and trace the shapes around each stone.

• Remove the stones and have them color the shapes in with ink, markers or tempera paint.

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Week 21 – Lesson 20

S oc ia l P ro j e c t Times 45 minutes for children 6yrs+ Materials Large Stone, 1 per child Acrylic Paint, many colors Paintbrushes Picture taking devise Sticks & Stones Art Portfolios Activity Goal The goal for this activity is to empower children to find their voice and use art as a tool for social change and collective responsibility towards the Earth’s wellbeing. This project is the opportunity to highlight the work of Joseph Beuys, a performance, sculptor and installation artist and pedagogue. His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism and social philosophy and culminates in the idea of social sculpture for which he claimed a creative, participatory role in shaping society and politics. In the Seven Thousand Oaks project, consisting of planting 7,000 oak trees over several years in Kassel Germany each with an accompanying basalt stone – with the goal of enduringly altering the living space of the city. The project, which at first was thought as controversial, has become an important landmark of Kassel’s cityscape, the goal being to show that everyone is an artist, extending art outside the art gallery into the city.

Instructions 6yrs+ • Talk about Joseph Beuys and the Seven Thousand Oaks project. Beuys’ work can be especially inspiring when working on a social project with children ages 7 years and above. When thinking of a project theme, it’s important that you cover the following points:

• Distribute one large stone to each child together with a paintbrush.

• Talk about the different uses stones have in everyday life.

Encourage children to think outside the box and think of as many diverse uses of the stones as possible. Document the children’s answers.

• Next ask the children to paint their stone. You can follow a minimalism approach by painting the stones in one color or having the children think about giving their stone a symbol.

• In the example we give you in this book, children from the Tinos Cultural Art Center in Greece painted stones and distributed them in the community and explained their project to the people they met. Stones were left in grocery stores, book shops, bars, restaurants, etc.

• Each stone had a message attached to it, asking whoever found the stone to return it back to Cultural Center within a certain date. The stones that made it back to the Cultural Center in time were used as part of the children’s installation.

• Once the exhibition was over, the stones were thrown back to the sea to remind the children that we must give back what we borrow for a period of time.

• This is a great example of a collective project which involved both the community and the children. Brainstorm different ways in which you too can create a work of art that goes beyond the confines of your classroom.

Teacher’s Notes _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________

1. How can we positively affect the environment and produce social change?

_____________________________________________________________

2. How can we increase awareness of our dependence in a larger eco-system within the urban environment?

_____________________________________________________________

3. What ongoing process can we set in motion within the society, that is activated by human creativity?

_____________________________________________________________

4. How can we extend art beyond the confines of the classroom to the entire school/ outside the school grounds?

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If you find it hard to come up with your own project, you can replicate the project we ran in Tinos, Greece with children ages 6 to 12yrs old:

_____________________________________________________________

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E x hi b i t i o n Now that the Sticks & Stone study is concluded, it’s important that children and their parents see their work properly exhibited. Every work of art should be displayed with the artist’s name, title of the work, year it was made, medium of the work and size of the piece.

Here is an example for you to follow: Paul Frank Wagner Full Circle, 2016.

Ink on paper, dim. 20cm x 20cm (12” x 12”)

In addition, here are some ideas to aesthetically display your children’s artwork, turning your classroom into a gallery and you into a curator of your art show!

1. Hang the photographs on a clothesline. Display photographs or drawings with wooden pegs, as if on a clothesline.

2. Let them Float. If you have floating shelves in your classroom use these for an eye-catching way to display the artwork. Simply place the artworks on the shelves varying the heights of the drawings from horizontal to vertical, big and small to create a “cityscape” of drawings.

3. Lean it on the floor. You need to mount all the work on a large rigid board. Next lean each artwork on the floor, leaving at least 2cm or 1 inch space between each work. This gives the exhibition a cool laidback look and feel.

4. Use Binder Clips. This gives your artwork a modern feel and your exhibition a stylish and industrial look. Hang the works of art with transparent fish wire and tie the wire to the binder clips or hang the binder clips from a nail on the wall.

5. Make an art mobile. This format gives a natural feel to the work by attaching the works with string or fish wire to a large branch, giving the space or classroom a lot of personality.

6. Clip it together! Use one teacher clipboard per child drawing to display their work on the wall, spacing them 5cm/ 2 inches apart, in a grid like format. For example: if you have 9 clipboards, 3 rows of 3 frames work nicely. You can also use the clipboards, 1 per child, to organize each child’s work.

7. Create a line. Sometimes a straight line of displayed artworks on the wall or floor is the best solution.

8. Create a grid. Organize your artworks by projects by creating a grid of work, for example: you can create 4 rows of 5 projects.

9. Multi-colored construction paper. You can also frame each artwork with different color construction paper giving the artwork a formal finished look.

10. Personalized Feel. Print a picture of your students’ facial expression and display it next to their stone faces.

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About the Artist

Paul Frank Wagner

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Biography Award-Winning Artist Paul Frank Wagner 1970

Born in Paris February 27

1985

Introduction to Minimalism, Pop Art, and Conceptual Art in New York City

Paul meets Bernar Venet, Christo and Jeanne Claude, Arman and Cesar

1989-93

University of Vermont

First rope Installations and works using rope as main medium.

2005

NYU Broadway Windows Show, New York City, NY. USA

Carl Solway Gallery “30 Ways to make a painting” - Cincinnati, USA shows

with Alan McCollum, Nam June Paik, Keith Sonnier, Christo

Installation at the Delano Hotel, Miami Beach, FL. USA

2009

Exhibits at Scope Miami Beach, FL. USA

2010

Art Basel Miami Beach first suspended installations at Wynwood Walls, FL. USA

2012

Installation “Waiting for the end of the World” - Dolomites, Italy

2013

Installation “Family Ties” - Wales, UK

Installation “35 Knots to the East” - Istanbul, Turkey

Installation “Life at the Dead Sea” - Amman, Jordan

Installation“Over the Stairs” Sardinia, Italy

2014

Installation “For the Animals of the Forest” - Sologne, France

Installation “Intersections” - Paris, France

Installation “Homeward Bound” - Vietnam

Installation “Re-Constructing History” - Malta

Installation “Baliwood” - Bali, Indonesia

Installation “Organically Grown” - Oman

First Prize on Artslant Magazine Award for his installation “For the Animals of the Forest” Installation

Co-Founder of Hoopla Education and Art Residencies in schools all over the world

2015

Installation “Fearless” - Wales, UK

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