Art Week 2015- Recycled Vinyl Record Bowls

Art Week 2015 has come and gone.  As always, it is a hectic, but rewarding week where the students get a chance to work 2 artists a day for the entire week.  I love that the school makes art a priority even if only for an intensive week.  I worked with two groups of 3rd-5th graders for 1 hour and 15 minute sessions each day.

This year the project was recycled vinyl record bowls.  I had just finished the same project with classes of 4th graders at a different school and loved them so much that I wanted to try it again.  Since I had much more time with this group of kids, I expanded the lesson and devoted more time to exploring the artists who inspired this project.  We started by learning about Australian Aboriginal dot painting.  Students painted Australian animals with tempura paint on card stock, concentrating on brush control.

Next we learned about color theory.  Students used paint chips as we discussed warm, cool, primary, secondary and analogous colors.  They were asked to choose either warm or cool colors to use when designing their record bowls.  The students came up with at least two designs and chose the one they liked best to paint on their record.

The students drew their designs on the prepared records, then spent two days using acrylic paint to complete their designs.  The goal was to complete at least one coat of paint on the first day since at least two coats are needed.

I introduced the kids to the work of artist Bill Oyen (my dad).  His work in inspired this project.

The final step with the students was to add the dots on their records.

I brought the finished projects home to put them in the oven to slump into bowls.  I love how these turned out.  This has become my favorite project!