Art Inspires Fashion

I have a fascination with postcards. Not just any postcards, they must be Art Postcards. The ones that you can purchase at an Art Museum. The ones that are photographs of the art at that museum or on loan to that museum. I have been collecting postcards for YEARS! However, I have finally, during the last few years, figured out how to use them with my students in art.

In Art Centers for Extended Learning-students choose an art postcard, then using a work sheet, they answer questions and draw a small copy of the art. This activity helps students to make connections to different artists and their styles.

In Curating with Postcards-students explore different art careers and the responsibilities of a curator in an art museum as they use postcards to create their own exhibit. AND apparently because I shared this activity last summer at a Summer Institute at Penn State-I'm gonna be quoted in a textbook!!

In Happy Trees-I reference the book If Picasso Had a Christmas Tree, where students matched Art Postcards to the art in the book. This was a great activity for students to learn to recognize the style of different artists.

Soooo last summer on a trip to New York City, while in The Costume Institute at The Met, I came across this beautiful gown. It was part of an exhibit titled China: Through the Looking Glass.

It made me think of this: The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai.

Which eventually made me remember this: by Cassie Stephens  click on her name to read her blog and be prepared to be blown away by her talent and dedication to the field of art.

AND a new lesson was Born? Discovered? Created? After messaging Cassie Stephens, who by the way is the art teacher's ROCK STAR of art teachers, I put together a few slides showing off the incredible fashions she creates to inspire her students as they learn from her about different artists.

featured in Nashville Arts Magazine, Nov 2014

 

There were so many different directions to go in with this lesson. However, I love incorporating our school mascot into our art when ever I can. Soooooooo after sharing several photos of Cassie and her wonderful fashions I showed students some postcards and directed them as to what they would be doing. They could cover the whole shape of the lion or put the lion in a body suit. I did this with 2nd and 3rd grades. Would be a good lesson to leave for a sub.
My samples-

  

I thought they should do some planning first and use the sheet with the four lions traced out.  I insisted 3 out of the 4 needed to be art inspired from the postcards and one could be their own art.

On the back they should take notes as to the title and artist's name. And when they decided which one they liked the best they could do an enlarged version. It's a fun activity and introduces students to different kinds of art and how art inspires more art!

 

 

 

Now I vaguely remember taking more photos. Ones with students working on this and of more finished art. I'm sorry, no clue what happened to them.

Moving along........ I feel terrible that my blogging has slowed down. I'm still on medical leave, the surgery was a SUCCESS and I will eventually mend AND NOT want to sleep ALL day because I left the house the day before for a few hours. It is what it is.

My original goal was to blog 3 times a week.
My realistic goal was to blog ONCE a week.
My medical leave goal is to blog when I'm not sleeping, and can think clearly for more then 30 minutes at a time. Hopefully things will get back to normal in time for summer vacation................

Thanks for reading!!!!