Category: Elementary

We often paint on unprimed heavyweight duck cloth.  These beautiful garlands were made by simply sewing scraps of duck cloth into a garland.  These literally took about thirthy seven seconds a piece to sew!  I just piled them all up on the right side of the machine, and fed them through with my right hand […]

Summer is an extra special time in the studio because we have kids for weekly summer camps.  When we have them Monday through Friday, we can get into some lengthier projects that are hard to do in a one hour weekly class.   So summer means super amazing awesomeness! This layered abstract painting project is a […]

Papier Mache Wiener Dogs for the Win!   We’re in Charlotte, NC but I’m not from the South so I don’t think I’ve ever said “ya’ll” and actually meant it, but….  YA’LL!  You have GOT to make a litter of papier mache wiener dogs.  Like right now.  Finish that last sip of water, and then take […]

We’re excited to share one of the most beautiful projects we’ve ever done – Folk Art fabric arpilleras! These three-dimensional quilts known as arpilleras were inspired by our teacher Sarah’s Peruvian mother, who kindly lent us these beautiful quilts from her personal collection. (Miss Sarah, by the way, finished her Masters in Art Ed and is living […]

These wide eyed self-portraits were unusual and so whimsical, and were created with just one very important drawing prompt about the shape of the face! We are big on trying to get kids to learn a new way of drawing something they already “think” they know how to draw.  By age 7 the’ve done about […]

These Memory Jars are such a fun way to capture children’s imaginations and preserve their favorite memories!  Literally. Who hasn’t wanted to save time in a bottle?  Well this simple drawing prompt enables you to do just that!  The main technique we wanted students to learn was how to draw a cylindrical shape.  The prompt […]

This magical chalk pastel drawing project was inspired by Paul Klee’s “Jardin de Rosas”. If you’re not familiar with Paul Klee’s work, take a minute and feast your eyes on it here.  He is one of our favorite artists, and I remember going through a period of time where I was obsessed with his drawings […]

These adorable reindeer paintings were created by a full house of young artists in a winter break camp! The kids in this camp were mixed ages 5-12.  We did a quick instructional drawing with the entire class, creating the reindeer out of simple shapes.   From there, kids could work at their appropriate age level to […]

This owl painting project from our 5-9 yr. old classes was so adorable with his human-like features.

This "Paper Character" art project was a fun mix of self-portraiture, playing dress-up, and puppetry!