Thursday, February 9, 2012

Kimmy Cantrell inspired clay project

Fourth grade students learned about a contemporary African American Georgia artist named Kimmy Cantrall. They loved seeing his masks and busts and the creative titles that he gives his work. It is also fun for them to see and learn about current working artists.










The students used clay and an oil pastel and black paint resist technique to create their masks. I really love how these turned out. The kids were a little scared to put the black paint on at first but they loved the end result and I do too!

7 comments:

  1. WOW! What a fun project- these are awesome!

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  2. Hello, I am an art teacher always looking for ways to add color to clay without the hassle of firing all 800 students clay twice. Can you give me some details about how you applied the black paint after you had them use oil pastels? Did you put soap in it first like a batik technique and wash them off or did you just wipe with a wet rag?

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    1. Hi! Thanks for you interest! I had the students color their clay pieces with heavy layers of oil pastels. I encouraged them to use lighter colors to get more contrast from the dark black paint. I watered down black tempera paint, I don't have any measurements for you just thin it out some. They dabbed the paint on heavy and then quickly put them in a vat of water. The students just swished them around in the water and rubbed gently with their fingers and dried them on a towel. Very easy! Some rinsed a little more under the sink but the vat kept me from wasting so much water. I hope that helps!

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  3. I love these masks - I don't have any access to a kiln with a bunch of homeschool kids I teach. Do you have any ideas?

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  4. Thanks for the tips! Love this idea!

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  5. Your students did a beautiful job on this project. Using clay as a medium was a great choice.

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