Week 13

We had a bit of time off from ArtSpace during the week of April 13-17 for Omega's Spring Break. On Tuesday, April 21st, we jumped right back in to art activities with a two-day project based on "Architecture Parlante." The word "parler" is French and means "to speak" - Architecture Parlante is architecture that speaks. Buildings designed in this style reflect the building's function. A library might be shaped like a book, or a shoe store may be shaped like a shoe. Using cut-out shapes of construction paper, the students designed their own buildings inspired by everyday objects. We saw everything from donuts to chocolate bunnies, violins to running shoes, teddy bears, and even nachos!

On Friday the students took a field trip to the Arizona State University campus where they were given a tour of the art museum and the campus architecture. The museum featured an interactive sound installation where students could touch and manipulate different sculptures, allowing them to become participants in the exhibit.

Week 12

This past week, we worked on creating three-dimensional "location cubes." Using a piece of construction paper, the students created six 6-inch-by-6-inch boxes on both sides of the paper. Next, each student selected a location - beach, desert, mountains, farm, etc. etc. - that they wanted as the basis of their outer cube design. Then, on the opposite side of the paper, the students chose a building or place one would find in that location (beach = hut, city = office building, farm = barn, etc. etc.) and designed an interior room. Finally, after decorating both sides, we folded the cubes together and fastened them with glue. The result was a cube with a landscape design on the outside and an interior room/building design on the inside.

Thursday was Omega's last class day before their Spring Break, so we had a game day. Our first game was "Human Knot" - a problem-solving game we had played the previous class - where a group of students clasps hands with two other people from their group, creating a large tangle of arms. The object was to untangle your group's knot without letting go of each others' hands. We also played reverse musical chairs, another problem solving game. Like regular musical chairs, each time the music stops, a chair is removed from the circle, but a team member is not eliminated. The goal is to keep the entire group's feet off the floor, even when there may be only one chair left.

Next week, on Friday April 24th, the ArtSpace group will be taking a field trip to Arizona State University to visit the art museum and look at some of the campus architecture.

Week 11 - Omega Artspace

This week in Omega ArtSpace, the students participated in one individual activity and one group activity. On Tuesday, we continued on the topic of optical illusions from earlier lessons and created flip books. We created the books by dividing up pieces of white construction paper and fastening them with a stapler, then using pencils, colored pencils and markers to draw a series of images. Each image was changed just slightly from the one preceding it to give the illusion of movement once the pages were flipped.

On Thursday, the students were given a problem solving task. What would you do if your alarm clock was broken? What sort of a machine or device could you set around your room or house to help wake you up without an alarm? We broke into groups of 2 or 3 to try and develop Rube Goldberg-esque devices that would get us out of bed. Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist famous for his cartoon drawings of complex machines that accomplish simple tasks - much like the game 'Mouse Trap' is designed.

We are currently in the process of getting ready to paint a mural on one of the outside walls of the Omega school! We've been working with Mike, our guest graffiti artist, and should hopefully be starting soon! Also coming up this month is our field trip to the Arizona State University Art Museum.

On Thursday, the students were given a problem solving task. What would you do if your alarm clock was broken? What sort of a machine or device could you set around your room or house to help wake you up without an alarm? We broke into groups of 2 or 3 to try and develop Rube Goldberg-esque devices that would get us out of bed. Rube Goldberg was an American cartoonist famous for his cartoon drawings of complex machines that accomplish simple tasks - much like the game 'Mouse Trap' is designed.

We are currently in the process of getting ready to paint a mural on one of the outside walls of the Omega school! We've been working with Mike, our guest graffiti artist, and should hopefully be starting soon! Also coming up this month is our field trip to the Arizona State University Art Museum.