Arts & Activities articles from December 2003

Arts & Activities archives from December 2003

Editor's note.(Editorial)
December 1, 2003... In this issue, let's explore artistry with fabrics, fibers and texture. Young fiber artists won t be able to resist making their own "Puppets With Personality" (page 18). With careful planning and special attention to detail, adorable...

Kaleidoscope of Cloth.
December 1, 2003... Six Art Prints/72-page Teacher's Guide/$68 (individual units $20.95). Level: Middle School and Above. Crizmac Art & Cultural Education Materials, P.O. Box 65928, Tucson, AZ 85728, (800) 913-8155, www.crizmac.com. This very thorough and...

The Arts of Korea: a Resource for Educators.
December 1, 2003... Boxed Set: Book, CD-ROM, Posters, Time Line, Maps and Slides/$69.95. Level: High School and College. Yale University Press, P.O. Box 209040, New Haven, CT 06520. This packaged program was created by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and...

Beautiful Beading.
December 1, 2003... (2002; $19.95), by Sara Withers. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. The introduction to this book says it so well: "Right now the world seems to be full of beads. Designers of accessories, jewelry, and...

The Man from Highbelow: the Autobiography of Robert Jay Wolff.
December 1, 2003... (2001; $19.99), edited by Dina Wolff Authentic Publishing, P.O. Box 1616, Durango, CO 81302. It was in the late 1940s that I first heard of Robert Jay Wolff. He was the chairman of the Art Department at Brooklyn College (City University of...

Look & Do: Native Americans.
December 1, 2003... Video/43 min./Wall Poster/Workbook/Teacher's Manual/$99.95. Level: Grade 3 and Up. Alarion Press, P.O. Box 1882, Boulder, CO 80306, (800) 523-9177. This is the latest package in Alarion's "Art and Architecture" series. The video is divided...

Kids Can Press.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... KIDS CAN PRESS has released two new titles in its "Kids Can Do It" series: All-American Quilts (pictured), which includes simple patterns and easy stitches in a red, white and blue cornucopia of quilts and Christmas Crafts Around the World,...

Sargent Art, Inc.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... SARGENT ART, INC. announces a new brand of metallic acrylic paints. Liquid Metal[TM] Metallic Acrylic Paints produce a brilliant shimmering, lustrous metallic effect on virtually any surface. An affordable alternative to expensive metallic...

Paragon Industries.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... PARAGON INDUSTRIES has just introduced a front-loading kiln called the Iguana. It comes with the Sentry digital temperature controller manufactured by the Orton Ceramic Foundation for Paragon. The Paragon Iguana is rated to 2350 [degrees]F...

Naturepainter Software.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... NATUREPAINTER SOFTWARE, a division of Urban Pursuit, Inc., has announced the release and general availability of NaturePainter Digital Canvas v1.2, the update to its popular natural media painting software, released November 2002. This update...

Sanford Corp.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... SANFORD CORP., makers of children's crayons, markers and colored pencils is freeing kids, mans and teachers from the seemingly endless search for lost marker caps by introducing a series of Colorific[R] brand Retractable Markers that are...

Creative Industries.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... CREATIVE INDUSTRIES introduces Artista, the first truly portable, professional, tabletop potter's wheel. Weighing in at less than 26 pounds, and sporting an 11-inch wheel head, only 3.875 inches above the table, this sturdy wheel develops a...

Scratch-Art[R] Co., Inc.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... Add texture and special effects to all scratchboard art with the ScratchBrush[R] by SCRATCH-ART[R] CO., INC. Create multiple lines with a single stroke. Great for depicting hair, fur, grass, wood grain and more. Vary the effects by rotating or...

Cornell Maritime Press, Inc.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... Designed to help beginners acquire basic skills in a straightforward manner, Braiding Fine Leather, published by CORNELL MARITIME PRESS, INC., shows readers how to braid simple projects quickly. With close attention to detail and a little...

North Light Books.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... The "Creative Kids" series continues with this collection of 14 easy and fun craft projects. Craft Adventures, published by NORTH LIGHT BOOKS, ensures hours of fun for grades 4-6. With sharp, color photos that illustrate step-by-step...

Harrisville Designs.(shop talk)
December 1, 2003... HARRISVILLE DESIGNS' "Harris Bear and His Feltmaking Kit" won the Fall 2002 Parents' Choice Silver Award. The Parents' Choice Awards seal of approval is awarded to products that meet and exceed standards set by educators, scientists, performing...

Young artist.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2003... Art is sort of my life. I have always loved to draw and paint. It helps me relax and I am never bored. My dad was the first big influence in my life. He would paint with me using watercolor, showing me different techniques. I also owe a...

Puppets with personality.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2003... Like most art teachers, I never throw anything away. So, when it comes to collage time, the choices are endless. I have found, however, when introducing young children to a large variety of materials, the tendency is to just "glue on a lot of...

Stone washed watercolor.
December 1, 2003... As the students walked into my classroom, they were greeted with a bulletin board full of denim. Arranged on the wall were various pairs of old jeans and pinstriped overalls whose legs overlapped and intertwined with each other. The kids were...

Plant imprinting on fabric.(Integrating the curriculum)
December 1, 2003... Are you looking for a lesson that incorporates science and art? This lesson teaches students all about a plant's chemistry and how that chemistry creates a plant's unique color. I work with many different kinds of plants when I create my...

Foil weavings.
December 1, 2003... I am always trying to investigate how those familiar, simple art projects that I grew up with lend themselves to new, undiscovered treatments that are both beautiful yet challenging for my advanced art students. Often the projects I used with...

Dyes for dinner?
December 1, 2003... Many fruits, vegetables and flowers make great natural dyes for foods as well as fabrics. With the holidays upon us, let's take a look at the typical American holiday dinner and find as many items as possible to make dyes. The main course...

Classroom use.(three-dimensional innovation)
December 1, 2003... THINGS TO LEARN ABOUT DUANE HANSON * It is common to hear the term "virtual reality" used about a computer graphic when it is so realistic that it is difficult to know whether it is an invention or a photograph of something real. Duane...

Clip & save art notes.(three-dimensional innovation)
December 1, 2003... ABOUT THIS SCULPTURE This photograph was specially chosen because it dramatizes the attention to detail that Duane Hanson gave to the preparation of his sculptures. The body of one of these two figures was made of plastic while the other...

The Quilts of Gee'd Bend.(Learning from Exhibitions)
December 1, 2003... Gee's Bend, Alabama, is located on the south end of a peninsula formed by a U-shaped curve in the Alabama River, approximately 30 miles southwest of Selma. On this sliver of land, just 5 miles long and 8 miles wide, resides a long-isolated...

Face value.
December 1, 2003... At our school, advanced drawing students have taken a beginning drawing course where they learned how to use a range of values to give a sense of volume, weight and mass to an object. They've also learned to model and shade; how to create a...

Winter magic.
December 1, 2003... I love teaching kindergarten students, but I have to admit that this age level is the most challenging for which to come up with new lesson plans, given the students' limited abilities and attention spans. Of course, I could just teach the...

Who can draw owls?
December 1, 2003... Intrigued by a third-grade classroom unit that revolved around the study of owls and their habitats, I decided to create a series of projects combining art and science. It all began with a presentation by a Massachusetts educational group...

Whip up a batch of gingerbread cookies.
December 1, 2003... During the holiday season, there is always a hum of excitement as children and teachers decorate their classrooms and school hallways, and musical programs are rehearsed and presented to enthusiastic parents. As an art teacher, I have always...

Winter catalog showcase.(arts & activities)
December 1, 2003... AARDVARK CLAY & SUPPLIES The most comprehensives ceramic supplies catalog available. Over 250 pages of clays, glazes, kilns, potter's wheels, equipment, tools, books and everything else for ceramics From K-12 and beyond Aardvark has what...