Dear You Art Project

Mail Art + Pen Friends = Dear You Art Project

Kaarina Losey

Our Shadow Selves from Canada

2017, 6 years old, Canada, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

Unfortunately we had very poor weather with gray skies and rain for much of the time, so were unable to check out our shadows outside. As a result, we created our "shadow selves" by reflecting what we felt and liked on the inside, into a drawing for others to see. We gave our nod to the idea of shadows (e.g., being dark) by drawing with charcoal on the black background. The students really liked the opportunity to explore and draw the things that they liked and that represented them with charcoal. They were very eager and excited to explore both the medium and the topic!

To see the wonderful presentation Kaarina made of the artworks and creative process, please click here.

Kaarina Losey

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Experimenting with pop-ups!

2017, 6 years old, Canada, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

As a class we visited the website of Robert Sabuda and examined some of his more complicated designs, and how he used different techniques to create “pop-up” art, or art that was three-dimensional. I showed them the basic, fold and parallel snip technique to make individual tabs for items.

Students were tasked with creating their favourite place/setting, whether it is their home, their bedroom, an imaginary place, or some other location. Their place/setting had to incorporate some pop-up or three-dimensional features. The rest of the task was up to their individual artistic interpretation.

Students had very mixed reactions when starting this project. Some were very excited, and some intimidated. Others seemed very confused with the actual construction process, and went through several pieces of paper until they figured out what worked, and how to put it all together. Students were encouraged to do a bit of planning and try different techniques, and most took the time to do that, with excellent results!

These projects will hopefully arrive in Finland shortly!  Feel free to check out the different techniques that students used to create the pop-up and three-dimensional artworks when they arrive! Click here to see the full presentation.

Kaarina Losey

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Here now. Feeling silly ; )

2017, 6th Grade, Canada, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

Some students could actually hear their heartbeat and their blinking and breathing as we tried it the second time... some just got a bit silly after seeing their "now" drawings.

It was a fun experience, but I think I would have preferred to do it in smaller groups of students, so that they maybe wouldn't be as easily influenced by one or two "silly" students.

To view the Lay of the Land presentation click here.

Kaarina :)

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

From Canada to Finland- we are making connections!

2016, 6th Grade, Dear You Art Workshops, Canada, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

These are the images of student vehicles that they created. They had the option to use any materials in the class or from home. They could create a real or fictional vehicle and describe whether it was for land, air or water travel.

A few students (large yellow wheels) and a long one with a parachute and green propeller actually wired them to operate (electricity was our first big project of the year).

Teacher Kaarina Losey

The 6th graders at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, ON, Canada are making and sharing art with the 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Looking around and what do we see?

2016, 6th Grade, Canada, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

Here are the photos of the spiral artworks for Look Around project. The index cards are their explanations of their artworks. Some of them painted outside, some painted inside because it had gotten too cold the one day to paint outside of the portable! :)

These works are all on their way to Päivi and her students. They were posted earlier this week, so hopefully they arrive before the holiday break! 

Teacher Kaarina Losey

The 6th graders at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, ON, Canada are making and sharing art with the 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Enjoying Layers of Love in Canada

2016, 6th Grade, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, CanadaArlene TuckerComment

Greetings from Canada! 

They really enjoyed the artwork as they got going with it. A few students used too much paint in an attempt to cover it completely and then had the paint flake off instead of allowing them to etch it off.

Some were very hesitant about painting over their artworks. :) Others enjoyed it so much they asked to do a second artwork jn the same manner!

Kaarina

The 6th graders at Ryerson P.S. in Cambridge, ON, Canada are making and sharing art with the 6th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Zen tangled together

2016, 6th Grade, Dear You Art Workshops, Canada, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

The students enjoyed the project, but many had difficulty with developing a pattern. Some are more of an image, and some are more of a variation of a zen tangle - I showed them some of those images and that seemed to have sparked a bit of creativity with some students! 

To view the works please click here.

This was a wonderful experience for the students this year! Can't wait to see how it goes again next year!

Have a wonderful and enjoyable summer!
Kaarina

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

 

Go figure my riddle!

2016, Canada, Dear You Art Workshops, Finland, 6th GradeArlene TuckerComment

Some students took it very literally, and just wrote clues without much art work to support what they were talking about... a lot of others provided a great amount of detail on each and every page.

Some almost made the books more puzzle-like - flip - to the back -    flip back to the front, hide the answer, hide clues, etc.  Again, the topic was pretty varied.  Some chose a food, others favourite characters from books or movies, or an animal...

Most really enjoyed it, some opted out of some of the more "creative" component of the book.... :)

Here are a few short words on the class website.

Kaarina

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Greetings from Canada!

2016, 6th Grade, DisplayArlene TuckerComment

We have finally gotten our first substantial snow that has lasted. It is actually supposed to snow all week! :) 

I wanted to showcase all of the work that Päivi and her students completed for the rest of the school... One of my Korean students, Nayeon has spent a few hours over the last few days organizing and showcasing as many letters and artworks as possible. The letters are along the back, with the pop up places at the bottom. The puppets are scattered throughout, and there are a variety of notes from Päivi as well as some of the photos of art works. 

We did not get every art work up there but there, but tried our best! We also included a map of the world showing Finland and where we are, since a lot of the younger students had no idea where you were located!

This was an amazing experience for the students, and they absolutely LOVED the last set of letters they received from your students... 

I will send a brief set of letters and the masks along shortly. The masks are VERY different... everybody kind of ended up doing their own thing... I will try and forward a few pics before mailing them along...

Hope you have a great week!

Kaarina

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Dear You at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada

Let's Go to Finland from Canada!

2015, 6th Grade, Canada, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

Here are the photos from the "Let's Go" project. We talked about being creative, and some of the basic ideas we knew of transporting items and goods. I showed them the basic shapes and left it very open ended. They were able to draw, cut and paste, anything. I asked for some labels to communicate their thinking and design choices. Some did more of that than others... :).

This was a really great opportunity for the students... I can't wait to do it again next year!

Have a Merry Christmas!
Kaarina

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Diving into worlds!

2015, 6th Grade, Canada, Dear You Art Workshops, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

We discussed and demonstrated a few different ways that they could get things to be 3D and "pop" from the page. I showed the fold and snip, we talked about tabs of grass they could glue on, and also how they could do an accordion pleat of paper on the back of a shape as well. I did share the video about "Houses" that was posted on Facebook and shared some of the photos Päivi had shared with the entire class, but many were already partway through the project.  My students were very excited, and think that the English class are all much better artists than they are!! :)

I am hoping to set up a display in the library or a glass cabinet of both the places and the puppets when everything arrives.  I'll send photos once I get it organized!

Enjoy your week!
Kaarina

Kaarina Losey is the 6th grade teacher at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada.  Her group of artists are making and sharing art with the Päivi Huhtinen and her group of 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland.

Who wouldn't wanted to be art pals with the artists in Canada?!!

2015, 6th Grade, Canada, FinlandArlene TuckerComment

Kaarina Losey, the 6th grade teacher at Pioneer Park P.S. in Ontario, Canada shares with us how they approached 'Imagine Me' project. 

"I had talked briefly a day or two ahead of time, that we would be "art pals" with another class about the same age as us in Finland.  They were encouraged to bring in any materials that they wanted to use specifically. 

The morning of we talked a bit about imaginary friends, kind of following the outline in the project and I had this at the beginning of a short Google Slide show I had created a showing images of different styles and forms of puppet making (bags, sticks, tubes, etc.)."

The slideshow Kaarina created is quite impressive and an art piece in itself! Please have a look by clicking here.  Thank you, Kaarina!  I know that the 5th graders from The English School in Helsinki, Finland are very excited to meet their new friends!!