Making art and sun prints...

For whatever reason I am really tired this evening...The students were totally awesome today and were engaged in the process design elements. We were in the hot glass lab today for the sun printing onto the treated papers. The students were involved with selecting their elements to lay onto the paper and take outside into the sunlight for exposure in the sunlight for about two minutes. When we returned into the lab we dip our papers into water until the images become a brilliant blue. Then we went back into the air conditioning meeting room to discuss the importance of our observation skills and I introduced the young ones to a favorite book of mine. The Invention of Hugo Cabernet written and illustrated by Brian Selznick. We discussed our drawings on Monday...then a cartoon on Tuesday...began the exploration of drawing a self portrait. Why is this often a difficult task for us to complete??? How did this author progress from a real boy's story to fantasy fiction and imagined ghosts and secret worlds known only to those who dare to see. Then we worked in pencil first and then added Crayola Crayons for fabric transfers onto our CSI fabric evidence sheets. The final and stinky step was a HOT iron pressure on top of the fabric and then the magic was made visible! Tomorrow we need to stencil our hand print and add our fingerprints and then stitch the outlines. Hopefully we will be able to complete this task and move forward to the identity of each young art's individuality. I am amazed with the interaction and the promotion of gentle acceptance of each person's process. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart