Art + Math = Magic!! It's a trihexaflexagon!

This is a trihexaflexagon. It's got three sides that each change, or "rotate"once. This is one of the sides and its rotation. Confused?

One of the workshops that I taught at my recent state conference was a hands-on workshop where the participants each learned to make a trihexaflexagon, a tetratetraflexagon, and a kaleidocycle - all a bunch of fun combining art and math.

Last year I posted about these amazing constructions right here. If you want more specific details about the process of creating a flexagon, or how how I got started making them, please check out that post.

My students this year faced several "challenges" on this project. One was to incorporate their name, initials, or some other word on one segment. This was traced in mirror images around the hexagon using carbon paper, resulting in a kaleidoscopic design.

Another "challenge" was to design one side using a ruler to connect corners and then adding additional lines and curves as desired, "flexing" as they drew to make sure their design connected in all rotations.

A third "challenge" was a color challenge. Students needed to color one side of the flexagon using either complementary colors, triadic colors, or, as chosen by both the students below, an analagous color family.


Here's a couple more student examples.


Making these can be a starting point for many lessons. You can teach tessellation, M.C. Escher, and Islamic design, or you can use them to teach color, or symmetry, or many other concepts. And then there's the ruler and construction skills required in building them.

As you know, I'm retiring. But somehow I know this isn't the last time I'll be constructing a flexagon. I'm hooked!! Perhaps you will be, too?

Indigo?

I love color. I'd actually do to do this to my hair in a heartbeat, if I had enough length and knew how to get these brilliant colors (I mean, my white hair will take dye quite well, I'd think). And I love teaching color. But I want your thoughts on something.

I've noticed a lot of people on Pinterest who are pinning a video (here's the link: Roy G Biv) by the musical group They Might be Giants to use in their classrooms.

Truth is, I have trouble with the whole Roy G. Biv acronym. As I said, I love teaching color; it's probably my favorite thing as an art teacher. But hey, my color wheel doesn't have indigo on it. I don't have a bottle of paint that says "indigo" on the label. What the heck is indigo, anyhow?!
(this image is from the video)
In the video, the color pointed out as indigo (the second stripe from the bottom) looks like violet to me, and then the color they call violet (the bottom) looks like a blue-violet, actually almost ultramarine. (An aside here: there used to be a color of tempera paint in the Sax Versatemp line called "ultra blue" which was this type of blue, and mixed with magenta it made the most spectacular purples, but sadly it doesn't seem to exist any more.)

Anyhow, I tend to teach a traditional red/yellow/blue color theory, but then I tell the kids that there are different KINDS of reds and blues and you get such different results. I'll put out trays with red, yellow, blue, AND magenta (for a "substitute" red) and turquoise ("substitute" blue). I used to add the ultra blue as well. And then we mix away.

The kids discover they can make different violets and oranges if they substitute the magenta for the red, and they discover that if they mix them (red and magenta) together, they get a wonderful cherry color. We note that the turquoise makes a great green but a terrible purple, and then we discuss why (yellow in the turquoise). With ultra blue we used to discover a whole different range of violets. I show the kids that if they mix compliments, or all three primaries, or else just a random bunch of colors together, they might get all sorts of browns and grays. And we mix black and white and look at how much different the gray is from the one that we can get by mixing, for example, blue and orange.

So, cute as it is, no Roy G. Biv video for me. What are your thoughts on this?

Monochromatic sign language contours

Fifth graders have been doing contour drawings, including hands, so I thought I'd try some sign language drawings. The only problem is that the signs are done with the right hand, and most of the kids are right-handed, so they couldn't draw their own hand posing. I tried having them pose their hands for each other, but everyone was anxious to draw. So I printed out copies of the hand signs, and the kids worked from them instead. When the hands were done (w/black Sharpies), the kids cut them out and glued them on a 12" square of construction paper of their choice.

Then, they filled the papers with their initials, using a monochromatic color scheme. They used markers, crayons, and colored pencils for this. I think they did an excellent job!

4th grade still life paintings a la Matisse

Yes, the 4th grade paintings are FINALLY getting done! I've previously posted how we drew from a still life setup, using viewfinders, squinting like pirates.

Then we began to paint. The paintings are big - 18"x24" paper with an interior frame to make them easier to handle (in other words, a border of about an inch was kept white). Students were instructed to paint big areas first, including negative space, and then the patterns would be added later.

Students were responsible for mixing their own colors. I set out a tray of some basics: red, yellow, blue, and white (of course), and I also included in the tray some bottled green and orange just for more choices. Each color had a pop stick in it. Each student got his own little "palette" (actually a microwave dinner dish). We talked about the color wheel, and that we didn't want to mix mud puddle or swamp water, as they weren't "Matisse-like" colors. We reviewed how colors close to each other on the color were good mixes, and why you might use a color across the wheel. For example, the green wasn't used "straight" - they might change it by mixing with yellow, or blue, or white, or maybe with a dab of red for an olive or darker green, since there was NO BLACK.

The students were finally allowed to use black for outlining if they wanted, when all other painting was done. Most did, and some didn't.

I explained that the still life offered a starting point for colors and patterns, but that they were free to make their own decisions as to what worked best for their art. They got so into color mixing that I thought these paintings would NEVER be done. I did offer some "premixed" colors to a few students who were stuggling to make progress.

Some paintings are decidedly more abstract than others.

As for cleanup: with lots of dirty brushes, and lots of dirty palettes, how do we do it? At the beginning of each class, certain students were designated as brush washers and palette washers. The other kids all put paintings in the drying rack, washed tables, dumped water bowls, covered paints, etc. Of course some days went better than others!

Color Wheel Table

Someone in school was discarding this old round table at the end of the school year last year, and I rescued it with the plan to turn it into sort of a color wheel. I got the project started but never finished it.

During my summer arts and crafts program last week (which I'll post about soon) I took some time and restarted the project.

My young "teaching assistant"(a sweet girl about to enter 7th grade who volunteered to help with the class) came up with the idea for the middle. The original plan was more complicated, but I simply did not have enough time to get it done. Along with coming up with the idea, she stayed after the program and helped to paint the center part of the table design.

Now I'll put on a couple more coats of a protective coating/shine so that it should last well. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty pleased with the result and I think the kids will like it! :-)

HodgePodge, ModPodge, whatever....

It's been a crazy few days in the art room. While Alice is now falling down her rabbit hole, there's still the Queen of Hearts and Tweedledee and Tweedledum to add, and some kids are barely done cutting and gluing their books, as with the music-themed book center above.

Meanwhile the 4th graders tried out an awesome lesson courtesy of "Art With Mr. E", and first graders did adorable collages (more of both of these further below).

In their rush to finish their altered books, the 6th graders keep mistaking the name of ModPodge for the word hodgepodge (as in "Mrs. Brown, can you re-fill my hodgepodge?") which is so funny, because so many of their books ARE a hodgepodge at this point.

So the rest of this post is also a hodgepodge.

First, another altered book-in-progress... Yesterday, Hannah brought in a bag of roots and leaves to add to her altered book (above). Today, I think I had over 30 of my 6th graders in my room during their "study hall" trying to scramble to finish their books. The folded ones got done more quickly, but the painted and collaged books need time to dry in between pages, and we're rapidly running out of school year. (This is definitely a fall project next time, not spring.)

And now, first grade collages. Kiddos cut up folded-paper prints that they made in a prior art class, and also added various scraps found in "mystery bags" to make these adorable collages of bugs and critters. Lots of fun and enthusiasm!

Meanwhile, a few days ago I promised to post these paintings, done by my 5th graders while being taught by my super student teacher. It was a challenging project, mixing pointilism and an introduction to the concept of linear perspective to create these city and country scenes. The kids were VERY proud of their completed paintings.

And finally, this project (above) that was posted a couple of weeks ago Mr. E, and subsequently posted on a few other blogs, has been a real hit with my 4th graders. So easy, but teaching lots of concepts:

The kids used line to create a rhythmic design. I then had the kids use a different analagous color combination (or family) for each "tunnel" or "tornado". The kids loved looking at the color wheel and their colored pencils to find families that were related. Finally, they had to use value to create a sense of volume or space. So many concepts all at once!