Little Monsters

Happy Halloween! Monsters aren't just for Halloween, you can make these sweet guys anytime! A great group of children ages 15 months-3 years old joined me for a monster making class.



We read Goodnight Goon, talked about monsters and found spooky colors in the gallery. We found goon green, pumpkin orange and black cat.



I forgot to take pictures of the assembly line, but it was pretty much set up like this. I pre-cut monster eyes, noses, mouths and teeth. I cut silly teeth (rectangles) and sharp teeth (triangles). I also pre-cut hair which the kids could bend, crunch or curl. **Older children could cut all of their own pieces.



Everyone went through the line to pick their parts in a variety of colors. Monster bodies were from a piece of paper folded in half and artists and helpers were instructed to cut any shape, just not to cut the fold.

Monsters unfolded reveal a fun shape. Perfect!

This is glued to a heavy piece of black paper. We used tagboard. From here kids used a gluestick to make their monster! They turned out very silly, scary and quite fun!









You will need:
-cardstock
-scissors
-gluestick
-black tagboard

Spooky Spiders

Halloween is almost here! For this fun class filled with toddlers we took a look at spiders. We read a Halloween book and jumped right in.





First we used white oil pastel to draw, draw, draw all over our papers! We press hard and don't worry about making a perfect web shape. We just want lots of lines! Now the magic happens. We use purple watercolors to fill our paper. Surprise! Our webs appear.



At this point we let our paper dry and visit the gallery. We found pattern in Jonathan Hils work and joined together for a round of "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

Back in the classroom parents painted their childrens hand with black tempera paint. We used our hand as a stamp and finished with google eyes and some purple glitter. We had a lot of fun!

You will need:
-student grade watercolor paper
-white oil pastel
-purple watercolor paint and brushes
-google eyes and glue
-glitter optional

Happy Halloween!

Louise Bourgeois. Spider, 1997

Pumpkins are carved, costumes are ready. We are excited for Halloween! I have a fun class at the Museum tomorrow called, Spooky Spiders. Spiders in art you say?

Well, the first spider in art I saw (that I can remember) was at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City.
My son was terrified! That is the photo above. So, I started to research other spiders in art and here is some of what I found. Who knew?
Kuniyoshi Utagawa,Minamoto no Yorimitsu Battling an Earth Spider (Minamoto no Yorimitsu Tsuchigumo Taiji), c. 1818-1830

Franz Karl Basler-Kopp, Die Schwarze Spinne(1879(1879)–1937(1937)).

Paolo Veronese (1822-1881) - "The reward" Look close to see the spider and web in the hands of figure.

And sometimes a Spider is not so literal, but created through an artists eyes.



Alexander Calder(1898-1976), Spider.

This is at the MoMA. During our whirlwind tour of the MoMA last June I do not recall seeing this particular Calder piece. Maybe I have seen more spiders in art than originally thought!

Have a Happy Halloween!