Zheng Lab - Bad Project (Lady Gaga parody)

I love how science meets the arts. This is a fun video made by co-workers at a research lab at Baylor College in Houston, Texas. It was created in a few days.

Imagine Having No Imagination

I was surfing the web- looking for inspiration on art projects to use with my students  when I came across an artist called Fred Babb. His art is  expressive, colourful and full of energy. Many of his famous expressions are so relevant to thinking about the arts today. He is well known for coining the following phrases: "Good Art Won't Match Your Sofa",  "Art is the Place Kids Travel, Keep their Passports Current", Imagine having No Imagination and " Get Smart Make Art".

Check out the website maintained by his family. Unfortunately, Fred died in 2006.  There is a poster collection of his artwork that I would love to have but its out of print. I am going to have to save up and buy them from one of the used book Amazon sellers. It would be an excellent resource to inspire my students.

Patti from Deep Space Sparkle has examples of artwork created by her grade 3 and 4 students. Follow this link to see the inspiration Fred Babb has given to the world.

Happy New Year! This year play a drawing game

It was such a busy fall with Budding Artists that I really did not have time to breathe let alone post. I'll do my best to post more regularly now that I have a new computer and some new ideas.

Over the holidays, we played a really fun drawing game called Telestrations. It is a cross between Pictionary and the children's game Telephone. At first I was a little skeptical. How could this be fun? However, it was a hit. There was a lot of laughing. The game consists of game eight erasable sketchbooks, a 90 second sand timer, a die and 2, 400 words to use. We played it with a group of nine and doubled up with one sketch book. The die determines which word a player draws.  Player draws then passes his sketchbook on. This person must guess what he thinks it is then passes it on to the next player who must draw what is written. The results can be so hilarious. I highly recommend it for your next party. Its best when played with a bigger group. We didn't use the timer.

This game can also be played using materials at home. I did a quick search and found a variation of this game and other drawing games on eHow. Try it and have fun.