Mixed Media Environmental Murals

It's been a long time since I've posted, but I haven't given up my love for making or teaching mixed media art.  Here are some murals I made with fourth graders in the Bronx for their Steam: Art + Science program. I collaborated with their science teacher throughout the entire school year to create hands-on art activities that explored scientific concepts and vocabulary.  This is a scaffolded series of lessons I devised to culminate in environmental murals created by the students.  Enjoy!

We started exploring habitats and their populations with a mixed-media pop-up project

Students were introduced to color mixing and  techniques like masking for their renewable energy paintings

They create smaller mixed media murals to explore botanical drawing

Each class designed a mural based on a single habitat.  Here one class is painting the background for their rainforest mural

Each student created an animal for their habitat.  Here they are gluing down animals to the wetlands mural.

The African grasslands mural in process.

Final African Grasslands mural

Finished Rainforest Mural

Finished Wetlands Mural

Mixed Media Lanterns for Chinese New Year!

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This is a fun project to make with kids at this time of year.

These are the materials you'll need.

String several up and decorate your home or classroom.

The Chinese Lantern Festival is this weekend, so I thought I'd make a project celebrating it.  Because our latest exhibition at LCAG  "Contemporary Cartographies", features art about maps, I made print-outs of maps of China on red and yellow paper. Then I highlighted areas of the maps with crayons and markers and collaged on top with Chinese Joss paper. You can buy Joss paper at Chinese importers like Pearl River.  Once I was finished with my mixed-media map, I followed the instructions for making a paper lantern from www.enchantedlearning.com.  Enjoy!

Crazy Puppet People From the Bronx!

Making collage puppets in the LCAG rotunda.  Building designed by Marcel Breuer.

Hi Everyone! Long time no see.  I recently started a full-time job as the Education Curator for Lehman College Art Gallery (LCAG) in the Bronx.  Our current exhibit Space Invaders, 
guest curated 

Tardy Mardy by Jennifer is not watching her weight!

by Karin Bravin is all about site-specific installation.  It's been an exciting challenge developing programming for Bronx Public Schools based on the contemporary art work in the gallery, so I stopped blogging for a bit, but now I'm back! 

Part of my mandate is to reach out to the diverse Bronx communities, so we do a FREE art day every other month on Saturday mornings called Family Focus Day. This includes a free tour of our current exhibit and a hands-on art activity.  My first Family Focus was in November and we made collage puppet people based on the installation People by artist Halley Zien.  I've included a FREE instruction book for you to use at home (just click on the link in our newsletter).  Stay tuned . . . I've got a DIY print-making post coming soon.

Rex Rivera by Arleen loves his long hair!

Wham! Pow! Creative Comix Lab Rocks Typography!

This past Spring my 4th and 5th grade Creative Comix Lab students knocked me out with their brilliant typography skills. We used  Linda Scott’s “How To Be The Best Bubble WriterEver” as our guide.  I really can't recommend this book enough.  

 A lot of my students struggle with handwriting, but this book has such a great, approachable technique for creating hand-drawn letters.  The kids were able to make create illustrated alphabets in no time.  We used their newly acquired skills on posters, comic book covers, Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and door signs. 

This year, I'm going to introduce them to Keith Haring and Public Art.  I'm excited!

Interview About ...My Work!

Hi everyone...I've been so busy working at all my various locations, I haven't posted in far too long. This interview came out in April, but I thought you might enjoy reading it ....http://www.allysonlatta.ca/2012/04/24/life-in-pictures-interview-with-new-york-city-artist-and-instructor-celia-caro/

My Life In Pictures

This is a film I made about my struggle to become an artist.
It features my mixed media illustrations.

It's All Black & White To Me

Hi everyone. I am almost finished with my residency with the adorable first graders in Sunset Park. For the past two weeks they have been drawing and collaging like crazy in order to finish their squares for the Family Memory Quilt.   Since The Adorables were working on shape and pattern in math, I decided to integrate that into the quilt by having them make drawings and collages about patterns. They LOVEd creating patterns.  We chanted patterns together and then they just took off with their drawings of patterns.  I had them work with black marker on white paper and then with chalk on black paper.

After they made their drawings, they made black paper collages on acetate.
Here are some on my lightbox:

Then I shot them onto the cyanotype fabric and developed them in my bathroom.  Here are my cats checking out the prints:

Oh! I just heard my timer go off.  Time to develop more prints.  Stay tuned . . .