Ephemeral Art

Hello!

Today we talked about ephemeral art. This is art that last a very short amount of time.

So before we started we had a few technical difficulties so while my teacher was trying to fix that I had my students to stand up and try to make different geometric shapes with their bodies and or with a partner. It was super fun and it got the kids up and moving!

Once the powerpoint was up, I discussed with them what the word ephemeral means. I showed them examples and the teacher added different scientific or mathmatic elements such as erosion (sand), melting points, freezing point, geometric design and shapes. I also talked about what a radial design was and that the word radial comes from the word radius. The kids really enjoyed looking at the examples that I provided. I also showed a piece that I have done and some pieces that children from the Utah State Hospital had created. The students really enjoyed it!

Here is the link to my powerpoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1c1tw0EC13kexveVfjLX2Bm2rmarHlX3ewMNjfgG_IZQ/edit?usp=sharing

So my teacher before class was in session had the students to go out and explore and pick up different outdoor materials to use for this project. They found rocks, pine cones, twigs, branches, pine needles and many other things that we used.
Another way to prep could be to have the students over the weekend to find their own materials from their back yards.
Or if you have enough time and outdoor materials you could do this whole lesson outside! I think that would have been great to do if it wasn't about to rain today.

We had the materials in the back and each table was called back to pick about 10 or so pieces to take back to their desk. Once it got to the last table not much of the cool stuff was left so I would recommend to leave an extra bag behind until the last table arrives and bring out that bag of new things.

Once settled back down into our desks I would give a shape and have the children to create the shape with their materials. They were limited as to what materials they picked. I gave them shapes such as a pentagon, triangle, or a circle. Then I asked them to create a radial design and to use all of their pieces. Next I came up with something super difficult to do with the pieces they were given, a cube!
They knew what a cube was but it was interesting to watch them try to solve that problem to put together a cube. Next I asked them to build something 3D that was interesting and would use all of their pieces. By this point the students were running out of ideas so I decided that they would stop what they were doing and all move to a different spot with different materials. They then were told to make an interesting 3D design building off of what the last person created. We switched around several times. The students who were not given the best materials at first were able to play around with better materials. As they were making everything I went around and took pictures. It was way fun!

The students understood that they could make art with the limitations of no glue or paper. They would make art that would last only a few minutes until they made another design. It was super fun and easy to clean up too!