Exploring the Collage Studio

Students in kindergarten through eighth grade just finished their introduction to collage.  The art room at Coonley is loosely organized into "studios", which are specific spaces in the art room where you can find the supplies needed to create that particular art form. After using some drawing materials to create our pinwheels, I wanted the students to explore the collage studio.  


We first discussed the word collage as a group, and Ms. Chisholm shared the meaning of the word in French, which is "to glue or to paste". We then looked at examples of collages in story books and art by the artist Romare Bearden. Then students came up with a working definition of collage.  Ms. Chisholm taught everyone how to glue using both glue sticks and brush-on Elmer's glue so that no glue drips would end up on the table! Now we are ready to get to work!

The art room is comprised of "eight" work tables, each named after both a color and an artist. 
As their first inroad to collage exploration, students in K-4th grades worked in small groups to collage onto some table folders.  These folders will be used throughout the year as a way to further organize our artwork and works in progress, within each class' drawer.

How it worked is that students were challenged to go into both the collage studio and the drawing studio for seven minutes, and find all the things they could that were their table color.  It was a great time of controlled chaos and discovery, and the students enjoyed being able to open drawers and bins and find art supplies on their own.  

After seven minutes, each table member returned to their assigned seat and together, each group glued and pasted random pieces of their table color that they had found.  This included looking through magazines to find things that were their table color, as well as adhering assorted papers and tissue paper, and more. 
  

We spent two class periods working on these. Before the second work period began, we discussed the idea of good craftsmanship, which can be demonstrated by making sure all of your corners are glued down flat!

Here are some more images of the completed collages table folders. Even though there are no big ideas behind the imagery that was chosen, everyone got a feel for the collage studio and what items it contains.