kindergartners meet louise nevelson

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times...I LOVE talking to kids about art! Especially abstract or surreal art...there are a LOT of "why?!?'s" and "that's silly!'s" so we sort of make a game out of it. Louise Nevelson was this week's Kindergarten artist of the week and I had the most hilarious conversations with them!

Me: What exactly IS this?

Them: A car engine, A closet of clothes, a fried oven part, a burned piece of artwork, an electrical room, a part of a power plant.

Me: Do you like it, and why?

Them: No, it looks like something burned. No, there is too much going on. No, it was made by a preschooler. No, there are pieces missing. No, that thing is UGLY!!!

Me: It was made by a very famous artist. Her name was Louise Nevelson. The title of this is "The Sky Cathedral". Why do you think she called it that?

Them: Because the cathedral burned to the ground and the flames went into the sky. (all heads nod)

Slay me. I'm done. How can you argue with that?!

We made our own Nevelson sculptures out of a popsicle stick base (approximately 14 sticks each) and a bunch of found objects (aka hoarded trinkets I have in my classroom.) Students glued objects on the base with regular white glue and let them dry overnight. They do look adorable the way they are, but we wanted to make them a little more Nevelson-esque.

 ...So, we painted them solid white with white acrylic paint. I gave them a choice of the single color we were going to use in this particular class, and they chose white. "Definitely NOT black because it looks like burnt toast."

Dude, we get it...enough with the burned references!

With Common Core coming down the pike, this project is a great way to get kids talking about art and to understand WHY artists make art. It's also a great way to clean out your cabinets!
Happy art-making!