Guest Artist

Holly Hildebrand

Visual Artist

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Holly a mixed media artist who finds great joy in exploring the endless array of materials and their potential uses in the creative process. She uses her artwork to investigate different themes and emotions, switching back and forth from painting, sewing, and collage and combining them in different ways, using whatever materials seem to best convey her visual thought. Holly's work with transforming books through mixed media has resulted in beautiful and intricate historical pieces, layered with text, pattern, texture, image and symbolism.

 

 

 

Check out these websites about Holly:

 

Artist site

 

 

 

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Teacher Contact: Byrna Luyben-Cronk

 

Cutknife Elementary School

Grade 2 & 4__

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Workshop Ideas:

Hello to all - I am honoured and excited to be part of this great project. It will be a wonderful experience to work with all the teachers, artists and students. Just imagine all that energy!

I have a few basic questions about the student workshop day that will help me form more realistic ideas for potential acitivities.

I see that the day is scheduled to run from 10 to 2. Will the same group of students be participating for the full time or will there be 2, 3 or more groups for shorter times? And, what kind of numbers are we looking at? What will be the total number of participants (students and teachers) in each group?

Numbers, even ball park are always good to know ahead of time as I start gathering materials

 

I would really love to hear from the teachers as to what they would find most helpful for them. I am also curious as to whether you are anticipating the students working on individual or collaborative works or variations of that, and also whether you see them completing a project or beginning a project that they could work on throughout the year.

 

The theme "spirit of the story" immediately conjurs up the idea of books for me, in their many forms. I have several ideas for book forms that could be formatted to work in different time -allotments. - It may be fun to recycle hard cover books to have each participant create a visual journal that they could use throughout the year to respond to any area in the curriculum they may be studying. Altering books allows an opportunity to explain the different properties of various art materials and provides a vehicle for expression using both images and the written word. Almost any materials can be used in the journals and of course - you have to love recycling! (old student atlases would be perfect wouldn't they!)

I am definitely open to any ideas, so let me know what you think.

Holly

 

 

Hello Holly,

My name is Byrna Luyben-Cronk. I am your host teacher at Cut Knife Elementary School. I am excited that we will be hosting this workshop even if it was by default! I teach a group of 18 Grade Two students. I'm not sure if you think that they will be able to work on a project for the entire day. Maybe we can do the Grade 2 class in the morning and the Grade 4 class in the afternoon. What do you think? Also, please let me know what you need for space, materials and such.

 

September 27

Hi Byrna, nice to cyber-meet you!

18 grade 2's sounds like fun. I am definitely into doing 2 groups and then we can cover more things. Grade 2 may find something like papermaking a good activity. That could work into other curriculum areas easily, like science, culture etc. And it gives lots of room for experimentation. It is also a physical process that seems to help younger children stay focused. They could create the paper from start to finish and then have a varied paper supply that could be used for paper projects like books, drawing, collage, writing and other things throughout the year. There are several different approaches we could take with it. It is a bit of a wet activity, so I am not sure how that works in your facility.

So, that is one idea - let me know of any you have or anything that you would be interested in.

Perhaps then Grade 4 activities could centre around the idea of altered books in several different forms. And again, there are a number of approaches we could take that would provide starting points for ongoing projects for the year. Lots of fun "outside the box" approaches to books and storytelling that could be individual or collaborative.

Either of these areas could be adapted for all grade levels.

So, those are a few ideas - I am very interested to know what would be most useful for you and the other teachers to take away from this day. Please do not hesitate to let me know.

Oh, how many Grade 4's? And maybe a little bit of info about your art or classroom where I will set up. Does it have a sink, is there carpet, that sort of thing. Or, if I am doing two seperate groups will I be setting up in 2 different areas. As we decide more of what we will be doing then I will be able to plan how to work in whatever space is available.

I look forward to hearing from you -

Holly

 

 

October 4

Hello Holly!

I'm excited that you are willing to do two classes. It will give the participating teachers 2 very different ideas to take home and use. The Grade 4 idea isn't a done deal yet as we need to discuss it further with our principal. We will be able to work in the activities room which isn't very big but has a sink, tables, and a bathroom with no carpet! Perfect for wet activities. There are more children in grade 4 (23 I think). I think that we should have them stay in their classroom. Do you need any special equipment for the bookmaking project? That's a project that interests me and so I assume that other teachers will like it too. I'll post a picture of the 2 available rooms tomorrow.

 

Oct 11

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Hi Holly and Byrna - I'm so glad to see this planning going on together and online so others can read it as well.

Question: Would you like me to try to collect some old books (maybe atlases as Holly suggested) from some schools? I could put out a call and see what turns up. Also Holly, can you let me know if you need me to collect any supplies for you?

I think this will be lots of fun.

 

Suggestion: Holly - would you mind posting some pictures of your work and maybe of yourself on the site?

Byrna - perhaps you could post a photo of each class saying hi to Holly?

 

 

Oct 12

Just a quick note Byrna - if there are concerns about altered books we can certainly do other book related activities. There are several very basic but interesting book forms that the students could create that would allow them to create stories and experiment with a variety of mark making activities. We could incorporate some simple printmaking ideas perhaps and have them create personal symbols. Regardless of the type of art we do, I will try to have samples of altered books to introduce the students and teachers to the concept. Altered books, although there are many things one can do, they are a project that can take time - sometimes a lot of "hurry up and wait" as glue must dry. Definitely an activity that you could work on throughout the year. If we do alter books we will probably focus on page preparation and cover embellishment.

Oh - about how much time will I have with each group? That would definitely help me in suggesting activities!

And I will try to post some pictures over the weekend when I am at home.

 

Oct 15

• - Sherron is posting a starter schedule - please change/revise as needed

 

Schedule

 

• 9:45am - 10:00am Teachers arrive, meet the artist and one another, introduce the day, expectations

 

• 10:00am - 12:15 Grade 2 (students can take a break when there is time)

 

• lunch - plan to bring a bag lunch so we can talk about the workshop, share resources, other ideas. Holly's lunch will be provided.

 

• 12:55 pm - 2:30pm Grade 4 workshop

 

• 2:30pm - 3:00pm - Teacher time to debrief with Holly reflect, discuss what to "show & share" for the next day

 

 

October 18

 

Hello again Holly,

I've been busy and didn't get to post the pictures like I promised. We will be using the activities room with the grade 2 class as it has a sink and tables with no carpet. The grade 4 classroom will be where we are for their workshop but the activities room is across the hall from them so we could utilize both rooms. If it is too crowded, we maybe can book the library as there are tables in there as well. It also has no carpet. The rooms look like this:

 

This is the activities room. We have several This is another view including the sink area. We The Grade Four classroom. Rather full of desks!

tables that can be set up. will clear out the clutter.**

 

We are really hoping for the altered books activity for the Grade 4 class. Is 1 1/2 hours long enough to at least get a start on it so that the teacher and students can continue the project at a later time? We just need to know if we should be looking for books for the activity. We may need to do some looking so we should really decide soon. What do you think? The other option is to do the Grade 4 session in the morning and the Grade 2 session in the afternoon. Will the paper-making take less time? What will you need for supplies for the paper-making? We have a collection of scrap paper that we collect for recycling in the photocopier room as well as scraps of construction paper, bristol board, crepe paper, and tissue paper. Will we be able to use any of those? I'm getting more and more excited about this project. I haven't told my kids yet but I know that they will be really excited too. I just don't want to deal with the daily question, "When is the artist coming??"

 

Do you have any dietary requests? I would like to be sure that you are well-fed between workshops! Do you want coffee or water available throughout the day or will the staffroom fare be ok for you?

 

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Byrna

 

Hi Byrna - I don't seem to have the response time I would like lately! It is that crazy time for all I guess!

Sounds like you have it all organized so well! I think we have everything we need for the papermaking - if you have some coloured scraps that will be great. A little goes a long way to adding colour and I will bring some pulp so that we don't spend all our time preparing. Some of the scraps will be good for the altered books as well. I love using recycled materials!

I have collected some larger format books that could be used to make visual journal type altered books. I think I have about 25. (they are about the size of old school atlases). If you have another type of book in mind, let me know.

What type of art supplies does your school have? It would be good to utilize the materials that you and the students are familiar with and maybe explore different ways to use them. One thing that would be good to have would be acrylic gesso or white acrylic paint. And of course scissors and glue. I will bring a variety of things to try.

It would be good if I could arrive earlier to set up for papermaking. Papermakings only downside is set-up and clean-up. We could leave it set up for other classes to use in following days as well, if your school would like.

I will try to post pictures as I had hoped - perhaps tomorrow!

Holly

 

October22

Hi again

I just picked up some smaller books as well for altering that would allow for more construction-type or sculptural projects. I tried to post some pictures but apparently the website has exceeded it's limit! If you have some specific ideas for altering that you would like me to address, please just let me know. And you can certainly just call me as well, if that is easier.

Holly

 

October 27

 

 

I think that I have most of what we need for materials for each activity and I know the participants - students and teachers alike will think of great new things to use. I was talking to Sherron and she mentioned some books that she had lent you. I have those books and love them as well! I would love to see some of your artwork if there is an opportunity. I am getting excited as the day gets closer. Please let me know if anything comes to mind that you would like to have me bring or do. I am looking forward to actually meeting you and your students.

Holly

 

November 6

Just wanted to thank Byrna and all the wonderful teachers and students that participated in the Artist in the Classroom activities with me. I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed myself. What a great opportunity for all of us to explore new ideas for recycling, creating and approaching learning. The enthusiasm of the students and their eagerness to embrace new tasks fearlessly is a great inspiration!

I hope the creative juices continue to flow for all of you.

Holly

 

 

November 6

 

Just so you know, the pleasure was all ours!  We are all still talking about our amazing day.  We've been too busy to do anything with our paper yet but we do have ideas.  Thank you for all of your hard work and great ideas.  When creative people get together, amazing things happen!  I have been too busy to do any paper-making with the other classes yet.  Can I keep the supplies for a while yet?  If you need it, just give me a call @ 398-4911.  I will email you when we are finished and set up a time to return it to you.  I'm thinking it will likely be toward the end of November.

 

Byrna

 

November 14

No problem at all for you to keep the supplies.  I do not have any need for them for quite some time.  If you would like an easy idea for the upcoming holidays you could use Christmas cookie cutters and just pour thick paper shapes.  They don't take up so much space to dry and then use a hole punch and fancy cords and ribbons and you have ornaments that you can decorate or use as is.   You can even change or tidy up the shapes with scissors. I think that the smalll pieces of hardware cloth are there and the small pieces of screen.  I would place these over a coffee can or yoghurt container, then the cutter, and using cups, pour the pulp.  That way you could make several different colours of pulp.  It is much easier to sponge the water out of the little shapes!

I hope you have fun with all your papermaking!

Holly