The Studio House

I was asked to lead the art station at an upcoming activity night for 5th graders at the school. So inspired, I began to brainstorm ideas that would fit my criteria for a good group project. If you’d like to read about my criteria, please click here.

The night is free flowing, meaning kids get to decide which activity (games, dancing, food) they would like to do and how long they spend at each one. This means that my projects will have to be simple enough to fit the “drop-in” aspect yet engaging and hopefully awesome.

I’ve been doing art/craft projects with this 5th grade class since they were in kindergarten, they know me and my art by now. Recently, a mother told me that her daughter said, “Mom, please don’t sign up for the craft, Mrs. Viscio will be there too (at the class party) and she has the best craft projects!” I will miss them so much when they move up to 6th grade.

I came up with two projects for the night. While spray painting metal washers, preparing for one of my ideas, I saw some cool, little designs popping up in the negative space. Art makes art, sometimes it just takes a quiet mind to see it.

If you are curious to know what we will be making, please check back in soon!

Let there be PEACE in our world, PEACE in our homes and PEACE in our hearts.

My Saturday morning art class will be taking a break for the holiday-filled months of November and December and I have to say I’m a little bummed. I share my artistic knowledge and ideas with them while they give back feelings of purpose and inspiration. There is nothing quite like the joy of teaching, a true example of “for it is in giving that we receive.”

Here are some photos of our class where we touched on basic color mixing and painting techniques. I didn’t get photos of their mixing charts they did in the first half of the class.

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I teach an art/creativity class once a month, usually on Saturday mornings.  I have so many positive things to say about this endeavor but I don’t want to get bogged down with words, sometimes that can slow me down. I will say, I love the time I get to spend with theses creative little people! They lift my spirit and make me —->  h.  A p.  P y!

Here is a photo of a collage project we worked on. They started out so daunted by the task but with encouragement and time, they finished, and did a great job!

Nature Collages: magazine clippings, watercolor pencils, ink. 11″x14″

Each customized piece I make takes hours of modeling, consideration, trial, error and thought. As a result, I do become attached to them, not on a physical level (I have no desire to keep them) but rather mentally. I can look back and remember my thought process, each victory, each downfall, the people I met and their stories. I learn something new each time, carrying that bit of knowledge on to the next one.

As I have said before, my favorite part of making art is giving it away. I love to see how people react…especially to a custom piece. It makes all those long hours suddenly seem so worth it.

I was honored to be asked to make this piece because I know the bride and groom, they are family. I was at the wedding and it was one of the most beautiful, creative, cultural, love-filled, and fun weddings I’ve ever been to. Honoring both cultural backgrounds, the bride and groom celebrated with two ceremonies. First, a traditional Muslim wedding followed by a traditional Christian/American wedding (not on the same day of course). How cool! I was asked to recreate them in their Nikah attire to be displayed at their wedding reception.

R&M, materials: polymer clay, wood, fabric, acrylic paint, ribbon (the figures stand approximately 4″-5″ tall)

The dollhouse currently resides in front of a door on the eastern side of our house. Each morning I always notice and appreciate the sun coming through our door and then through the dollhouse windows. It’s a small and quiet moment but I really do love to see it each sunny morning. It brings a bit of real life into a miniature world…magic.

I wanted to share but unfortunately these photos do not capture how awesome it is in real life. If you would like to see more photos of the dollhouse, please click here: 

I tore off the old roof of the dollhouse and I am currently replacing it with a wood shingled one. I don’t think I’ve ever shown the front of the house…so, here it is!

The end of the school year always brings so many emotions. The thought of summer vacation is always exciting but at the same time, saying goodbye to the school year and the little families that form in the classroom, brings tears to my eyes. My kids had great teachers and classmates this year.

Since my kids were in KG, I have always created a special end-of-the-year memory book for their teachers. I come up with the idea and put it together but the kids in the class always have a part in completing the content. One page is a series of fun questions about their teacher and the other page is a drawing. I then compile it all into an 8″x8″ hardcover scrapbook. I also add photos from the year. They always turn out great and the teachers love them!

This year, my daughter had the same teacher my son had in 1st grade (she’s the BEST) so I wanted to come up with something different. This idea popped into my head Monday morning, I sent the assignment home to each student on Tuesday, asking for their completed work to be sent back the next day (this was a long shot) but to my surprise, on Wednesday, I got EVERY child’s completed work back!!  They were all asked to draw their smiling face inside a 1.5″ box I had drawn on a paper with the directions. I then had a day and a half to work on it and I got it done! I gave it to her from the class on Friday, the last day of school…phew! She loved it! I knew it had to be special because she is a very special person to both me and my kids.

Here is the completed piece. I was a little worried if my idea would work because I had never made something like this and I was working with a tight deadline, but it did work out and I am pleased with the final piece. We had a good laugh at one of the faces that came back, it was definitely NOT drawn by a kid! As my sister put it…”it looks like a Simpson’s character drawn by a 50 year old man!” haha!

In a previous post I was showing some of the materials I would be using in a kids art program at my local library. Here are some photos from the day. This program was open for kids KG-2nd grade. They had a great time and left behind MANY glitter sprinkles!

Materials: (this is not an edible cupcake, all materials were fake) Great Stuff cupcakes in paper cups, fleece frosting, glitter and mini styrofoam ball sprinkles, pompom cherry, glue, string for making cupcake in to hanging ornament

I was so happy to be asked to come up with and run a program at my local library for kids in grades 3rd-5th. My miniature mind went to work and came up with the idea of “Think Inside the Box.” I love the look of a little scene that is contained inside a small space. As a child, making dioramas was always one of my favorite school projects.

Here’s what we did. Each child was given a 5″x5″ pine box in which to create a small room or scene.  I should mention that my husband and I hand made all 28 wood boxes. It was mostly the amazing design and woodworking talents of him but I was able to help with the assembly – which was quite fast and productive once we had everything planned out. My husband is so clever, he loves to design and create jigs to help with making anything and everything!

For weeks I gathered the supplies. Paper, wood, fabric scraps, glue, beads, plastic plants, and various other found bits of random stuff.

After giving the kids a brief lesson in miniature scale and a few tutorials on how to go about making a few objects for their box, they were ready to begin! To keep this project true to it’s name, they were given only one guideline…keep all creation inside the confines of this small wooden box. It was a loose rule and I think a few kiddos couldn’t help the desire to let their creativity grow 🙂 ! I was so amazed at how interested and devoted they were to this project. They were busy for a straight hour and a half and they didn’t want to stop when the program was over! I’m so glad I had my sister there to lend a hand when needed.

My favorite part of leading an art project, besides coming up with an idea, is seeing all the completed pieces next to each other. They all start out with the same raw materials, but finish with a piece that is different and unique. I was SO proud of them!

making some furniture from wood bits

the creative gears are turning in their heads

this is one I did

the glue, haha 🙂

cool floating bed

so many cool ideas

all together, just missing a few

My favorite holiday in school as a child was hands down, Valentine’s Day.  Now as a mother of two children, it is still my favorite. The hand decorated cereal box mailboxes, stuffed with cards and little treasures, so fun!  I always sign up to volunteer for the party in hopes that I will get a chance to be a part of the magic.  This year I was lucky enough to be in my daughter’s 1st grade class for her party. As the parent volunteers, we are in charge of bringing in the activities.

For the craft in school, I brought in little handmade felt envelopes for the kids to decorate with Valentine bling.  I sewed them on my machine and attached a little piece of Velcro to each one so they would stay closed.  I mentioned to the kids that they could be used as a change purse or as a special envelope for a Valentine.  I love how they all turned out, especially the jewel encrusted ones! 🙂