Break! Fast!

As a high school art teacher, my students can always expect a still life as their first assignment of the school year. Rather than put together a bunch of random objects, I generally assign a theme to my still life. In the past, I have created such themes as one called, "School Spirit", "Toys", and another that I called "Fall Fun". As busy as my summer has been, (who are we kidding? Every summer is busy.) I still needed to construct the idea for the First Day of School Still Life. And, for a brief moment, I almost decided to break my tradition.

Almost.

I mused that perhaps the predictability of my project, aside from the theme, was in fact something that my students looked forward to. Let's face it, the first day of school is full of new faces, new books, new rooms, new agendas, etc. There are some consistancies, but somehow never enough to allow the butterflies in our stomach to leave us alone.

So, with my stomach in mind, I thought of an idea for this year's still life. It came to me over a bowl of cereal, really...not this particular bowl, but you get the idea. Breakfast! The appliances, the cereals, the cereal boxes, the fruits, the donuts, you name it and I thought of it. (You might be able to name something I didn't think of, so feel free to give it a go and let me know.)


As is with every project, I did a little image search of other artists who have used breakfast food in their art. The two that I have displayed here stood out to me among all the rest. The donuts, above, are reminiscent of Wayne Thiebaud's artwork. This piece, however, was created by Vic Vicini. I was drawn to the perspective and ordered placement of his yummy subject matter. The image shown below, is by the photographer, David Sykes. This one, part of his "Faux Food" series, had me at the sheer use of material alone.

So, if we can equate the first day of school to morning, then we are starting the year off right with the most important meal of the day.

Using what you have

Back in August, I found this recycled bowl at a local discount store. With the wheels turning in my head, I decided to buy it. It struck me as a perfect project to do with my "Craft Studio" students.

To begin this project, you will need some old magazines.

If you use the entire magazine page, the coil will become too thick. So, cut the page in half lengthwise and fold to make a coil or strip that is around 1/4 inch in width.

Here are two examples that have been started by students. We are using the popular acrylic medium, "Mod Podge" to hold the paper strips together during the folding and winding process. The example in the top right corner shows a little more progress in that there are walls that have been started.