…what my Kindergarten artists will think, do, and feel when we work on this art process and product.

I am super hopeful …

• their big beautiful brains will be filled with ideas and wonder.
• they will jump in with confident hope.
• they will experience the joy and excitement I feel when I create art.
• they will know they are artists who can make decisions about their art.

These are my practice, and inspiration pieces.

After making the first piece, I tried another using the new stamp pads I bought for my Kindergarten artists. As I prepped the page, I wondered what it would look like if I added a piece of tape down the middle.

I like it, and am adding it as an option for my Kindergarten artists.

The boarders are created using frog tape. It creates a nice sharp edge, and even more importantly, can be removed without harming the paper. The circles are stamps created from some tubes one of the students brought in. I cut them on our bandsaw so I’d have enough to give each artist a small stamper and a large stamper.

My rules for the project will be:

• Everyone needs a boarder.
• Circles are colored with crayons.
• The background is filled with watercolor.
• Sign your work! (Which, by the way, involves many artistic decisions.)

My suggestions will be:

• Consider overlapping the circles and letting the circles extend beyond the boarder.
• Practice stamping on a scrap paper so you feel comfortable working on your piece.

My artists’ options and decisions will be:

• What colors will I make the circles?
• What color will I make the background?
• Will my background be one color, or many?
• Do I want a piece of tape to intersect my paper – creating two pieces?
• Where will I put that piece of tape? (The options are endless!)

My jobs will be many:

• To show the artists that unexpected things (tubes from shoes, painters tape) can be used to create art.
• To expose them to the idea of combining various mediums into one project.
• To encourage them to think.
• To empower them to make decisions about their art.
• To explain the rules … and the options.
• To enjoy my artists, their process, and their products.
• To document their process and work.
• To be open to their interpretation of the process.
• To be willing to allow them to modify the process … depending on their interpretation, desires, and/or needs.

All my jobs are important, but those last two, they are paramount.

If I want my students to know they are artists, and to actually BE artists, I need to give them the freedom and respect artists need, crave, and deserve. If I want them to learn to make decisions, problem solve, wonder, and create, I have to give them the space, empowerment, and opportunity to actually DO IT!