Bottle Cap Mural!

North Oakview Bottle Cap Mural Project 2015

The Topic: Students at North Oakview learned about a variety of contemporary artists who use the theme of the 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle) in their artwork.

Idea Generation: We learned about a Michigan native named Tyree Guyton who made over his neighborhood in the inner city of Detroit using "trash" to make beautiful Art.

      

We also studied the artist Michelle Stitzlein who gives trash a second life. She typically uses the butterfly as a symbol in her Art to represent that metamorphosis and harmony between material and Art.

 

Explore & Develop:

Artists were challenged to come up with design ideas that visually represented our school and what we stand for. Over 400 sketches were collected from students and a common "Dot Day" theme was represented. Many students also chose to use Kandinsky's (a previously studied artist) Concentric Circles for inspiration.

Refine: One Design

From these sketches a final sketch was created that tied many common ideas into one. We left our design very abstract so that the viewer could focus on the shapes and colors.

2nd grade worked with Mrs. Haugen to pick and finalize our color choices. They then painted the cardboard so that on field day other student would know where to put each bottle cap color.

Final Piece: The end product was completed on field day 2015 by 1st-4th grade artists. 4th & 3rd graders arranged and glued the caps into place during the first half of the day. Then 1st & 2nd graders added mini-masterpieces in the insides of the caps for extra detail. This project is an excellent display of our collaborative team work, creative problem solving, and the "can-do" attitudes of students here at North!