Put it on a Background! 2

Hey guys, it's Casey and I am just going

to have a quick word with you on

presentation with your kids artwork and

really any project that you're going to

hang in the hall or present to the

public or

parents. Some really simple things that

you can do to elevate your kids

artwork are putting them on construction

paper background. So, I just want to

show you a quick comparison

here. Here is one of my students, Monae

Waterly oil

pastels without a

background. And here we have one on a

nice construction paper background. It

wasn't hard. I just picked a color that

highlighted their work and I stapled it

right on there. You could have the kids

glue their work onto a construction

paper background yourself.

Um, not hard at all. Something else I

want you to notice about this is these

pictures. I had them go ahead and draw a

little border before they started making

their work. Again, that's a super quick,

easy, simple way to make their artwork

stand out, make it seem more important

because it is. So, all I had kids do, we

started with their construction paper.

Doesn't matter if it's white paper,

color paper, really doesn't matter. I

have them choose. Depending on what

we're making, you could think about

maybe having them do a complimentary

color for a little border, something

close to a complimentary color, a split

compliment, or maybe you want them to go

with something that

is

monochromatic, right? And so you pick a

similar blue. So all you would have them

do, you don't even have to have a

measure. It really does make things

stand out. It's fun.

lets them know that their artwork is

extra

special. So

easy and it makes it look like you took

so much more time, you know? So, you

could double that

up there. I've doubled it up with

another warm color. That's going to

create a little bit of contrast with the

blue background and make it stand out.

You could also, like I

said, do a harmonious color or do

something that is monochromatic, like do

several different

blues. And it's I mean, it is that easy.

Right now, that kid's art is set up to

um stand out and look extra

special.

Okay, here I have another student

example with no background.

and a student example that I just put on

a black construction paper background.

You cannot go wrong with a black

construction paper background on

anything. It is like my go-to. It always

makes things look sharp. Okay. So, I

just um check my sizes and make sure I

have stuff cut correctly before we start

a project. And then I can staple it or

the kids can glue it themselves. Okay.

So simple, big difference. Something

else that would have looked nice with

this, look at that. That would look

great with this kid's particular

project. Um, you might notice this is

salt and watercolor. And we got a little

oil pastel resist going on here. And we

may cover those techniques later, or you

can look them up for yourself online.

They're really

easy. So, something else you could do,

take it a step further. Right. I've got

this nice, easy go-to black background.

pick up any color within the kid's

artwork. So, I see a lot of cool blues

in her painting. So, I picked out a nice

cool

blue. And then for display, I'm going to

have it matted like this. And all I have

to do to have it matted like that is

staple it on here. Okay? Staple it on,

glue it on, whatever works. Try to avoid

tape because it comes undone in the

hallway and the last thing you want is

to have your kids artwork that they work

so hard on peeling off in the hallways.

Make sure your stuff's going to stay.

You know, a staple never hurt anything.

I don't believe in a little dabble do

you of glue. If you have them glue

something like this onto a construction

paper like that, they need to use plenty

of glue and then put a heavy book or

something on top of it while it dries.

One

more example I'm going to show you. I

love the way yellow on black pops for

student art. So, I've got this cute

little robot here. Okay. Um, looks

great. Anything you have kids make on a

black background is automatically going

to stand out. So if you have anything

available to you like oil pastels, they

look really sharp on black and then they

stand out great on something black on

something like a yellow background, your

kind of more vibrant colors like a a

nice bright orange or a lime green. It

really makes it really draws attention

in to what you've got the kid making on

the black background. So you could do

this

or I love doing this. have your students

make their own swirly gold

frame and then you

can mat their artwork on top of that.

And all I did here was I traced the

picture with a

pencil. This is something that your

early finishers could do too. It's a

great early finisher activity. Say,

"Hey, go trace and make some swirly gold

frames for our art.

And then with a

Sharpie, go right over everything. I

like to double up the lines. It's an

easy detail trick that you can use that

you can teach students. And then what

you do to one side, you do to the other.

This is a great way to talk about the

math concept of

symmetry. Depending on your grade level,

that might be something you need to

cover.

depending on the patterns and designs

you use in here. Gosh, you could just

about even do fractions

um with the sides here. So, there you

go. As easy as

that. My little robot looks like fine

art.

So, the big idea here is if your

students are taking time to make

something, even if it's as simple as

like a crayon drawing on paper and it's

something you like and you want to

display or something they're really

proud of, stick it on a construction

paper background. You don't have to over

complicate it. I mean, you don't even

have to take it quite this far. I hope

you do. I love when kids design their

own borders. I mean, just sticking it on

a piece of colored construction paper

really makes a difference. It shows that

you care about their art. It shows them

that their work is important to

you. So, I hope that you have a little

something here from this demo that you

can take, put in your toolbox. Okay?

Remember for when your classes make

fabulous things that you want to

display, make them look nice. Doesn't

take long. Always, always put it on a

background.