Category: Virtual Art

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Virtual Art with Diamond: Stick Weaving

Oh man, the leaves are popping outside! Since I made this video the leaves seemed to have more than doubled in size. My favorite reasons for heading into the woods is to either explore or to find a shady spot to do some art. This fun weaving activity involves both of those (though you should definitely feel free to bring the stick back inside to create your piece) 🙂

You will need:
• String, yarn, ribbon, paper or even grass.
• Scissors
• A “Y” shaped stick
• A pop sickle stick, butter knife, or something similar for tightening your weave

Fiber arts are one of my side passions though I am just a beginner. I find it is so comforting to make something out of yarn or string even if it isn’t perfect. So many of the objects in our our daily lives are woven – jeans, pillowcases, towels, etc. Getting creative with it is just the next logical step in my opinion 🙂 Though I only weave on sticks and cardboard many weavers use the skill to create lovely tapestries, rugs, shawls, etc. After you learn the basics of weaving you can pick up a loom and practice tapestry yourself! I hope you have fun and play around. If you feel comfortable sharing please drop a photo of your creation in the comments or email to diamond.knispel@headwatersmusicandarts.org.

Diamond Knispel
Art Teacher | Marketing & Arts Program Coordinator
Headwaters Music & Arts

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Virtual Art with Diamond: One Point Perspective

Perspective is a super important concept in art. When I teach perspective I often find that people are more nervous about the concept than they need to be. With the help of straight edge and a little patience + practice anyone can master perspective. This week’s video only touches on one point perspective – I think that we will dig into two point perspective in a later video 🙂

You will need:
• Paper
• Pencil or other drawing implement
• Possibly something to color with
• Possibly a straight edge

This project is meant to be fun and easy for all ages and abilities. It can be a good little brain teaser so practice it when you are a wide awake 🙂 Have fun and play around! And, of course, if you feel comfortable please share your creation in the comments or email to diamond.knispel@headwatersmusicandarts.org.

Diamond Knispel
Art Teacher | Marketing & Arts Program Coordinator
Headwaters Music & Arts

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Virtual Art with Diamond: Paper Patterns

This weeks video teaches a simple but fun technique for making lovely decorations. This video gives a few examples and ideas how to draw a shape and create a pattern to make a garland. The project can be adapted for creating stencils, paper puppets card decals, etc. I was inspired to make the paper garland in the video from seeing all the hearts hanging in everyone’s windows. I love making making paper snowflakes and other paper cutouts and I figured what a lovely addition to the colorful window displays folks are making for themselves/ neighbors/ strangers.

You will need:

• Paper
• Scissors
• Pencil or other drawing implement
• Possibly something to color with
• Possibly shapes to trace

Mothers day is this Sunday. I always made my own gifts during holidays, often using art class or other school projects to create the gifts. I know that it is probably harder for some kids to create those handmade gifts for the matrons in their life since they are not at school. Since this project only requires paper and scissors it is accessible and gives kids an opportunity to use their imagination to decorate their home environments for themselves and their family. Any paper can be used for this project and after the decorations come down they can be cut up for scrapbooks/ card/ mobiles/ fridge magnets/ etc.

Even though this week’s video is simple and aimed at a bit younger audience it is still for all ages. Cutting paper is pretty relaxing and turns out some awesome results. You can make the garlands as complex as you would like. In reality, paper cutting is actually a fine art form. Try Googling “paper cutouts as fine art” and look at all the phenomenal pieces 🙂 For now though I just encourage you to share your paper garlands with the world via your windows and then please send photos! If you you feel comfortable please share your creation in the comments or email to diamond.knispel@headwatersmusicandarts.org. Happy Mothers Day!

Diamond Knispel
Art Teacher | Marketing & Arts Program Coordinator
Headwaters Music & Arts