Happy New Year, Art Dice, Dream Cars and Podcasts!
Wishing all of you a happy new year as we roll into week two of January 2023. Matt and I have lots to share. On January 2nd, we kicked off the new year with a full-day professional learning workshop in Aledo ISD. It was a great day with outstanding art teachers, one of the big hits was something Matt has used in his classroom for years, Art Dice. If you are looking for a fun way to get your students to collaborate, share, play a game or break down the fear of a blank page, then Art Dice might do the trick.
One way to play
Have students pair up or put them in small groups and give the pair/group one piece of paper for your creation.
Give students crayons or markers.
Have students take turns shaking the dice to allow for four different components to be drawn into a collaborative work of art.
Complete the collaborative drawing.
Share the creation.
Matt created these using Adobe Express; here’s the template in case you want to change it up and make it more your own.
Arlene Shelton middle school teacher from Aledo, shared her first day using Art Dice with us via Facebook! We love how she adjusted it for her students and added in collage!
In other news, you might have seen we’ve had our eyes on car art as of late! That’s because it’s the last few weeks before the Toyota Dream Car USA Art contest is due. It’s a contest that Matt and I have had a connection to ever since Toyota USA moved to our home town and it’s a genuinely remarkable contest for artists ages 4-15. Click here for the contest forms.
In conjunction with the contest, we’ve had two fantastic podcast interviews, Daryl Thompson and Bryan Benedict.
Digital automotive artist Daryl Thompson loves cars. For the Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest, he created coloring illustrations based on original designs of last year's youth winners that we've included in our FREE "Activity Book for Kids: Coloring & Cars" -- download it HERE. Last year, he also created a painting of the 2022 Toyota Tundra, and he created a coloring illustration of it, too! Visit his website at www.realcarartist.com or follow him at www.instagram.com/realcarartist or www.tiktok.com/@realcarartist. Listen to the full episode of the #K12ArtChat Podcast with Daryl on Spotify or on other listening platforms where you tune in to hear your favorite podcasts.
Bryan Benedict collected hot wheels as a kid and dreamed of creating his own; now he’s the Design Lead for Hot Wheels and Matchbox Diecast for Mattel! After working with big-name car companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Ford, and GM, Bryan joined Mattel to work with different franchises to make fantasy and real-life cars in toy form. In this episode, he discusses his career path with The Creativity Department. Listen in to hear about the unique opportunities he’s had to work with celebrities and the steps students can take to start a career as a designer. Listen to the full episode of the #K12ArtChat Podcast with Bryan on Spotify or on other listening platforms where you tune in to hear your favorite podcasts.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions, ideas or would like to chat! Follow us on Instagram and Twitter via @creativitydept or email us at thecreativitydept@gmail.com. Then subscribe, rate, and review the podcast. Thank you for learning with us!
Wishing you creativity and a happy new year,
The Creativity Dept, Matt and Laura
