Monday, December 19, 2016

Kimmy Cantrell goes Fishing!



Ever hear of Kimmy Cantrell?  For website, click HERE.  I found Kimmy Cantrell quite interesting because he is a cool artist from Georgia!  Kimmy realized in high school that he had the art thing going in him.  He went to Georgia State University and got a degree in business.  He worked 12 years in distribution management.  After that he ended up accepting a job in rural South Georgia and working there for 20 years.  Then, one day he decided to do clay again and the self taught artist has been making art ever since.  I really like Kimmy Cantrell's story and his art.

Directions:
This was a middle school project.
I showed this awesome video with Kimmy Cantrell speaking.  Click here.
First, I made the kids sketch their fish and color with colored pencil.
Then, they began the process of using cardboard to make a fish.  I gave options, but told them that they were free to approach the project in their own way.
Most kids cut the cardboard.
They used hot glue guns to get the fish parts all connected.
Glue guns are great, but you really have to plan ahead and have lots of extension cords ready to connect the guns.
Then, they began using oil pastels to color the fish.
Most of the kids' fish were close to their original rendering.
Check out these colorful fish!

In the video above, Kimmy talked about "breaking the code".  I just loved that and thought he did a great job in explaining so people could understand why art is how art is.  I hear lots of people talking about Picasso, Pollock, Mondrian, and they say, "I could do that."  Well, I try to explain this to people a lot.  You could do it, but you did not do it first.  The first are the ones that break the code.  Anyway, I could so relate to this concept.

Have a look at our fish-






The Allman Brothers Band is from Georgia, too.  They sang a song called "Ramblin' Man".  I feel like Kimmy Cantrell rambled a long time before he got back to his lifelong passion.  Don't we all?

1965

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