Mentor Artist Keith “K-Dub” Williams worked with young artists in Ms. Mankus’s art classes at Marina Middle School in San Francisco to create unique, personal Snap-backs. Students learned to design, prep, and paint their custom hats in this six-week project.
“I like the whole hat because I created it myself. It is not the best hat at all, but I am quite proud.” – Jennifer, grade 7
Step One: working on paper with colored pencils, Students design their message.
Students were asked: What is important to you? What do you want people to know about you?
“My design makes me feel calm and peaceful. It doesn’t show any signs of sadness or anger. I guess it all screams HAPPY.” – Valentin, grade 7
“What I like best about my work is that it says I love music.” – Kelly, grade 8
Hat drawings were cut out, and self-portraits were added.
Next, Students chose a hat color and primed it with gesso to create a “canvas” for their message.
“I was thoughtful and careful when I painted the hat, keeping constantly in mind that my hands had to be very stable while holding the brush and cap.” – Malia, grade 8
K-Dub with student trying on his primed hat.
And then students added COLOR: Lots and Lots of COLOR!
“Creating this hat was very fun. I think that this project was the best one yet. I felt that the hat was talking to me in colors.” – Jonas, grade 7
Adding Fine details
“While I was painting, I kept thinking , will this hat come out as good as I planned? I was feeling determined because everyone was finishing their hats. What I like best about my hat is the mouth, because it too so long (to finish).” – Kai, grade 8
Ms. Mankus offering fine art advice
“I think we are really lucky because we get to create this artwork, because most people don’t have the chance to.” – Melissa, grade 8
Eacg design was so unique and personal
“(This project) took a long time, and I liked how if you mess up you can paint over (the mistake). I had a feeling I would fail, but then in the end it looked awesome.” – Aidin, grade 6
Adding contrasting colors to Purple hat
superheros
“The thing I like most about my hat is the nickname Mr. K-Dub wrote for me! (It’s like an autograph with my nickname). I would like you to know…this is the best project we have done so far.” – Winnie, grade 8
Collaboration and teamwork
[…] posts have highlighted Spring projects by K-Dub Williams’ students at Marina Middle School and Angela Baker’s students at Harding Elementary, in addition to the amazing work created by […]