I have a rule in my art room that students are not allowed to throw their “mistakes” in the trash. If they are working on a piece and decide they don’t like it, it goes in the Unwanted Artwork Bin. Every so often, one of my young artists, stuck for an idea, will dip into the bin, fish out somebody’s artwork, and make it into something else. I call these Beautiful Oops projects, after Barney Saltzberg’s fantastic children’s book. As June arrived, the Unwanted Artwork Bin piled high, and I felt sick at the thought of consigning all these lovely unfinished pieces to the recycling bin. That’s when I came up with the idea for the First Annual Unwanted Artwork Olympics.
I teach third, fourth, and fifth grade in a suburban school north of Chicago, and this past school year was my first experience implementing a full TAB curriculum in my art room. As I began wrapping up a wonderful year full of student exploration and engagement, I realized I had one issue left to deal with: the Unwanted Artwork Bin.
I have a rule in my art room that students are not allowed to throw their “mistakes” in the trash. If they are working on a piece and decide they don’t like it, it goes in the Unwanted Artwork Bin.
Every so often, one of my young artists, stuck for an idea, will dip into the bin, fish out somebody’s artwork, and make it into something new. I call these Beautiful Oops projects, after Barney Saltzberg’s fantastic children’s book. As June arrived, the Unwanted Artwork Bin piled high, and I felt sick at the thought of consigning all these lovely unfinished pieces to the recycling bin.
Thatʼs when I came up with the idea for the First Annual Unwanted Artwork Olympics. For each class, the setup looked like this: I divided students into teams of three or four. Every group got a roll of masking or duct tape, scissors, a bottle of glue, and access to the hot-glue guns. I set out the bins of unwanted artwork in the middle of the floor.
I threw down the challenge: The teams had forty-five minutes to make a project using as much unwanted artwork as they could. The project could be 2D or 3D and had to fall under one of six themes: underwater, imaginary, beast, animal, outer space, machine, or landscape. When the timer went off, each team would present their project to the class, and I would give three awards: Most Creative, Most Realistic, and Most Collaborative Team Spirit. (Prize: bragging rights.)
The teams went to work, and the art studio quickly became a mess. Materials were scattered everywhere, and the floor vanished under piles of paper scraps. Students planned, argued, collaborated, and began to construct. Groups worked at tables and spread out across the floor.
The results were delightful. In the last days of school before summer, when kids are at their most inattentive, my students created some of the most fun and interesting pieces I’d seen. All year, I had been experimenting with strategies to encourage risk-taking and elicit the spirit of playfulness—two concepts so important for authentic art-making. With the Unwanted Artwork Olympics, I found that even the most cautious students got into the spirit of play. For one week, I did the Unwanted Art Olympics with every class, and the art room rang out with joy, laughter, and the busy mess of creating.
Some of my favorite projects from the week: A pipe organ complete with hands to play it; a giant telescope with planets inside of it; a 3D kid-size robot; a unicorn the size of a small pony; a car wash with tiny cars to go through it; and an underwater scene made with a mosaic of blue paper cut from lots of different unwanted artworks.
I plan to hold the Second Annual Unwanted Artwork Olympics in June 2024, but I’m curious whether I will see the fruits of this activity throughout the year. Will students be less likely to throw out a half-finished artwork or a “mistake” instead of seeing its potential? Will more students see the unwanted art bin as a source of material for creating?
This past year, shifting to TAB has reinvigorated my teaching practice and my own sense of playfulness and joy as I see the students take their ideas to places I never anticipated. The Art Olympics inspired nearly universal engagement and creative flow and was a wonderful way to cap off a new kind of year in the art studio.
Annie Zirin is an art teacher at Pleasant Ridge Elementary School in Glenview, Illinois. Annie@Zirin.com
Creating: Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.
Art teachers present a variety of lessons that emphasize student choice and the Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) approach. Students work in groups to create a project using unfinished artwork; participate in an afterschool TAB program based on the Studio Habits of Mind; use the concept of the lighthouse to create personal pieces that honor who or what inspires them; embrace brainstorming and media exploration through sketchbook art journals; and more.
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