Past Art Units:
High School:
High School:
Art around the world month K-5:
Each year we highlight art from a different part of the world. This year we are attempting to cover a whole continent! The students in all grade levels are leaning about the geography of Africa and getting a brief introduction to the many countries and cultures.
5th Grade: Faux Batik Designs: After spending many weeks learning about the geography, culture and art of the many countries of Africa, 5th graders were able to create their own designs inspired by what they had learned. They were introduced to a fabric design technique known as Batik. Batik is a process where hot wax is applied to a fabric in a unique design, the fabric is dyed and the wax is washed away leaving the original design white. Instead of wax, we used toothpaste! Thanks to the money raised by our Arts Festival we were able to buy a t-shirt for each 5th grader. Each design turned out great!
4th Grade African Masks: Fourth grade discovered the rich tradition of Mask in many African countries' ceremonies and festivals. They were lucky enough to touch a few original masks from South Africa and Nigeria and view many more. The students used this information to create their own out of milk jugs, plaster cloth and paint.
3rd grade:
African Folktale Puppet Show: Third grade discovered some of the traditional folk tales of Africa. They worked in groups to write their own folktale that either explained how an African animal came to look the way it does or taught a lesson. Then, they spent a few weeks creating their puppets and practicing their plays. It was so much fun to watch them perform!
2nd Grade:
In South Africa they decorate gourds with many patterns of colors and shapes. We used looked at these patterns as inspiration to create our own painted gourd bird houses.
1st Grade:
Created drawings inspired by the amazing animals found exclusively in African countries. They also looked at the patterns found in many African works of art and used this information to create a border for their animal portraits.
Kindergarten: Studied the textiles of Africa concentrating on Ghana and the Kente woven cloth and the Adinkra stamped cloth found there.
______________________________________________________________________
Olympic Sculptures: Our 5th graders just finished up a unit on Sculpture. They started off the unit by taking a look at some important sculptures that have been created throughout human history and the all the various materials that can be used to create sculptures. The next step was to create their own sculpture own out of wire, tin foil, plaster and paint to resemble their favorite Olympic Athletes.
5th Graders learned a new perspective technique called two- point perspective. They used this technique to create a more realistic drawing of some stacked boxes. They were then asked to add more details to their boxes and finish the compositions in any art medium of their choosing (oil pastels, markers, or colored pencils) .
This is one of my favorite projects. I try to do this project with my students each year as a final project for them to showcase what they have learned in art throughout their elementary school years and create a project that I hope they will keep for a lifetime. It is also one of the longest projects of the year because of all the areas we cover.
Portraits in Art: We start off by looking at portraits in art and how the artist use the elements of art to tell us something else about the person.
Proportion: We look at proportions of the human body.
Measuring with a ruler: We take time out to review our measuring skills by having a group ruler challenge to see who has the best measurement and craftsmanship skills.
Positive Self Image: They also take some reflective time to think of the positive aspects of themselves that they may want to convey in our self portraits. (See Self Portraits Part 1)
Time Management and Independence: For this project they have use of the art room and must make their own artistic decisions and the best use of their studio time.
Portraits in Art: We start off by looking at portraits in art and how the artist use the elements of art to tell us something else about the person.
Proportion: We look at proportions of the human body.
Measuring with a ruler: We take time out to review our measuring skills by having a group ruler challenge to see who has the best measurement and craftsmanship skills.
Positive Self Image: They also take some reflective time to think of the positive aspects of themselves that they may want to convey in our self portraits. (See Self Portraits Part 1)
Time Management and Independence: For this project they have use of the art room and must make their own artistic decisions and the best use of their studio time.
Past 4th Grade Projects:
Laurel Burch Cats: Laurel Burch was an artist who began working in the 1960s as a jewelry designer and the later went on to produce many drawings and paintings. She was an inspirational artists for our students to learn about because although she was plagued with a debilitating disease that caused her to be in pain for most of her life, she created art that was colorful and fun. Ms. Burch's art allowed are students to investigate the use of color, line and pattern within an art composition. The students used chalk pastels on dark paper to create their own works of art.
Loom Weaving: It took some time but our 4th graders did a fabulous job on their weaving projects. We looked at the history of weaving from many different parts of the world as well as in the USA with traditional Navajo rugs. They learned how the Navajo made their wool and the uses for their woven products. Day by Day the students made progress and practiced their measuring skills by tracking the growth of their rugs with each class.
Keith Haring Figures with Value: Fourth grade students focused on Value in art learning about shades, tints and tones. They first painted different values of any color of their choosing in a swirling pattern. Next, they learned about how a silhouette is made with light and about the art of Keith Haring. They put all this together to make their own Keith Haring inspired silhouettes
Radial Printmaking: 4th Grade discovered the beauty of Math in our latest Printmaking Project. Their new vocabulary included math concepts such as Symmetry, Rotational Symmetry, Line of Symmetry and Center Axis.
Cubist Portraits: Fourth Grade learned about the work of Pablo Picasso. They studied his different art periods and most famous works of art. Next, they took a more careful look at his Cubist Period and how he represented objects from more than one perspective. With this knowledge, they created fun portraits. Can you see the multiple side of the faces?
Lascaux Cave Paintings: Our fourth graders discovered the amazing cave paintings from a civilization that lived 17,000 years ago. They watched a video and went on virtual tour to see the cave images and to learn more about the original artists who made them. We discussed how these images leave behind clues of how this ancient civilization lived and what was important to them. Then, they went on their own cave adventure in our art room where the walls and tables were transformed into surfaces of a cave (aka. brown butcher paper). They had to use flash lights and work in teams to leave images that future civilizations could find and learn something about how we live.
Past 3rd Grade Projects:
One-Point Perspective Cities: This technique allows the artist to create realistic depth within a drawing. The students did an amazing job drawing and using new watercolor techniques to complete their art works.
  |
Thiebaud Desserts: Third Grade Students learned about they yummy art of Wayne Thiebaud. They learned new techniques about perspective, value and form to make their yummy drawings.
Oil pastel landscapes: Third grade learned the parts of a landscape by taking a close look at painter Vincent Van Gogh's amazing works. They learned more about his life's story and some of his most famous works of art. Using oil pastels, they create their own versions.
Bearden City Block collage: The students spent many weeks cutting out paper and assembling their cities. They were the mayors of their own town and responsible for what takes place within their city limits. Next, they wrote advertisements to entice other to come visit their fabulous towns. We ended the project by having a gallery showing where all the cities were viewed side by side similar to Romare Bearden's work The Block.
Rousseau Foliage Drawings: Second graders investigated the work and life of artist Henry Rousseau. They focused on three elements of art in his work - Value, Space and Shape. They used what they learned about how Rousseau used these elements in his work to create their own works of art. To create this, the students drew a composition that was crowded with various examples of foliage using oil pastels on white paper added light and dark values to each leave. Nest, they created a background and carved veins into each leaf. Finally, they covered their entire picture with black india ink. Once it dried, they washed off the excess ink that covered their oil pastel drawings but allowed the ink to soak into blank areas. Here are their results.
Sailboat landscape scenes: 2nd grade made some careful observations about how we see objects in our world. They learned a new term, perspective, and few simple rules that explain how our eyes perceive depth and how that information can be used to create an illusion in art. Here are a few examples where they showed off their new knowledge with some pictures of the sea. 
Symmetry: Second grade learned about symmetry, positive vs. negative shapes, and complimentary colors. They experimented how these shapes and colors can play off each other and then turned their project into imaginative creatures using the rules of symmetry.
Past 1st Grade Projects:
Group Polygon Mosaics: First grade students learned the polygon shapes from triangles to decagons. They began by learning the polygon song and making the shapes with pretzel sticks. Then they spent time cutting small polygons out of bright colored paper, challenging each other to see who could make one with the most corners and sides. Finally, to complete the project, they worked in teams to glue the polygons down to make a large mosaic fish. The fish came out great and are a great colorful addition to our halls.
 |
Van Gogh Sunflowers:
|
 |
Owl collage: A little book by Tracy Corderoy and Jane Chapman, A Little White Owl, inspired our first graders to use their scissors, glue and imagination to create some paper owls.
Snowboys and snowgirls collage: First Grade had a blast creating this project. We first took a look at the illustrations create by Eric Carle in some of his most famous children's books. We explored how he created the images with cut paper, a technique known as collage. The students discovered that each piece of cut paper had multiple colors and texture. So, before we could begin our collage project we had to create some decorative paper with multiple colors and textures. The students were given a variety paint brushes, paint colors, sponges, forks, sticks and glitter. They were allowed to use these items as they wished to cover their paper with different colors and textures. Messy, but so much fun. The next day we started using the paper to make a winter forest by cutting the textured paper into trees. We then used white paper to make our snowmen and then other commercially made decorative papers to make some snowman accessories. Lastly, to make it snow, the students used a soggy paint brush with white paint to drip over their blue skies.
Underwater self portraits: Our first graders started off the year heading into the deep blue sea. They drew images with a crayon of things they would find if they were scuba diving underwater. Then the students learned about the waxy nature of crayons and how wax and water will repeal each other. Many parents over a certain age will remember Mr. Roger's trip to the crayon factory. Well, thanks to the internet, our students were also able to see Mr. Roger's trip and learn how crayons are made. Next, they applied a blue watercolor wash over their drawings. Finally, they created portraits of themselves to glue on top. It was a fun adventure.
  Past Kindergarten Projects: |
Original Monsters: Maurice Sendak's book Where the Wild Things Are inspired this Kindergarten art project.
Kindergarten self portraits: After a quick lesson on how to draw the human face, these kindergarteners were off drawing themselves from memory, first in pencil and then in black sharpie. They were then given multiple watercolors to paint in all the white space with colors of their choosing. The results are so different and all so wonderful!
 |
Artist: Sophia
|
 |
Artist: Vance
|
 |
Artist: Rileigh
|
Color Mixing Birds: Our Kindergarteners learned the color wheel and used that knowledge to make birds using two primary colors. I love how differently they all turned out from one another.
 
Collage Sandwich: This quick project was borrowed from another art teacher's classroom website that I borrow many great art lessons from, Art with Mr. E. The students create stacked sandwich collages using scrap paper.
|
After School Art Projects
No comments:
Post a Comment