Balloons in Scale Students created a desert background learning about two challenging concepts: texture and scale. We did a couple fun activities to learn how our eyes see objects further away in the distance as smaller. They drew out cacti in the desert smaller as they went farther away. We added texture to the sand, the cacti, and used painting techniques to add clouds and more natural color to the sky. The 2nd portion of the project was creating hot air balloons. I showed the students photos of the Albuquerque Balloon festival. This hosts hundreds of hot air balloons to thousands of people each year. They used tissue paper to make the color of the balloons. They cut different sized balloons to add to the sky to make some look closer and others farther away.
Symmetry Butterflies Students created a butterfly collage using the concept of symmetry (when a piece of art work is identical on either side when divided in half by the line of symmetry). Students folded and cut the wing shapes. Then we used scraps to cut and make patterns on the butterfly wings.
Monet's Water Lilies Students viewed the art work of Claude Monet. We looked at the how water reflects the colors around it, picking up the blues of the sky. Students drew chalk across the paper. Next, I sprayed it, and the students used their fingers to create water lines left to right (although a lot them forgot and turned their paper sideways when adding the lily pads...Oops! Still pretty :). To make the lily pads, students mixed blue and yellow to create different green ovals. Once dry, they cut the lily shape, glue it down, and added lilies out of tissue paper.
Faith Ringgold Collage Quilts In class, we looked at the art work and illustrations of the American artist Faith Ringgold. Ringgold is known for her "story quilts." Students had a nice and messy printing day. From these printed papers, we created the quilt-like border. Inside the border, students created a picture of where they live or would like to live.
Symmetry Paint Students had a quick lesson in symmetry with this quick and fun project. Students used squeeze bottles to apply paint onto their papers. Once their colors were chosen, they folded the papers and rubbed the sides together. When they opened the paper back up, a beautifully symmetrical design is revealed.
Clay Bowls As a follow up to the clay snails, students made a quick little clay bowl. We used stamps and other random objects (noodles, forks, wire, etc...) to create patterns and textures into the clay. Then students laid the clay over a cup to form the bowl. Once dry, they clay bowl went into the kiln. To complete the bowl, students chose a glaze color to paint. Back in the kiln one last time, and tada!
van Gogh Flowers Students looked at a few different examples of Vincent van Gogh's artwork, including his paintings of flowers in vases. Students had created a 'vase' paper prior to class by making patterns in lines with oil pastels then painting over them. At the start of this class, students gave their 'table cloth' a pattern using texture plates and doing a texture rubbing. They folded their vase paper to cut the vase symmetrically (this is new concept we will return to in a few weeks!). They glued the papers down to make the vase and table. Last, they used their fingers to print petals to make flowers.
Clay Snails Students created their first clay project! In one little snail they learned a lot about clay. Students learned the uses of the different physical stages and how it helped them build. For example, they used fresh clay to manipulate and create coils (long ropes of clay) , they used slip (watery clay) as a glue between clay pieces, and bone dry clay would be ready for the kiln. We put a piece of dry clay in water at the start of class so that they could see how it could physically change to another stage of the clay cycle. The students decorated their snail shell with tools to make patterns or textures. Once the clay is fired in the kiln, it chemically changed to ceramic, which cannot return to its previous clay state. This is when the students will paint the snails, give them antennas and eyes. Hopefully, we will be able to complete this process before the art show!
Color Monsters Students blow painted primary colors together on paper to make some different wacky organic shapes. Next, they cut the shapes out of the paper and glued them down to a new background. They cut out shapes and used crayon to transform their shapes into little shapes.
Veteran's Day Star Sorry, not a lot of photos, but hopefully you already saw their work! Students created patterns on stars using oil pastels. They then painted over the oil pastels with water colors. We cut the stars out once completed to decorate for our Veteran’s day celebration!
Pumpkin Painting As an introduction to the color wheel, students mixed to make a variety of oranges, greens, violets, and brown using different amounts of the primary colors (red, yellow and blue). We looked at the color wheel. We discussed how the color wheel is a tool to help understand how colors are made, and how they can relate to one another. They used the primary colors to make the secondary and tertiary colors. They mixed all 3 primary colors to make brown- a neutral color not found on the color wheel. They used these different colors to paint their pumpkin masterpieces!
Geometric Shape Printing Students created different geometric shapes using the printmaking process. Students used a circular lid to print circles. They used pieces of cardboard as their straight sides to create their own geometric shapes. Next, they painted their prints exploring how many colors that they could make starting with just the primary colors.
Pastel Shapes Students cut a variety of geometric shapes and glued them lightly to their paper. Shape is an Element of Art! They used chalk pastels around the shapes and then removed the paper shapes. Once the paper shape was removed, the negative of the shape was revealed!
Chihuly Wavy Bowls Students learned about Artist Dale Chihuly. Chihuly is a glass blowing artist that has artwork displayed all over the country. His glass wavy bowls were an inspiration for this assignment. Students watched a short video about Dale Chihuly (Here are the links to the video Part One and Part Two ...although I fast forwarded through some spots, this is essentially what we watched!). We also looked at artwork that he created and watched how glow blowing works. Students used line, an Element of Art we have been discussing in class, the decorate their coffee filter. They then rubberbanded them to a cup, and I sprayed them with spray starch. The colors moved and blended. Once dry, the paper stayed in the wavy shape created over the cup. The results turned out beautifully!
The Dot! Students listened to story The Dot, by author and illustrator Peter Reynolds. We discussed topics brought up in the story about a girl who is at first worried that she cannot draw. Her teacher encourages her to 'just make a mark and see where it takes you.' She discovers that if she just tries and experiments, she will learn so much! Students discussed topics like how to mess up and keep moving on, trying something new to see what happens, and making your own original work. Students created their own Dot like Vashti, the main character in the book, with our 'never before used set of watercolors.' I forgot to take photos while they were working (oops!), but here is a glance of the finished products!
Pollock Painting Students learned about an artist named Jackson Pollock who used Line as a dominant focus in his art. He would splatter large canvases with paint to create streaks of color. We used marbles in a box for a slightly less messy recreation of Pollock’s style!
Crazy Hair Students brainstormed different types of lines, from curvy to zigzag, looped to dashed, and more! Line, one of the Elements of Art, is a basic foundational building block to most all artwork. We used our inventory of lines to create some Crazy portraits!
Clay Lines Students reinforced the learning of the Element Line through the use of modeling clay. First students created a long coil of clay. Then they made different lines on the mat. Once they had mastered these lines, they were able to create their own on the back of the mat.