Impressionism

I love student work with chalk pastels. We use chalk when we look at Impressionism and I encourage the kids to show their, "brushstrokes" in their work. They work from landscape photos. This project is a fun way to end the trimester with a great class!

Paper sculptures

In 8th grade we really don't have time to do clay. Instead, we create really awesome paper sculptures. These artists did a great job with their's, so I thought I would share them with others!

Color Wheels

The 7th graders are always given the challenge of creating a color wheel out of anything. For some, the task is monumental (where to begin). Others love the chance to share what they love. I've posted several that did a great job with their ideas!

Fall Leaves

This is a project my 6th graders actually completed a few weeks ago and I am just now getting the pictures online. These always look so nice in a display....I just love them! I know the kids are eager to get their leaves back so I thought if I posted them online, maybe that would please them....at least for a while.

Self-Portraits

The 8th graders have been busy working on their self-portrait project. I love this project! We start by making a 20 step value scale and then I take the kids’ photos. We put a grid over their photos and then grid a large piece of paper. They actually draw the entire picture with the grid and then paint the project with acrylic paint in a monochromatic (one color) color scheme. I have had several students in the past come back and tell me that they have their self-portrait framed and hanging in their homes! These may end up hanging in homes soon!

Art Appreciation

The students in Art Appreciation have been doing some of the neatest presentations on their art movements! We’ve learned how to create Prezi’s and Animoto’s. Some kids have even gone further with technology and have learned a cool program called, XtraNormal. All of these programs are on line and really neat to use. As a class, we’ve agreed that Animoto’s can’t be any easier to use and they create really nice slideshows of anything! Some of the kids have even used the program to create a slideshow of their family photos!

Animal Collage

The 7th graders recently chose an animal and created a believable environment for them to be in. Then, we made the project out of different papers and such. I liked these so well that all of them are hanging in the building. Here are some pictures of some that I thought turned out very nice! Joey’s snake even moves! Great job kids!

One Point Perspective

In 7th grade we learn about one point perspective by creating a room and then “building” furniture to go in the room. The kids each have a theme for their room and have some basic requirements. These rooms turned out very nice!

Color Wheel

The 6th graders walked through creating a color wheel as I taught them step-by-step how to properly mix each color. To make sure they know how to make all the colors, I only buy the primary colors. When I grade them, the student has to have all of the correct colors in the correct order and is also graded on the creativity of their project. I thought these turned out really nice!

I love teaching the 8th graders how to create a 2 point perspctive city! These usually turn out very nice and look so much more complicated than they really are. In class, we work on going step-by-step drawing the buildings and I show them a few tricks to create the windows, signs, etc. Then, the kids have a few days to add all of their special touches. I just love what Maddie did with One Direction!

The 6th graders just learned about learning how to draw a person in correct proportion. We used a drawing technique called, gestures. Gestures are a nice change for the students because they previously worked on showing lots of details in their still-life drawings, and gestures require very few details. Here are a few of my favorites!!

The 8th graders have been sketching the still-lives, using different types of media. Their first still-life was in regular pencil. The second still-life they created was with white pencil on black paper. The final still-life sketch was done on scratch board. I'm very happy with the results.

Cave Paintings

I'm teaching a new class this year...Art Appreciation. The class is only offered at the 8th grade level. I also still teach Art Production to 8th graders. I tell the kids that Art Appreciation is learning about art and Art Production is creating art. My plan for the class is to hit on some of the highlights of art history. In our first unit, we learned about cave paintings and then created our own cave art using natural materials. I think the kids thought this would be really easy....it wasn't. Colin and Taylor did a very nice job on their's!

Drawing Unit

The seventh graders just finished drawing the still-lifes that I had set up in the room. They first learned about value and how to make things look 3-D. Their next challenge was to sketch a still-life using colored pencils. I think the final results were very nice.