Landscape Collages

Recently, the 6th graders and I looked at work by an artist named Mischa Epstein. We spent most of our time looking at her work with landscapes. The kids each chose a picture from my stash of what used to be calendars. From there, they decided what was most important in their photo and what they wanted to get rid of. I tried to encourage them to use a large variety of materials on their own collages and when we looked at Mischa's work, we discussed the many different methods and materials that she used in her work. Posted here are some projects by the kids that turned out very good!

Art History Research

I'm one of those art teachers that feels it is really important to teach art history. The 6th graders spent 2 days this trimester researching an artist they chose. Then, they wirte a paragraph about what they learned about that artist. Next, they create a reproduction based on a work of art done by that artist and we hang them in the hallway with an example of the artist's original work. The students really gain an appreciation for all that goes into a masterpiece. Plus, its really fun to hear them telling each other about things they learned about their artist as they are all working on their projects. Here are a few of them as they hang in the hallway!

Colors, Tints, and Shades

What's the most important part about a color wheel?.....color, right? I walk the 6th graders through this project by teaching them step-by-step how to make each color. They know where to put the colors based on the color wheel we do with colored pencil as a warm-up to the project. I always like seeing how this project turns out. These kids did a really great job this trimester!

Strike a Pose! Make a Gesture!

Tell a class of 6th graders that they are about to do a project based on drawing people and you can actually see the panic in their faces. So, I teach human figure drawing through gestures. Gestures are quick sketches used to capture movement. The kids practice drawing gestures a few times before beginning the final project. I'm still working on the actual project that we do with the gestures. This one is just a little different from last trimester and next trimester's is going to be completely different.

Still-Life Drawings

Drawing: it's the ABC's of art. I would imagine that most of my students would say that they really don't enjoy drawing still-lifes. However, the many things I can teach through still-life drawings are priceless. We cover shape, value, space, gauging, highlights, color, blending, shadows, and craftsmanship. It's really amazing to see how far the kids come from their first drawing of the trimester to the last still-life they create. We only spend the first 3 1/2-5 weeks (of a 12 week grading period) on drawing, but to see how far they come in that time is awesome!

Gingerbread Houses

My first year teaching I remember thinking, "How will I ever get my kids to focus enough to work the day before Christmas break?" Then, my mother suggested that I create gingerbread houses with them. Well, 12 years later we are still making the houses. However, I never used gingerbread. Instead, we use graham crackers and royal icing. All the kids have to supply are the decorations for their homes. They each have a "property" (posterboard cut to 6"x6") that they build the house on and then can landscape around it. Once the houses are all built, they join "Gingerbread Village" on my countertop and the teachers all come in to judge them. I give extra credit to the winners and at the end of the day the kids take their houses home (if they make it that far before being devoured!). Here are some pictures of my 8th graders making their houses.

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.

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!

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!!

Buttons! Buttons! Buttons!

The 6th graders always start the trimester with about a week of button drawing. We begin with them sketching buttons without my help, so I can see where they are coming from. The next 3 days we start class with me demonstrating different skills that will help them improve (value, making the drawing look 3-D, sketching details, etc.). It's amazing how much they learn and how far they come in just a week!

Color Wheels

I've been searching for a color wheel project that turned out to look like a work of art. Something that could, "hold its own" at the art show in May. I played around with this lesson and I'm happy to report that the results are just what I was looking for.

We started with our 3 circles on the paper (they had to be inside each other). Next, the kids divided the paper into 12 sections using any type of line they wanted. We walked through step-by-step painting each color (plus its tints and shades). The kids had to know where the colors went and if they had the correct color (there were about 10 color wheels hanging in the room). I was happy with what we ended up with!

Gestures

The 6th graders just spent some time learning about the proportions of the human body and how to draw people in gestures (quick drawings used to capture movement). I've posted some fun one's!

Gingerbread Houses

The Independent Study students had their Christmas party on Dec. 21st. We had a great time and created some really cool "Gingerbread" houses (made with graham crackers). No students take this project as serious as my Independent kids!! We had a great time!