5th grade Soft Sculptures

Stray Sock Sculptures 

This was a really fun project that integrated recycling, literacy, photography, sewing, sculpture and technology to create 3D creatures. Students learned various sewing stitches and they also learned how to sew on a button. Kids started by drawing thumbnail sketches and chose on creature to transform into a 3D work of art. They used stray socks and found buttons to be environmentally friendly.  

5th Grade Surrealism Collages

Students explored dreams and reality with Surrealism. They studied the surrealism movement; a period in art history in which artists tried to access the creativity of the unconscious mind.  Artists including Rene Magritte, Kay Sage, Hannah Hoch, and Salvador Dali created many works that blurred the line between dreams and reality. To start of the unit on surrealism students participated in the surrealist game called Exquisite Corpse, in which a creature is drawn collaboratively. It's a great game to play with the family at home, look it up or ask a 5th grader how to play it.

Students then investigated the Surrealist technique of "seeing into" or "Paranoiac Critical Method". This exercise was coined by Salvador Dali and is all about looking at things in a new way. Students delved next into the surrealist technique of collage. Students began with a magazine background and had the challenge of altering an image and thus creating a new work of art.

5th grade Exquisite Corpse

We embarked on our study of surrealism with a mini lesson on the Exquisite corpse, also known as exquisite cadaver (from the original French term cadavre exquis) or rotating corpse, is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule or by being allowed to see only the end of what the previous person contributed.The technique was invented by surrealists and is similar to an old parlor game called consequences in which players write in turn on a sheet of paper, fold it to conceal part of the writing, and then pass it to the next player for a further contribution.

We had so much fun with this activity. Here is what resulted.

5th grade personal logos

This project is based on the career of a graphic designer. Students were asked to design a logo that represents themselves or to design a new logo for an existing company or an upcoming event. We really dove into a lot of professional examples and dissected them to figure out what makes a good logo work. Students started with sketching ideas. After a couple rounds of peer review, students drew a large version of the final logo. 

This project allows students to demonstrate their thinking throughout the entire design process. The final work turns out great and it provides and opportunity for  me to get to know my students a little better. We did a final gallery walk where students had the opportunity to comment on each others work.

5th Grade Monsters

We talked about monsters and we viewed many contemporary artists who focus on monsters. Students learned about texture, scale and proportion. They planned their designs in their sketchbooks and then created these amazing works of art.

5th grade value study on snow people.

We did a quick one day lesson to celebrate the winter solstice season.  Students learned about shading a sphere using value.

5th Grade Claymation Videos!

The students did an amaizing job trying to complete these animation videos before the end of the school year.  I am very proud of the work they do in such a short amount of time.  Unfortunately my students only have art once a week for 50 minutes.  Good luck to all the graduating Crest View 5th Graders! I will miss working with you please come visit!

5th grade Geogria O'Keeffe Study

5th grade looked at O'Keeffe's art work. We discussed abstract art and how she enlarged and zoomed in on her subject which made her paintings look semi abstract. Students reviewed warm and cool colors as well as positive and negative space. They were introduced to values and used various tints and shades to make their leaves or leaf more interesting.

5th grade Mandalas

I gained inspiration for this art project after attending the Colorado Art Educator Conference in Breckenridge this November.  We talked about Mandalas and radial symmetry. Students learned how to make a mandala using radial symmetry buy folding a price of paper into 8 sections and writing a word in one of the triangles and tracing it onto the other 7 sections.

5th grade Notans

5th grade studied the art of  Nōtan 濃淡  which is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark as they are placed next to the other in art and imagery.  We talked about positive and negative space as well as symmetry to create a cut out Notan. Here are some of their works. They turned out amazing!