Monochromatic Picasso Portraits

Students learned how to make tints and shades of one color using white and black.  We started this lesson with a blind contour self portrait drawing.  Some students chose to use the blind contour for the monochromatic painting to have a more abstract style work of art.

4th grade faux taxidermy paper mache creatures

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.

2nd grade Super Heros!

Here they come to save the day, Second grade selfies are on their way! For second grade, I decided to do a fun self portrait lesson. The kids LOVED creating these super hero versions of themselves.

Students started by sketching ideas for their superhero selfie.  We talked about using shapes to create out bodies: rectangles for the torso and shapes for the arms and legs, etc. 

We also talked about masks, capes and symbols. When the kids were finished with their super hero, they traced them in Sharpie. Before coloring, we discussed about finding our skin tone. We also talked about limiting our color palette to three colors for our super hero costume. Checking out Superman, Spiderman and Ironman really helped them understand the idea of a limited palette.  Some kids added a sidekick to their super hero selfie.

Kids decided what powers their super hero has and in what type of environment they want to place their superhero. Some chose a city scape, landscape or in outer space. 

Once complete, the super heroes were cut out carefully before being glued into the cityscape masterpiece. Here are some images of their hard 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.

4th grade collaborative Solar Systems

4th graders worked on a collaborative art project to create their own solar system.   This system could be real or imaginary.  Students were introduced to shading a form and sphere and also wet on wet watercolor techniques. They used oil pastel, colored pencil, watercolor paint and tempera paint to complete their projects.