Art & Music

"Hyper" by Briauna

"Energetic" by Shania

"Hyper" by Jada

"Energetic" by Zariyah

"Calming" by Jenaryea

Kaleidoscope Drawings

     This was a great project that I basically invented for my annual Picture The Music unit. I generally try to come up with projects that are more abstract in subject matter and which experiment with different color techniques. I found an awesome video on You Tube showing an up close shot of a kaleidoscope set to some music. PERFECT! We folded our papers in half 3x to divide it into triangles. Next, I showed the students how to use simple shapes and lines in each triangle to create a design that is symmetrical. We used sharpie for the drawing and watercolor markers for the coloring. When they were finished, I sandwiched the drawing between 2 wet pieces of plain paper to get the colors to bleed together. I pressed them with heavy stacks of paper for a day. Then, these beautiful colorful drawings were revealed! And the bonus? I have a ton of colorful tie-dye paper that I can use with other projects! It's a win-win. 

Easy Tie-Dye

     Love, love the instant gratification this project allows. I've done this at my summer art camps before, but decided to use it with my Picture The Music lesson with one of my 5th grade classes. Take a piece of tissue paper and fold it many times until it's about a 3" square. Dip the ends into some liquid water colors and watch the colors bleed together. This is also a great way to let the kids be all 'science-y' and learn about absorption and color mixing. They were encouraged to think about what colors would best represent the song based on the mood or the feelings they got fr the song. They drew an abstract line and shape drawing that I plan to adhere the tissue paper to when they dry so the drawing will show through the paper. I'll post pics when we are done. 

One Point Perspective

     This lesson on one point perspective went incredibly well yesterday with my 5th and 6th graders! I was shocked how quickly they picked up on the basic knowledge of using the vanishing point for every line they drew! I don't have any finished projects yet to share but here are a few pics of the beginning lesson. I began class by showing this You Tube video I found and the students were quite intrigued with it. So, I think it heightened their interest in the drawing lesson itself. Otherwise they may not have been so excited about the project...who knows! It's hard to get adolescents excited about art sometimes. We plan on adding some really cool colorful designs to the sky next week. I'll keep you posted! 

Paper Lizards

This was such a fun lesson to do with my Rainforest Unit that we are working on with my 5th & 6th graders!  These lizards look so great in the Rainforest display and add such color and whimsy!  You should definitely try this project out with your kids!  I initially saw this idea on Pinterest, so here is the link where you can get the detailed instructions...Paper Lizards.  I also showed this video about the Tropical Rainforest I found on You Tube...

Colored Pencil Drawings

This is a great lesson on using a value scale.  First, we put a dot in the center of our paper and used a ruler to draw straight lines all around the paper.  Next, we used colored pencils to add color to our drawings.  Before we began, we practiced using the same color with different values on a scrap piece of paper.  Students are always amazed at the different variations of value they can get using just one colored pencil!  This project took about two weeks to finish.  Here are a few samples:

Magazine Portraits!

This is a great project to do with 5th and 6th graders!  Kids at this age feel very self-conscious about their drawing skills, so giving them a project where the end result is SUPPOSED to look funny is a win-win!  Thanks to all of my friends who have donated magazines to the Art Room, especially the ESPN magazines (the boys LOVE them).  I started by showing the first photo (thanks to a project I found on Pinterest).  We talked about sizes, proportions, texture, details, and how to integrate all of those things into one great work of art.  

Magazine Portrait by Kelli

Great Job!!!

Dubuffet Sculptures

Today in Art, the 6th Graders learned about the abstract art of Jean Dubuffet.  He is an interesting artist to study because kids can relate to his simple, graphic, bold artwork.  I also emphasize that Dubuffet was inspired by the simplicity and immaturity of children's artwork (& the art of the criminally insane, but I leave that out of my introduction).  I really love teaching this lesson because it gives students the chance to create a paper sculpture, use what they know about free-form shapes, and the end result is quite beautiful.  Here are three great examples from my 6th grade class:

Carson's Sculpture 

Celeste's Sculpture 

Brea's Sculpture

Sunrise Silhouettes

     These paintings made by my 5th graders turned out so beautiful!  Using watercolors, we painted our skies first, focusing on using colors that we would find in a sunrise or sunset.  Next, we painted the tree branch silhouettes with black tempera paint.  This project lends itself to the discussion about how backlighting the subject creates outlines or shadows and loses detail.  Painting tree branches is a great way to teach kids how much pressure they should put on the paintbrush for the desired result.  We painted the large branches first, making sure we loaded our brushes with an ample amount of paint and pressed down on the bristles to make the thick lines.  For the medium branches, we used less paint and focused on pressing down and lifting the brush up at the end to create a variation of thickness.  Lastly, we worked on 'flicking' our brushes to create small, thin branches.  For added detail, I gave the students Sharpies to add the very small, fine branches to their silhouettes.  Here are two great examples:

Elijah's Painting

Timothy's Painting

James Rizzi City Drawings

     This was a marathon project for my 4th & 5th graders!  We have spent the past 3 WEEKS working on our drawings.  The first week, we watched a You Tube video about James Rizzi and discussed his fun, whimsical paintings.  Students began by sketching out their cityscapes, making sure to create depth and dimension by including a foreground, a middleground, and a background.  Since James Rizzi was from New York and his paintings were based on his city, we decided to make our drawings based on our great city of St. Louis!
     The second week, students traced over their pencil drawings with a sharpie marker and finished up adding details such as people, cars, trees, windows, etc.  They also started using the markers to add color during the second week.  Most of my students were so enthralled with their precise coloring that they spent a LONG time on this particular task.
     The third week, students finally...yes, finally finished their drawings.  (Now, don't get me wrong...there were some students that STILL have not finished this project.  They fall into two categories: 1.  they lost interest in this project 1/2 way into week #2 and could not finish, or 2. they were soooo incredibly focused that they need more time because of all of the details they added and they were trying to make it 'perfect').

Here are some stellar works of art inspired by James Rizzi:

Josiah's city 

(He's not finished yet with his, but I love the billboard! Don't you?)

Victor's city 

(he's not quite finished yet...but this is FABULOUS!)

Katelyn's city 

 Brandon's city

George's city 

Jordan's city

Snowflake Collages

     I really love projects involving snowflakes because of the technical, mathematical aspect.  Now, I will admit the ONLY mathematical theories that I enjoy are those involving symmetry and shapes...that's it!  So, to introduce this lesson, we always begin with an overview of symmetry and rotational symmetry.  By this point in the year, 3rd-6th graders are pretty familiar with the concept of symmetry so I'm basically just reinforcing what they already know and giving them a hands-on approach to further stretch their knowledge on the subject.  I showed the class several different examples of snowflake designs that I found on the ever-handy Google Images.  Next, I passed out strips of paper that measure 6" long and 1/2" wide.  They are encouraged to start the snowflake by gluing strips of paper in an X and putting one or two more strips of paper through the middle of the X both horizontally and vertically.  Now the fun begins.  I show them how to cut the strips into little pieces to add details to their snowflakes.  I reinforce that each line has to be the SAME in order for the snowflake to remain SYMMETRICAL.  Here are a few great examples from 4th grade:

 By Mary Jane

By Gabby

Visual & Actual Texture

      This is a great lesson for this time of year!  The leaves are changing, the air is crisp, & the colors are vibrant and warm.  I found this lesson at www.thatartistwoman.org/.  She does an amazing job teaching lessons that involve layers of interesting materials, colors, and themes.  Check it out!

      First, we worked on tagboard because the yarn can be heavy when glued to paper.  The students cut out circles from brown poster board and used long pieces of yarn to glue around the circle.  Since this is a skill that can take a LOT of time, I had them fill the inside of their circle with pre-cut pieces of yarn.  This way, we still get the radial design of the circle with added texture in the middle.  Next, the students cut the tree trunk from pieces of brown poster board in the shape of a letter "Y".  Lastly, I demonstrated how to paint the background to depict visual texture.  This painting technique involves NO BRUSH WASHING, which makes the project move faster.  We started with blue for the sky and added white for contrast.  The colors mix to create a lighter hue and eventually the brush will dry out from making the left-to-right brushstrokes.  Then, they dip the brush in the green, make sideways brushstrokes until their brush is dry and use white again for contrast.  Next, the dip their (dry) brush in the red, then in the orange, yellow, and lastly white again.  Now don't get me wrong, some of the students DID, in fact, end up with a brown ground because their brushes weren't totally dry before they dipped into the red.  But, that's OK... a brown ground is just fine!  Here are some finished 5th grade works of art:

 By Victor 

 By Stephen

By Diamond

Painting & Descriptive Writing

     Well.  I have to admit.  I am a sucker for all things cross-curricular this year.  I was trained under the theory that Art is for Arts Sake.  A painting can stand alone solely on visual interpretation.  As I become an active member of our school 'family' by sitting in on grade-level data teams and see what concepts our kids are struggling with on assessments, I feel the need to support them in any way that I can.  There.  I said it.

    I feel like descriptive writing is a weakness for some of our kiddos.  It takes some 'thinking outside of the box'.  It takes some 'imagination'.  And what better place to use imagination than in the Art Room?  So, I found this painting inspiration on Pinterest (yes, I'm addicted):

Here's the link to the original lesson: 

http://arteascuola-miriampaternoster.blogspot.com/2011/01/paesaggi-in-gradazione-tonale.html

    We started talking about perspective and how objects become smaller as they go farther away from you.  Then, I introduced the students to the concept of Atmospheric Perspective and how the colors of things become less intense the farther you look.  So, I showed the students three different ways to draw their lines to depict either a desert or a meadow landscape (with soft curved lines), a forest landscape (like the one above), or a mountain landscape (using jagged/peaked lines).  Next, I let them select one color for their palette.  I gave them a scoop of white per area they had on their paper (5 hills, 5 scoops of white).  The directions were to paint the foreground with the original color, the second space with one scoop of white mixed in, the third space with another scoop of white, and so on.  

     When the paintings were finished, they were to write a descriptive paragraph telling the viewer where they are, what they feel (temperature or emotion), what they hear, what do they see, etc.  We talked about the moods of color and color temperature.  

     Next class period, I gave them colored pencils and let them add details to their paintings to depict exactly what type of landscape they have.  They were instructed to use visual perspective when drawing their objects.  Here are some stellar examples:

Positive/Negative Bugs!!

     This lesson was super fun!  

These are examples of 6th grade work:

We had already been working on positive and negative space for two weeks prior to this lesson.  Here is an example of the first lesson that we worked on:

      

      Once they understood the concept of cutting out a shape along an axis and flipping it over to the other side to create a mirror image, we were ready for bugs.

      I actually found this lesson on Pinterest.  Here is the link to the post from Pinterest (the photo does not go to a blog or credit a teacher, but I wanted to post where I found it):  http://pinterest.com/pin/44543483785160136/.  We started the lesson by looking over a handout I made showing the shapes of various types of bugs.  I demonstrated how to draw half of a bug on each edge of a white rectangle.  I also emphasized that each but needs to be cut-out VERY NEATLY!  Make sure to tell them that they are saving both the bug and the background piece so they can't 'over cut' or cut around the shape and cut the details later.  After they cut out the large shape of their bug, they needed to cut a small shape out of the body.  Next, they flipped the shape along the line of symmetry to create a positive and negative image.  Good luck!!  The results are quite stunning when put on display.