Modern Art...

To continue our lesson on Frank Stella, I decided that if I gave the students the whole hour to work on their paintings they would chatter incessantly.  So, what better way to focus their attention then have them watch a video on Modern Art while they are making Modern Art????  I'm a genius, I know :)  This is a great video showing artists, such as Chuck Close in his element, expressing his talent and demonstrating his painting skills:

Here is my teacher sample of my own version of a Frank Stella painting from his protractor series:

Now keep in mind, that while I love to study the "Masters" in art, I rarely encourage copying artists' work.  I introduce the students to famous works of art & art movements and share some of the artist's ideas about the art they created but I encourage them to take some of the same ideas & create their own masterpieces.

Here are some of the paintings that are in mid-progress (these are 16x20 paintings)...

These is one 4th grade painting.  They finished these because they were on 12x12 paper - much smaller than the 5th and 6th grade paintings.  And, we used white crayon with watercolor and I thought I'd like these better, but I'm not so sure anymore...the watercolors don't seem to fit with this particular artist.  It's all trial and error, isn't it?

Frank Stella

SFMOMA | Explore Modern Art | Multimedia | Video | Frank Stella on abstraction

This is the beginning of our Frank Stella series that I plan on displaying at our Fine Arts fair. I was searching for a video that describes abstract art and Stella's idea of "reshaping" the canvas - making the shape of the canvas play an important role in the final piece of art. Here are our beginning drawings:

Next week, we will cut out around some of the circles to transform the shape of the "canvas".

And here is the PowerPoint I showed the kids:

Frank stella

View more presentations from rkeller19.

Optical Illusion Drawings

I love teaching the kids how to use simple lines and shapes that create illusions :)  For this project, we started with an X, drew a vertical line through the middle, and then a horizontal line.  I use food terms a lot when giving demonstrations b/c it's something we can all relate to.  For this one, I talk about pizza crust and toppings.  I say, in the first slice of pizza, draw a crust that goes out (a line that curves out).  Then, in the next slice of pizza, draw a 'crust' that goes in.  We repeat this pattern all the way around our 'pizza'.  Next, for the toppings (or, the lines inside of the pizza), I tell them the toppings have to match the crust...if the crust is a line that goes out...the toppings have to curve out and vice versa.  It's also important to emphasize that the toppings have to connect from one slice of pizza to the next.

We used oil pastels to add color and to create the 'highlight' in each space.  I show them that using shadows and highlights makes objects look like they are receding and advancing off the page.

Attempted Tessellations...

Okay, I thought...I have this Tessellation video that we got about a year ago that I'll show my 5th and 6th graders, they'll really like it, they'll think tessellations are cool.  Ha ha.  This video couldn't be more boring!  I'm sure they could have found a slightly more excited artist to talk about tessellations!  Or, even add some background music, or maybe some really cool examples!  Come on!  Art is supposed to be fun, isn't it?  Well, needless to say, I stopped the video 8 minutes into it and we got right to work on our very own designs.  Now, if anyone out there is looking for an artist to do art demonstrations for videos, CALL ME!  I will take the $$$ and produce something much, much more exciting than this video:

Graffiti Art

This was a really fun lesson to do with my older students.  It started out as a 5th grade Art Club project, but snowballed into a 4th-6th grade art lesson because when the students saw what Art Club was working on they were begging me to teach them how to make graffiti letters.  And, I gave in to their requests.  However, when they began the project, they learned how difficult it was to make the letters and use the oil pastels, the success rate for this project was low :(  The students who were successful at this project were those who work hard and diligent during class time. 

 And this was my teacher sample: (of course I had to join in on the fun)

City Silhouettes - finished!

These are some examples of stellar student work:

The city silhouettes were added after we were finished with painted the Tinted City Skies.  This is a project that takes 3 or more class periods to complete, but the results are stunning!  We talk about positive and negative space, architectural details, contrast in size and shape, and composition.  I had a slideshow playing on the TV showing the silhouettes of several different cities.

Ocean Mural Finished!

Finally, after 2+ hours of installation, the ocean mural is complete :)  The students are in awe as they walk through the front foyer of the school.  They all point out, "That's my shark, turtle, fish, etc." I first hung up the large 2-D paintings and then attached animal cut-outs with foam core dividers so some of the animals pop-out.  Next, I hung the jellyfish and soda bottle fish from the ceiling.  The last thing I plan on doing is putting up samples of student 'academic' work above the mural, because my theme was "Come SEA what we've been learning".

Tinted City Skyline Paintings

To sum up this painting project, I can only say "Trial and Error".  I love the results, but it has taken me a few years to 'perfect' my teaching strategies to ensure student success.  Lesson learned: try and try again.  The basic idea is to simplify it to the extent where students are allowed one large 'puddle' of white paint in the middle of their palette.  They are allowed to use only one color.  Next, I demonstrate the mixing process and tell them to trust me, even though it looks like the color isn't changing, we are going for a gradual effect.  They have to mix just one dab of color into the entire white 'puddle', leaving no swirls of color or white paint.  We start with a white circle, which is the light source and each ring around that circle is just slightly darker each time.  Today after four people had to start over, I went ahead and told them that they have to mix the dab of color 15 times into the white 'puddle' before painting the next ring, because if they don't mix the color well enough, the ring is much darker from the residual paint left on the paintbrush.  Like I said...trial and error!  These are just the beginning of some very stunning, visually appealing works of art:

Next class period, we will begin our city silhouettes using black construction paper:

Recycled Magazine Flowers

I can use magazines in every season and for every occasion.  For this assignment, I had the students cut out colorful squares from magazine pages, fold them three times to get a small triangle, and cut a petal shape out of the top of the triangle.  We tried to find magazine pages that were contrasting in color, to make the layers really "pop".  Next, we rolled a whole page (preferably a green page) and glued it closed for the stem.  I had some jars that someone donated years ago that I thought would be the perfect place to showcase our boquets:

Rotational Symmetry

I am pulling out an old lesson post here because it was just so successful last year!

Students in grades 4-6 have been working on Rotational Symmetry drawings for the past three class periods.  This is one of the many math concepts that directly connects to the visual arts.  I love teaching this lesson because the results are stunning, the kids feel confident about their work, and they want to work hard for the final product (which is sometimes a challenge for the 6th graders).  I have the students create a simple drawing on 1/8 of their circle, then teach them how to "transfer" their drawing into all 8 parts of their circle by putting pencil led on the back of the piece of paper and tracing over the original drawing 8 times.  We also discuss some techniques of using colored pencils, like graduated coloring, shading, and blending colors together.

 

Step 1: Divide circle, Draw design onto separate 1/8th

  Step 2: Fill backside of design piece with pencil lead

Step 3: Trace over design into each piece on the circle, 

pressing hard to transfer the lead from the back onto the paper.

I had to share this video of my students diligently working on their Kente cloth drawings.  And, no, you don't need to adjust your volume...they were actually SILENT.  I had 100% enthusiasm and participation for the entire class!  I love it when that happens :3)

This project is a lesson that I taught my 6th graders last year and it turned out really well.  The main idea is to introduce students to the 'concept' of weaving and how textiles are truly an art form, especially in African art.  Although we did not do paper weavings or work on a finger loom, we did see a PowerPoint slideshow showing African artists sitting at looms and I went over the basic skills of weaving.

I also had a handout for the students that we read as soon as they came into the Art room.  On the handout, we read about the history of Kente Cloth, the Ghanaian leader, Kwame Nkrumah, and the cultural color significance.