For the rest of this month, we are getting ready for Black History Month coming up in February. I want some dramatic artwork to display around the building because we are hosting an evening in February to celebrate African American History. The students will be performing plays, skits, songs, poems, and much more.
The 4th graders today worked on these gorgeous African masks. We discussed the purposes of masks, African art, and the meaning behind some of the symbols/designs commonly used in African art. I always make the point that African art is always meaningful to the artist, has some symbolic meaning behind the shapes & colors, and is almost always useful/functional. With these key features in mind, students can understand African culture a little deeper.
We began by watching this short slide show I found on YouTube:
Next, I gave the students this handout to base their mask design from:
I demonstrated how to fold the paper in half, draw half of the mask shape on the folded side, and cut it out. Next, students added graphic designs to the mask using ideas from the above examples. Lastly, we used shades of brown, black, & white tempera paint into the shapes. We also added raffia & yarn around the masks for that touch of texture.
Here are a few examples:
In keeping with the African American cultural unit, kinders made these adorable lion portraits in Art last week. Starting off with the lion face, we colored in the features with neutral colored crayons. Next, I put orange, yellow, & brown paint on their tables and showed them how to paint straight lines radiating from the lion's face to represent the mane. Lastly, I put pieces of neutral colored yarn on the tables & let them glue pieces of yarn on top of the lion's mane. Here are just a few examples of student work:
With my 2nd graders, we watched this video showing the rich wildlife of the African landscape:
Next, I introduced them to the concept of silhouettes. This is a tough one for little ones because you have to explain light direction and shadowing. Even though they may not totally understand the abstract concept, they can gain an understanding of why the images are all in black. I emphasized painting their sunsets from light to dark, starting with yellow and ending with red, or the darkest color on their palette. Here are a few examples:
I showed this video to my kinders yesterday regarding the African landscape, climate, & animals. (I actually have a student who just moved here from Africa, so that was pretty cool.)
We named all of the different animals that we saw in the video (although I have to admit...there were a few horned creatures that I didn't know the name of, so I called them 'antelope'...ooops).
Then, we started our giraffe project. This was quite an undertaking for kinders. We had to draw the giraffe, cut it out, tear brown paper for the spots, make a moon, & cut the grass. I think they turned out very well. The lesson actually came from Patti over at Deep Space Sparkle. My teacher friend had downloaded one of Patti's units on African Themed Art Lessons and gave me a copy. Thanks Patti! Here is a link to her blog: http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2010/12/african-art-lessons-plans/
Purchasing her lesson plans is definitely worth the $$.
