Meet the Artist

Every year, I do a project where students have to research an artist on their own.  I change it up in some way every year.  Sometimes I require students to create PowerPoint presentations and in others they must create original artworks in their assigned artist's style.  No matter what, there is always a writing component, and they must present their artist to the class. 

This year, students had to write a one-page, typed, double-spaced report about the artist, and then put that on a poster along with a picture of the artist and at least one of the artists works of art.  The students were given a week in the computer lab and access to printers to help them.  We also talked about tips for writing a good report, and I got the librarian involved in the action to direct them to some great databases and sites for reputable information. 

Here are some of my favorite posters:

So guess what!  Those students who are so worried about "not being able to draw", have an opportunity to be successful in a "non drawing" activity!

Writing in the art room

Yes, this is art class, but I believe that Art enhances all other disciplines.  So I require my students to write about their art.  We have a weekly warm up, called the Art Start, where students are assigned a work each day Monday-Thursday, and they must draw a picture inspired by the word.  Now, the pictures are only 1/4 of a page, but they must use up that entire box and color or shade their drawings.  Here comes the writing component:  On Fridays, they must select one of their drawings and write four sentences about it.  I also ask them to write in cursive.  I gradually increase the number of sentences that must be in cursive and I provide them with a cursive chart as well.

Inchies!

Have you heard of inchies?  An inchie is a one-inch-square work of art.  I challenged my students to divide two pages in their sketchbooks into a 1" grid.  Whenever they have "free time", they are to draw an inchie or two in their sketchbooks.  The goal is to have both pages, which have about 80 squares each, filled up with tiny works of art by the end of April.  The students must make each square its own artwork, and they must each be original.  I am participating with them.  I am not sure what we will do with them in the end yet, but we will use them for another activity.  More details and photos to come!  Here is an example of the beginning stages:

Still Life Drawings

For this project, students had to set up their own still lives at home and take a photo from three different angles with their cell phones.  Then we used a method I saw on you tube for drawing still life art:  Students divided their papers into four quadrants, and then drew in all negative space.  This was really helpful, because it allowed the students to narrow down where everything should be placed, and keep it at the correct size/scale for the picture.  Then students drew the contour lines for their objects before finally adding details.  This method also allowed them to focus on one quadrant at a time--which made it more approachable for students.

I believe that this was a really successful project, because the students were able to choose what they wanted to draw--which made it more interesting to them, and those who put forth effort were really pleased with the end result.  We did several activities with colored pencils first, so students would be comfortable with proper colored pencil techniques.

Color

When we returned from the winter break, I wanted to talk about color--my absolute favorite Element of Art/Design.  We talked about the color wheel extensively--including all the color schemes that students can find on the color wheel.  After all of that, they got a little oil pastel exposure.  Students divided their papers into organic shapes, and then they used oil pastels to color each shape.  They had to gradually go from one color to another, and they had to use an analogous color scheme in each shape.  I challenged them by not allowing them to smudge!

I mistakenly gave most of these artworks back before I had a chance to take a picture of them!  But they were really vibrant and eye-catching! 

Self Portraits!

I took my students photos in front of a brick wall, and printed it in grayscale.  Next students divided their photos with a 1" grid, and their 12" X 18" papers into a 3" grid.  Students used the grid drawing method to draw their likeness as well as the background, and they used ebony pencils to shade them.

It is amazing what students can accomplish when they really focus and put forth 100% effort.  I think they surprised themselves on this one!

Preparing for pencil work

Students are getting ready to do self portraits, and I want them to use only ebony pencils to shade in a range of values.  We went over some basic shading practices, and then I also gave practice using grids to draw.  In my experience, students either love them or they hate them.  Either way, it is great to help them to draw only what they see.  I made some "Warholed" grey scale pictures with grids for the students to draw and practice making values with only their pencils. Here are the celebs I used:

When we are done, I plan to take students photos so they can draw themselves.

Kaleidoscope

I think all art teachers have done some version of a mandala or kaleidoscopic image with their students.  After all, it is an awesome art activity to learn about radial balance!  So, students had to include their name and three things that they like in their design.  i wrote my last name in cursive, drew a thread with a needle, an orchid and a zebra longwing butterfly.  Here is my example design:

The students enjoyed this assignment, although the transfer process can be a little complex for some.  It is so cool how those things that are drawn make their own unplanned design elements when the mirror image is added.  In the future, I believe we will not use watercolor washes on it so they can be more vibrant.

Graffiti!

One thing I like to do every year with my students is Graffiti!  I LOVE graffiti!  Of course we talk about the not so great side of it, vandalism, but I just think it takes so much talent to be able to create with spray paint!  I even found this nifty example on a train during a vacation in Atlanta:

But back to the class activity.  We continued to talk about line and shape, and we talked about common characteristics of graffiti, and some steps to making them.  I really enjoy putting up artwork in the hallway, so that people know that we are actually working in my room!  Plus, it just makes the students feel great to have their artwork out for all to see.  I started out with this backdrop:

And then added the students work, and voila!

I Am...

We are back from an unexpected break, AKA Hurricane Harvey, but we are anxious to dive right in to the Elements and Principles of Design.  For this activity, we are focusing on line and shape.  Students had to learn the characteristics of lines and shapes--different types and ways they can look, and then they had to list about six adjectives that they would use to describe themselves.  Here was my example:

Overall, I was very pleased with how the student work turned out.  A not-so-intimidating activity to start the year!