Egyptian Profile Paintings:The 4/5s have studied ancient Egypt in their social studies class. In Art class, they are using the standard proportions of the human face to draw each other in profile. Then, they are adding typical ancient Egyptian headdresses, clothes and jewelry to their portraits. Finally, they are drawing some hieroglyphics to finish the picture.
Islamic Art In this project the 5/6s are tying together Social Studies, Math and Art! They are making a geometric tile design (based on their name) using repeating shapes and patterns. They viewed a slide show about characteristics of Islamic art and the variety of types of Islamic art. Step 1: Cut 12 x 12″ piece of paper. Fold in half then in half again. Step 2: Open and fold one more time, diagonally. Step Three: Write your name on … Read more…
My students participated in a community art exhibit at the Overture Center in Madison, WI. The exhibit was fiber representations of microorganisms. The opening was this past Friday and it was amazing! All of the kids’ artwork was displayed, alongside other community artists. Here is a link to all of OUR microorganisms. You can see my post about this process here. Here are some pictures of the gallery opening night. My students’ work (and my own microorganism) is mixed in … Read more…
I did an after school clay class with kids in grades K-6
These are drawings by 4th/5th graders. Who was Keith Haring? What is gesture drawing? The 4/5s learned about the artwork of Keith Haring and practiced figural drawing. In pairs, the students posed for each other and practiced gesture drawing and longer posed drawings. Then they drew stylized people, kind of in a cartoon-like way. We read pages from this book about Keith Haring and analyzed the meanings of his artwork. The kids were encouraged to add their own symbols … Read more…
Here are a few of the final glazed pocket pots. Kids were in grades K-6. It was an afterschool class. For full directions, see earlier post about this project. Yay! I love them!
The 5th/6th graders made fabric and fiber representations of microorganisms. This is a great tie-in to Science class. These are actually going to be displayed in a real art exhibition! To make a fiber microorganism, the 5/6s are cutting a large piece of felt into a desired shape. Then, they are layering other shapes of patterned fabric or solid color felt on top. These shapes are glued together and were embellished with stitching, beading and sequins (if desired.) The students … Read more…
Trees in the Style of Piet Mondrian-–The 4th/5th graders drew trees to complement their studies in Science class. How can line be used creatively to make a stylized picture? How can we capture a mood using color? How can oil pastels be used effectively? These are the questions we will explore during this unit. Theyhad a color mixing and blending review. They learned to use line creatively and made stylized art. Piet Mondrian’s abstract trees were viewed:
In Science class, the 5/6s studied various types of clouds. In art class, we learned about clouds in art. This website has an amazing selection of famous artworks with clouds. Scientists have identified the types of clouds that are in these paintings. Check it out! The 5/6s made small watercolor paintings of a specific type of cloud. They had to identify the type of cloud they were painting. Clouds in art
How is design used in daily life? What do graphic designers create? How can we investigate a variety of symbols and fonts? How can we use appropriate symbols, colors and fonts to represent ourselves visually? Using letters and numbers, the 5/6s created a design that is meaningful to them. They learned about the artists Robert Indiana and Bradbury Thompson. Logos, careers and originality were the concepts stressed in this unit. After the kids made these images, I shrunk the pictures … Read more…
I started out the year with the Primary students (1st grade) drawing small, quick self portraits. One kid drew himself as a pirate! lol. The 4/5s (4th/5th graders mixed) looked at gears and drew them from observation. I also had pictures of gears and machinery for them to look at. I showed them basic steps to add shading and value. After they had drawn 3+ gears, I told them that we would be turning them into inventions. We had things … Read more…
Weaving on Straws Here is a really fun and addicting way to weave… on plastic drinking straws! There’s no reason to re-write all the directions out, so here is a link to how to weave on straws. If you get stuck, there are plenty of websites with full directions and even videos… simply google “weaving on straws.” With this project, I set up the straws ahead of time for the kids. (There were only about 6 or 7 kids … Read more…
Part 4 of my Weaving Wonders Camp: Some of the kids tried finger weaving or finger knitting. It was too hard for the youngest kids to figure out, but 3rd grade seems about the right age to start. Detailed directions are here: Knitty, which is a really cool knitting blog if you are a knitter.
We are having a great time at the summer Clay Camp for kids that I taught in DeForest, WI. The second week we made clay monsters. To make a monster, first, start by making a pinch pot. See this website for a demo of pinch pots if you are not sure how. Next, gently squish the pinch pot so it is slightly flattened. Turn the pinch pot on its side and add teeth, eyes, legs, feet, horns, ears, nose, tongue … Read more…
This summer I have also been teaching a clay class for kids through the DeForest parks and recreation dept. It is only 6 sessions, one hour each session. I have 2 groups of kids: K-3, then 4-7 (roughly, there are some overlaps). Some of the weeks I am teaching the same projects and other weeks we are doing different projects. The first week we made leaf dishes. They are very simple and a good way to teach about rolling slabs. … Read more…
