Construct, Observe, Color

I mentioned a little while back that my saving graces this year have been my new work buddies and my Art 2 students. Yesterday was one of the best days this year and it makes me sad, no matter how tough it has been, that I may not be up at the high school again next year. I think there is going to be some major shifting around in our little art department. At the very least I will go back to the position that I had last year, teaching part time middle school art. I know my principal there said he will advocate for me. He reassured me that I shouldn't be worried, but nobody likes change. I will be happy to have the opportunity to keep doing what I love. And for that I am very thankful.

The images above are of a three part lesson/ unit about observation and color. This is one that I feel like I built from my own idea and am proud of the results. Traditionally, I have had eighth graders observe and study still lifes that I have constructed.

These two images are from the school where I first taught. The students are in tenth grade and I occasionally see a few at the school where I teach now. The student on the end (left) produced the image below of the white still life.

So, I took this idea and tried to step it up a little for my Art 2 students. Still life and value drawing are pretty big components of Art 1, but I didn't want to have them draw my boring old (literally dusty at this point) still lifes. I had the genius idea that with such a small class, only 15 students (!), I could bring in a bunch of recycled materials that I had been collecting and have them construct their own. There were egg cartons, paper towel tubes, broken down cereal boxes, cardboard scraps, bottle caps, newspapers, hot glue, scissors and tape. I demonstrated a few construction techniques and reviewed objective versus non- objective. Then I let students take off!

When the pieces felt balanced and complete, I had students spray paint them white. At first I had gesso, but many of the materials we used were very porous. It was like a sponge soaking up water, but the spray paint worked better to block the "pores" and cover the sculptures. Thankfully we have a vent, so we did not have to go outside.

I don't know why this is sideways, it is correct in Picasa! I get to share a pretty sweet classroom with fabulous prints and spotlights. The now white sculptures were placed under color lights and students completed at least three color studies with dry materials of their choice. If I were to do this again, I would try to find brighter color bulbs. I put them in clip lamps like the one pictured above in the front of the room, but they didn't shine very far. It was more like mood lighting. Plus, I didn't realize how much light came through the sky light, so there was not as much contrast as I had hoped for. 

As the last student finished up their sculpture and began the color studies, I reviewed color more in depth. I attempted to have groups of students become "experts" on different color schemes and then share with the class at large, but this group is not very vocal. I need to improve this part of the lesson, but I think the handout I provided was helpful.

Finally, students selected a color scheme and completed a long term acrylic painting of their sculpture in that theme. 

Sorry for the weird shadows. There were no lights in the display case.
When the painting was complete, students could paint their sculpture however they liked. I would maybe switch these last two steps. Initially I felt that keeping the sculpture white would help students see different values and then they could interpret that into color. I think that worked, but not for every student.

I have such a great group of students! There are a handful not pictured because they're still not entirely done. They are actually more of the objective pieces including a turtle, fish and wolf. What was great about this activity was that every student was successful in their own way, from the gifted student to the student with special needs. There was something for everyone, forcing some out of their comfort zones and causing students to look and think in a new way. I'm really proud of these kids and I can't wait to share some of their more recent work!

Color Scheme Number Design

This sixth grade lesson was inspired by Figure 5 in Gold by Charles Demuth and Numbers in Color by Jasper Johns.

To motivate students, I asked a few to share what their favorite number is and why. We discussed how numbers have meaning to people and cultures. I suggested that artists may be inspired by numbers as well and presented a slide show of work from Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns and Charles Demuth.

Students were then instructed to select one number to be repeated numerous times around the page. We quickly talked about typography as I gave each table a sample of numbers in different type faces. I drew a sketch on the white board to demonstrate variety of size and placement. Finally, students used up to seven lines to divide the page and create new spaces and shapes. By the end of the first class, students traced their lines with white glue. This time, I demonstrated a few techniques using the document camera.

At the beginning of the next class, I gave students a vocabulary activity to complete independently or as a table, explaining that they would be using the words for their designs. Students were asked to match the correct definition to a color scheme, using a glossary (from Art: A Global Pursuit) and photo copy of terms and definitions.

Students were asked to choose from a warm, cool, monochromatic, analogous, triadic or complementary color scheme for their number design, now that they knew a color scheme is a plan for selecting colors. I noticed that pink and lime green is a thing amongst the sixth grade girls. I had to walk a few of them through how that could fit into a color scheme.

There were also many with warm colors/cool backgrounds and vice versa. Students were encouraged to experiment with blending and making new colors within their color scheme. If I were to do this again, I would cut down the size from 12x 18 to 9x12. I'm finding many students do not have the stamina to complete the larger size, especially after missing class for snow days and special events. Overall, I am pleased with the results, most students are proud of their work, and I was able to expose them to new materials, techniques and terminology. (I think my favorite however, is the one at the beginning of the post!)

Symmetrical Monochromatic Paintings

Another gem from school years passed AND based on a lesson from Making Amazing Art.
I think these paintings were by fifth and sixth graders my second year of teaching, as a way to introduce color, value and balance.

1. Create a symmetrical drawing.

The original lesson called for an outline of a butterfly. I didn't want these preteens to be insulted, so we stuck to abstract, tessellated designs.

a. Fold a piece of paper in half hot dog or hamburger, and draw any kind of line that starts at the top and ends at the bottom. This was a great way to review kinds of line as well. 
b. Add five more lines to break up the two shapes. Remember to use a variety of lines to add more interest. Keeping the number of lines limited helps to not make the final composition an overwhelming design. (As it was, these took weeks!)
c. Re- trace all the lines heavy and dark with pencil.
d. Fold the paper in the opposite direction and apply pressure in order to make the lines "jump" to the other side. There are multiple methods to transfer the lines, but you don't want to spend a ton of time with retracing everything perfectly because painting takes the most time.

2. Pick a color and paint!

• Make sure to introduce or review value and monochromatic color schemes. 
• Remind students that for their paintings to be truly symmetrical, whatever value they paint in one shape, they must paint the corresponding shape the same value.
• Demonstrate the process you want your students to use when mixing their own paint values and clean up procedures. 

In my room, each student gets their own "palette" or Styrofoam lunch tray and is responsible for their own materials. Tables are labeled by color and each are called to the sink by me. Clean up time has to be an orchestrated event for chaos not to ensue. My students know the routine and know my expectations. (And it took a lot of patience and learning on my behalf to figure out what works!) 

3. Retrace original lines in black if desired.

Shape Hunt

Let's take a trip in the way back machine...

Here is a lesson from 2008! 

The above display was created in December, the year I first started teaching. 

I purchased my new Mac last week and while manually transferring all my documents and photos, I unearthed this lesson, along with many other great examples of student work pre- blogging days. At the time, I had under a hundred students and taught two days a week. Art was a separate class beginning in middle school, so my sixth graders had never been to an art class their entire lives (!) and my seventh and eighth graders had never met an art teacher like me, that's for sure! (Since I was at a private school, the principal politely asked if I could take out my nose ring and cover my tattoo...) I was the youngest teacher in the building by far and had the shortest hair! That last part was an adjustment for some students as it is tradition in their culture for women to have long hair or they just had never met someone under fifty with short hair.

Shape Hunt

Is exactly what the title entails! The basis of this lesson came from Making Amazing Art! by Sandi Henry. The forty lessons in the book are specifically tied to the elements and principles of art. I used many of the lessons as a jumping off point since my students had limited experience with art outside of crafts.

1. This lesson followed an introduction and review of color including primary, secondary and intermediate. To add to that new knowledge, we talked about color schemes, or groups. Students would decide on a color scheme for their final compositions. (I think for this one we kept it to warm or cool).

2. I am hoping we talked a little bit about composition before we began. I don't entirely remember. We did however talk about wanting the picture to be abstract. Our hope was for the viewer to try to "hunt" for where the artist's shapes came from in the original magazine page. I did this with eighth graders, so the vocabulary was within reach. We decided that enlarging and simplifying were two techniques we could apply to abstract our images. 

3. I had accumulated many interior design and fashion magazines at this point and tore out a few folders worth of images for students to select from. Students found images they liked and then "zoomed in" using an old slide that I popped the plastic out of, to make a view finder. I think they did a few sketches before conferencing with me about their final design.

You may need to click on the image to see the magazine clipping where the shapes came from, more clearly

I would definitely do this lesson again. Next time I think I would incorporate a few more color schemes to select from as well as other principles like contrast and emphasis. Looking back, I think these kids did a great job, especially with limited background in art and such a newbie teacher.

Color Scheme and Composition Bike Painting

I love that excited feeling I get when seeing my students' work coming together. I've felt this way a lot lately, and I know the kids are feeling it too.

I found my inspiration for Eighth Grade Color Scheme Bike paintings via pinterest.

I believe the original pin was from someone's Etsy site, but I thought "Hey, 8th grade could totally do this!"

I decided to introduce students to the Rule of Thirds for this assignment. We've talked a lot this year about creating the illusion of space (perspective) but whenever there is time to "free" draw, I've noticed the sunset right in the middle of the page... you know what I'm talking about.
Having tried to introduce the concept in the past, I knew I needed help. Kids would go through the motions so to speak, but not really get it. So after scanning YouTube for what felt like hours (seriously, as soon as I thought I found a good one, there was a swear or a boob), I found a video that was short enough to keep their attention, and after a few questions, sure to drive home the point.

I brought in my own bike, and borrowed the bike the seventh grade teacher had in her classroom. I think a few years ago someone found it in the marsh behind the school. (And I thought I had weird stuff in my room!) After some observational sketches, we reviewed and were introduced to a few new color schemes, including monochromatic, analogous, triadic and split complementary. Kids could select their own schemes and were encouraged to use tints, tones and shades.
Here are a few of the first finishers: