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!

Atmospheric Perspective Watercolor and Acrylic "Studies"

I am really proud of my sixth grade students who followed through with this challenging assignment. Our schedule was very broken up right before the holiday break, so even though I started this with all students, only a few finished. This was a challenge not only for the students, but for me. After each class I needed to reflect and take note of what worked and what didn't work. As I suppose I should with any lesson, but this one in particular needed extra thought.

There have been multiple pins floating around lately of assignments using the basic concept of value to define space. One of the units in the sixth grade curriculum focuses on nature, so to continue our study of trees, I thought this would be a nice follow up and addition. I was inspired by this pin:

from Pinterest

I made sure to test the materials before I started this assignment. I like to try my assignments first so I know what might be frustrating for students and have some tips ready. The trickiest part of this painting was the timing. For the background we used watercolor which needed to dry before applying the acrylic layers of gray and black.

1. We started out viewing a completed work and talked about what we saw. Kids picked up right away that it looked "3D." I would ask why and list things like overlapping and shade on the board. I wrapped it up by talking about atmospheric perspective. I knew that in science students had recently learned about atmosphere so I explained that a way to remember atmospheric perspective in art, is that there is more atmosphere between us and the farthest horizon. Therefore it looks hazier, the atmosphere starts to blur the details. 
2. Students then decided what colors they wanted to use to describe the time of day in their painting and used watercolor to fill a 9x12 page. I challenged students to blend at least two colors. I also showed them how to use paper towel to create texture (and in some cases pick up excess/too much paint).
3. If there was any time left in the first class period, students planned the placement of their trees and horizon lines on newsprint.
4. The next class began by talking about value and a review of atmospheric perspective. Each student was given a small palette and brush. Tables shared water cups and had a small container each of black and white acrylic, which could be scooped onto their palettes with pop sticks.
5. Thankfully, I have a document camera, which after a disastrous first class, I realized I should use for the following steps. First of all, I was able to show them what their work station should look like, including about how much paint should be on the palette. Next, we drew the farthest horizon line and small trees, like their sketch, right over the watercolor painted page from last class. 
6. Using the document camera again, I explained how to make a very light value that would be used for the trees and land farthest away. 
7. After a few minutes of working, I would ask for ideas about what we would do next. Remembering atmospheric perspective, most student understood that the next layer would be a little darker. I again modeled with the document camera. At this point, the students understood the patterned and worked independently.

I find it really interesting the wide range of brush "techniques" student used. I think in order for this to be more successful, I need to go back to basics. I made the assumption that sixth graders would know how to hold a brush. I also made the assumption that after drawing trees for an earlier assignment, students would know how to paint the silhouette of trees. Overall, the complete images are really beautiful (and already caught the attention of their homeroom teachers) and I would try this lesson again.