Printmaking

Today's project was all about printmaking.  Each student got the chance to create two of their own prints for their printmaking.  To make the template, we used a rectangle piece of styrofoam (like a paper plate).  We drew in the styrofoam with a pencil and made two templates.  One was a pattern using shapes and the other was a holiday scene.  

Once we had our templates we took them over to the painting station and used a roller to roll on a specific type of paint.  We rolled the paint onto our template in a thin layer.  Once the thin layer was applied, we took the template and pressed it onto a sheet of construction paper.  We did this five times and kept three of our papers to be put on display.  Here are two of my projects.  One is the shape scene, and the other is the holiday scene.

This would be a good project for middle schoolers or higher elementary students.  The students could make a print when Christmas comes around.  The students could make two or three designs for Christmas and they could be displayed before Christmas break.  Middle schoolers could use a carving type of material (kind of like a big eraser) and carve their design into the eraser like material.  This would be the same concept, but since the students are older, they would have to be a bit more careful with the carving tool and carving their project.

Imagination Drawing

This lesson was all about drawing.  The teachers paired us up in class and we were to draw any kind of line on a piece of paper.  We then had to trade with our partner.  The instructions were to draw something with that line.  We did this twice.  The first time I traded with my partner, she drew a straight line and I drew a playground.  The second time I traded with my partner, she drew a jagged and pointed line and I drew a train up in the mountains.  This is what I used for my final drawing.  We were able to color our drawing and write a story about our drawing.  Here is my finished product of the imagination drawing.

This lesson could be used in a language arts class.  The students could draw their picture like we did and then write a story about their drawing explaining what is happening and why they draw what they drew.  These could be hung up out in the hallway or in the classroom for others to look at and read.

Egg Painting

This lesson was presented by three girls in my art class.  The project topic was painting and they did a very nice job at relating the project to Easter.  We practiced patterns on a sketch piece of paper before painting our own easter eggs.  The teachers had the class go on an easter egg hunt around the classroom.  Once we found one egg, we got to open it and see what color of paper was inside our egg.  We were given 3 easter egg templates that we got to paint.  We could paint the easter egg any way we wanted, but we had to include the color that we found in the easter egg hunt on one of our painted eggs.  This was a very fun project, and younger elementary students would love to do this before Easter.  Here is my finished easter eggs.

This activity would be a good activity for kindergarteners when easter comes around.  The students would be able to work on patterns and work on creating patterns on easter eggs.  The teacher could display the students work before easter to get the students excited about easter and patterns.

Hidden Safari

The Hidden Safari lesson was presented by our art teacher as an example for our own lesson plans.  She first showed us what we were going to learn and do in the lesson.  She showed us how to draw upside down to make our drawings look more realistic.  We drew a safari animal on a piece of paper with a special pencil and then we used warm colors and drew a pattern over the top of our drawing. After drawing the pattern over the safari animal, the animal could not be seen with the naked eye. We then made our ruby red glasses, and these glasses were special glasses.  These glasses allowed us to see our drawing.  Here is what my final drawing looked like as well as a picture of the ruby red glasses to see the picture.

This would be a good activity for younger elementary students when they are learning about animals and what kinds of animals live in different places. The students could make their own animal, like I did for this project, and the projects would be displayed.  The students would all put on their ruby red glasses and look at the hidden pictures and see if they can figure out what animal is hidden in the picture.

  

Eric Carle Inspired Collage

This project was inspired by Eric Carle. In class, we watched a video about Eric Carle and how he makes his illustrations.  For this project, we were told to illustrate our own page for a children's book.  My page for the children's book says, The pink fish was all alone in the deep blue sea.

Before thinking about what I was going to illustrate, I made two pages of color for my page.  I started with a pink design as one page and made a blue design for my next page. I then drew my illustration and cut each part out.  I then traced the pieces I needed onto my colored paper.  For example, I used my pink paper and traced the fish and then cut it out.  I did this for each piece you see in the illustration. I then put all of the pieces together on my blue background for my finished illustration.

For an extension activity in the classroom, I would use this type of collage illustration at the beginning of the school year when we are all coming back from summer break and we want to find out what everyone did over summer.  The students would do much of the same as I did, but instead they would illustrate one highlight of their summer vacation.  We would then hang their illustrations in the classroom or out in the hallway for display.

VanGough Tissue Paper Project

This project was based off of Van Gough's Starry Night.  Van Gough used many elements of design in his work including movement, color, line.  For this assignment, we instructed to cut out designs of tissue paper and create a collage in any way we liked, but somewhat similar to what Van Gough used in his painting.  Next, we were to add lines and movement to out tissue paper with the use of Sharpie markers and oil pastels.  Next we were to cut out some type of landscape to glue over the top of our collage to add detail.  In my collage, I had a cut out of the ocean with the beach and a palm tree.  I am no artist myself, but I enjoyed this project in there was no right or wrong way to make the collage.  That is my type of artwork!!

For an extension activity in the classroom, I would have students do much of the same as above.  I would have them use Sharpie markers and oil pastels, however, they could also use crayons, markers, colored pencils, ect.  As for the background collage with the tissue paper, I would let the students use tissue paper, along with other things they could find that would be relevant to show line and movement.  For example, pipe cleaners would be a good tool in that the students could bend them and show movement.

Chapter 20-22: Before reading the chapters, I was highly unsure how a teacher could implement art history into their classroom.  After reading the chapters however, I found that there are many great ways to implement art history into the classroom.  One great way I found is when the students are studying a specific time period perhaps in social studies.  If the students are learning about ancient Egypt, or the Incas, the students could make their own drawing of how they think that time period would have been like.  I think social studies is an area that would benefit from art history because there is so much history in social studies itself, that it is almost crucial for the students to learn about the art history of that time frame.

Art Scavenger Hunt

For this project, we were to find the elements and designs of art.  We were to take a picture of each element and design of art.  These are a few highlights of my findings.

  

This steer represents texture.  If you would try and touch this steer, you would feel that he would have rough fur.

This picture of the bails show unity.  Since the bails are all stacked, it shows that this pile of bails is complete.

Emphasis is shown in this picture.  The minimum maintenance sign is the focal point of this picture with the trees and the field in the background not being as clear.

This picture of the front yard shows value.  The sky has a lighter tone where the trees are darker and even show a shadow.

This gate shows the element of shape.  Within this gate, there are rectangles.