In all classes we talked about Vincent Van Gogh and his style of painting (Impressionism and Post Impressionism. We also talked about Expressionism, sharing the art of Edward Munch (The Scream) which most of them had recognized from Halloween. We are now talking about Henri Matisse, and have related his style of "painting with scissors" which he developed late in his life while being bedridden with that of Eric Carle (author and illustrator of children's books) who also paints papers, and then cuts them out to create a collage to illustrate his text. With everyone being excited about the holidays, we also had several holiday inspired projects.
K- We worked with watercolor pencils and introduced foreground/backround, to create a "still life" of candles on a table as well as a "cropped snowman". We also looked at shapes, and turning squares into triangles, and "overlapping" to create trees. We also worked on overlapping paper to create hair on a face, as well as details in drawing the face itself.
1- We worked on proportion and symmetry to draw a reindeer as well as introducing perspective in drawing presents,. (cubes) We continued studying symmetry as well as proportion by following along with me to do a drawing of St. Nicholas. In folding paper in half and in half again, we created some snowman paper chains, which they added details to.
2- In studying proportion and drawing, we drew the Blessed Mother as well as the city of Bethlehem, discussing foreground/backround, and the importance of outlining to put details back into their work. We're talking about all different variations of color (primary,secondary, intermediate, complementary) and are drawing lizards to use both bright colors, and a lot of different patterns.
3-We talked about line, pattern and detail, and drew the gifts of the three kings. We also drew "headless" self portraits of themselves holding a snow globe in a winter coat to encourage attention to detail which we painted. We completed mosaics in torn paper of the Blessed Mother, encouraging different hues of skin color to show shading. We also had a discussion of why we all seem to think she wore blue, and had long brown hair. We're working on different ways to show lines and texture in their work by using other tools (such as cut cardboard) to paint with.
4-5 We talked about the variety of careers available in the art field by watching a video and discussing. We also worked on a design project in which I had them creat a bird, animal (real or imaginary) which they were given egg carton eyes (1 or 2) to design around. Proportion tends to be difficult, especially when I've given them an interior piece they need to create around. Many (as I told them it was harder to draw bigger) found this to be true. We also did a self-study sheet to answer on Vincent Van Gogh. While we're studying Matisse, we've begun a Christian symbol collage in the style of Matisse, introducing various symbols, shapes and many different scissors, punches, etc.
6-We talked a bit about Greek Mythology, and Greed pottery styles, and how the making of pottery hasn't changed much since then, as well as how excavating sites help us learn about the past. In a short video, we saw them making pottery, and many seemed to think it looked like something they'd like to try. We created Greek pottery styles on paper, first picking a shape popular for that time period to draw, and posing wooden manikins as well as patterns to complete. We talked about Egyptian motifs, and are transfering patterns to create a scratch art piece.
7-8 We presented our architectural projects to expose us all to the different buildings which were studied. We've been talking about tessellations, and how they've been around for thousands of years, and the work of M.C. Escher. The real lesson in creativity is what they're able to see in the way they're arranged after they're cut. We've done three types (translation, rotation, and reflection), and both individually and as a group we've looked at the cuts and tried to see things in them to use in our individual projects. Remember looking up at the clouds as a child? Some students find this much easier than others, and it's interesting to see the different things they come up with. Once a recognizeable form is seen, even drawing the 3x3 grid can be a challenge since it needs to be exact. Then depending on which of the 3 types they're using, the pattern is copied and repeated. Eighth grade is also working on a Catholic College Crest.
