Simply a Still Life with Bread

Sometimes simple is what's needed after a messy, multi-step, multi-class project. As Grade 2s finished their Van Gogh landscapes project (which I will post soon), I had them sit sketch a still life that I had set up on the carpet area. This was the first time doing still life with this grade, so it was a little bit of an experiment. I gave students just a tiny bit of instruction on sketching techniques but what I really wanted was to see was what they came up on their own and how each one of them would render the objects onto paper differently. There turned out to be such a variety of scale, persepctive, drawing style and composition amongst them. It was very interesting to see what they included/excluded and emphasized in their drawings. (P.S. There were two classes and two different set-ups so the drawings are a little different for that reason as well.)

But what may have been the best part was breaking bread. At the end of both classes, when they were all sitting to leave, I took the huge loaf of French bread and starting tearing it up in front of them. You can't imagine the looks on their faces when they realized that they would each be getting a piece. They were so excited! Who knew that such a simple lesson and the simple pleasure of eating fresh bread would be such a hit. :)

I LOVE this one! Just look at those lines!

 

An Amazing Arts Week

I haven't posted for a while due to many things going on over the past month including 2 weeks of Spring Break and our Arts Week. Arts Week was amazing this year. It spanned for 4 days, where we had visual and dramatic artists as well as musicians come in and perform and conduct workshops with the students. I coordinated eight workshops for Kindergarten to Grade 7, where I had artists come in and work with students in mediums ranging from felting, to Chinese watercolour painting, to button collaging. Here are some pictures of the workshop highlights: 

 Hallway Bulletin Board

Kindergarten Neighbourhood Canvases

Grade 7 Chinese Watercolour Painting

More watercolours...

 

Grade 4 Collaborative Mixed-Media Still Life

Just love this close-up!

Students coming back to their original drawings

Grade 6 Collage Button Making
(This workshop was a big hit with the teachers too!)

More buttons...

Grade 2 Printmaking

More printmaking...

 

Grade 5 Pastel and Charcoal Drawings

Papier Mâché Birds-well worth it!

Golden Eagle and Woodpecker

This is it.....the best project with my Grade 3s by far. The kids completely fell in love with these papier mâché birds (that they got to know quite well over the 4 weeks we spent on them!).

First, thank you many times over to Julie at Art for Small Hands who created and posted this lesson. The project was quite involved, but she broke it down into easy, manageable steps.

My Grade 3 theme is Canadian art and artists, so I had each student choose to represent one bird that lives in Canada. I had them search through bird books to find one, and then they had to sketch a picture of it in their sketchbooks, colour it with pencil crayons, and make sure to label the type of bird it was as well.  Students went back to their sketches several times; when forming the bird's body shape, and when choosing paint colours.

Crow and Robin

Belted Kingfisher, Woodpecker, and Crow

Swallow

Several classes later, after building the body, layering with papier mâché, adding wire legs and a beak, acrylic painting, and varnishing (non-toxic), the birds were done! A long project, but well worth the time and effort.

Colourful Shape Stamping

Shape stamping got very messy and super creative with Grade 1s. I  found a great lesson at laughpaintcreate that focused on letting students explore the different possibilites of mark making on paper (with foam shapes, forks, lids, etc.). 



First, students cut and placed sticky foam shapes onto cardboard squares. (Obviously, this one has already been used as a stamp.)



more stamps...



Then they painted their shapes with liquid tempera, stamped them several times onto the paper, and added more marks with forks and lids.

  

Awesome colour and sense of movement!



More structured and controlled.



Grade 7 Graffiti Tags


Trying to find an art lesson that Grade 7s connect with (and think is cool) isn't easy, but graffiti projects really tend to capture their interest. It's tough, though, because I have to make sure that they don't think that making this art in class is an invitation to go out in the community and do this on buildings. But then I question whether or not it is too "fake" to take the rebellious element out of this art form and to make graffiti on paper? Hmmm.


But..the students do love the project, and take lots of pride in their final work, and I am teaching the principles of art and design through the project....so I think it's going to be a keeper.


First I show a slide show of some graffiti images (both tags and stencils) to get students interested. I often use Bansky images because he is the rockstar of graffiti art. (NB: I pick and choose what images to show because some are a little too risque for the audience.) I also play some video footage from his Bristol Museum exhibit footage, because his animatronics are just so cool.  

Then I print out some graffiti fonts and students practice some lettering in their sketchbooks. I also have them think about different symbols and designs that would represent their identity and they sketch those out as well. I talk about creating balance and emphasis at this point and I show them how to add a border around their lettering to make it stand out. Once they have a composition, they use a 12 x 18 thick white sulphite paper and sketch out their design. They go over it in black or coloured Sharpie. Up to this point usually takes about 1.5 hours.

In the next class, I talk about colour, and how students can use value in their drawings to create the illusion of 3-D letters (darker shading on the outside of the letters, moving lighter to the inside). I insist that students add colour to all (well, almost all) of their drawings.   

Here are the impressive results.....

Art Club's Sharpie Tie-Dye

I've done this activity twice now with my intermediate art club students. It's pretty easy to do, satisfying and successful for all my grade ranges (Grade 3s-7s), and looks amazing. I got the original directions from http://blog.sharpie.com/2008/11/sharpie-to-tie-dye-for/

Swirling Skies over Cities at Dusk

Right before the winter break, I tried this Deep Space Sparkle lesson with my Grade 1s and they turned out fantastic. Students loved painting the swirling sky backgrounds in the style of Van Gogh and pasting on paper to create houses and buildings.