Masks and Tin

Masks and Tin

My 7th grade students are beginning to work with plaster, molds and to create masks. These are some of the masks and the base coat of paint on them.

A few more hidden pictures and Guilford doors

Hidden Pictures and Doorways

 

Doors of the Guilford Green

The Guilford Green is one of the most beautiful greens I have ever seen. I was walking around it noticing all the different architecture in the buildings that surround the area. I then began looking at the doors in these historic buildings. They are wonderful. Thus began my unit on Art and Architecture. I took photographs of many of these doors and have used them  successfully for students to work from to create their own Guilford doors. We learned a bit about early Guilford history and then students chose their favorite door to recreate.

The Hidden Picture

   The new 7th grade project is to create a 'Hidden" picture. This is a lesson all involved with shape, repitition, design and camouflage. These are a few that are started....more hiding to come!

Supplemental Work

    Sometimes I  will assign a supplemental piece of art work. This is because all students do not work at the same speed and it is good to have something for those who work more quickly to  do while others are finishing .  If  a student does a supplemental piece then they can make up to 50 extra points doing it. If someone does not get to it, they are not penalized in any way. The supplemental project this  time was to create a "wrapped" hand that looks a bit like an optical illusion.

Completed 1st Projects -7th grade

Completed 1st Projects-8th Grade

Completing First Projects

We are now looking at the work that the students have created. Our vocabulary word for the week has been "assessment" . It's important to look at what is done, to see it with it's strengths and weaknesses and to understand what worked visually in the piece. I tell the students that being involved in art is like going to a baseball game. There are rules in baseball and vocabulary for the game. If you don't understand them then the  game is not interesting at all. It's a blur of people hitting a ball and running around for no good reason. But if you understand what is going on... what a great time you can have!
 For us to get something  out of  art class we need  to understand the art vocaublary that goes with  each lesson, we need to understand the rules of the style of art or medium that we use.  When one uses materials correctly, understands the ideas behind a lesson, an art style, or why a kind of art is important, then art becomes rich with  meaning. I ask that the students look at my rubric  for the lesson and grade themselves, then I go over their work with them and tell them what I see. What I want is the beginning of a conversation about each student's thinking and working with their art. My students are all thinking about their work and it's wonderful.

AWESOME!

The 7th graders have begun composing their Fall Leaf on Water project. The emphasis now is  on composition. Composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements in a work of art. The  students consider symmetry, asymmetry and balence and are thoughtfully composing their work.

WOW!

   Students in 7th and 8th grade are continuing their projects. Some 8th graders chose to use metallic and glitter watercolors with the regular watercolors. We are concentrating on water color techniques of blending and how to use pure color. The students are using their brush strokes to work with the lines they have already created in their drawings. Control and focus are paramount in achieving the results that the students want. They are doing a great job with both.

Fall Leaves Are Everywhere!

  In 7th grade students printed leaves using block printing ink (different from paint because it is much thicker and dries more slowly) .They also used crayons and rubbed leaf prints of a variety of  colors on paper. After the ink dries the students are coloring white areas with warm colors to make the perfect fall leaves!

Projects have begun!

This week was exciting. My 8th grade students began to paint their "Hundertwazzer Houses" We looked at slides of Expressionist artists to get some background about that style of art. Each student then did an "Emotion chart" where I presented them with a list of emotions and they had to match up a color that they thought represented that color. Emotional color is a fun concept. The student's paintings are to be Expressionistic so I wanted them to have the option to use color that way in their work.

7th grade classes have begun the year by jumping right into printmaking and pastel work. Students have produced 2 kinds of prints and will create the feeling of water with pastel blending. Then we will combine all the elements and create a piece I call Fall Leaves on Water. Printing by hand is becoming rare as technology has taken over the world...but there is such beauty in it! Stay tuned as we put all  our elements together.

School has begun 2012-2013!

  I'm very excited by my new students and the lessons that they have begun. In 8th grade we have begun with a unit on Art and Architecture. We will use a device I call "Art Talk" in class to discuss matters of art, critique work, look at artwork and talk about it. We began talking about building structures and moved to artwork  whose subject is buildings, what elements and principles of art do you see in each kind of creation? What are the forms and functions of each? Then we looked at the work of the artist and architect, Friedenreich Hundertwasser who was a Viennese Artist who lived from 1928- 2000.  Above are architecctural worksof Hundertwasser.

The students have begun paintings reminicent of Hundertwassers colors, shapes and imaginative creations. I can't wait to see what they will come up with.

School Starts Soon!

So very exciting! School starts next week. I am busy going to my room, unpacking supplies and working on deciding what lessons to start the year with. I love the  start of school, new students to meet, students  from last  year to catch up with what they have been doing, new, untouched  supplies that are just waiting to be made into  wonderful ART!

Inspiration from nature!

Look around you, if you are one of my students you live in one of the most beautiful places in the country. Be aware, be amazed...make art!