Decorative Tiles

 

This decorative tile was made with air drying clay.  Through this lesson we learned basic hand building techniques, such as wedging, score and slip, stitching, and additives.  To create my tile I first rolled out a piece of clay about 4x4 inches.  Then, I started to mold my forms and attach them to my tiles.  I added texture to my petals with a needle tool and then painted the flowers. 

The small size of the tile makes this lesson a great introductory project for working with clay.  Through this lesson students learn a lot of the techniques necessary to start sculpting different forms.  To build off of that learning, I would incorporate those techniques into creating their own clay chia pets.  This would give them an opportunity to incorporate a 3-D element that they may not have with the tiles.     

Weaving

This lesson introduced the class to weaving techniques.  To create our miniature weavings we used a cardboard loom, yarn, and large plastic needle.  We threaded our own warp threads onto the loom with cream yarn.  Then, we created our own patterns, I chose an ABCBA pattern.  The weaving turned out to be a 4x4 square after everything was knotted off.

I would read the Goat in the Rug by Geraldean with my class to talk about weaving, as well as how you can create and dye your own yarn.  Then as a class project we would card wool and dye it for weaving.  Each student would weave their own 8x8 square.  All the weavings would then be sewn together to create a collaborative weaving.

Winter Landscape Print

This lesson was an introductory lesson for printmaking.  They themed this lesson around the winter holiday season and in the end we turned our prints into holiday greeting cards.  So, first we designed and drew our winter landscape on a piece of paper, keeping in mind that we needed to include foreground, middle ground, and background.  Once we had our winter landscape drawn we put our drawing face up on top of a piece of styrofoam, the same size as our drawing.  Then, we traced over our drawing pressing hard with our pencils to leave an indentation on the styrofoam.  Next, we took our drawing off of the styrofoam and went over our indentation with a pen to make sure that we had it deep enough.  Finally, we inked up our rollers, transferred the ink to our styrofoam printing blocks and printed on a white sheet of paper.  After we were done making two prints, we attached them to our folded construction paper to create our cards!

I love printmaking! Its something fun and different for kids to explore.  I would use this lesson as a starting point for teaching some of the basic techniques needed for printmaking.  To build off of it, I would incorporate more of the pop culture that was mentioned at the beginning of the lesson.  I would have my students think about what is popular in their own culture and have them make a series of four, pop culture prints.  The series of four would be the same print block, but using different colors, mirroring some of Andy Warhol's work.

Paper Mosaics

Through this lesson we explored the process to create mosaics.  Mosaics are larger pieces of work created by arranging together smaller pieces of glass, tile, pebbles, paper, etc.  The inspiration for our mosaics came from the season our table was assigned to, I had fall.  The process for our mosaics was to complete the mosaic background with small cut pieces of construction paper.  I used warm colors to draw a connection to the colors of fall.  Then, after our background was complete we placed silhouettes that applied to our theme on top. 

One way I would adapt this lesson would be to expand more on using small pieces to create a larger picture.  Instead of using the smaller pieces just for a background, I would have my students use the small pieces of different types of paper to create an animal portrait of their choice.

Kandinsky Fall Creations

This lesson was centered around the artist Wassily Kandinsky and specifically one of the pieces he created, called Concentric Circles.  Some concepts that were focused on in this lesson were organic vs. geometric shapes, warm vs. cool colors, color mixing, and applying paint.  We had to use two organic shapes (the leaves) and two geometric shapes.  We also had to make sure that we used as least three different warm colors and three different cool colors within our piece.  Once everyone was done, this turned into a collaborative piece by hanging them all together to create one large mural.

I think this lesson could be a great lead into creating mobiles with organic and/or geometric shapes, some fishing line, and wire.  I would have the students think about the shapes they used in their Kandinsky creations and have them cut out several different shapes.  Then they could paint both sides so that when they are attached to the wire and fishing line, they have color on both sides. 

Navajo Cactus Drawings

 

Above is a completed Navajo Cactus Drawing. 

Below is the bulletin board we created to display all of the completed drawings. 

The Navajo Cactus Drawing was the drawing lesson that I planned, along with my partner Breanna.  We designed this lesson to be used with 5th grade students.  It incorporates learning about the Navajo Native American culture, drawing, patterns, negative space, space, and painting using watercolors.  To make this drawing we drew at least three cacti in a pot of our design.  We created our own pattern which we colored and then filled in the negative space with black marker.  After the cacti and pot were drawn and outlined, we painted a sunset background and sandy ground.  It was such a great experience teaching this lesson and I can't wait to use it in an actual elementary classroom!

I would definitely extend this lesson to expand over a few class meetings.  By extending the lesson, it allows more time to learn about the Navajo culture, as well as really become familiar with all of the concepts needed to create the cacti.  I think this could be a great lesson to transition into still life drawings of some kind.

Hidden Safari

 

This was a fun project that made use of warm and cool colors, as well as creating a multitude of patterns. Hidden beneath the swirl of warm colored patterns, is a hippo drawn in light blue colored pencil.  While wearing special glasses, constructed from construction paper and red cellophane, the warm colored patterns recede, bringing the hidden safari animal to life! 

I really like the idea of incorporating the glasses into another art project where students, probably first graders, would explore secret messages. It could be a fun way to talk about spies and how they could hide messages in their art.

Dot Day!

To celebrate international Dot Day, which was on September 15th (ish), we created our own dots out of coffer filters and a variety of other materials after reading The Dot. The materials I chose to use for my dots were marks, watercolors, oil pastels, and water. We experimented with the different ways that the materials reacted with one another. For example, by drawing with oil pastels first and then painting over them with watercolors.

This would be a great activity to allow exploration of materials before doing a watercolor painting.  I would use this as a way to see how comfortable my students are with watercolor and the skills that they already know.  It would also be a great time to introduce new techniques that they will need for the watercolor painting.