Mother's Day Beadmaking Craft

For this lesson, we cut out hearts as the background of our Mother's Day cards. We were to finish the sentence "I love my mom because...." and I added "she is my best friend." We then designed them with markers to add any detail we wanted to. Then, we used six inch strips of magazine paper to create varying "beads" for a bracelet. We had to use different kinds of beads, which were made by cutting different types of strips, rolling them up, and gluing the ends. These different beads were then arranged to create pattern, whether it be by color, size, or design. Lastly, they were strung on yarn, tied, and taped to the card made at the beginning of class. 

As an extension activity, I would have the students make necklaces using the same bead making technique. This would allow them to use more colors, patterns, and types of beads to create a necklace that they could use as name tags in the classroom. The construction paper could be used to write their name on and attached to the necklace. It could help the students and the teacher get to know each other's names at the beginning of the year and would be fun for them to make as well!

Picasso Faces

This particular lesson used clay to make Picasso faces that focused on Cubism and modern art. The class began by rolling out clay between two boards so everyone's slab was the same width. Then, we cut out a face shape using pottery tools and sectioned off our face into four sections, creating different designs in each. These designs were made using tools, pencils, hair brushes, and anything else we could think of. Then, we took the clay scraps from cutting out the face, rolled it out again, and created the eyes, nose and mouth. The face features were attacted by scoring the back of them and using water. We then painted the whole face with black paint. Once it was dry, we had to come back on our own time and paint each section and the face features with different colors.

As an extension activity, I would begin by skipping the whole step of painting the face black and just paint with colors right away. This would save a lot of time and would be more effective since elementary or middle school students could not come back after school hours to complete their project. This would also allow for the Picasso face to be a one day lesson. Other things that could be made using the same techniques are animals, objects, letters, etc.

Seasons - Our Lesson

The lesson Kelsey and I gave to the class was entitled "Seasons," where we focused on incorporating science into our art lesson by making trees of the colder seasons; fall and winter. We began by going over vocabulary words needed for the lesson, which of course were fall and winter. We asked the class what fall and winter feel and look like, what activities are done during those seasons, and showed pictures of each. Then we gave the actual definition of both. Next, we demonstrated how to make the tree trunk using your arm and hand, and crumpled it up to depict texture.

 

The remaining vocabulary words were discussed next, which included texture, emphasis, cool colors, and warm colors. Students were to be sure to use warm colors if they chose a fall picture and cool colors if they chose a winter picture. They also were to show emphasis by having their tree as the main focus and texture using cotton balls and/or tissue paper as well as the tree bark. Kelsey and I then showed how to create and apply the tissue paper and cotton balls, and finally how to add final details to the background. Lastly, students wrote down two characteristics they used in their picture that relate to the discussion we had at the beginning of class.

 

As an extension activity, we could have students create a tree for each season as we learn about them in a unit. This way, they could practice creating characteristics and using the color schemes of all seasons to ensure understanding of all four instead of just one. Students could then display all four of their trees and see how the different seasons look for each!

 

After our lesson was complete and all projects had been graded, Kelsey and I created a display board where many of the trees were hung. The board reads "Winter and Falls Seasons!" and also includes a description, the class name, and our names as the teachers.

A Box of Crayons

This lesson focused on the fact that we are all different and to embrace each other's varying characteristics. We started by trading places with other peers who had some similar traits as us (hair color, number of siblings, home state, etc.) to show that no one is exactly the same. Then we made monster drawings where three people drew the head, trunk, or legs to see a final monster that is different. The last activity was the picture on the left, where we were to draw ourselves in the middle of the crayon and colors or designs that we liked best. I drew myself wearing an NSU sweatshirt, which is my typical attire, and in sunshine with NO snow! The colors represent "warm" colors and "warm" weather as well, since I love summer. It also ties in with my background.

The extension activity I would use would be to actually nix the crayon drawing all together and stay focused on the monster drawings. I think the students had more fun doing that over the crayon activity. However, I would change the monster drawing up by having students draw their own head, body, and legs on three separate sheets of paper, making sure they were each very different from each other. Then, the class could create combinations of monsters using different body parts on the board or within their pods/tables. This way, students aren't stuck with whatever body part their neighbor decided to make, and it would be beneficial for them to see the many combinations of monsters that could be made with other peers "different" body parts!

Mother's Day Scratch Art

This particular project was very fun and different from other projects I had ever done in elementary school. It was called "scratch art," and with this technique the class made Mother's Day cards. We began by coloring a half sheet of paper entirely using crayons, making sure to color as firmly and dark as possible so none of the paper was showing beneath the crayon. Then, we painted over the paper with black paint until it was completely smooth and dried. Next, we took our other half sheet of paper, folded it, and labeled the front and the back to avoid confusion. We drew pictures and/or words that relate to Mother's Day, as discussed at the beginning of the lesson, to create the front and back of our card. Then, we rubbed the lead from our pencils on the back side of the cards just drawn on. Lastly, the class traced their drawings onto the dry, painted black paper and used the wooden stick provided to scratch away the paint and reveal the crayon colors below until the card was completely decorated. This was to be done using cross-hatching, stippling, and other techniques learned at the beginning of the lesson. For a final touch, we glued a small piece of paper to the inside of the card and wrote a Mother's Day message.

 

For the extension activity in my own classroom, I would this technique as a fun game or instructional tool for studying, picking the order of students for various activities, or stations. I would do this by having a picture, word, name, etc. written below the paint, depending on what particular activity I would use it for. Let's say, for example, I was teaching students about the parts of a flower in science class. I could have a picture of a flower and next to it, the labels covered in the black paint. Students would have to scratch away the paint to reveal the names of the flower parts. It would be fun for them but still a useful study guide for future tests. I could also use this same technique for say, lining up at the door. Students could be given a small square and have to scratch off or write their name into it, revealing which color is below. Those with red could line up, then blue, etc. It would be much more fun and interesting for the students than a printed worksheet or calling off names.

 

Culture Masks

The culture masks lesson was started out with a brief introduction on culture and different masks for varying groups of people. The class received a paper plate and was to cut out eyes and then paint it any color they wanted, between orange, red, peach, or brown. Once they were painted and out to dry, we used pipe cleaners, construction paper, foam sheets, and yarn to create whatever wacky hair we wanted to. The hair was then applied to the dry paper plates and we could add glitter, a nose, stickers, foam pieces, beads, or any other materials we wanted to finish the mask.

 

 

As an extension activity, I would have my class create masks that relate and follow characteristics of an actual culture or group of people, such as Native American, Aztec, ancient Egypt, etc. This would help reiterate the different cultures and how they are integrated in their masks, rather than just making masks that look crazy and silly. It would also be fun to see how the students integrate what they have learned from each culture and apply it to their masks.

Holiday Printmaking

This group's project was based on printmaking. We began by brainstorming some of our favorite holidays and the drawings that could go along with them. Then, the class drew a scene or picture that represented a holiday of their choice onto the provided foam trays with a pencil. We were to draw large, simple pictures and shapes so they would show up once "printed" with ink. We then got to draw another design on another foam tray using geometric or organic shapes. I drew my holiday tray as the 4th of July with a lake and a large firework for emphasis. My second tray used organic shapes to make a design. Lastly, we rolled different colors of ink onto five copies of our drawings to dry, and wrote on a note card why we picked the holiday drawn.

 

As an extension activity, I would have the students draw one picture that they were able to spend more time on perfecting and getting just right; even if that meant starting over more than once. This way, students can focus on one picture and be able to pick their favorites out of five prints. When there are two pictures, there are only two to three tries to get a color and quality print made of one picture. I also found it time consuming to have to wash off two separate pictures to make more than one copy. This would allow for fewer rinses and more focus on one quality picture.

Imagination Line Drawing

 

The next group in the class to present did a lesson on using your imagination to create a drawing from a random line on a piece of paper. At first, they showed us different pieces of art done by artists who used shapes, line, colors, and other elements to create their masterpiece. Then, we drew any type of line we wanted to on a sheet of paper and switched with our neighbor. We had to try and create a picture out of the line two different times, then had to pick which one we liked best to color and add at least two types of media to. I drew an ocean scene with a shark and a large wave that utilized a squiggly line that runs from the base of the shark fin to the tip of the wave. Lastly,we created a border for our picture and wrote a short story to go along with our picture to incorporate language arts into the art lesson.

 

As an extension activity, I would draw a random line myself and give each student a copy of the same paper. I would tell them that no one could have the same drawing and would have to come up with several different ways to make the line into a picture. This would challenge the students and it would be fun to see the handful of different ideas that could come from the same line! It would also be neat to hang them all up next to each other to see the variety the class came up with.

Easter Egg Fun

The first peer group to present to the class did an activity called "Easter Egg Fun" where we learned about color, shape, and line. We began by doing some practice on scratch paper of using markers, colored pencils, or crayons to draw in Easter eggs using the three elements of design that were focused on. Then, we cut out three larger eggs on construction paper and used paint to design one egg using color, one using line, and one using shape. One egg had to incorporate the color of paper inside the Easter egg we found on a hunt at the beginning of class; mine was pink, so I devoted my egg on color to different shades of pink. The egg with line included zig zags, wavy, straight, round, and diagonal lines. My final shape egg used varieties of circles.

 

As an extension activity, I would have the students cut out one giant egg and have them incorporate all three elements to create a detailed and unique Easter egg. Students would enjoy the large space to paint on and could use a variety of colors, shapes, and lines to create a very intricate egg.

Hidden Safari Project

 The hidden safari project was one that not only kids would enjoy, but clearly college age students as well because I thought it was so cool! We began by practicing to draw parts of animals upside down; a technique that helps to draw more realistically than if it you were to draw looking at a drawing right-side up. Then, the class traced the red glasses cutout (picture shown above) and glued the other red transparent film behind to make 3D-like glasses. After this, we were to pick a safari animal to draw upside down in a light blue colored pencil, then fill the page over the top of the pencil with warm colored crayons (red, orange, and yellows) of different designs. Now, our original safari animal could not be seen with the naked eye...until we put the red glasses on! This project is neat because it shows how the warm and cool colors work to trick our eyes and it almost seems like magic to kids. It would be something that they would love to take home and try out with their friends and family.

An an extension activity, I would have students make several smaller pages of the same activity to create a book. This way, they would be able to practice more drawing of animals and not have to cover such a large space with the warm colors. Then, their book could be used to see a variety of safari animals with the special glasses on. They would have a lot of fun trading books with other students to try and determine all the animals they created rather than just one. This extension would also provide the opportunity to try different design making with the crayons and more fun with the cool glasses they make!

Eric Carle Inspired Story Collage

This particular project was inspired by the work of Eric Carle. He uses many cutouts of painted paper to create characters, scenes, and pictures for children's books to create a story. For my own project, I was to first paint several large sheets of paper using any colors, textures, and designs I wanted to without any story or certain character in mind. Then, once they all had dried, I drew out the scene (resembling a page in a book) of two tucans, a palm tree, the sunset, sand, and the ocean. Next, I used an Exacto knife to cut out different shapes that made up each part of my drawing on all the colorful pages I had painted earlier. Lastly, I glued them down on brown construction paper and added the text for the "page" of the story: "The lonely tucan realized that tucan doesn't have near as much fun as "two-can!"

I enjoyed this project for several reasons. It was challenging enough that it made me have to plan out how I wanted it to look and all come together with the saying. I LOVE how coloful these pictures become and can easily see why kids love Eric Carle's books for that aspect. I am also extremely pleased with how mine turned out; it's fun, colorful, and was done in the similar fashion that Eric Carle completes his pages.

As an extension activity, I would have students think of the character they want to do, the scene, and colors needed beforehand. This would make it much easier and prepare students better to complete their project because I had only a few colors that I needed for my page since I didn't know what I was going to create when I started painting. I didn't have the dark blue for the ocean, no browns for the sand or tree trunk, and had to use scrap pieces from past students that luckily worked with my project. I would also have students create a little book instead of one page. I would be fun to see the actual story they could come up with like Eric Carle and also work on a smaller scale.

Van Gogh Inspired Tissue Paper Collage

 

This project was inspired from Van Gogh's Starry Night through the use of his abstract and unique ways of portraying line, movement, color, emphasis, and many other elements and principles of design. We were assigned to first create a collage using tissue paper in a similar fashion that Van Gogh used for his painting, then add series of lines using Sharpie markers and oil pastels. Then, we were to cut out of silhouette of a landscape to glue over the top to add detail to.

 

At first I did not particularly like this project because I couldn't seem to get my tissue paper designs to look even close to Van Gogh's type of art. But, after adding lines myself and putting the landscape on, the whole project seemed to come together quite well!

 

As for an extension activity in the classroom, I would have students use just the oil pastels and Sharpie markers, along with any other medium they would like to use, to create the background instead of tissue paper. I think this would enable students to create a better "Van Gogh inspired" background by being able to control the exact movement patterns and look of their art rather than trying to cut out pieces of tissue paper and create movement over the top of them. They could then add the silhouette over the top like we did, but I would have them skip adding detail to that as well. I found that I liked my landscape better before I added detail to it and like the focus to be on the background.

 

Chapter 20-22 Art History: After reading both of these chapters, I thought of some great ways to implement art history into my classroom. This would include creating art projects that are similar or prevalent during the time period we would be studying in class. For example, in a social studies lesson about slavery, the class could research current art types during that time period and create a similar one to represent ideas and struggles going on then. Another project could be completed during an ancient Egyptian lesson that could incorporate ancient masks or hieroglyphics in the same fashion. This could help students make the connection between the time period being studied and the particular art and mind frame during that era as well.

Elements and Principles of Design Photos

Our class was assigned a scavenger hunt to take a photo of anything that depicted the elements and principles of design. We were to create a presentation of all the photos we took, describing each element or principle along with the subject matter and location of each picture. I was actually surprised at how many different elements were all around me all the time! There are a handful of elements or principles of design in any location, which made it difficult to decide which picture to choose to describe each the best!

 

I would use this activity in my classroom because it helps each student to really think about what each element or principle is made up of. Even in my experience, it helped me to truly understand what each is since I had to take a photo of each on my own. For an extension activity, however, I would send my students on a scavenger hunt throughout the school to  narrow their options and make them really work on getting all elements and principles in one place. With free range to take photos anywhere, it can get easier to pick certain shots. Also, I would have students do this in groups to see others perspectives, which could help them see different variations that they may not have thought of. This would also enable everyone to use a provided digital camera, since many students do not have access to nice cameras or cell phones.

 

Here are my top five favorite photos taken for this project:

Emphasis is shown by the colorful flowers in the center of the picture with the negative space being neutral colors

Unity is shown in this wall mural by the overall serenity portrayed in it

Movement is shown when my black lab, Ramsey, runs in the snow

 

Color is shown in this painting I created in high school, using reds, greens, yellows, oranges, whites, and blacks
 

Space is shown through the depth down the path and through the trees

Footprint Project

The footprint project was an activity that our class did to get to know one another even better. We were to use at least three different types of media to create images and symbols of things that represent us and our life. Besides the use of color, shape, texture, and other basic elements of design, we were supposed to focus on the principle of design of balance to make sure the entire footprint had evenly spaced pictures and efficient use of the entire foot.

 

I had a lot of fun with this project and it enabled me to reflect on myself and my life; something that I don't do very often anymore now that I am older and know what I want in the future. It surprised me how long it took me; I was expecting to finish it quickly since the whole foot wasn't very big. But, with the amount of detail, drawing, gluing, and the use of many different medias, it actually was quite time consuming.

 

I think this project would be great for my classroom because it would help each student to not only reflect on themselves, but get to know their peers better as well. It allows them to get a good insight to what each person in their class is like. As an extension activity, however, I think it would be neat to find all pictures to describe yourself from magazines or other printed sources. This would allow more pictures to describe each student without all of the time spent on painting, gluing, drawing, and coloring. This would be even more efficient if it were a project in my general classroom and not just an art room, so it wouldn't be as art-centered and more of a project to get to know one another.