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.