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.