Grade 6 Still Life

"Abstract" Still Life, Zichen.

I have not been a huge fan of traditional Still Life as a subject matter in Art for younger students, so I decided to create a Still Life unit that would both challenge and keep the students engaged. We started out with various life drawing exercises- using students as models, pose-able wooden mannequins and hands, and a few other miscellaneous objects. I timed the drawings in intervals, so we would do 5 minutes, then 1 minute, then 30 seconds. This is supposed to help train the brain and eyes to notice different elements- such as detail and form. Then I set up a table with some simple objects and had the students do a traditional Still Life pencil drawing.  Next, we looked at Still Life from many different eras in Art history, and multiple styles. To coordinate the objectives, Assessment, and Lines of Inquiry, I chose 4 different styles for students to choose from for their Summative Assessment task: Pointillism, Abstract, Pop Art or Traditional. When they had decided on a style, they were asked to do a few simple drawings in their chosen style in their sketchbooks. To differentiate, students were allowed to use any medium available; including soft or oil pastels, colored pencil, acrylic on canvas or paper, pen on paper, or watercolor. They were also allowed to choose what objects they wanted to draw or paint. Most chose some or all of the already set up objects, but some got more creative or changed perspectives.  Here are some snapshots of the process and finished artworks. They are quite amazing for Grade 6!

"Pointillism", Yuqi

"Traditional", Daniel

"Abstract", Dekai

"Pointillism", Flora

"Traditional", Yitong

"Pop/Traditional", Yujia

"Traditional", Claire

"Traditional", Jinqi

"Pop Art/Traditional", Yufei

"Abstract (Cubism)", Nora

"Pointillism", Leo

Working hard at the start of their summative task.

Focusing on details.

Grade 10 Intro to Relief Printmaking

Most of my Grade 10 students have never done printmaking before, let alone had an actual Art class before joining our school. (Apparently this is the norm in public schools here). So, there has been a lot of work to do in terms of basic skills and knowledge building. We spent the better part  of the first semester working on goals and establishing basic Art knowledge. Students learned realistic drawing and life drawing techniques, a bit of Art History, created process journals and made their own small notebooks for daily/weekly sketching.

The last small project we worked on last semester was Beginning Relief Printmaking, since we just got our brand new etching press!  We looked at the history of Printmaking, and made the connection that wood cutting basically originated in China, which was super cool for the students to learn. We looked at different types of Printmaking, including Etching, Monotype, Relief, Lithography and Screen printing. Students came up with a small logo that had some sort of personal meaning, and then we used small square pieces of rubber to learn carving. I did a demo, and then the rest was basically up to them.

Questions of Inquiry ranged from:
Is wet or dry paper best for printing?
How thick does the ink need to be?
How does color choice inform the artwork?
Why did I create this particular image?

In the end, we did a small critique and talked about all of the challenges and victories of the first print "series".  I can't wait to delve much deeper into different forms of Printmaking and see what they come up with!

Grade 7 POP ART PORTRAITS

Grade 7 students have been working super hard on these Pop-Art inspired portraits for their first unit of the year. Since this is the students' first year at the new school, and my first meeting with them, I needed to check their prior knowledge and wanted to give them a fun unit to start with at the same time.

As a prompt, we began by looking at Andy Warhol's work, and then at Pop Art/Pop Culture as a historical and contemporary movement. Students were able to do some of their own research and then we had a class discussion on color. We talked about Color Theory and the multitude of color schemes, then narrowed it down to the ones we wanted to focus on: Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Complimentary, Analogous, Warm, Cool, Tints and Shades. We defined these schemes through class discussion/question and answer, and what colors were mostly used in the Pop Art movement.

Next we looked at what kinds of portraits were done in the Pop Art movement, and the students were so excited to see the Chairman Mao portrait by Warhol, since we are in China! It really brought together the global implications of Art, and how cross cultural it can be.

Students chose their favorite Pop Culture icon from today or historically from the internet, and I printed them out on A4 paper. They then did a plan in their sketchbooks so that they could work out the color schemes they wanted to use. According to the size of the portrait, they either did 2 or 4 portraits on one sheet of cardstock for their final, summative piece. They could choose a minimum of 2 color schemes, and up to as many as they wanted depending on the number of portraits they could fit on their final paper. Some students ended up with 12 portraits on one sheet!

Challenges:

Language/Vocabulary- It is hard enough to speak two languages, but add in a bunch of Art terminology, and that bar raises exponentially. The students did really well, though!

Time Management: From planning, to the final piece, this unit took nearly 10 weeks, plus a couple more classes for critique and assessment.

This unit went on waaaaay too long, and by the end, we were all ready to be finished. Even though some of them may not be considered " Pop Art", per se, there were some very interesting things happening at a purely aesthetic level, so I've include 1 or 2 of those. The struggle is real, but here are some images of their amazing work.

Grade 6 OP ART

Grade 6 learned about Op Art (Optical Art) and the life of Russian artist Victor Vasarely. I started the year out with this unit because I could tie it into Intro to Color, as well as the Elements of Art/Principles of Design: Line, Color, Balance, Space and Pattern. Students had to choose one color scheme (Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Complimentary, Warm or Cool), and then incorporate this into their final summative task.

I began by showing Vasarely's work, along with some other Op-Art artists, and a short video so they could get the feel of what Op Art is. We had a class discussion on what makes something "Op-Art" rather than just shapes/patterns, and how could students begin to use their creativity to create their own unique piece. In this unit, we focused on technique and conceptual understanding of Op Art, and how to create an image that could optimize optical illusion. Basically, how to create a 3D illusion on a 2D surface.

I feel like this was a little bit difficult for students to completely wrap their head around, and in retrospect, I wish I would have started out with 2 point perspective as a lead-in to the unit...That being said:

Here are some pieces, some finished and others in progress. I think some of the work is/will be highly successful once they are finished!

Appropriation With Grade 5

We finally finished our Appropriation unit; and Grade 5's were creatively exhausted after a long, but rewarding journey! To begin the unit, we looked at various Pop Culture icons and examples throughout history and global cultures. Students were then able to choose a comic book character from any era and Appropriate it; using culture, race, humor, societal issues, or any topic they wished to employ. We started out in How We Express Ourselves, and overlapped the unit into Where We Are in Place and Time. Both ended up being appropriate.

The first step was to do the Appropriation planning in their sketchbooks using a printed copy of their character/strip.

The next step was to lightly trace the outline of the original comic, using carbon paper. From there the students were able to make the necessary adjustments in order to change the original to their own version, or Appropriation.

They did a mock- up on A3 paper with colored pencils and markers, and then traced that onto a piece of poster board paper for the Summative task. The final pieces were painted using acrylics, and took a lot of layering and detail work before they were actually finished.

The last step was to make them look like shiny, giant comic book pages. Here are a few of the pieces that I think exemplified the hard work my students put in! Enjoy. :)

Planning!

Apsara, age 11

Anushka, age 11

Ifrad, age 11

Safwan, age 11

Installation Art!

Recently, Visual Arts worked on a collaborative unit that integrated both Performing Arts and the homeroom. Working with 3 different teams throughout a single unit proved to be a very intense, but I think, pretty incredible experience for the students. (And me, of course 😉 ). 

Our central idea, "Beliefs, values and ideas are represented and communicated through various forms of artistic expression", was made accessible through our different mediums. In VA, we worked with school and community values to create installations... The concept of "Installation Art" is not a super easy one for 10 year old's to grasp, but they actually did amazingly well. We studied artists like Ai Weiwei, Cornelia Parker, Kara Walker, Yayoi Kasuma among others, and then students narrowed down their choice of which type of installation art worked with their concept. Many groups chose some aspect the Environment, which they then transformed into an array of different types of installations. Check out some of our incredible students' show, where they displayed their learning and were able to talk to parents and teachers about their process and work.

Concept: Environment

Detail of above installation

Concept: Environmental Decay.

Concept: Environmental Beauty.

Concept: Environment: This one you had to go inside to check out.

Concept: Cleanliness in our School Community.