Weaving Wonders

In elementary art, we are finishing off the year with weaving. Thinking back to my last experience of teaching weaving, this may have not been a good idea. However, fortunately for me, this second time around went a lot more smoothly! The kindergarteners especially impressed me with getting the hang of it so quickly. As this type of activity is more tactile and hands-on,  I see students who are more prone to struggle in art class excel with this type of activity. They seem to get the concept better than their more artistically inclined peers. It is fun for me to watch them at work, I even had comments of “this is FUN!” over the week, which is so great. I did try to make it fun, having them work on the floor and giving them the chance to be up and active as I introduced the activity. We mimicked the action of ‘weaving’ with our bodies- it looked like a giant game of limbo. I got some great tips from other art teacher blogs out there- Cassie Stephens and Mini Matisse– thanks!

The early finishers added a plate of their favourite foods to top their mat- don’t they look great?

 

Picasso Portraits

This was a crazy fun unit which I thought would be a disaster with my most challenging group of students, but it turned out to be a winner. We began with a series of sketchbook assignments to warm up. I found these short one-day assignments to be quite successful.

#1 Contour Line Drawing of a Shoe, Cut Up and Rearranged 

#2 Magazine Head Collage

#3 Picasso Pal Drawing

#4, #5 and #6 Front, 3/4 and Side View Portraits of a Partner

*Thanks to my sponsor teachers at RHS for these ideas!

The portrait drawings were cut up and rearranged on a new sketchbook page to create Cubist-like arrangements. Students then redrew these compositions onto larger sheets of paper. We added onto our drawings with collage elements. These included:

• 1 profile and
• at least 3 facial features (cut from cardboard)
• areas of ‘texture’ (choice of newspaper, magazine pages, wallpaper pieces…)

We reviewed monochromatic colour mixing before painting our final portraits with this colour scheme. The final pieces are ridiculous and crazy, very fitting for this energetic class!

 

 

 

Artist Treehouse Designs

I tried this project last year with some success- but the results are much better this year with a bit of tweaking 🙂

In preparation, I gave my 6th graders an introduction to both 1 and 2 point perspective, and we did practice drawings of each. We also got out the watercolours and I taught them some different techniques before jumping into the big project.

Task: design a treehouse for a famous artist

Each student chose an artist and received an image sheet of 3-4 artworks. Designers need to get to know their clients in order to create successful designs. I had them start the design process with writing down at least three things they observed when looking at the works. Then students began to sketch ideas, making sure to incorporate these elements of the artist’s style. I also required that they use 2 point perspective somewhere in the work. Once sketches were approved, students moved onto their good copies, which were painted with watercolours.

Can you guess which artists these homes are designed for?

Seven Years Ago

Seven years ago, I had just returned from a three week trip overseas. North Africa gave me a small glimpse at life in a part of the world I had always felt drawn to. This trip was my first introduction to teaching art. At the time, I was not thinking of teaching art as a career, but this trip confirmed to me that I could do it… albeit a few more years down the line. I look back at this experience with fond memories- and an appreciation of the journey that got me to where I am now.

Here I am, a real art teacher at a school in a similar part of the world- and slugging through the chaos that is the final weeks of the year. Today, amidst a moment when my patience was trying, a student asked me if I am happy I chose this path of teaching. This question coming from a VERY difficult class that happened to be particularly unruly *again*… I did not know how to answer in the moment.

If I remember the past experiences that sparked this interest in the first place, and the students I am here to teach… then, yes.