Choose Your Own Adventure: Assemblage

As we move into a new normal of teaching remotely, I have been inspired by all of the resources out there and the many art teachers sharing their great lesson ideas! In planning projects, I want to account for kids with little to no resources at home, and think of what they could use to make art, perhaps in a different way than we do in the classroom. With so many creative ideas circulating, I decided each week to give students three choices in how they could create, with differing levels of difficulty, thought and creativity involved. I had so much fun creating my example, I thought they would too!

I was surprised at the number of responses and how many of my students turned in work. I was also happy to receive at least one student example for each of the prompts I provided.

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  Found Object Colour Wheel

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  Andy Goldsworthy Inspired

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  Re-creation of a Famous Artwork

If you want to try the project for yourself, see this link for instructions… and send me a photo of your finished product!

Pastel Compositions

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We started this new semester in middle school exploring the medium of pastel. I had the students try different techniques for applying pastel, including blending, colour mixing, stippling, scumbling and sgraffito. Seventh and eighth grade students chose an object to explore and created several thumbnail drawings before deciding on a composition. These compositions needed to be cropped in close to the object so that it touched at least three sides of the paper. Colour and value were added to the drawings using a chosen group of analogous (not local) colours, and the background with a complementary colour.

Fifth and sixth grade students created abstract design blocks, tracing their line design in glue. Each block had the same entry points on each side so they could connect into a collaborative work. Students explored blending with pastels, and used analogous colour schemes to fill in each section of the design.

Above is the collaborative work fifth grade put together as a present for one of their teachers, who is also my co-homeroom teacher.

Beginnings

We are already into the fourth week of school and the busyness does not slow down! Hard to believe that on this day five years ago, I moved to Istanbul. What a wild adventure it has been!

I wanted to share some of the middle school projects from our first weeks. It has been two whole years since I taught middle school, so it will take some getting used to again. I am glad I keep a blog because I have a record to look back on of all the wonderful projects from years past.

The fifth and sixth graders About Me sculptures

We started off the year with making portfolios- I will have to remember to share some photos!

The new middle schoolers, the fifth and sixth graders made paper line sculptures. These are hanging up in the hallway across from the art room. Each line represents something about the artist; for example, an orange tab if you have been on a train, or a green spiral if you like ayran (a Turkish yogurt drink).

This project may look familiar, it is typically one that I do with kindergarten (see here and here) but I have learned that it works for many ages. Thank you to Cassie Stephens once again for the inspiration!

Fifth through eighth graders also made paper foldables for the elements of art; this was information I knew I wanted them to get down from the beginning!

Here are a few of the finished foldables. Each of the seven elements of art were to be written in an illustrative way; to add meaning to the element. Inside are definitions for each element and further drawn examples.

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Textile Patterns from Ghana

After our unit in the caves, we flew off to a new country in West Africa; Ghana.

In first and second grade we looked at Kente cloth patterns

We started with making two patterned papers.

1. Printed gold patterns on black paper- we made printing blocks by wrapping twine around sponges

2. Painted geometric patterns using colour, line and shape

 

 

Once these papers were finished, we wove the two patterns together to create a new and intricate pattern. The black paper became our warp and the coloured was the weft strips. Weaving always goes over great- I did it with both groups last year, so this was review for most. We talked about how Kente cloth is used to make new clothes for special occasions and thought about what occasion we would make our designs for; a few students wrote artist statements about the meaning behind their finished pieces.

Third through fifth grade focused on the Adinkra symbols found on Kente cloth

We looked at examples of symbols and their meanings; and watched an artist through the process of stamping a design on cloth.

I gave the students sheets of ideas of existing symbols and encouraged to make a design of their own. They glued foam shapes onto a cardboard base.

The printing of these designs was exciting! Even after printmaking with classes this long, I still strive to make the process run more smoothly. I set up a long table in the middle of the room for inking, and each student at the remaining four tables had a number. When it was their turn, students inked their stamps in the middle and then returned to their tables to print. I encouraged them to rotate the stamps to create variation in their design and also incorporate a second symbol.

 

 

Creation of ‘the Cave’

The cave drawings are finished! I hung them up in the stairway leading up to the library- it is dimly lit and draughty at times, the perfect cave-like environment!

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Artists Communicate: Cave Art

I have had students drawing in caves for two weeks! We are beginning our art through culture units with exploring the very first art ever found.

As students came up for art, they were welcomed into the CAVE. I had all the curtains drawn so the room was dark- except for the images on the projector. I told them we were going on a tour of Lascaux cave in France- the same cave that a few teenagers also explored many years ago and come across something. We watched this video and I asked students to keep an eye out for anything surprising.

After watching, we discussed the drawings we saw. What subjects were drawn? Who do we think drew them? What materials do we think they used? We talked about the people that lived in caves- some of my students have visited  caves in Cappadocia where people lived in the past, and the cave homes people still live in today. We discussed the information these drawings give us about how people lived back then and the stories they tell us.

I gave students scraps of paper to practice drawing with our materials: chalk and oil pastels, crayons, conte and charcoal. I had them start thinking about what was important to them and what story they might want to tell through their artwork.

We did our drawings like the cave artists: up against the wall, taped to the underside of a table or chair, or on the floor- and we used flashlights to help us see.

After practicing and drawing initial ideas, students began drawing on bigger sheets of paper. Most of this paper has been sitting my shelves for quite some time and already shows some wear and tear. But I showed students how to rumple the paper to achieve a more rock-like texture.

Finished drawings need to tell a story or communicate something important to the artist. They also need to demonstrate the following elements of art: line, shape, colour, texture and value. Stay tuned for the display of our finished cave drawings!

 

 

Naming Our Colours

Today the second graders took on the task of naming their created colour mixtures from last class. We thought about what things in the world reminded us of each colour, looking at crayon and paint colour names for inspiration (this was especially helpful for the ELLs in the class, as well as boosting everyone’s vocabulary!) They all loved this exercise!

Bootcamp: Colour and Value

Our exploration of colour is spreading over two weeks. As a class, we reviewed primary and secondary colours, complementary colours, tints and shades. First and second graders did colour mixing experiments using primaries, black and white.

Fifth graders began an observational drawing of a form off of their sculpture. We used pastels to add the local colour and its complementary, and mixed to create highlights and shadows.

Pop Art Prints

The theme for 4th and 5th Grade this year has been a focus on pop art. This next project I introduced was inspired by Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe portraits. I had the students do at least four idea drawings before deciding on their favourite for a styrofoam printing plate. I encouraged them to keep the line drawings simple and try out favourite cartoon characters, objects and logos (in line with the style of pop, of course!)

Students drew their chosen designs onto styrofoam plates and printed their designs over several class periods. With this larger group of students, I set up the printing process differently I have in the past- and it worked well. We designated one table at the front for inking the plates, with the choice of four different coloured inks. Once plates were inked, students carefully carried them back to their work tables to print- each table had a stack of different coloured papers to choose from.

The goal was for each student to have at least four prints of different colours . Finished prints were signed, titled and editioned, and students chose their best four to mount onto cardstock.

 

The Batik

This has to be my favourite project from last year’s curriculum- the batik

I started with a discussion on colour theory- introducing the colour wheel and colour schemes. Students did exercises in their sketchbooks, mixing oil pastels to create a colour wheel and two still life studies of fruit. I also had them conduct personal research outside of class on emotion and colour, as well as the meaning of certain colours in different cultures.

We looked at examples of hyperrealism and artists who create with high precision and detail. We compared and contrasted these examples with artists whose work is much more stylized. I then introduced the task: to create a pattern for a batik based on studies of fruit (students could use their previous studies or find other images for inspiration). The students began this task with drawing thumbnails of ideas, considering different shapes and arrangements in each composition. I also had them decide colour schemes for their final pattern.

I introduced the process of making a batik: creating a wax resist pattern, dyeing and repeating with additional details for each colour in the design. I decided last year, based on my limited knowledge and resources, that I would teach a faux batik technique. We used a combination of toothpaste and aloe gel for our resist which worked great. It was easy to rinse out of the fabric, and there was no tedious ironing of wax involved. Students drew out their chosen design onto fabric and painted the colours with fabric paint. This process drew out over several days, mostly because of the drying time. A few students attempted multiple layers of toothpaste and paint, others stuck to painting in between the outlines.

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This project has an additional product. After the batik was finished, we dove into a visual communication design task: creating a poster for a healthy eating campaign with a message or slogan. Students chose a message that they wanted to communicate (which coincides nicely with the elementary project earlier this fall). This time around, I decided to give more up front instruction on choosing typefaces and layouts to create hierarchy in the design. In their sketchbooks, students collected samples of different typefaces and product advertisements; and began to thumbnail ideas. We had one class to create poster designs using an online design program. The next class, we had a critique and students made their final decisions of which designs to print. In typical IGCSE fashion (and to emulate a more authentic exam style situation),  students mounted their final pieces on poster board.