Showing posts with label art lessons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art lessons. Show all posts

Thursday, September 8, 2016

In the Art Room: Dot Day Radial Designs by 3rd Grade

Hey, kids! Today I'm sharing with you the follow up to a lesson I shared a coupla weeks ago: Tissue Paper Relief. Because of the delicate nature of these tissue paper reliefs, I knew the kids would need to back them on something. So, after a review of radial balance and design, as well as the elements of art, we created these colorful backgrounds, added our tissue creations to them and, viola! Third grade successfully created their dot designs for Dot Day!  
Aren't they so spectacularly colorful? I swear they practically glow in the dark! In case you missed it, here is the video I created to introduce the kids to radial balance and design as well as the process of making the tissue reliefs:
BIG SHOUT OUT to AOE and Blick for sharing this lesson at the most recent online conference. 
Surprisingly, this project was a quick one. We spent one day creating our tissue reliefs which needed a day (or more) to completely dry before popping out.
Once dry, I popped the designs out as they are pretty delicate and I didn't want the kids to accidentally tear them. The following art class, they were given 10" cardboard rounds. They traced their tissue relief in pencil and then created a radial design in black marker.
I reminded them to keep their designs big because they would be coloring with these bad boys:
So I'm a sucker for all things fluorescent. And so are the kids. I love these Gallery brand oil pastels which you can find in most of your art supply catalogs and Amazon. 
Creating and coloring the design took them just under an hour. Enough time to attach our tissue reliefs to the center and have them ready for a display in the hall! 
What I love about this project is that it reinforced our study of radial balance...
Gave us the chance to work with a variety of art supplies...
And create something really cool! Definitely a project I see myself teaching again in the future. 
I'm not usually a repeat offender when it comes to art projects but for this one, I might have to make an exception.
I know several of you purchased the rubbing plates after hearing about it from AOE. I'd love to see where you take this project!
Until then, have a super bright week, y'all! 

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Monday, September 5, 2016

In the Art Room: Monochromatic Selfie Mural

Oh, y'all. Murals. Every time I have the kids create the pieces for one I think to myself: THIS HAS GOT TO END. The crawling on the floor, the hot glue burns, the accidental stapling of flesh (in my thigh? For real tho?). Then I hang it up and immediately forget the pain and suffering. I just stand back and absorb the awesomeness that is the work of my wee artists. 
Like awww, y'all. These selfies created by my first through fourth grade students (with about a dozen missing as they still have some finishing up to do) are just about the best thing ever. And it already has me plotting and planning our next collaborative project. Because I'm a glutton for punishment. 
In case you missed it, we started our school year with a monochromatic self-portrait project. You can see the finer details here. The above is the video that I shared with the kids. 
And here is a look-see as to my set up. The covered tables signify the colors available at that table. The kids could use any ONE color they wanted (which meant for that first day, they sat where they liked) but if a table was filled up, then move along, Little Doggie. On the tables there were two bins filled with markers and colored pencils of one color in a range of values. There were also mirrors on each table. 
At the end of the first week, I had a stockpile of these lovelies that I organized by color. Initially I was going to do something COMPLETELY different with these selfies. However, tried as I might to make the idea work (I was going to make a big ole peace sign), it just wasn't coming together. So I shelved the idea, allowed myself to let it go and I flipped my flop... 
And went with this idea instead: The Many Faces of J.E.S. 
Our students have a STONG sense of school pride. They are happy kids who truly love their school. Our school colors are yellow and blue. I think they are gonna totally dig this mural when they see it tomorrow!
But, like I said, the gluing, mounting, plotting and planning is what completely wears me out. I did this on a Sunday just so I could knock it out with plenty of uninterrupted time. And so no child could witness giant extension cords and hot glue guns on the ground. Is it any wonder why I am so accident prone? I set myself up for disaster. I truly am my own biggest enemy!
Next up: kindergarten still needs to create selfies. AND I had the posters that the kids created in this post laminated. I can't wait to hang them up alongside this mammoth masterpiece. 
I'm also stoked that this is up two whole weeks before Open House! Now I just gotta get three grade levels of Dot Day artwork up...whew. That outta be a good time. 
In the meantime, I'll just be hanging out with some colorful kids.
Who are so uniquely different. I love seeing the variety of creativity!
By the way...I may be a little spotty this week as I'm having a ROOT CANAL tomorrow. Be thinkin' of me y'all. And floss. A lot.
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Thursday, August 25, 2016

In the Art Room: Tissue Paper Relief by Third Grade

Now that our Monochromatic Selfies are complete, the third grade was ready to spend their third day in the art room creating tissue paper reliefs! I've been looking for a different spin on Dot Day and when I saw Blick present this at the AOE Now summer conference, I knew I had to give it a go!
This project took us the hour to complete and made for so much prettiness (not to mention educatin'). I created the video to share with my students...but you are welcome to share it with yours! 
Now, the relief might be finished but the project isn't complete yet! Our next step will be to adhere them to 10" cardboard rounds found on Amazon (I just have them sitting on 8" rounds for the photo) and continue our study of radial balance. I'll be sure to share that with you when they are complete. I was just too excited by these lovelies not to share right away!
 I mean...so fun, right?
 For this project, you'll need some of the following:
* Texture plates I used the ones that was recommended by Blick at the AOE conference. I liked the circle design as it went perfectly with our Dot Day lesson. However, they have a ton of cool texture plate designs to chose from. I purchased thirty plus because that's how many third graders I have in a class...and the artwork will need to remain in the texture plate until completely dry. 
 * Tissue paper squares These small squares are PERFECT if the kids are wanting to create a design. I left that completely up to the students. Many chose to create a radial design on their plate while some did a random one. I was cool with both. 
I was DREADING the idea of cutting tissue paper. I was so excited when I found these at the Dollar Tree! I purchased one for each table of four students and it was more than enough. It is a bleeding tissue, however...so some designs may get a little fuzzy around the edges. I was willing to take that as opposed to cutting thousands of squares.
* Large Tissue Paper This is where all of your scraps come in handy. The kids were instructed to use the smaller pieces for their design portion. When that was complete, they were to put AT LEAST three layers of large tissue on the back to strengthen the tissue design. 

* Watery Glue...with GLITTER! I just put white glue and water in a cup and sprinkled glitter into that. The kids also used soft brushes to apply the glue. Anything bristly tour the tissue more than normal. 
The kids put a piece of tape on the back of the plate with their name and teacher code. Here's what they look like as they are drying...not so interesting as the cool design is underneath!
 Not even gonna lie: the big draw back to this project was popping the creations out of the plate. Because the tissue is pretty fragile, I knew the kids might accidentally tear their work and become frustrated. It took me about 10 minutes to bust all of these bad boys out of the texture plates. I did crack a few of the plates while doing so...but they're fine to use again. 
Once popped out, the kids will trim around their circle design, cutting off the excess. 
 I know they'll be thrilled to see them when they get them back!
 Next up: add to a cardboard round and continue the radial design! 
This was such a fun and unique project that the kids really enjoyed. I don't often repeat projects but I can see this one happening again in the ole art room sometime soon!

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Sunday, August 14, 2016

What the Art Teacher Wore #169

 Monday, Here We Go!: The first day back with students is usually a lil spooky for me but this year, I was surprisingly calm. I shoulda known that was a sign! The days did go smoothly but I did change and improve my little chat before each class. Next week, we are on to the fun part: art makerin'! dress: made by me, details here; belt and crinoline: Amazon; shoes: Converse, Zappos

Hey there and welcome back! It was our first week back to school with the wee artists and we kicked it off with a bang. Each year, I try to do something a little different to start the school year. I noticed that I've written several blog posts about those first days of school so I thought I'd make a list of those here. Some ideas I still use and some have changed and evolved. Regardless, I hope you find 'em helpful:

* The First Days Back, Welcome to Asia! That time I kicked off the school year with an Asian theme.

* The First Days Back, Artists, Vocab and More! Here I'll walk you through exactly what I say and do during those first days with a couple of video clips.

* The First Days Back, A Room Tour! This post shares with you more tips and tricks as well as a room tour.  

* This Year's First Days Back! I just shared this the other day, but in case you missed it...check it out here for my older students and here for my younger

* Art Teacherin' 101: Also, to get you in the swing of things, I've chatted quite a bit about going back to school in some recent Art Teacherin' 101. You can view all of those here. I share a new Art Teacherin' 101 nearly every Wednesday so if you subscribe to my channel, you won't miss! Also, if you have anything you'd like me to chat about, just leave it in the comments and I'll make an attempt.

I hope y'all have a great start back. I'll be back with you real soon. Until then!
 My third and fourth grade students LOVED playing the Art Rocks Escape Game to learn the rules, routines and way around the art room. This is definitely something I'll be bringing back again. 
 Sharpen Your Pencils Tuesday: I so love the little pencil print on this dress by Love Ur Look London. I shared it on my Instagram and Love Ur Look said that they were bringing that dress back soon. So if you don't see it on their website, stay tuned! shoes: Converse, DSW
 I love taking photos of how happy and clean my art room looks before the Fire Marshall comes and loses her mind and the kids come and create masterpieces. Ah...the cleanest it will be all year!
Splatter Me Wednesday: If y'all are a shopaholic like your girl, then you know ModCloth is a dangerous place. I've had my eyeball on this dress for a long while so when it dropped down in price to the lowest I'd seen it, I scooped it up before it was sold out. Another dangerous site? Zuilily, y'all. Check out those Tom's! necklace and scarf: thrifted
 This weekend, I've been trying to reach outside my comfort zone and work on some new projects that I'm super excited about. I'll be sure to unveil my new project here first...I can't wait to share it with y'all!
 Portrait Dress Thursday: We're all in self-portrait land on my end of the art teacherin' world so this dress seemed like the most appropriate thing to wear! dress: made by me, details here; necklace: from an artist in Charleston; shoes: Cons, Zappos
So this is the first time I've ever shared four blog posts in one week, y'all. It's been a goal of mine for a while but I gotta tell you, it's a lot! Because I've got some "adulting" to do this weekend (reading rewrites for THE BOOK I wrote {ahhh!}, video-lesson planning and plowing the field, aka, cutting the grass), I don't know that I'll get to that DIY I've been dreaming about all week. But, while it lasts, I hope y'all enjoyed the four blog posts. Hopefully it wasn't too much for ya! More on the Shibori dying here
Fun Friday!: Not even gonna candy coat it, it was a long week, kids. Friday was a much welcome sight! dress: ModCloth, also on super sale!; Rainbow Brite Belt: Buffalo Exchange
Several of you have asked about my new choice in footwear. My feets are fine...I'm just over wearing the heels. I noticed that by mid-day, my dogs were tired and I just wanted to sit down (what I usually did was just switch to my Fast Flats, those ballet style slip ons you can pick up at the drug store). Over the summer, I picked up a pair of Chucks on a whim and I loved how they looked with my vintage dresses. And my feet are happy! So now I have a super serious Chucks-obsession to add to my long list of shopping-obsessions. And there you have it: the unfascinating story of my shoes. 
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