Clay Masks

For our ceramic unit in 7th grade this quarter we made clay masks that depicted a theme of some type. After looking at the way that other cultures use masks, the students came up with a theme of their own and designed a mask to show that theme. We made them out of clay and painted them after they were fired.

Positive/Negative Space still life 2.0

Quarter 2 still life compositions exploring positive and negative space.

Self-Portraits

Seventh Graders used the grid system of drawing to create a simple contour drawing of their faces. We then made collage backgrounds and stained them using paint. The combination of the painted background and the white and black drawings turned out really great. Check out this blog where I got the idea.

Weekly Update 12/2/13 - 12/6/13

Sixth Grade

Sixth graders worked on pattern this week. We started out by creating unique patterns and discussing repetition and visual interest. Then we looked at the art of Alibrijes in Mexico. Artists in Oaxaca have been creating these amazing carvings since the early 20th century. They provide a great way to incorporate Mexican art and history into a pattern lesson, because the artists used so many great patterns in their work. 

Seventh Grade

Seventh graders continued working on our self-portrait project. Last week we finished using grids to create detailed line drawings of ourselves. This week we made collages on cardboard that we stained using tempera paint. Lastly the students cut out their portraits and glued them to the background. The white and black portraits look great on the colored backgrounds, and the texture provided by the magazine images really looks great. Look for photos to be posted soon.

Eighth Graders

Eighth graders have been looking at still-lifes and positive/negative space. To do this we created still life drawings, but instead of putting the detail in the positive space (which would be what is traditionally done) we put a lot of detail in the negative space. The result are some very striking images, which should be done on Friday.

Digital Surrealism

Graphic arts students recently finished a project where they took their knowledge of digital collage techniques and worked on creating a surrealist landscape.