Underground Railroad Quilt 3rd Quarter

We recently finished our Underground Railroad secret message themed quilts in the 8th grade. After each student finished their square we put them together and hung the finished quilt in the hallway.

Underground Railroad Quilt

I finally got the class quilt from 1st and 2nd quarter 8th grade art up in the lobby this week. Each student studied the way that slaves used quilt square patterns to (theoretically) pass along messages to help each other get to safety in the North. Then students designed their own squares which had a secret message which would have assisted an escaping slave. We made these out of paper, each student collaged their own square.

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.

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.

  

Digital Collages

7th grade graphic arts students recently finished digital collages in Photoshop. Students found images online that they thought represented their personalities and then edited them in Photoshop. Next we discussed how to arrange them in an interesting way that some of the images would overlap and have different proportions in order to create visual interest. I was really pleased with the work that these students did on this unit, they have come a really long way in their ability to edit images and to cut them out from a background. Check them out below: 

Notan 2.0

Check out some Notan collages from quarter 2 7th grade students below:

This assignment explores contrast, proportion, balance, and space. Students learned about these things and then created a design that demonstrates that understanding.

Notan Collages

Seventh grade students worked with the Japanese concept of Notan -- which deals with the relationship between light and dark -- to explore space, contrast, balance, and proportion. The collages turned out really nice. The students did a great job creating some really interesting symmetrical designs.