Weekly Update 9/16/13 - 9/20/13

This week in art we've been working hard...

Sixth Grade 

Sixth graders have been working with the element of art color. On Monday we talked about color families (primary, secondary, tertiary) and we watched this video to help us remember them:   

Next we talked about color schemes (warm, cool, monochromatic, and complimentary) and students began a painting of a landscape which uses one of the color schemes. The paintings should be finished next week.

Seventh Grade

Seventh graders have been working on grid drawing this week. At the beginning of the week they were working on a group drawing where each student gets a square of a larger image and draws that one section. Then as a class we combine the squares to reveal the larger image. 

Now we're working on detailed self-portraits using the grid system of drawing. These should be done next week.

Eighth Grade

Eighth graders have been talking about positive and negative space this week. We've drawn still life compositions which we are painting now. Instead of doing all of the paint in the positive space (the objects) like a traditional still-life, we are doing a lot of detailed work in the negative space. These will be finished next week as well.

Weekly Update 09/03/13 - 09/06/13

Sixth Grade

This week sixth graders spent their time exploring the element of art shape. We discussed the differences between organic and geometric shapes, and then took that knowledge to create drawings of made up creatures using only geometric or organic shapes.

Seventh Grade

Seventh graders finished their abstract drawings from last week, and then worked on Notan collages. Notan is a Japanese design concept which means dark and light. Students took colored pieces of construction paper and cut out shapes along the edges. Then using symmetry students flipped the shapes out of the piece of paper so that there was a mirror image of the shape using positive and negative space. Images to come of these soon.

Eighth Grade

Eighth graders spent the week working on their coil built ceramics. The students did an excellent job building a small vessel which we will glaze in the upcoming weeks.

Digital Art

We finally began shooting our stop motion animation videos. Students have been working on their sets and characters for several weeks, and it was awesome to get to finally get out the cameras and begin shooting. I can't wait to see the finished products!

Radial Name Designs

For our first project in 7th grade art we used our names to create abstract designs which displayed radial symmetry. After spending some time working on creative lettering styles, students created a version of their names using their own style of lettering. Then we learned how to rotate and translate this image so that the letters of our names connect to each other and rotate around the page. By doing this the students created images which look  a lot like a kaleidoscope. Students learned about radial symmetry and made some great drawings at the same time. Can you see the names in each of the drawings?

Weekly Update 8/26/13-8/30/13

Sixth Grade

This week sixth grade spent time working with the elements of art. We looked at the elements line and texture, and completed activities about both. Students created different types of lines, drew contour line drawings, created rubbings to show visual texture, and used folding techniques to create actual texture.

Seventh Grade

This week 7th graders learned about line, shape, and value. We used this knowledge to work on abstract drawings. Students had to create a drawing using various lines and shapes, and using color pencils they added value throughout the image. These should be finished on Tuesday, so more images to come soon.
 

Eighth Grade

Eighth graders also learned about line, shape, and value this week, but they took that knowledge and used it to create Op art images. I didn't take any pictures of them yet, but they should be finished and uploaded soon.
 

Self-Portrait Collages

The first sixth grade project of the grading period was a self-portrait collage. To start off we discussed what a self-portrait was, and how we could make one that depicts our personalities/interests to the viewer. Students chose images that would show off their own unique identities to include in their collages. Then students were asked to choose a shape to make their collage. They could choose from a circle, square, diamond, or triangle--they were required to choose the shape that best described their personalities (a choice they were required to defend in their artist statements). Then the students spent time gluing their images to the surface while paying attention to composition and white space. We had a lot of very successful collages this time around!

Weekly Update 8/19/13-8/22/13

Weekly Update

Sixth Grade

 
This week sixth graders worked on their self-portrait collages. Students looked through magazines to find images that displayed their personalities to the viewer. We discussed the format of self-portraits as well as the process of collages. We finished these up on Thursday, so they should be up on the blog next week.

Seventh Grade

Seventh graders have been working on designs using their names to create radial symmetry. Last week we spent some time learning about how to create unique lettering styles, so this week students took that knowledge and used their names as the base for a drawing. Students traced their names and by rotating and translating them the designs connect and create kaleidoscopic images that are great examples of radial symmetry. These should be finished next week and hopefully will be uploaded then as well.

Eighth Grade

This week we continued our unit on creative lettering and worked on our final lettering projects--graffiti images of student names. Students looked at some examples of graffiti, and discussed the various cultural issues surrounding graffiti (legality, value compared to gallery art, formal art concepts, etc.) Then students created their own graffiti tags which we will cut out and hang in the halls so that the students can "tag" the school. Pictures to come soon.

Mona Lisa

For our day one project in 7th and 8th grade art we took the Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, and transformed her into our own versions. I borrowed this lesson from Art Projects for Kids, and I really enjoyed seeing how the students took an image and turned it into their own. Each student had a unique spin on the original, and it was a great way for everybody to get into the groove of things in the new art classes.