Digital paintings and tessellations

Sixth Grade graphic arts students started out the quarter by creating abstract digital paintings using the ArtRage software. We discussed what it means for something to be abstract, and explored what all of the different tools in ArtRage do. Check out some samples below:

After creating these images we then discussed how to use Photoshop to rotate and transform each image several times across the page to create a tessellated image. We discuss the math components of tessellation as well as the designs. Students took  a few days to work on these and you can see some samples below.

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.