Recently, the 1st and 2nd graders made self-portraits out of clay. We started the assignment by reading, "I'm Gonne Like Me!" by Jamie Lee Curtis. It is a book about self-esteem, and it is pictured below. Afterwards, we practiced sketching our faces while looking in the mirror. I told the students that they could draw themselves being silly or serious. The next time the students came into class, I demonstrated how to score and slip to attach facial features, as well as how to draw facial features onto the clay. After that, they began sculpting their faces out of clay. Over the course of this lesson they learned about the stages of clay, clay vocabulary and techniques, how the kiln works, and how to glaze. The students were fascinated when we got to glazing. They thought it was magical that the glaze became bright and glossy after being fired. Some samples of their faces are pictured below.
The middle school students in 3-dimensional Design recently made abstract pantyhose sculpture. For this lesson we defined abstract art, representational art, and non-representational art. The students looked at a variety of abstract sculptures and we talked about what we saw when we looked at these sculptures, from this we discovered that we all saw something different from the same sculptures. The students were then challenged to make their own abstract sculpture that could be representational or non-representational, meaning it could be something in particular like a person, or it could be extremely abstract. At the end of this assignment we reflected on our artistic process by having a musical chairs art experience. During this art experience students were required to describe the abstract sculpture and answer a series of questions about the sculpture such as, "If this sculpture was to say something out loud what would it say, and why?". These sculptures are being displayed in the lobby.
The first and second graders recently studied and learned about insects and arachnids. We discussed the difference between the two and why they are both important. We looked at the artwork of Steven Kutcher and Joyce Fritz. Kutcher is an entomologist that uses live insects to create art, you can learn about him and his process in the video below. Joyce Fritz makes insects out of polymer clay. The students looked at images of many different kinds of insects and studied their coloring and patterns. We defined what detail is and how we can find lots of detail in the insects that we draw. Students compared and contrasted the difference between a drawing and a sketch. They then learned various watercolor and pastel techniques, and used these techniques to create a chosen insects or arachnid. Afterwards they created a background to put their insect on. We talked about habitat and where we usually find insects, and they used those ideas to create a place for the insect to be. Below are some of the pictures from this project.
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