Tissue Paper Windows

I am completing some glass on glass mosaics for the end of the school year on some hold skylights from the high school library (pictures coming soon!). We used up all the glass but we were left with three extra windows! I'm was not able to purchase any more mosaic materials so I was left scouring the web for some ideas. I can't remember what site exactly had posted an activity where children painted tissue paper onto windows, but once I spotted it I knew that is what we had to do!

We started by ripping the tissue paper into smaller pieces. Then once we had a pile, students started painting elmer's art pastel over the glass pane and onto the tissue. We layered and observed our colors mixing together. I left the project open for exploration. I was curious to observe their solutions.

Once dry they will be installed in a window space somewhere in the school. I'm expecting the tissue paper to fade eventually, but with warm soapy water the window and be wiped clean for another creation. Looks like a faux stained glass masterpiece!

UPDATE: Here is an image of a mosaic we did on the extra window! now on display at the district office (taken from my phone camera, not the best image but you can still feel the sparkle)

Environmental Machines

After seeing a post a couple years back I was inspired to at some point create an "Environmental Machine Collargraph" lesson. Finally I was able to put something together and I couldn't be more excited by the results. The stars couldn't have aligned better.  Both the timing of the "Lorax" movie coming out and Earth Day on April 22 really made this lesson current and well rounded. 

After discussing the word "environment" and coming up with a brainstorm list of things that are negative towards our environmental, students watched clips from the old "Lorax" movie. I then assigned their mission...

To create a "Truffula Seed Planing Machine"!

Many of the machines used in the story cause negative impact towards the environment. IDEA! Lets create machines that help the environment. Fresh off the train named "Dr. Seuss Inspiration Express" the kiddos were ready to sketch! 

Collagraph printing plates. 

After a day of brain storming and sketching students were ready to learn about collagraphs. On a small sheet of tag board students sketched their final idea. Then, on top of all pencil lines, students began to glue small strip of craft foam. This process took two full class periods. On the forth day we printed using brayers and block printing ink!

Now for printing I have no organization advice. 

No matter what I did it turned into a MESS! 

But thats ok...

Because we tried out best

While were riding...

The "Dr. Seuss Inspiration Express"!

In my next life I will teach poetry and creative writing:) 

Wolf Kahn Landscapes

Students were introduced to Wolf Kahn and his color field landscapes using arbitrary color. After discussing horizon line, background, middle ground, and foreground, students began creating chalk pastels landscapes inspired by Kahns work.

Example of Wolf Kahn's work

We did four small 6"x6" drawings in total. First I would show them a large picture of Wolf Kahn's work (see above) and they would create a landscape inspired by it. At the same time they were asked to include background, middle ground, and foreground. Adding details was the final step.

 I encouraged no blue skys and no green grass and showed students how to achieve texture using blending and drawing techniques. Pure exploration of the medium really made this project a joy for me to teach, just allowing them to learn the capabilities of this material.

 
Our final step with this project will be to create a landcape more details and textures on a larger scale. Still creating a landscape with arbitrary color, but drawing in a more calculated way. Excited to see where they take it!

Amazed with this composition, the colors, and the textures of this work. 

Again the texture and color choices are so delicious to me!

Wayne Thiebaud: Cupcakes

As a warm up for our upcoming "Food as Art" unit, 2nd grade students created some oil pastel drawings of cupcakes (or ice cream sundaes, depending on how you look at it). We layered the colors pushing pretty hard to get a painted effect. They look so good I could just eat em' up!

Surreal Figure Collages

To help 2nd graders understand the dreamlike world of Surreal Art I presented a slide show of images for us to observe. We looked at the weird and strange along with the interesting and inspiring. Along with the images, this video resource proved to be a hit! 

I was impressed with their results! 

Greek Vases: Scratch Art

After seeing this once or twice on some other sites, HERE and HERE, I decided to give it a try myself. 

On the first day 2nd graders were introduced to greek history, greek pots, and the terminology used to describe the major elements of a pot (mouth, neck, belly, and foot). We then reviewed warm vs. cool colors and talked about the warn colors used in greek pots. 

I then introduced them to symmetry. For this part I stand infront of the room to do a little symmetrical/asymmetrical dance. If I hit a symmetrical pose they put up one finger and if I hit an asymmetrical pose they put up two fingers.  (I have them join in if we have extra time at the end of a class and they love it!)  

Symmetrical. And no this is not me... But I should invest in a tie-dye unitard...

Asymmetrical... Thats more like it... but i do usually pick a pose I can hold

Once we have the basics down I have them fold a large piece of white paper in half, place a dot at the top and a dot near the bottom. They use their knowledge of the elements of a vase (mouth, neck, belly, and foot) to create a drawing along the fold. Once they have a vase idea on the paper they keep it folded and cut carefully. 

For the rest of class we begin coloring our vase in a thick waxy layer of warm colored crayons. 

Day Two: finish coloring with crayon and then paint over entire vase with black tempera using a flat foam brush to get an even coat. With the last minutes of class I review pattern and show them a couple shapes that repeat on greek pottery quite a bit. they them complete a pattern worksheet and come up with some designs and pictures they want to scratch into their vase. 

Day 3: Scratch day! Finally we got to what we had been waiting for! First I had them scratch three lines  about a half inch apart on the top of their page and again at the bottom. In those spaces they scratched their favorite patterns or designs. The belly of the pot was a space they could scratch in more freely. 

"Jump Rope for Heart": Abstract Paintings

The gym teacher at my school always has "Jump Rope for Heart" and "Hoops for Heart" in February to align with Valentine Day. We have put together a cross curricular lesson combining their gym activities and knowledge of heart related ailments with an abstract art lesson that is designed to adorn the bland gym walls! 

I was inspired to do this project not only as a cross curricular opportunity, but because our students have raided over 10,000 dollars for the American Heart Association!!! AMAZING! They blew their last years record out of the water!

We started with a black tempera that was watered down a bit so it would flow nicely over the paper. Start with five hearts (large), then create five circles in between the hearts to add more shapes, and then use a variety of lines to connect the hearts and circles together.

 On the second day we used colored tempera to fill in our black shapes. I used my premixed paint cups for this. Each table got five colors on a tray, then about every ten minutes I switched the colors from table to table so there could be more variety. 

On the final day we used oil pastels to clean up black outlines and add a variety of lines, outlines, and patterns. I'll post a picture of the gym once they are hung up! yay!

"It Takes Heart to be a Hero!"

Aboriginal Dot Painting

Day 1 and 2: Students learned about aboriginal art and how it is influenced by the dream time. Students then learned about Uluru, a large rock in central Australia that is sacred to the aboriginal people. They then began writing a surreal story about an Australian animals adventure to Uluru. They could pick from a sea turtle, kangaroo, koala, or dingo as their main characters. Once the story was written they drew an illustration   

Day 3 and 4: students used their illustration as a sort of sketch for their final painting. First drawn out with pencil, students used the end of a paint brush handle to create dots along their pencils lines. Once the outlines were made students followed inside their shapes.  

If I were to do this project again I would make the final painting paper half the size. Students got burnt out quick from making dots. I tried motivating them by saying if you sold this painting you would get a dollar a dot. The more dots the more money! But the holiday break coming up definitely clouded their determination. I had some awesomely impressive results mixed with students who barely put any effort towards their painting.

There are some paintings I didn't even post because the animals are nearly unrecognizable. Curious, what age groups do you usually have create dot paintings? Maybe I just need to simplify....

Reminds me of an impressionist painting :) 

Completely in awe with this students art! Amazing!