Space-Part 2

The second approach we took with the element Space was to learn how to manipulate distance, or rather the space between subjects and each other, and the subjects and the viewer. Using the visual below, we identified how items far away are higher on the page, smaller, and duller in color. Items close up are larger, lower on the page, and brighter. 

K-1 worked with watercolor to create some European tulip field inspired paintings. 

At their wee age, they conneted points on the bottom of their paper to a vanishing point to make the feild appear to disappear into the distance. 

They learned that if you dab your wet paper with a tissue, a cloud effect is created. They also saw that if you sprinkle salt on watercolors the colors are absorbed creating a cool "flower" texture. This also creates a "snowflake" texture for our 4/5 classes further below...

The 2nd and 3rd grade classes learned about foreground, middle ground, and background with the help of some pop-up cards. In order to make this project completable in 35 minutes, most peices were pre-cut. They did have to cut many parts in half, design their own clouds, and assemble their scene. They did a great job of following multiple directions. 

The concentration was so thick you could cut it with a knife. 

Great Job Hyrum! Corinne and Janeya showed their mastery of space by placing the smaller items farther back into the distance, and the larger ones close up. 

When painting our "winter birch trees" the 4th and 5th graders focused on identifying the light source in order to choose the direction of their shadows, and where to place the trees along with what size the trees should be in order to create a realistic scenery. This combined with that new watercolor techniques involving salt made for a beautiful project.

Trinity is excited about how her scene looks when she removes the tape while Sam continues doing the same. 

Waylon and Daniel add their birch tree details with India ink.

Abigail and Nikolay focus intently.

What an incredible, violet sky Abigail made.

Samuel's is very soothing to look at.

Artwork like this almost makes me sad that winter is coming to a close.

.....Almost ;)

Space-Part 1

The Element of Art, space, is in my opinion the most complex element because there are many different ways to manipulate it. As the elementary classes began learning about space, we approached two types of space: Space in terms of distance and depth, and space in terms of positive and negative. If you are not super familiar with these types, you are not alone.

during week one, our younger grades of art learned about positive and negative space. Positive space in a piece of artwork is basically the focus or subject of the art. The negative space is all of the background space around the subject. To help understand this better, our students viewed the video below:

To reinforce the element we just finished, the K-1 class created "tye-dye lines". They colored a tye dye design and then drew and cut different types of lines. By separating them and gluing them to black paper, the lines created positive space while the tye dye became the background negative space.

Cutting and gluing these "puzzle pieces" neatly really pushed the K-1 classes abilities; it's harder than it looks!

I was so impressed by Riah's gluing abilities! And though a tinge off-kilter, Kassie's spacing is awesome! 

The 2nd and 3rd graders created a snowflake that emphasized positive and negative space. I tried to trick the students when having them identify the positive and negative space, thinking that the black and white would throw them off, but they knew with certainty that no matter what it's color, the snowflake was the positive space. Here we really worked our fine motor skills when cutting the delicate snowflakes and lining up our paper to glue.
Aren't these dynamic looking?!

Our 4th and 5th graders created positive space with sea creature silhouettes. The farther away our creatures swam, the smaller they became.

If you look really closely, you may be able to find Mayra's mermaid. The movement of the delicate fish bodies in Samuel's underwater scene is spot-on!

Woah! I think Abigail's sea turtle is about to land overhead!

Who's ready to see how the other Space projects turn out?! If their other art turns out anything like this, I look forward to it!

Monochromatic Value Portraits

As we work through the elements of art in my high school classes, we have finally arrived at value! Using the grid method that we all know and love, the students drew a line drawing identifying the light, medium, and dark values in their school photo. Then, choosing one color they created a series of tints and shades to paint their final portrait. Nothing like a little pop-art inspired art to get you in the mood for art!

 

More Lines Everywhere!

I'm a little out of order, but wanted to make sure I posted out Valentines day art project when it was still around Valentines day!

Prior to doing our "Valen-lines" project, the students were introduced to "Line" as an element of art. They met my friend Larry the Line, who shared a little poem with them. (Larry may or may not have been my arm, wrist, and hand with googlie eyes... but with a little imagination he was a very talented snake! haha)
We learned about different types of lines found in art with the following poem:

Larry the line is a friend of mine,

He can make 3 lines for me! 

Ver-ti-cal

Diag-o-nal

And Hor-i-zon-tal

Any curve he can learn with a twist and a turn,

And when he's out of his tangle, 

He makes a great angle!

Any line he can make,

After all, he's a snake!

After making "lines" with their own arms, we looked at different pieces of artwork and identified the various lines we could see in them. A few examples of the artwork is shown below:

Georges Rouault "The Old King" and Pablo Picasso's "The Weeping Woman"

"Lily" by Alfonse Mucha and finally a really cool piece of line art that I could not track down the artist of! 

I introduced my K-1 class to my favorite childhood book that was torn and loved so much, I just had to buy myself my own classroom copy. The story "Purple, Green, and Yellow" by Robert Munsch. 

It's pretty much the cutest book to teach children not to color on the walls, floors, or themselves! In the spirit of such, the children practiced drawing various lines on their "hands".

It was pretty rainy and windy the day we had art, so it was the perfect day for our 2-3 graders to do our Crazy Line Hair paintings.

John, Amy, Summer, and David had to use a lot of focus when styling those do's!

Every kind of line we could possibly identify makes for some pretty crazy hair days!

Finally, our 4-5 grade classes focused on implying movement and volume with curved lines and value. 

Abby is clearly very focused ;) and Daniel was on a red streak that day!

The summer yellows and oranges used by Chayse and Alexa make me so warm and fuzzy inside.

So many cool effects caused by the simple element of Line!

Henna Hands Line Drawings

To help master the element of art, line, we decided to study a little cultural implementation of it. In the Hindu, Islamic, and Indian culture "Mendhi", more commonly known to us as Henna, is used as a temporary art form used on the skin for times of celebration. Elaborate lines and symbols are drawn onto the flesh using a henna paste that is later washed off leaving a stain. There are so many symbols, and beautiful forms of craftsmanship that our students set out to duplicate.

On their own "hands" students planned, sketched, finalized, and inked their own designs that represented them. This is a great project for students who do not think they are good artists, because the math, measuring, and technical aspect is huge in the success of this form of art. Our students used their right brained creativity while implementing their left-brained mathematical technicality.

In art, there is room for success no matter what your strengths and weaknesses are!

I love the dark and light values of this mandala. Mandala's symbolize the universe and wholeness. Lovely work Alexis!

Emil used great accuracy of distance between his lines and patterns. He implements a peacock which represents pride and beauty, and a turtle that represents strength and longevity.

Another wonderful Mandala! Beautiful work Marie!

 Another beautiful mandala implementing flowers that symbolize joy and happiness and vines, symbolizing devotion and longevity. Great Job Annie!