Art Is Messy

I came across this art history site today as I was clicking around the internet. It is a collection of different art history links, as well as lesson plans. It’s one to add to your bookmarks.

I don’t support the destruction of property, but come one, this is funny….Barrel Monster

First graders ended they year by learning about Van Gogh’s sunflower drawings. I set up two still life displays around the room an then the kids basically just took off by themselves.

Once they finished their contour drawings, they used oil pastels for the color. I was doubtful at their ability to use pastels for small areas, but once again they rose to the challenge.

The thing that I liked best about this project was that my students were able to clearly see their growth from the beginning of the year. It gave them a tremendous sense of accomplishment. The last sunflower that I posted is testament to this. This student had tremendous difficulty controlling materials at the start of the year. During the project he turned to me and said “Ms. Sajan, I think this is my best work.” I have to fully agree!

With this being only my third year teaching elementary school I am constantly impressed and surprised by the artistic abilities of my students. This is the first time I have done this project. I had no idea what to expect at the end of it. Theses projects surpassed all my expectations!!!

For this project kids looked at images of Pacific Northwest Indian art work. Afterward, I gave them a worksheet that asked them to choose different animals that represents their feelings. Samples questions were “When I am happy I feel like a…….When I am sad I feel like a…….” After the kids came up with a list of animals, they choose three for their totem poles.

Next, I showed them how to create pinch pots. Pots were stuffed with paper towels and holes were cut at the top and bottom of each ball to allow circulation. Balls were then attached together and then the three headed structure was attached to a clay base.

Students then went a head and built their animal heads and added texture and patterns to their work. After the totem poles students used Amaco Alligator glazes to their colors. I cannot go on enough about how much I love these glazes. They work particularly well on top of our red clay.

Recommendations for the project:

• Be sure that each kids has holes on all their ball, as well as through the bottom of the base. I tried to double check their projects to make sure they had them, sadly I missed a few.
• Make sure that the balls are attache really well to one another. I had a few heads pop off even after the final firing.

David found the Tiny Art Director site the other day while searching around the internet. Not only are there great examples of children’s book illustration, the “art director’s” commentary is priceless.  I cracked up so much while reading the commentary that I just had to pass this along…..

…listening to a group of girl speaking to each other in Beijing opera style voices while making Greek and African inspired clay pots. I can’t understrand their Chinese, but it cracks me up anyways.

Students were given the challenge of incorporating movement, overlapping, and small, medium and large with images of nature. Below are some of their final projects.

These were recently sent home for Mother’s Day. I bet many mom’s preferred getting flower tiles verus real ones!

For this lesson, students looked at examples of South American and Asian pottery that incorporate animal forms into their vessels. Afterward, students created their own animal inspired pots.

My classroom has looked like a trash heap for the past few months. Five different grade levels have been working on clay projects. The projects have been stored in unsightly black trash bags on my counters and in my shelves. It seems like every time  I empty one garbage bag, it just gets filled up with more projects.

Here is just a glimpse of some of the projects that have been occupying my space…..

The project below is a Kindergarten tile project. For this lesson, students experiment with creating different marks and patterns with a variety of clay making tools.

I feel like one of the luckiest women in the world. My husband usually makes me feel this way, but this time my feeling is caused by another man. This past weekend I got to spend time with author and illustrator, Scott McCloud and his adorably cute daughter, Sky. Scott and Sky came to China for a series of presentations and workshops relating to the Shanghai Student Film Festival (S2F2).

Scott has written a series of books related to comics. His books Making Comics, Reinventing Comics and Understanding Comics are an essential addition to any art library.

I feel incredibly lucky because Scott came into my 5th grade classroom and did a lesson on how to draw facial expressions. My kids ate it up!!!! I can’t tell you how many of them took their sketchbooks home that night and drew their little hearts out.