Inuit Line Animals

In this art lesson, we learned about the Inuit people of Alaska and Canada.  We discussed their lifestlye and the climate of the areas the live in.  We also discussed the importance of animals within their culture.

Next, we looked at examples of various lines.  We discusses the meaning of the art element line.

For the lesson, students were shown (step by step) to draw an animal.  They had to pick either an owl, a fish, or a cat.  To complete their artwork, they filled their animals with many different lines.  I love how this project turned out!  So detailed and vivid!

Louise Nevelson's Found Art Sculptures

I did this project with my younger grades (K-3), but judging on how cool the older kids thought they were when they saw then littering my classroom; I could have done them with the whole school!

This project was so much fun to do.  It was a perfect way to introduce collaborative art too...

I collected various "found" objects (such as bottle caps, plastic cups, buttons, puzzle pieces, etc...) and organized them in a chip/dip bowl in the middle of the table.  Each student was instructed to pick two objects.  Then, one table at a time, they brought me their objects and we worked together to get them all glued down into our shoebox.

After it all dried, we painted them all one color to mimick the larger scale sculptures by artist Louise Nevelson.

Cactus Drawings

We had so much fun doing this lesson.  During this lesson, we discussed the cactus plant and other varieties of succulent plants.  Students learned about the type of environment cactus plants flourish (hot, dry, and desert like).  They also learned the importance of the cactus plants spikes (to protect their mosture from predators).  After looking at many pictures of cactus plants and talking about them, students were given step-by-step instructions on how to build their cactus drawing.  We drew the cactus with pencil on blue construction paper first.  Then we traced the cactus with white Elmer's glue.  After the glue outline dried, students filled int he cactus using soft chalk pastels.  To make their cactus drawings look more realistic, students created shadows with darker shades of green and highlights with lighter shades of green and yellow!

Lascaux Cave Drawings

For this lesson, I showed students a video that was captured of the cave drawings inside Lascaux Caves in Lascaux France.  The video was made in the 1960's so that the public could still see Lascaux's beautiful prehistoric images even though the cave was closed off to the public (in order to preserve the art).

The cave drawings are believed to date back over 17,000 years; making them the oldest art known about in the entire world!  The story goes that 4 teenage boys discovered the cave in 1940 when they noticed a hole in the ground where a tree once stood.  A lightning storm had struck the tree, revealing the hidden cave underneath.  Imagine how special you might feel if you were one of the 4 lucky boys who discovered the oldest art in the world!

In this art lesson, students were instructed to draw at least 2 animals (like those seen at Lascaux: cows, bulls, deer, bears, or a unicorn) and at least 3 symbols.  After students designed the composition of their drawing on a practice sheet, they completed a final drawing and added color with oil pastels.  We used a manilla paper to mimic the look of the ancient cave.

Snowman Profiles

I'm always trying to think of new ways to encourage my younger students to draw big and fill up their entire paper.  I guess because they are so small, their frame of reference is also a bit small.  Every kid loves snowmen, right?!

For this project, I demonstrated on the board how to draw a LARGE capital "B" or "R" on the paper vertically (this will serve as the face and body of the snowman).  Then students added a sideways triangle inside the face to be the carrot nose.  Next, students painted the triangle nose orange, the face and body white, and then added more white to the side to be falling snow.  We put the artwork to dry.

The next time they came to class, we used oil pastels to add the details for the eyes, mouth, arm, scarf, and hat!

"Dia de los Muertos"

"Dia de los Muertos" is a very important Mexican holiday that is celebrated in Mexico and parts of the United States every year on November 2nd.  In Engllish, "Dia de los Muertos" is translated to Day of the Dead.  During this day, people celebrate by remembering loved one that have passed away.  There are many traditional ways of celebrating; some of which include building altars in remembrance of loved ones, dressing up as skeletons, dancing, eating special foods (like Pan de Muerto), a procession or parade, a name call of the deceased, and decorating gravesites with flowers and marigolds.  Often, people will also tell stories retelling fond memories of loved ones lost. 

Another big activity is making sugar skulls and using them to decorate.  A sugar skull is a skull made out of sugar that is decorated with icing.  The sugar skull image has spread through the culture of "Dia de los Muertos" to include costumes, artwork, and more.  In this lesson, students drew a sugar skull with silver sharpe on black construcion paper to create a stark contrast of lights and darks.

Every year, I attend the Day of the Dead festival at Bare Hands art gallery in downtown Birmingham.  It is a fabulous event with food, drinks, dancing, costumes and loads of wonderful art!

Aboriginal Boomerangs

The Aboriginal people are the indigineous people, or first inhabitants, of the continent of Australia and their descendants.  They rich cultural heritage is very interesting and includes some beautiful artwork.  Traditionally, their artwork references stories from their "Dreamtime" as well as many dots, animals, and Aboriginal symbols.

In this art lesson, students first painted an Aboriginal boomerang with watercolors, then they added stamps of Aboriginal symbols.  To finish the composition, students filled their artwork with dots.  The examples above are from two of my second grade students!

Mandalas

Last week in art, all of my students learned about the ancient Asian artform of creating mandalas.  Mandala actually means "circle" in Sanskrit (an ancient Indian written language).  However, mandalas are much more intricate and meaningful than that.  Mandalas are often used to focus attention and deliniate a sacred space. 

 After looking at many variations of mandalas, we talked about concentric circles and radial symmetry. 

Some Tibetan Buddhists create painstakingly detailed mandalas out of sand (like the one below).

I gave each student a 9 x 9 square piece of heavy weight watercolor paper (90 pound).  First students drew a large circle.  Then, they divided the circle into 4 equal quadrants.  Then, the students added identical lines and shapes in each of the four quadrants; therefore crearting a concentric circle filled with a radialy symmetrical pattern.  The results?  Well, see for yourself!

Paul Klee Castles

Ocassionaly I get a little stumped as to how can I teach a familiar objective using a new lesson or idea.  So, I turn to my best friend google to lend a hand (he never lets me down)!  Through google, I have found many other art teacher blogs, art lesson plans, cultural history, craft collectives, and the like.  One of my favorite blogs, Art Projects for Kids, has contributed many ideas to my classroom; including this one!

In this lesson, we looked at art examples from an abstract artist originating from Switzerland, Paul Klee.  Klee's artwork has been associated with such art historical styles as Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism.  He loves geometric shapes.  So, I took the opportunity in this lesson to help my students differentiate abstract art from realistic art and geometric shapes from organic ones.

 

 Paul Klee's painting, Castle and Sun

I did this lesson with my younger students (K, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades).  First we talked about the different parts of a castle (turrets, towers, flags, moats, drawbridges, etc.).  Then, I encouraged the students to use the ruler to help them create straight lines and geometric shapes.  I also constantly reminded students to use a lot of shapes to add detail to their artwork.  After drawing their castles onto construction paper, they colored in each shape a different color.  Lastly, they traced around each shape with either white or black oil pastel so the colors would really "pop."