Graffiti Mola Names

7th graders started their quarter off with a project inspired by this Blick lesson as well as the work of Andrew McCormick's students. To introduce the idea of graffiti, we talked about street art (the ethics behind illegal and legal street art) as well as the idea of reverse graffiti and it's implications.

We also used many resources from http://graffitidiplomacy.com/ to help up along in our name designs. Value shading with colored pencil  and pattern design (with the metallic sticky paper in background) was a big focus of our work and reflected on our rubric.

These were a great first project to begin with since students names were so obviously drawn into the work. Hopefully they help me learn names faster this quarter! 

Check out this graffiti generator for ideas on how to get started drawing names in graffiti styles. 

http://www.graffiticreator.net/

Very cool!

Check out some of our finished work below...

Falling into Op Art

We have created Op Art value drawings in 8th grade art for a number of years now but this quarter, we included an additional twist- a printed photo of students "falling" into their work. We had a great time with this!

To start us off, we looked at contemporary anamorphic design. Brasspup's work shows prime examples of how easily our minds can be tricked, especially with the aid of technology. Nat Geo's Brain Games can also be an instructional resource for inspiration.

We then compared the work of Holbein the Younger and his infamous Ambassadors painting from 1533 to the more modern examples of this type of artwork. Kahn Academy's video is a perfect introduction to the Ambassadors.  

During studio time, students have the option of using a design that we practice together or, students can research online and brainstorm something they develop themselves...

We draw, outline, work on value and shading (with colored pencil) before our photo shoots. Varying the thickness of our outline is a major focus of our technique as well as the value changes. (I should also point out we do look at the pioneers of traditional Op Art such as Riley and Vasarely).

Find this warm-up worksheet (above) at studentartguide.com

We used our iPads to capture our photos and just cut away the excess background we didn't want. We also glued on our forms from the warm-up worksheet.

Multimedia Still Life Drawings

Our second project in 8th grade art (after our Op Art drawings) was a still life multimedia work. Since it's always difficult to get 30+ kids around one small still life, I use my Ladibug camera to project the image on a screen. Using the camera also allows me to take a photo and post it into Edmodo so the students can view it and work on the project at home. 

We spent some time practicing observational drawing together first and then worked independantly to create our own works. Finished projects are shown below. 

Using the camera to project the still life objects...

This is how our still life appeared on Edmodo.

Adding the marker technique to our still life.

Using Crayola Stick Stixs to blend and show value. 

Torn magazine pages filled in our collage area. 

End of the year wrap up...

End of the year wrap up...Frank Big Bear portraits and CD mandalas.

Frank Big Bear portraits
For one of our last projects, we completed a colored pencil rendition of Frank Big Bear's unique portrait style. Value is highly stressed in this project as well as color schemes and how color effects artwork.

Our inspiration came from this great art ed blog post.
http://experimentsinarteducation.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/frank-big-bear/

CD Mandalas

With our mandala designs, we look at radial balance and repetition of pattern. CDs were designed with colored Sharpies and 3D paint, while the paper boarder was created with colored pencil and black marker.

This project was introduced with the contemporary art of Suzan Drummen.
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/08/suzan-drummen/

Project updates- Zentangle Still Life

Zentangle Still Lifes

What a successful project! We used Sharpie for our Zentangle backgrounds and chalk pastel for our still lifes. Focus was on variety of pattern as well as varied line thickness and value blending. At the beginning of the lesson, the still life image was projected on screen to allow for large classes to view it in detail. We also saved the image on our Edmodo class page for easy access anytime!

Animal symbol coil pots

Our student teacher, Ms. G, did a fabulous job demonstrating the construction of a coil pot as well as creating value through a watercolor wash. Creating these coil pots were so much fun since we were able to add an animal symbol that represents something about our personality...and we seem love the idea of functional art! Pencil holders rock!

Many 7th graders chose a spider to reflect their creative sides. Glaze was used on the animal symbols to contrast against the watercolor value coils.