I thought all the 2nd grade classes would be glazing their pinch pots this week, but I ran into some kiln issues... grrr!
Half the pots for my first class today were at the bottom of a hot kiln load this morning. Such poor planning by someone who shall not be named;)
Anywho, I needed a project to do and remembered the work of Japanese artist Miroco Machiko that I had pinned earlier in the year. Mrs. Knight also did a project based on Miroco's work with her students this year, so I pulled up both Miroco's website and Mrs. Knight's blog post to share with my class.
I like to share the work of other students as well as our focus artists because it allows kids to see how other kids have approached the project. I have found that it makes the work a bit less intimidating for them.
Like Mrs. Knight, I talked about the still life as subject in art. We also realized that Miroco's shapes of fruits and veggies did not look 3d and round. She doesn't worry about using light and dark colors to make things look 3d. Flat is good with her:)
Before jumping into the project, I had students give me names of some fruits and veggies. As they told them to me, I drew them out on my front board, so they would have some references for their shapes.
I had the students shoot for at least 9 shapes on their paper. I emphasized using a variety of sizes in their drawing. I also stressed trying to use the whole paper. Once they were done drawing, students traced their shapes with some fancy metallic crayons. In hindsight, I wish I had them make these lines a little thicker, but the kids LOVED using these crayons.
After that, I quickly demonstrated how to blend two watercolor colors together inside a shape. Another crowd pleasing moment:) Students could use any color except black.
Once students finished painting in their shapes they moved onto painting the background with black. I was a bit nervous about this step. I was picturing a big mess, but the kids showed great control with the black and the amount of water and color they used to fill the background.
Thanks for getting me through my morning Miroco and Mrs. Knight:)
Looks awesome! Thanks for the shoutout. That lesson is a keeper, I really enjoyed it and the kids were all successful. Next year I am going to try to have some real veggies to draw from, this year we drew from photos.
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