giving them a lift:)

This week the 1st graders tried out making things look 3d for the first time this year. I share the work of Cbabi Bayoc with them for inspiration. Cbabi is primarily a portrait painter and we looked at a number of images form his website to see how he made flat shapes look more round by using light and dark colors in his paintings.

I really enjoy how Cbabi works with the human form and how he works with planes of color. A couple years ago he did a painting a day called "365 Days with Dad". I talked about this with the kids; how he wanted to celebrate the importance of father figures in African American culture in the lives of children. These father figures could be dads, or stepdads, older brothers, cousins, teachers. Basically any older male in a child's life that serves as a role model for children.

I emphasized that our project would be about family. Is the child you or a brother or sister? Who is the adult? Mom or dad? Uncle or aunt? Somebody that lifts you up and makes you feels good.

We drew out the bodies together, added hairstyles, and then used light and dark to make the shapes look more 3d. I started the project with pastels on dark paper, since the last project before break used the same materials. However, after a couple classes I switched to color sticks because I felt their drawings were getting out of control with the pastels. After a couple more classes I switched from dark paper to white. I think the light and dark effects are most successful on the white paper, but I do like the way the outlines are not as obvious on the darker paper.

What do you think?

uh oh.

Doh!

Sigh...

Sometimes things just don't work out in the art room, even when you think you have things all planned out. This lesson was one of those times.

I was excited to do a project with my 4th graders that was inspired by a series of ads Blattner Brunner did for Lego a few years ago. 

An exercise that focused on diagonals and tints and shades to make shapes 3d. An exploration between geometric and natural shapes.  Abstract vs. more realistic contours. A chance to discuss fractions in sculpture and drawing. In other words... way too much stuff going on!

We did guided practice drawings of individual lego blocks first. I emphasized really keeping their drawn lego creation simple. Keep it to around 7 or so blocks and use the detail in the cast shadow to really tell the viewer what they were looking at.

The kids did great with the guided practice, but so many got lost when they were asked to combine blocks together to create a different shape. Many attempted block forms that were way to complicated with too many shapes. I should have done more guided practice of adding shapes together. They had done a project earlier in the year (Marz Jr. inspired architectural drawings), so the use of line to make 3d forms should not have been foreign to them. For some reason, I didn't anticipate the confusion that happened. 

I did the lesson with one class, then did it with one more, making sure to emphasize simplicity in their lego form. After the second class, I decided to switch to this snowperson project, which still emphasized 3d form through light and dark, but abandoned the perspective aspect. If I were to attempt something like this again, I would use at least 2 class periods, so kids had more time to practice. I hate having projects take up multiple class periods though, since I see each class about 10-12 times a year due to our school size.

If students completed the project early I encouraged them to then build their lego drawing with legos from my classroom lego center.

Below are pics of some of the more successful projects. 

3d abstractions.

Just because an artwork is abstract in style, doesn't mean it has to look flat.

One of the 5th grade art standards is identifying different styles in art. At the beginning of this lesson we reviewed how students made 3d space and 3d shapes in their Northern Lights drawing last week. I posed 2 questions, had students pair share, and then students volunteered answers (perspective & tinting and shading).

Then we worked through what makes abstract art abstract- the artist changes things from reality, it could be through any of the art elements. We identified examples of both realism and abstraction in posters around my room.

I then shared a few images from Filipino artist Hernando Ocampo, who passed away in 1978. With the inclusion of this fact, some students expressed disappointment because we wouldn't get to hear back from him:)

In the abstract paintings I shared, I pointed out how he still made parts look 3d by using light and dark colors. I also pointed out how Hernando made certain parts stand out by using more intense coloring in those areas.

I asked students to create an abstract design that repeated a shape at least 7 times- varying the size and direction of the shape. They then used crayola color sticks to make the shapes have 3d volume by using tints and shades.

Before doing their final design, students made at least 2 rough draft compositions on the back of their paper. When they finished these sketches, they were to share in pairs, tris, or quads and explain why they were picking one design over the others. I then had a couple students from each class share their reasoning with the class.

I love the variety in visual responses to the creative problem I set forth for them. When they finished their drawing, students completed an exit slip that asked 2 questions- How this abstract drawing was similar to the more realistic one from last week? What was the most successful part of their project and why? (5W10)