wavy faces

Last week the 5th graders looked a the work of California artist Erik Abel. I have used Erik's work to teach students about different elements in a few projects before. In this one, we used Erik's work as the focus for an exercise in color value and relief sculpture.

Erik's work is all about the water. We looked at numerous images from his website and looked at the wide variety of work he has done that ties into this theme. The image we focused on was called "Neptune's Crown of Coral". I pointed out that Erik and created variety in color by adding white or black to mainly one color.

The 5th graders have been working with tints and shades for a few lessons, but not with the limitation of using only one color to make a monochrome image, so I thought this would make for an interesting visual challenge for them.

Erik's painting is flat, but I thought it would be cool to add a relief element to the project, so after students drew out and colored their abstract portraits they cut them into several pieces and reassembled them on black paper. I showed them how they could have each section pop up once or twice, depending on how many places they added glue to. These pop outs tied in well with the water theme of the portraits too:)

We did draw out the basic shapes together- nose, eyes, mouth line, but I offered variations at each step. If students wanted to do something different at each point, they could go for it.

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)

5th grade legacy mural 2013.

The 5th graders just completed the annual legacy mural at Zamo!

I got to work with many small groups as they left a positive mark on our school with paint, colors, and brushes. All the groups did a fantastic job on the wall:)

This year I also had a group of student volunteers from high schools near and far, to assist with the mural. They were great helpers on the project, cutting in edges, replenishing supplies, and cleaning LOTS of brushes.

The mural was inspired by a project Miss Kathi did with one class of 5th graders. That project was inspired by an art gallery painting done by the late James Rizzi. I modified the design a bit, to make it more manageable for the time we had to paint. Some of the individual panels in the mural were inspired by student panels create for that project with Miss Kathi. Others were inspired by projects the art team did with our 5th graders throughout the year.