lines! more lines! even more lines!

Wrapping up with my first 2 week rotation with our 1st & 4th graders and we have been experimenting with line while looking at the work of Nate Williams, Brita Lynn, Cadu Mendonca, and Seize Happywalker for inspiration.

Let’s dive in.

1sts looked at an illustration by Nate Williams and created profile portraits than included things of interest/ importance to them. They talked about things they liked, drew a few of them as practice, and then included them in the head of a portrait. They drew a picture of them thinking about what they like. 

They came back this week and we looked at a couple animals at the SD zoo and compared them to a couple paintings by Cadu Mendonca. They picked up on the difference between seeing a face in profile and seeing one from the front- one eye and half a mouth… except for peppa pig! We drew one of his animals together and then kids were to experiment with patterns within the animal. Color was added to specific parts to make certain parts stand out.

4ths looked to a drawing by Brita Lynn Thompson (zenspiredesigns) for a landscape and pattern exercise. They noticed how line was used to make the different landscape elements and how she also used it to fill every area with patterns. They looked at a collection of Sd landmarks and tried out combining different elements from different images. We talked about large v small scale and overlapping to create space, to boot.

Students scaled up in pencil, added colored, traced contour lines, and added patterns. Most kids needed extra time for this activity, so they had a full 80 minute session and then 15 minutes of the next to complete it. 

After that, they took a look at some work by Seize Happywallmaker (how awesome is that name?). They picked up on how he uses lines to create different shapes and how he overlaps to still make some depth in an abstract image. They noticed how symmetry was present in some of his pieces and not in others. I shared a short video of Home working and the kids loved it. It’s always cool to share this type of thing with our kids. I think it’s so important to see, videos or first hand, artists working through the various steps of the design process.

I modeled how they could create a design like Seize by starting with a couple simple shapes, giving them borders, adding another border that branches off, and then supporting shapes. We jumped right in to this. It was more much more spontaneous than the landscape drawing. Students drew, traced their lines, and added color. When coloring, I encouraged them to experiment with hard/soft, color patterns, and leaving some background shapes open, so there were places for us to rest.

To wrap up, the 4ths completed an exit slip that had them comparing and contrasting the focus works and telling me which experience they enjoyed more and why.

The 1sts and 4ths are off to a great start! Can’t wait to see them again when we play with shape!

blast off!

They're baaaccck.

The 5th graders that is:)
This week has been interesting because our ceramics instructor and photo instructor were pulling students out while the classes were working with me. So instead of 34 students, I was working with 22. I'm always sad not to be able to share a lesson with all the kids, but it is a treat to have the smaller classes sometimes.

This week I introduced them to the work of Danny Haas. He is a designer that may have a bigger love of Star Wars than I do. Maybe.

That aside, Danny makes some sharp looking images. Some are realistic while others a worked in a more figurative way. I also like his consistent use of monochromatic and analogous color schemes.

We looked at a number of his pieces and discussed the differences in style between them. We also got into how Danny creates a sense of depth even when the images are more figurative through overlapping, size change, color value change.

The image that inspired the project was actually not a Star Wars related design. I first found the image below and thought it would make an interesting collage project. I also like the combination of flat shape and simple patterns to create variety in color value.

We also discussed how the shape of the thruster smoke reinforced a sense of motion in the design.

We did a lot of cutting for this project, but most of the shapes were fairly simple for the kids to execute.

When they were drawing and cutting the cloud shapes I emphasized the need for a range of sizes, big to small, so that they would help define the depth in their collage.

After getting most of the shapes cut and glued in position, the students used construction paper crayons to add patterns to a couple areas. The rocket and smoke were made at the end. 

Even though the students were following the same steps and drawing the same elements, I was pleased with the overall variety of scenes that were made. Kudos to the big kids on campus!

For display purposes, each class used a slightly different color scheme.