still shrinkin and dinkin!

Today I was able to share the work of Erin Inglis AND the work of other 5th graders with my classes by showing them my previous blog post. It's always cool to share what other classes are doing with the same project. I feel that it sparks more ideas because they can see how their peers have interpreted the assignment.

I am loving the variety of pieces that are coming out of this wearable art project!

Here's a cool interview from a few years ago with Erin for a little more insight into how she rolls.

Watching the magic happen:)

together now.

The Lea Anderson inspired collaborative project is up! 

And it's a little bigger than I was expecting... 

The individual pieces were mounted on larger circular sheets of butcher paper to make the installation go a whole lot easier. One of the cool things about this approach is that the look of the install could be easily altered in the next few days or later on in the year. Just a couple staples hold each of the larger circles to the wall.

Students in 22 classes contributed individual pattern circles to this project that focused on unity and variety. Throughout the activity, I stressed that no matter what size or color shape the student was working with, they were all as equally important as each other.

I'd have to say this goes for our school community as well:)

I'm into my regular rotation schedule now, so stay tuned for some very striking 1st and 4th grade projects in the next couple weeks!

hmmm...

 The 5th graders wrapped up their Don Pendleton inspired unity skateboard decks this week.

The start of each class saw students at different levels of project completion. After they finished I give them the opportunity to design a different deck any way they please. The students really enjoyed this aspect of their time this week. It was interesting to see how some students stuck with the unity theme and how some really broke out from the whole repetition concept.

After all the students were done with their first deck I passed out the assessments and reflection sheets/rubrics. Generally, this was around the 50 minute mark of a 70 minute lesson.

We walked through the evaluation process together. I told them the most important aspect of this process is to be able to be honest with themselves. The assessment process is a time to identify strengths and weaknesses of how they handle the language of art. 

We looked at three things in the assessment. How they created unity, how well crafted they made their design, and how respectful they were in class. They evaluated their own work and then I evaluated theirs. So many of the kids were spot on with their assessments of their work.

Over winter break my plan is to cut plywood decks for 2 students in each class. The student designs that are selected will be based on creativity, craftsmanship, and respect.

The winners will be announced after winter break:)

decked out.

I got to revisit one of my favorite designers with the 5th graders this week. We looked at the work of Don Pendleton. He is know mostly for his skateboard graphics, but he also does other design work, paintings, and murals, to name a few. I love his figuarative abstract style, his use of color, and how he has kept his work fresh throughout his career by making sometimes bold, sometimes subtle changes in his style and work.

The 5th graders are actually familiar with his work because we did a project together when they were in third grade that was also inspired by his work. I thought it would be interesting to see how they treated their designs this time around. I am going to see if I can match up pics of student's work from then with what they are doing now...

The focus of the project was creating unity. We talked about how you can do it by repeating shapes, lines, and colors. I asked them if they knew what graph paper was. Everybody did, so I asked them if it was exciting to look at. The vast majority of kids said no. I talked about how too much unity could be a visually "bad" thing. I then asked them what they could do to make the graph paper more interesting. How could they add variety? I got back different size squares, different color squares or lines, thick or thin lines, different directions of lines, etc.

This was good. I emphasized that a successful artwork needs a balance between unity and variety.

I then shared a few images from Don's website to re-familiarize the kids with his work. They didn't recognize his name, but as soon as they saw his work it all came back to them. The series I wanted to focus on was his microcosm series.

We identified that Don had created unity in these designs by repeating the same shape over and over. We also identified variety in the designs through changing sizes, changing colors, and using thin and thick lines.

I then told them we would be designing our own decks based on this series of boards. Cheers rang out throughout the classroom:)

I quickly walked them through the process for the project. I also dangled this carrot- I would be selecting at least one design from each 5th grade class, probably 2 (boy and a girl), to turn into an actual skateboard deck. Over winter break I'll cut and shape the winners decks out of plywood and the selected kids will get to paint/draw their designs on them after break. I emphasized that I would be selecting designs from kids that showed originality in their designs, have the necessary elements of unity and variety, and who are respectful and on task during class. 

Usually, the 5th grade classes are the most social of my classes, but this week all but one of them have earned class behavior green cards. Interesting...

The design process went like this-

1. shape the deck out of one of 3 colors of paper. Red, yellow, or blue. This color would dictate the color choice later because they would use an analogous color scheme to create a lot of unity and a bit of variety in their design.

2. do at least 2 rough draft versions of possible designs- required elements- about 15 shapes, different size shapes, and overlapping of shapes

3. shape top of larger white paper for design on primary color deck

4. draw design lightly on big white paper

5. trace over lines with thick and thin black markers

6. add color to design using one set of analogous colors. Pressing hard and soft to create variety.

7. shape/cut bottom edge of white paper

8. glue white in place on deck

9. on bottom part of deck, add a couple symbols, text or both, that relate to the deck design

Each class will have time to complete the project next week. After completion they will do a self assessment focusing on the principles of unity and variety, as well as creativity and execution of their design.

I'll post more next week, but I wanted to share the process before then:) 

a little bling.

This week the 4th graders continued with their use of light and dark to make things appear 3d when they did a project inspired by the work of Matt W. Moore. It was a departure from the previous projects due to the abstract nature of Matt's work. I wanted them to explore zooming in and fragmenting a composition and still retain some sense of depth or volume.

Matt creates abstractions big and small that make great use of color and shape to create an interesting play between flat, decorative space and implied 3d space. Many of his pieces have gem or crystal like feel to them. While looking at work from his website, we talked about how parts of his images pop out at us, or go back in space. We identified his use of diagonals and tints and shades to create this sense of space. 

I compared this effect to how the cuts on a diamond create the create different values and bright spots due to how light hits it.

I used Matt's work to introduce the students to analogous color schemes and how these colors can create a strong sense of unity in art. They chose one of these analogous scheme to complete their project.

The art activity was pretty straightforward, but in these few steps were many possibilities for visual variety. 

1. Draw main shape

2. add diagonals, starting in center rotating to each corner, and repeating main shape outward

3. add analogous color pattern. Using tints and shades to create different values. 

One thing I found surprising was how many students, when asked to draw a line through the corner of a shape, drew through the shape's side instead. Even after having the class identify corners and non-corners on my large version on the projector screen.