This week the 2nd graders are experimenting with texture as a way to create and transfer images. We are looking at the wonderfully vibrant work of Lisa Congdon. I have shared Lisa's work with students in the past. It is always a treat to introduce students to her refreshing take on the visual world.
For this project, we are looking at a spread in one of her sketchbooks that she titled "City of Dreams". This drawing works so well with the 2nd grade math curriculum because at this point they are learning about solid figures. When introducing this drawing, I ask the kids what solid figures make up the buildings- rectangular & triangular prisms. We also steer towards what makes these buildings look 3d- Lisa uses light and dark and she shows 2 faces of the buildings.
Lisa Congdon's "City of Dreams"
We are scratching into styrofoam as we draw the elements of our cities. This changes the texture of the styrofoam and is what makes the lines show up in the final print. We build a couple buildings together and then the students need to add at least 3 more. When the shapes are all in, we then add patterns to the faces- trying to use more lines on one side, so the buildings will appear to have light and dark faces.
When coloring the solid figures, we are trying to use one color per building, to make the light and dark line effect more apparent.
When the kids finish printing, they are to reflect on the concepts and process with a written reflection. Vocabulary is posted in the room and they make talk to a neighbor if they are unsure how to answer a question.
This week some of my 3rd grade classes have been checking out the work of Santos Leonel Orellana Paz. He goes by Santos. I share that he is originally from Honduras, he found his way out to San Diego County via the bio-tech industry after earning a degree in chemistry.
He believes that the most important thing for the success of children is education. This belief led to his creating the Alfabetismo collection of paintings. A series of 26 paintings that focused on one letter of the alphabet at a time. The students and I went through a number of these, looking to find the letter that was camouflaged in an abstract network of lines and color fields in the background.
This lesson was their introduction to watercolor painting technique this year. Their painting would serve as the background to a line drawing of a word that they felt was important to the success of a child in life. We talked about how this was different to Santos' series because they would be using a whole word instead of a single letter in their image.
When we started painting, I modeled using more or less water to create different color values and then they created their color fields.
The next part of the process was to brainstorm a short list of things they felt were important to their success. They then sketched out a couple concepts- just the word first and then they added other lines and details to hide the word a bit more and to flesh out their compositions.
When they had a sketch they were satisfied with, they drew it out lightly with black crayon over top of their painting, added supporting lines, and made those lines bold and strong to emphasize them from the background. (With this step, you want to make sure there is enough time between finishing the painted background. If the paper is too wet, it can tear or the crayon won't apply as cleanly. A hair dryer could be used for those pieces.)
The final part of the project was to explain WHY they chose that particular word. Why did they think that particular things was important.
"Sleep" is important because it is needed for your health.
"Confidence" is important because you need to have good thoughts
about yourself to do good things.
Santos is actually opening a new gallery of his artwork in La Jolla this weekend. If any readers are local, you should swing by to check out his work!
The kinders have been experimenting with texture in their most recent rotation with me. We met before spring break and did one project and then this week (after a 3 week break) we continued investigating what texture is and how you can use it in art.
The first lesson was based on a travel poster series by the Filipino group of Team Manila. Over 1/3 of our students have Filipino ties, so it's always great to share contemporary art from there with them. We looked at one poster in particular and talked about the patterns found on sailboats called vintas in the Philippines. We then got into texture and students volunteered to touch items around the room and described how they felt.
We then drew out the basics of the composition together on styrofoam plates, so we could turn the image into a colorful relief print. We added lines to the sail and students added patterns of their choosing to them. After demonstrating how to hold the marker when coloring on styrofoam, the kids filled their scenes with water soluble marker colors.
Everyone then transferred their image onto a piece of smooth watercolor paper with my help to wet the paper and to hold the paper still as they rubbed.
This week, we have been looking at an illustration by super rad LA based artist, illustrator, and animation designer Kevin Dart. We started by looking at one of his image and spending almost 10 minutes identifying things, shapes, and colors in the landscape. As we identified items, I wrote them on the board next to the image, so the kids could see the wealth of vocabulary present in the image. We used this image as inspiration for a landscape drawing. Instead of using polka dot patterns for the centers of the flowers, we used plastic texture plates to add patterns in those spots. I also encouraged students to add little lines to their field to give that area a sense of grass like texture.
And one last thing! Did a test today using students drawings as backdrops for stop motion shorts. The flying bee was done first against a green screen, took a photo of a student drawing, and then combined the two. My hope is to do much more of this- having kids make their drawings come alive, as a choice center at the end of lessons. We'll see how it shakes out this year:)
One more week of break left! Currently, I am putting off packing for a camping trip that we will leave for in a couple of days...
I shared some stop motion shorts in my last post, but I didn't get to share the very last one we did. My last class on the Friday before break was a kindergarten class. I started class with a quick introduction to Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie. We identified our primary colors and the geometric shapes we knew, then I talked about how the painting was inspired by the city the artist was living in. How he captured the feel and energy of a bustling city. I then revealed that we would be making this painting come alive by creating a movie with Legos and voices. The kids were pretty excited at the idea. To do this, The class rotated through centers in groups of 4 during that last hour of the day- duplos, Legos, dominoes, free drawing, wood blocks, and stop motion. Before heading to centers, we briefly looked at how each of those materials might be used to create motion. Each group had about 5 minutes at each center. With the stop motion, kids took turns adding a brick to the composition and once it filled up, they took turns removing bricks. I showed each group how the stop motion app worked and they got to see their part in motion when their 5 minutes were up. Once everyone rotated through all the centers, we talked about city sounds and took a minute to practice making some. I then recorded the kids making their city sounds to complete the movie.
While we have been on spring break my kids and I having been experimenting and playing with a couple apps that I would like to integrate into my curriculum and center options once we get back.
The first is Bloxels Builder. This combines hands on pixel building of characters, settings, details, that can then be shot with a tablet and worked on digitally in the free Bloxels Builder app. You can then animate any of the items, and turn your creations into a video game. We've played with this one a lot! It combines elements of storytelling, game design, and the language of art. I think the kids are going to be quite engaged with it. I'm thinking that for our annual art exhibit in June, there will be a interactive area where kids can play games other kids have created. Extra cool tidbit- my gofundme project to purchase a 5 pack of the hands on boards, has been fully funded!
Another app we have been exploring is Gravity Sketch. It's a 3D modeling app that can be used to create files for 3D printing and it can also be used as a practice tool for hands on 3D projects. I'm going to work this in as a choice center option and I may try it as a sketching tool for the 5th graders when they do their clay project later this year.
