and repeat...

Last week the 1st graders used line patterns to create landscapes that had a sense of depth due to size and color changes. This week they used line patterns again, but created something that had a much more decorative sense of space.

We looked at the work of Maine folk artist Karla Gerard. She has a lot of work on her blog and on flickr. I really enjoy her abstract pieces. I like how there is variety in the patterns and shapes she uses. I say this a lot, but I love the human element in work where you can see the hand of the artist or the imperfections in repeated elements.

The piece of Karla's we focused on was an abstraction that used squares and rectangles. When we looked at the painting, I had the kids identify the shapes and types of lines they saw. This was a great introduction to different types of line- vertical and horizontal, long and short, thick and thin.

After we looked at Karla's work I showed the students a sample of what ours would look like and at this point I also introduced diagonal and curved lines in patterns.

Each student got a 12 x 12 square I have 3 large tables and each table got a different color square. Each student got 5 rectangles of another color, along with one more wild card rectangle that was different than the others.

Students then laid out their stripe patterns. Once that was done we glued them down. Students flipped their projects over and held them up when they finished gluing to make sure things were glued down well. 

We then sectioned off the rectangles into smaller sections. The line patterns came next. Students could use any colors they wanted. I modeled a line pattern and then asked students to do the same type of pattern on 2 of their rectangle sections. We repeated this until our rectangles were filled with patterns. 

The biggest challenge was getting students to make thick lines. They had skinny down, but I had to go around and work with a lot of kids on their thick lines. 

When the students finished their squares we put them together on the floor to make a large group work that was reminiscent of Karla's painting.

I'll be holding onto a couple squares from each class, so I can put together a version of the project for our art show later in the year.

leggo my lego.

Last week the 4th graders created a design using patterns and different types of lines to make certain parts stand out. This week I wanted to see them apply these elements to something that looked more real.

Enter my kids' legos:)

I began class by reviewing how the students used diagonal lines last week to make shapes look like rooftops of buildings. We then created a 2 practice drawings. One making a box look 3d from the front and the other from a corner edge. I emphasized the importance of the diagonal lines in these 2 drawings. If you don't use any the shape will NOT look real. I also stressed the importance of the diagonals being consistent with each other.

I then talked about what a still life is. Showed the kids a few examples, and then told them we would use diagonals and line patterns to observe a still life and draw it.

I used my presenter to show them a lego block. I moved the camera so they could see it from an angle up on my dry erase board. I then traced the shape, soliciting the steps from the students as I drew. Once the shape was complete, I removed the lego so they could see the drawing by itself. The kids thought that was pretty cool. Again, I reminded them that it was the use of diagonals that made the drawing look so real.

I then put the block back on the presenter and added a couple more shapes to the set up. We drew it together. We revisited the different geometric solids that made up the shapes- cubes, rectangular prisms, cylinders, etc. Some of the classes even picked up on the obtuse angles present in some of the set ups.

I stressed the importance of drawing the shapes large enough on their paper, so to eliminate too much empty space in their compositions. I also discussed moving the shapes around in their drawings. They could place the shapes differently than they actually saw them. This is more creative for them, and more interesting for me when I look at 150 of them.

This activity challenged the kids, but they all hung in there and did a great job with it. I have seen many students struggle with using diagonals correctly to make things look like they have volume and depth. By tracing the shapes out on the whiteboard as the students followed along worked well. It may seem a little cheaty, but I really wanted them to see how these lines were present in a real life set up.

Once students finished with the shapes, they traced the contours and added line patterns of different value to each of the shapes to make them look even more real.

A special thanks goes out to Logan and Aurora for letting me play with their legos for a few days:)

in print.

A while back I did a collaborative project with the second graders that was inspired by the super fantastic quilts of Eleanor McCain. You can read more about it in the October issue of Arts & Activities. The article starts on page 32:)

wayne's world.

I have always loved Wayne Thiebaud's work. The composition, the repetition, the color palette- it all pulls me in. He has been painting for a LONG time. He'll be 92 in November and he still pulls two shifts in his studio almost everyday. I can only hope that I am that creative and productive if I'm lucky enough to make it here on earth that long!

Wayne is most well known for his paintings of dessert items, but he has also created many wonderful landscapes. Some are urban and some are more rural and agricultural. I shared a few of his rural landscapes with my 1st graders this week and we talked about his choice of subject matter, his use of contour line, and his use of pattern.

In this project my goal was to introduce students to how line could be used to define space and shapes and how it could be used to make pattern. I also touched upon the use of size and color value to create depth in an artwork. 

The drawing was executed in three easy steps- contour lines in pencil, trace the lines with marker and add patterns to our fields, and add color to the landscape with crayon. Easy peasy:)

 

 

 

Great job kids!

down with pattern.

Looking down, that is.

The 4th grade students and I focused on line and pattern for their first full lesson this year. This summer I pinned a textile design by Marimekko, the super fine Finnish design company. It had an interesting play between mostly line patterns with a few 3d looking ones due to the use of diagonal lines in those particular sections.

I later found out that  the designer of that particular pattern was Maija Louekari. Her website provides a visual portfolio of her work. Very graphic and bold. She uses line a lot throughout her designs as well. I really appreciate the hand drawn feel of her work.

The design provided an interesting investigation of pattern and contrast for my students. It also gave me an opportunity to talk about what a textile designer does for a living. They enhance our daily lives by providing us with colors, patterns, and images on things that would be pretty plain without them. Things like walls, dresses, sheets, pillows, plates, bowls, and many more are made more interesting by designers all over the world.

After showing students some of Maija's other work we looked at the above images. I had students identify the different types of lines present- straight, bent, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, thick, and thin. Students quickly picked up on the rows that popped out due to the diagonals. They read these parts like corners of buildings. I asked them to squint their eyes and tell me if any of the sections stood out from the rest. The thick, bold patterns stood out to them because they contrasted against most of the other areas due to value and size.

I then shared with them that the design is based on an aerial view of an urban landscape. (I found this bit of info out from john lewis, here.) I then asked what those corner patterns could be and got the roofs of homes back in return. We then identified what could be sidewalks, alleys, crosswalks, streets, and yards. 

This was cool because it took something that was abstract and made it more real for the students. They could relate to the design and project better.

We ended up modifying our takes on Maija's design a bit. I showed the students examples I had done and asked them what was different about my versions and the originals. In a few I had selected certain rows and colored them with one or two colors. I emphasized that this made those parts stand out because they were the only parts of the design in color. In others I had broken from the using just straight lines. I included patterns based on curves, waves, and spirals, so that these patterns could imply gardens, lawns, or trees.

When it got down to making our designs I demonstrated how to hold the a ruler in the middle and not at just one end or another, so the ruler was more stable. Students added anywhere between 6 to 9 vertical lines, spacing them differently so the rectangles they made could represent different parts of the urban landscape. The corners (rooftop peaks) came next. Once those were done we added different patterns using thin, regular, and wide tip sharpies. I demonstrated how they could create different value patterns by using these markers in a variety of ways. When the roofs were done, the other rectangles could be patterned.

The final step was to add a maximum of 3 rows of color if they wanted to. There were a number of students who kept their designs black and white.

It would be interesting to see what some of these looked like as a big wallpaper design. Hmmm...

Great job kids!

circles and targets, oh my!

Thank you Carol and Georgia for the inspiration. The students did a great job with this mixed media collage.

The finished installation measures 8 feet high by 18 feet wide.

and off we go!

Nothing like getting your classroom nice and clean and then starting off the year with a collage project! Genius, I say;)
Below are a few pics of the classroom before the kids came through.

Quote on the left- "To live a creative life we must lose our fear of being wrong." 

Love it.

I'm color coding the tables this year and releasing students whose tables are clean and quiet by simply showing them a card with the table's color on it. One of the ways I'm aiming to manage with non verbal cues.

Some "new" posters. I really like the Grant Wood one at the top.

Hand signals for a few common classroom issues. 

Students rotate to me during the school year for two weeks and then they are off to another instructor for the next two weeks. Kathi, the other art instructor, does not meet with classes the first week of school, so I do mini lessons with as many classes as I can that/this first week. This year I will see all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes for 30 minutes each. This is a great opportunity to go over the classroom rules and to get the kids back in the swing of things. It's difficult to do a project in 20 minutes, so I have them work on a large collaborative project.

Last year I did a project inspired by a few pieces by the artist Lee Gainer (which has brought a bunch of traffic to the blog:). I decided to do another collage this year, as it allows me to use a bunch of leftover paper from the past year.

I found a quilt done by Carol at the blog mamacjt and loved the bold colors, the repetition of round shapes, and how the composition was jam packed. I also thought it was cool that her quilt had so many round shapes, since most of the quilts I have shared with the students use mostly squares, rectangles, and triangles. Her quilt was, in turn, inspired by a painting done by Georgia Gray.

the quilt.

the painting.

So, the kids are building a collage inspired by a quilt inspired by a painting.

It's a pretty simple activity. Students start our with 3 sheets of paper- big, medium, and small. They fold each once or twice and then cut out round shapes from those sheets. Once their shapes are cut out, they glue them together, and then onto the big (24x36") sheet at their table. I emphasize, especially for the classes that came after the first one, that they should think about the best places for their shapes. I ask them to respond to the composition as it fills up. Once the sheets are pretty full (about 3 classes) I ask the next group to draw round shapes around their cut paper "targets". Students then fill in the spaces that are left in between the white ringed targets. 

It took 5 classes to complete the collages in the images below. I figure to have at least 12 more by the end of class on Friday. I will hang them in the back of our auditorium when they are finished to serve as a beginning of the year temporary public art project.

The kids are having a bunch of fun with it. Not a lot of stress in the project since they are adding onto something already started and others are wrapping it up behind them. I think the overall effect will be pretty darn interesting too:)