Coil Pots

The 6th grade students learned how to create coil pots. First, I demonstrated the process of creating a coil pot; then the students planned their projects by sketching four different options for their final works. The next week, the sixth graders rolled slab bases, rolled coils, and attached the coils by using the technique of scoring and slipping.

Final works from the Pottery Wheel

Throwing on the Wheel!

I have been giving sixth grade students independent tutorials on the pottery wheel, and thus far, they have been doing a great job! I have to give a big THANKS to Paul Eshelman for patiently teaching me these pottery techniques last summer!
(More pictures to come)

Watercolor Landscapes

The sixth grade students have been practicing six different watercolor techniques:

1. Graded Wash (Oftentimes used in large areas that vary in tone; skies)
2. Variegated Wash (Used in areas where one color transitions into another color)
3. Dry Brush (Used to show texture/detail; Similar to "drawing" with a brush)
4. Salt Resist (The salt soaks up the water, and the pigment, leaving an interesting texture)
5. Splatter (Used to create texture)
6. Layering (The transparent quality of watercolor allows the painter to layer colors in order to achieve different hues).

The students applied these watercolor techniques to a watercolor landscape!

Self Portraits In the Style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo

The sixth grade students learned about the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593) who created portraits made up of everyday objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, books, and cookware. The students worked together to trace the projected shadow of their profiles, and they filled the profiles with drawings of things, symbols, and words that represent their values, opinions, and preferences.

Op Art Cubes

MLK memorial plans

After viewing the following video clip that shows a detailed plan for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial project, one of my students exclaimed, "This is WONDERFUL! It's like Martin Luther King Jr. cuts through the rock and lets all the people walk through freely." This is one of the many extremely rewarding moments that occur in teaching visual art.



In response to the video and a brief slideshow showing and describing MLK's biography, the students created pencil drawings:







Students were given the opportunity to share his/her drawings and to describe how we can act justly and promote peace without our own communities.

Surrealist Collages

I adapted this lesson from Arts and Activities (lesson titled "Unique Expressionism...through Surrealist Collage and Mixed Media").

I introduced the students to the qualities and art historical background of Surrealist Art. The students viewed the paintings of Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte, and they identified the surrealist qualities in these paintings ("Soft Watch at Moment of First Explosion," "The Persistence of Memory,"The Blank Check.")

Through the process of collage, the students learned how to appropriate existing images in order to create their own surrealist artwork.

American Sign Language Drawings

I was inspired to teach this lesson after viewing contour hand drawings completed by A. Jackson's students at http://artisthebestpartoftheday.blogspot.com Thank you Ms. Jackson!

The 6th Grade students learned the origin of American sign language, and they learned the ASL alphabet. The students identified the sign language symbols in their names/nicknames and created drawings showing these symbols.

Making a Difference by Creating Art: The Fundred Dollar Bill Project

During Thanksgiving week, we tend to think about what we have and what we are thankful for. While it is important to be grateful and to reflect on our blessings in life, I believe Thanksgiving is a great time to think about needs others may have and how we can meet those needs. I heard about the Fundred Dollar Bill Project (www.fundred.org) while Reading an art education journal last month. The project was started by artist Mel Chin, who hopes to raise 300,000,000 "fundreds" (drawings of one hundred dollar bills designed by students) that he will take to Congress in an effort to exchange them for the $300,000,000 needed to neutralize the lead in the soil in New Orleans. Curently 30% of the children in New Orleans have lead poisoning, and this is a preventable problem. The students learned about Hurricane Katrina (many of them were very young when the hurricane hit in 2005), and they learned about the destruction the hurricane caused. The students were enthusiastic about wanting to help the children in New Orleans, and I was greatly blessed by their empathy and thoughtfulness in creating these "fundreds."



This students drew the "tree of good hope"






This student drew a house on wheels that he wants to bring to people in New Orleans who have lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina.






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xor8lqjtc4M

Color Theory with Andy Warhol

After viewing the prints of pop artist Andy Warhol, the students created pencil drawings of everyday objects. In square #1 students painted a primary color scheme, #2 an analogous color scheme, #3 tints/tones, and #4 complimentary colors. The students applied the color mixing knowledge gained from the previous lesson in order to complete this project.

Creative Color Wheels

For the sixth graders' first art project of the year they are making creative color wheels! The students learned how to mix the three primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) in order to create secondary colors (orange, green, violet) and tertiary colors (red-violet, blue-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green).













More photos will be posted soon of the completed color wheels.