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.

Relief Printing

The fifth grade students have been working dilligently on planning, carving, and pulling relief prints. The images are carved out of Speedball SpeedyCut blocks, which work great for this grade level because they are very soft.

Initially the students answered the following questions in order to thoroughly plan their prints:

Planning a Print

Printmaker Tom Killion spent a large amount of his time creating sketches and planning his prints before the artwork was completed. Planning is a very important step in the printmaking process, and the success of your print will depend, in part, upon the time and effort you invest in planning.

1.Tom Killion created prints of the natural landscape because it is what he loves and what he finds to be beautiful; nature is what inspires him to create. Likewise, what inspires YOU to create? What do you love? Make a list of 6 things that inspire you (My list is: animals, homes, travel, maps, modes of transportation, and geodes!)
1._______________________________
2._______________________________
3._______________________________
4._______________________________
5._______________________________
6._______________________________

2. Pick four items from the above list and create 4 sketches of them in the
Space below:







After completing the planning worksheet, the students learned the safety rules and proper techniques used in carving. They carved away negative space in order to leave their desired image. Next, the students learned how to properly apply ink to the block by rolling it on with the brayer. Lastly, the students learned how to properly title, number, and sign the prints. I was impressed by the creativity of some of the titles (i.e. "I have no fear my sister is here").

The Importance of Drawing Excercises

The fourth grade students are beginning a unit on drawing from observation.

We discussed the importance of carefully observing the object being drawing instead of drawing "stereotyped" images of objects. In order to prepare themselves for the final still life drawing, the students completed three drawing excercises:
1. contour drawing from observation
2. blind contour drawing from observation
3. value scale

Final still life drawings will be posted soon!

Holiday Break

Although I had great ambitions going into holiday break to create all kinds of wonderful drawings, prints, and paintings, I DID find time to glaze the pots I made over the summer at Eshelman Pottery.

Ancient Owls

The second grade students created these batik owl collages. I adapted this lesson from funart4kids.blogspot.com. The community of blogging art teachers is wonderful to be a part of! Thank you!

Paintings in the Style of Hundertwasser

The fourth Grade students worked in pairs to create watercolor paintings in the style of artist Friedrich Hundertwasser.

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.