The return of the cylinder lesson! AND a new addition to it!

I just concluded another go at the infamous CYLINDER LESSON.

-which by the way was successful the second time around, making me very happy. :)

I have an addendum this year though- 

This time around I prefaced the lesson with a one day activity following our initial intro to 3-D forms. 

I taught the kinder students to DRAW a cylinder before they learned how to make them. 

We used Andy Warhol's soup can image (AND my lonesome single can I was able to acquire from Target) 

as our inspiration. The students designed their own soup cans after drawing their cylinder. They were super cute and the kids loved them. 

Yes you read that correctly.. "alphabet carrot ketchup nugget fries soup"

Here is the rundown of the timing of this two day project including 3-d cylinder making:

Day 1 (45 minutes):

Intro to 3-D forms-- 2-d shapes vs 3-d forms, what does it mean for something to be 3-D?, what does "dimensional" mean? Point out cylinders in the room.

Intro of Andy Warhol and soup can.

Demonstration of drawing a cylinder and turning it into a soup can and using bright colors like Warhol.

They finished them about 75%

Day 2 (45 minutes):

Intro to the actual 3-d version of the cylinder and review of 2-D vs. 3-D. 

Demonstrate how to make the cylinders using GLUE STICK and strips of paper. 

Each student aimed to make 10 and line them up in front of them. (took about 10-12 minutes).

Introduce 2-D Kandinsky Circles and 3-D Lee Gainer examples and compared. 

Demonstrate how to arrange the cylinders to all fit on a 6"x 6" base and dip in plates of elmers glue then place on to their square. 

Extra time- they finished coloring their soup can pictures (which worked out great).

paper sculpture & artist inspiration resources

I will preface this with that I did this lesson with both FIRST and FIFTH grade. 

The same artist inspirations and slide show were used. 

I added one advanced step for the fifth grade. 

Other than that it works well with any age. 

Part 1:

Paul Klee inspired oil pastel shapes 

painted with tempera

**5th grade used this as an opportunity for practicing color mixing- they learned to mix all 16 color wheel colors as they filled in the shapes. 

Part 2: Intro to Sculpture

**See my slide show that prefaced this step below.

Students cut out a "base" by cutting up their painting. 

Then they cut strips from the scraps and I had other paper strips

that they folded and curled to create an abstract sculpture. 

I tell tales of many artists, show slide shows, and lead inquiry based discussions based on works of art. I I know some teachers are more trained or more inclined to do this and for some teachers it causes anxiety. I am often asked how I lead a discussion based on an artwork. 

Many of my strategies are based on VTS and Project Zero's Artful Thinking teachings. 

Here is an example. Hope it is helpful!

(Plus if you are not familiar with Ryan McGinness's work definitely take a look!)

Intro to Sculpture Slideshow:

This was the image I started with. I know it is a public art sculpture in Florida but unfortunately I have no more information about it. 

However, it is a great image to begin with.

Questions to prompt discussion:

How big do you think this sculpture is and why? 

What does the sculpture remind you of?

What do you notice or what stands out about the sculpture?

Where do you think the artist got his/her ideas?

 

 General questions to be answered before continuing:

What is a sculpture?

What materials can be used to make a sculpture?

As you look at the images of art works consider different ways a sculpture can take up space.

Artist 1: Dale Chihuly

Material: Glass 

 What does the artwork remind you of? 

How does the material and/or color affect you as a viewer?

  

Artist 2:  Liz Miller

Material: Paper

What is similar and different about this artist's work compared with the last? 

 

Notice the details and repetition when you look at her paper cutting up close: 

 Artist 3: Ryan McGinness

Materials: Acrylic on acrylic

A great example of a 2-dimensional artist transforming into 3-dimensional work. 

What do you see?

What does it make you wonder?

(2-D example above and 3-D examples below)

Snowman portraits, exploring directions

Second grade snowman portraits

exploring three points of view.

Front facing / head-on

Profile / side

3/4 / to the corner

I used two Van Gogh paintings to introduce the concepts and had three students stand in front of the class in the different positions so we could examine the differences. 

Portrait of a Postman Joseph Roulin, 1888

Self-portrait, 1889

Day 1 (45 minutes):

introduction, drawing with pencil, tracing with sharpie

Day 2 (45 minutes):

colored in the snowman details, painted the sky a la Starry Night with tempera cakes

Overlapping Hot Air Balloons

First grade- hot air balloons

the goal was for students to demonstrate overlapping

and also depth by drawing the balloons receding. 

Traced with sharpie, colored with crayon, and sky was painted with tempera cake. 

Absence Apology and personal post

Whoa... I am sooooo behind. 

I apologize whole heartedly to all of you faithful readers and art ed bloggers. 

I have been so busy busy busy and then totally exhausted that 

somehow even winter break did not help me to catch up! 

I owe you footage of about 20 projects!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It's coming I promise!)

Luckily some of the busy-ness is for good reason though. 

I launched my wedding watercolor etsy shop about 6 weeks ago

and am trying to build my website and figure out where I'm going with all of it.

The link to my etsy shop is here, check it out. :)

I was featured on two wedding blogs already as well!

Our wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty and some of my cards were on Wedding Chicks.

Anyway all I can say is - holy moly does every little thing take sooo much time to do and coordinate (making, photographing, writing, emails, graphics, cards, etc, etc, etc). I am amazed and in awe of all of you that run your own businesses. 

So here's to 2013 and hopefully a new successful venture for myself! 

Please send any newly engaged friends and family to my etsy site! I will have some more wonderful things popping up on there in the near future and hopefully an actual website by February. 

I will stop self-promoting and get some lessons up for you promptly though!

Happy new year!

Rachel