mid year middle school art show

Last week I put on a mid-year art show just for middle school. This is the my second year at this school (the school is PK-12, I teach 6, 7, 8). My first year I hoarded all of my students work until the art show at the end of the year because that was the departing teacher told me to do.  Going into this year I had a better grasp of how much the kids would actually produce (more than I anticipated) and how much work I would need at the end of the year all-school show. The other thing I realized was that the parents basically forgot the kids even took art until the end of the year. This year I took on some new initiatives to make my art program more visible to parents and the campus:

-I have implemented Artsonia... it is awesome. 

-I sent home a couple pieces of artwork with each child before Christmas. 

-I held a middle school only art show in February in the middle school building.

Here is the breakdown of the art show projects. 

Our theme was LIGHT. 

Grade 6: 

Birch tree moonscapes

 Acrylic Lighthouse Paintings on small canvases

inspired by Edward Hopper

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Grade 7:

Lamps and Light Fixtures

 Acrylic paintings on small canvases

Inspired by the Rumi quote,

"The lamps are different but the light is the same."

 Interior Spaces using 1 point perspective

Grade 8:

Symbolic Silhouettes using Stippling

Students completed the sentence "Let light shine on _____ because _____." 

They had to choose an issue in the world of importance and should have more light shine on it. They chose a symbolic image to represent the concept.  

In a different room I had a "Special Exhibition" of 8th grade art. 

These were geometric relief sculptures the students worked very hard on.

It was really nice to be able to highlight their hard work and make the 8th grade feel special. 

Detailed posts of the projects will be up asap!!

Oil pastel figure close-ups

This was one of my favorite lessons from last year. (I feel like I always say that....?) 

But seriously, this was great. It would work for a variety of grades- elementary or high school as well. I did it with 7th grade and will again this year. 

Using the move-able figures- students had to create a zoomed/close-up composition using the figure, taking the negative space into consideration. I actually had them do a "photo shoot" with their ipads: take photos of the figures in different positions and then cropped the photos. For some students it was easier for them to work from the photo. 

The students sketched out shaded pencil drawings first. Then they drew them BIG on 12 x 18 slate grey Tru-ray construction paper (one of my favorites, along with their turquoise). 

They chose a color palette to work in and had to have 3 different shades of oil pastels so that they could convey the shadows. 

 They all came out awesome! And it gave students a chance to strengthen a variety of skills. Some needed to master blending, some needed to strengthen their ability to communicate dimension, etc. 

4 part still life project - middle school

4 Part Still Life Exploration with 8th grade

on 18x24 paper split into 4 9x12 sections

Students chose their still life object.

It had to be bigger than their hand with limited text.

I steered them away from stuffed animals and fuzzy/furry textures. 

I would absolutely do this project again and keep the order in which I introduced the parts. 

This was wonderful for differentiation-

it allowed all levels of students to learn a lot, better their skills, and feel comfortable. 

1. Realistic pencil drawing of the entire object with shading. 

(2-3 class periods)

2. In the style of Romero Britto. 

(3 class periods with introduction/quick slide show)

Students must zoom in on the object, with the option to abstract it. 

Using marker they broke the section down and filled it in with bright color to make it pop. 

(toaster abstraction)

3. Collage

(3-4 class periods depending on type of collage they chose, with slide show)

Students could choose the composition for this section- with the option to zoom & crop or showcase the entire object. 

I showed LOTS of examples of different types of collages. 

They could choose their materials- I suggested magazine cut outs, newspaper, or tissue paper. 

They had to include a background. 

4. Acrylic painting

(2 class periods with introduction to painting/demonstration)

This was the final section of the four.

Students had to look at their image as a whole and figure out what type of composition was needed in order to make the entire paper feel balanced. 

Most of them have never used acrylic paint before. 

Color options and backgrounds were up to the them. 

Students decided if they wanted to paint the object in colors true to life or not.

Suggestions if you are limited on time:

- you can cut down squares & stripes ahead of time

to collage for stripe or checkerboard backgrounds

- select the objects ahead of time and limit the objects they can choose 

More finished examples to come!

Drawing clothing with middle school

 

My sixth graders produced these wonderful drawings in the fall. 

It was an introduction to drawing pencils, shading, value, drawing from life/observational drawing. To get them engaged right off the bat, students could bring in an article of clothing they wanted to draw (I discouraged ones with large logos/cartoons, or complicated patterning). 

We then hung them from the ceiling! 

The focus was on drawing the folds, wrinkles, and nuances of the fabric. 

I emphasized that clothing without a human body inside of it will look different than if someone was wearing the garment so it was important to draw what they see rather than what they think it should look like. 

Lastly, to add a bit of color, but to continue with the pencil train- the kids used watercolor pencils to fill in the background. They had to choose colors that would blend together. 

2-day Apple Still Life

My first graders looked at some of Cezanne's still life paintings with apples and looked closely at how the apples have different hues of red, yellow, and green. 

They painted three apples by mixing yellow and red tempera paint over turquoise or green paper. 

We reviewed warm colors and cool colors and examined Matisse's apple painting and how the warm colored apples and table stand out against the cool color background. 

To finish these the kids designed tablecloths with oil pastels. 

They were so into the concept of a still life that they wanted to do their own still life pictures as their extra time drawings when they finished their oil pastel. 

So today I set up still life arrangements (of containers and art supplies) for the FIRST GRADERS to draw from today and also went over the concepts of overlapping and viewpoints. They were so into it! 

 We just started them today but I had to share!

current artist resource to complement the sweet work of Wayne Thiebaud

Look what's on today's Design Sponge blog-roll!

The work of Joel Penkman---> A perfect current contemporary artist to add to your Wayne Thiebaud lessons!

oh heck... i'll add one more version! Britto post #3.

I have one fifth grade class I see for only one half hour a week, I travel to the classroom, there is no sink.
So basically when you count that out- in 30 minutes- with the three minutes it take the kids from the other class to come in, the two minutes it take the students to actually clear off their desks, and one more minute to get settled... we're looking at 24 minutes. Then add on me actually introducing the lesson??!....(you know so the kids actually know what the they're supposed to be doing for the time they have left)... add on another 5 minutes- give or take 3 minutes for my demonstration and 3-5 minutes for my kids to actually get their materials and put their bums in the chairs... we're looking at 15 minutes left.... oh right..... AND we need be cleaned up by the end of 30 minutes too.
So that's 10 minutes of work time. once a week. (if i'm lucky due to testing and school play rehearsals and whatnot.)

As I've said before I am VERY strategic about figuring out what my priorities for objectives to be completed and concepts to be grasped are when time is so precious.

So here we are... my other fifth graders completed the extended Britto/Braque lesson but what do I want this class to be able to get out the lesson with such a limited amount of time?...

I decided to focus on:
Class 1: Observational and Contour drawing.
   Each student did a practice drawing and a real drawing of ONE objet, then traced with black crayon.
   (Also add on a "table line" if they remember to.)
Class 2: Break up the space and Analagous Colors.
   Each student drew lines to break up the space of the object a la Britto, traced in crayon, painted in with
   an analagous set of tempera paints (pre-mixed by me).
Class 3: Break up the background.
   Students used pencil and white craypa to to break up the background- then they used only BLACK
   water color to paint different shades of gray.

These came out great! (I can't believe it!)

Braque and Britto - Part 2... some finished pieces

Here are some of the final results from my Braque & Britto still life lesson using analagous colors, pop art, observational drawing, contour drawing, painting, and other fun elements!

Version A:
Here we worked with the background first... I gave the students the opportunity to choose how they wanted to finish the objects- using black and white craypa.
(I think next time I would do the objects in watercolor.)

Version B:

Here we worked with analagous colors of tempera paint and filled in the objects first. 

The background we filled in with Crayola Slick Sticks---- here I made a discovery**

I had tested these at the Crayola booth last year at NAEA and loved them so I ordered a few packages, I've been very particular about how I use them. 

I was under the impression they were OIL PASTELS... then my students went to watercolor and resist over them... and guess what?... they turn into watercolor paint! It ended up working in our favor, but I had no idea.