7th grade interior spaces with perspective looking outward

This project was based on the "aquarium perspective" project that probably hits your pinterest feed at least once or twice a day. All of the seventh graders started out the same way. They had to have a back wall and checkered floor that followed one-point perspective. After that the students could choose what they wanted to do with their interior and exterior space. 

The challenge was for the students to create a space that then went beyond the space. 

I showed them examples of mostly aquariums with viewable ceilings and walls as well as solariums and greenhouses where you could see beyond the windows:

Most students used watercolor, watercolor pencils, colored pencils, sharpie, or magazine collage. Some students experimented with masking fluid. 

The entire Artsonia gallery can be viewed here. 

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!!

Birch tree moonscapes for middle school

This was a very successful

mat board / cardboard strip black paint smearing/flicking birch tree project 

that I elevated so that it was appropriate for 6th grade and more challenging than I've done previously.

As (hopefully) all of you know, the birch tree trick project is a no-fail project that makes every student feel like a super-duper artist. The objective this time around was to

create a full landscape that demonstrated great depth and shadows. 

Before I start- I am so close to 200 followers(!) so please pass this along to friends

or colleagues so that I can hit a new milestone.

(I think it will also motivate me to do my blog design overhaul sooner rather than later.)

The lesson: 

 This was my favorite of my photo and print examples. 

It is a woodcut called "Northern Shadows" by Lisa VanMeter

who has many beautiful woodcuts and tree-themed work on her website. 

Project breakdown:

-Drawing-

1. Sketch closest trees

2. Add in horizon line and hills. 

3. Sketch in the rest of trees ( I required a minimum of 6.)

4. Draw in moon and shadows. 

5. Add in extras: houses, animals, footsteps, etc.

-Painting-

1. Use cardboard or mat board pieces to scrap thinned black tempera for the birch.

2. Paint in sky with liquid watercolor. 

3. Paint in shadows and create a "chalky moon texture" with a very light black wash. 

4. Use watercolor pencils for tiny things like houses, pine trees, animals. 

*To expedite the process I had three sky color options pre-made

and the shadow paint pre-mixed and ready. 

For elementary teachers I have a "wicked" old version of this project and a round-up of many other winter project ideas here. 

deconstructed circle collaboration

Thank you Zamorano! I used Mr. Masse's art lesson as the kick off lesson for my eighth grade. All of my middle school lessons at the start of the year were connected to the Van Gogh quote, "Great things are done by lots of small things brought together." This fit perfectly! 

Students designed a 9" circle using with oil pastel and watercolor resist. 

They were pretty good sports about cutting their nice circles up, and were really pleased with the end result. I'm going to have 7th grade do a series of circles to build off of these. 

My introductory images included:

Advising the student's to look up Talavera tile designs on their ipads, 

 Maritza Soto's quilts 

this lighthouse quilt 

and this nice example of radial symmetry 

to trigger the student's memories of the radial designs they did last year.

At the end of last year, these students made work inspired by Indian Rangoli street painting. I put them on the wall at the art show. There are tons of fun videos of the chalk painting tradition on youtube and it's a great example of empowerment for women through art. 

Citrus Fruit observational drawing

Observational drawing and creating a balanced composition

were the objectives for this fifth grade lesson. 

The students did practice drawings of the citrus fruits from various angles before we began these, focusing on the slight differences in shape. 

Each student had to draw at least five citrus fruits and arrange a balanced composition. 

I brought actual lemons, oranges, and limes in for the kids to look at as they drew. 

Some students used a little bit of colored pencil before the watercolor

to give them a boost with the shading. 

Grapevine color studies

Second grade analogous color study with grapevines and now pumpkin vines too!

Oil pastel, crayon rubbing, and watercolor. 

Some final products for you following my post the other day.

Autumn leaves, stencils, and color study

I challenged my second graders to draw oak and maple leaves rather than simpler types of leaves- because I knew they could. :)

They complained and there were some tears- and some discussions about how things from nature have 'weird' shapes that will never right- but in the end they did an awesome job!

We turned their leaves into stencils to use for their final product. 

Then we moved on to foreground and background. 

THEN we moved on to analogous colors. 

(if you want more info on one of my analogous color teaching strategies click here,

if you want to see more of my past leaf and autumn color lessons click on the labels to the right)

 The two analogous color groupings we used were yellow/yellow-green/green and yellow/yellow-orange/orange. 

The leaves we sprinkled salt on for a little added effect. 

For the follow up to this lesson to drive in the analagous color study we are drawing grapevines

and painting with red-violet, violet, blue-violet. 

They aren't done yet but here it is in-progress: