School Board Appreciation Month

January is School Board Appreciation month and each school was asked to submit either cards or a poster to show the Board some love. This is our school's contribution as it was drying on the Art room floor this morning.

Our sign was prominently displayed for all to see!

Slab Bowls - Art II

The Art II classes have been working on a clay project: Slab Bowls. The original plan was to create a "face" bowl, which some students did, but others opted for their own project ideas. Students used our slab roller to create a flat slab of clay and then cut out a shape to lay over a paper form they had created. One of the bowls created is below... waiting to be fired and then glazed.

Art II - Self Portraits

One of my favorite projects each year is self-portraits. Maybe it's because students try so hard because they know it's supposed to look like them, I'm not sure, but they always turn out great. In order to draw their portrait, students first took a picture of themselves and then used a grid technique to proportionally enlarge the portrait. In order to show value, students could choose pencil, colored pencil, or a combination of the two. 

Loteria Card Designs - 6th Grade

As part of our Hispanic Heritage observances, the 6th grade Art classes created original drawings based on the traditional Mexican card game, Loteria. After playing the game in class and looking at various artist interpretations, students chose one of the Loteria cards and created an original composition based on the traditional symbol. Students could chose either colored pencil or crayon resist as their media.

traditional Loteria card examples

Value Study: Pasta - Art II

In order to focus on the element of Value, the Art II students created mini-still life pieces out of pasta and used a view finder to create an interesting composition. Student projects had to include both value with pencil as well as with colored pencil.

6th Grade: Line Designs

After getting an overview of all the Elements of Art, 6th graders did a more in-depth project using the element of LINE. The first step was to practice creating a wide variety of lines showing different LINE QUALITY (thickness, direction, style, etc.) Next, students created a contour line (outside edges) drawing of their hand and used that drawing to create a college of other printed line paper. Finally students used marker to extend the lines from the background papers onto the hand drawing to tie the entire design in together. I was very pleased with the end results of this project! Check out the small sampling below... 

Art II - Cross-Contour Line Drawings

After work on contour lines, it was time to move on to CROSS-CONTOUR LINE drawings. While contour lines focus on the outside edges and surfaces, cross-contour lines focus on showing volume and form. Often a student will have to imagine where and how the cross-contours of an object should be depicted. For this drawing, a still-life of chairs covered in fabric served as a starting point for the project plan. Backgrounds were to include lines/designs that helped show the vertical and horizontal planes and help create a feeling of depth. Check out some of the best project examples below:

Art II: Contour Line

Contour Lines focus on the outside edges and inside surface ridges of an object. Most contour line drawings are done using continual lines, or not picking up your pen while drawing. Because contour line drawings are often continual, the can sometimes be best described as "drawing in cursive". The main purposes of contour line drawings are to keenly observe an object and to  help students focus on the details of an object specifically.

After a few days of practice, the Art II students created contour line drawings of a still like of their choosing. In order to create a more interesting final project, prior to drawing, students used tissue paper color transfer to add vibrant color to their page and create an almost paint-like effect. Below are some of the best examples of the project - please forgive the poor photo quality... my bad.

6th Grade Art - Elements of Art Posters

The first year of middle school art is full of new things. For the first time, students get to come to ART everyday and therefore they can really spend some time learning about and building their art skills. As an overall introduction to the super-important Elements of Art, our 6th graders worked in groups to research one Art Element and then made a presentation to the class about their assigned element. Before the battery on my camera died, I was able to capture a few in photos.

The Elements of Art include:

• Color: produced when light rays reflect off an object
• Line: any mark, that has greater length than width, made by an art material
• Shape: objects having only height and width
• Form: objects showing 3-D
• Space: the distance between and around objects
• Texture: how something feels or looks like it would feel
• Value: the lightness or darkness of color