Imaginary Landscapes

 

During this unit students learn about a variety of landscape artists such as Peter Max, Ted Harrison and Justin Vining. They discuss the different parts of a landscape artwork such as foreground, middle ground, background and horizon line. 

They also practice a variety of acrylic painting techniques before painting their design on canvas. The students love having the freedom to come up with their own imaginary design, while using practiced techniques of their choice. The final artworks are always so colorful and fun! 

Who We Are Mixed Media Artworks

I love starting off the school year with this unit in art class. It is the perfect way to get to know a new group of students by focusing on identity and a variety of mark making techniques. 

The students start off by creating a mind map or brainstorm about themselves in their sketchbooks. They list all of their favorite things, personality, and anything that is important about who they are. 

The students then practice a variety of art techniques to create different patterns and textures. They keep track of the materials and tools they use in their sketchbooks and choose which ones they enjoy the most to add to their final piece. 

The students also learn about Romero Britto and his fun colorful artworks for some artist inspiration. After mind-mapping, material experiments and artist study, students then beginning designing and planning their final mixed media artwork. 

Once their plans are finished, the real magic begins! Here are a few examples of some Grade 5 student work. Aren't they amazing? 

Pop Art Group Project

I absolutely love this project and I feel like it is perfect for fifth grade! I always find that the students surprise themselves at how well they can complete this assignment.

As a class we review the Pop Art Movement, which as mentioned before is one of my favorites to teach! After presenting and class discussion, I break the students into separate groups. As a group students are to choose any product that will be constructed on a large scale with paper mache. Once the project has been designed, built, and painted, the students come up with an advertisement or commercial to present to the rest of the class.

This project does take awhile, considering I only see my fifth grade class twice a week. However, the results are always fantastic and it is a great way for students to learn and work together as a team.

Here are some of the products my students designed this year.

Giant Lipstick. (It's almost as tall as me!)  

Skateboard

PlayStation



Calculator

Outstanding Organics

My fifth grade girls completely blew me away with their finished paintings this week. I'm so excited to show them off!

Before we started our awesome paintings, we began with a simple cut and paste collage activity dealing with geometric and organic shapes. We discussed historical and contemporary artists that use(d) these different shapes within their work such as: Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, and Reggie Laurent.

Once these collages were completed, the girls were introduced to Peter Max and his world of bright wonderful colors. They loved his work, and inspiration was born! So we began designing our own "Organic Landscapes" with a Peter-Max-like palette.

Below are some examples of how we got started:

 

Students began with a design in their sketchbooks first. They were then given a larger piece of paper and reproduced that initial sketch. Once their drawing was finished in pencil, they outlined their drawing with a black permanent marker. After that, paint was applied.

Check out the final product!

                                 

Overall the project was fun, engaging, and pretty successful. It also allowed every student to have a huge amount of creative freedom. The results were outstanding, way to go fifth grade!