High School Portrait Unit

The introductory art course for high school is a combination of freshman and sophomore students. The class has a range of artistic abilities, from beginning to middle level.

It is now Term 2, and my class of nine has begun a portrait unit. For a beginning level art student, portraits can seem like a daunting challenge. We have been taking this step by step and so far my students and I have been pleased with the results!

To kick off the unit I had my class sit in separate parts of the room away from each other. They were given two or three small squares each. These squares all had something different on them. The students were to draw what they saw on those pictures onto blank squares that were provided.

On the back of each square there were numbers. When the students had completed their drawing, they were to stick their finished square on the corresponding number to a grid chart I had at the front of the room. Piece by piece their collaborative drawing was put together, until they could see what they had collectively made.

 This activity worked really well and got rid of some of the portrait "anxiety" that my students were expressing.

During the next class period, I had students bring in a photo of themselves. We discussed facial dimensions and proportions. Students were also given a handout with helpful drawing tips and reminders for certain facial features.

The students cut their photo in half however they preferred, and practiced drawing the other half with different shading techniques. They really did a great job and enjoyed completing these as well!

The students are now practicing a full portrait using the grid method. They brought in large photos of someone they admire and will complete the drawing using oil pastels. I will post them when they are finished! Well done high school!

Beautiful Oops

I just read the book Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg with my Kindergarten classes. Every art teacher should own this book! It is as the title suggests, a beautiful story about how wonderful making mistakes can be. I always tell my students, "It's not a mistake, it's an opportunity!" and this little story fit in right along with my motto.

After exploring the pictures and making creative guesses about what each splat, spill, or blob could be turned into, we created an "Oops" of our own.

The day before their class, I had made an "Oops" on different pieces of paper for the students. Each individual paper had a paint splatter of a different color, shape, or line.

 My Kinders were instructed to use their paint splatter in order to create an image, object, or picture. Their amazing imaginations went to work. It was exciting to see the students so engaged and I'm happy to share their creativity!

 Aren't these just too much fun? If you don't have Beautiful Oops in your library, I suggest ordering it. Great book for any art teacher!

Pop Art Pizzas

I love Pop Art. What I love even more about Pop Art is teaching it! I always do at least one lesson on this art movement with every grade level, so I am always looking for new ideas. This year I stumbled upon a fabulous blog with this wonderful lesson: Pizza Sculptures so I decided to give it a try!

Before we started the project my third graders and I discussed a few important artists involved with this movement, one being Claes Oldenburg. The students loved viewing and talking about his giant sculptures. When I revealed our next project to the class, they literally cheered.

First the students cut two large triangles of some recycled paper I had been saving. At the beginning of the school year, our overseas supply shipment was delivered. There was so much packing paper leftover that I have giant black garbage bags full of the stuff waiting to be used! (Yay!)

 

As you can see, we had quite the mess. Paper everywhere!

 After the two large triangles were cut, they stapled both of the sides together leaving the top open. Students crumpled leftover packing paper and stuffed it into the opening. Once the pizza was full, they stapled the opening to form a crust.

The next class period third graders began painting red for the sauce and brown for the crust. When the paint was completed, they began to cut toppings of their choice. The toppings were then glued onto the wet paint.

 Our wonderful pop art pizzas were completed in only two class periods. We had so much fun with this!