Designing With a Theme

In my sculpture class - students were asked to create a design for a paper shoe.  Their design had to be centered on a clear theme - one that they had a connection with (as they were to write a one-page artist statement about their design and personal connection to their work) This was a midterm assignment, and we only spent a couple days on it in class - students were mostly expected to work on this assignment at home.

The kids were really creative with their themes and use of three-dimentional space to create a cohesive design

This shoe has an aquatic theme - relating to the artists desire to join the Navy - and her love for all things water

This shoe was a testament to Fractals, something that this student is quite obsessed with. He spend a lot of time trying to draw each 'split' in the fractal correctly. 

This student loves all things Baltimore - but he didn't want to be 'obvious' by doing a Ravens or Orioles shoe (as others in class were doing), so he opted to base his off of the Natty Boh guy and the Utz girl. 

Stair Study

This was a project we just finished up in my drawing/painting class.  Most of the students in my class consider themselves 'drawers', not 'painters'. We've been spending the whole year so far working on drawing from observation, and I wanted to continue that idea, however with a painted twist.

After drawing the initial composition (requirements included: the use of strong diagonals, a strong sense of space, and areas of emphasis)  students chose a split-complementary color scheme. They created an 'action-plan' with their colors through testing tints and shades of each color chosen.  Then they were ready to paint!

As expected, students ran into difficulty trying to control the acrylic paint - however, this hard-edge style of painting challenged them to really take their time, and practice the painting skills that they find so illusive.

                                         

                                     

Comic Color Matching

This is a project that my 10th grade Introduction to Art students are completing this week.  The goal of the project was for students to learn the color wheel (including tints and shades) and then use their color wheel to identify and re-create colors that they observed in an existing picture.

It may not be the most 'creative' project, but it is a project whose goal is to teach students basic painting and color mixing techniques (as a basis for future work), as well as how to use a grid to aid in the drawing process (also a skill that will be employed again, later in the course)

Overall - the students were very successful in their pursuit to recreate an existing picture.  Students chose their compositions (zooming in on an existing picture), and could only use the primary colors and black and white to recreate the colors they observed. Many students created 2 or 3 paintings...taking paper, grids and pictures home with them so they could draw them and bring them back to school to paint!

Tiki Carving

This was a project idea born out of necessity.  I had ordered a bunch of blocks of floral foam over the summer, with no real idea of what to use them for.  Over the first few months of school - I began brainstorming ideas of different things students in my 11th grade beginning sculpture class could do/learn from the blocks.  The idea of using 'Tiki's' to introduce the concept of subtractive sculpture was intriguing to me...and who doesn't like Tikis?

After an introduction to Polynesian culture and mythology - students had to brainstorm to come up with their own Polynesian 'God' or 'Goddess'.  Their sketches had to reflect specific features and expressions that portrayed their chosen God/Goddess.

After a few demonstrations on subtractive sculpture and carving technique - students were given wood carving knives to make their Tiki's come to life! (This was super-messy, but the kids were troopers)

 

 One the Tiki's were carved, they received a base layer of white gesso, and a layer of brown acrylic paint (to mimic the original wood color that most Tiki's are made from)

Other details were added with acrylic paint to create the real 'personality' of each Tiki!

This project was an amazing experience, and my students astounded me with their creativity and attention to craftsmanship. This is definitely a project I would like to try again in the future.