Kindergarten Clay Frames

I enjoy introducing a clay project to Kindergarten students.  Their excitement for the clay is contagious.  No matter what the product ends up looking like, students learn so much by just getting their hands dirty and working with a 3-dimensional sculpture material.  We discuss the many steps involved with clay making and students are always intrigued with the kiln.

Kindergarten students created clay slabs (flat, thin pancakes) and cut a hole out of the center to make a frame.  Students experimented by stamping various objects into the clay to create texture. 

Clay can sometimes be difficult and unforgiving.  There were a couple broken frames, but I only used this as a lesson in adaptability and process over product.  Students will have no problem gluing their creations together after the glaze firing.

2nd grade Clay Guitars

After last year's success, I had my 2nd graders make clay guitars this year too.  After studying Picasso's guitar and violin series, students pondered how music can inspire artwork. 

Students became very familiar with clay hand building techniques by making slabs, adding texture, and attaching pieces by slip and scoring. 

It's interesting to discuss the different types of guitars and with which genre of music they're associated.  The flying V style was very popular this year.  I think my classes were filled with some rock and roll fans!

3rd grade Prints

After studying Gustav Klimt and his famous Tree of Life painting, 3rd graders created a symmetrical tree collograph.  We discussed positive and negative space and printed with gold ink in the spirit of Klimt's favorite color. 

After students printed, we discussed how artists know when an artwork is finished.  Some of the responses were,

 - "When all the steps are completed"

 - "When the space is filled"

 - "When the artist decides"

It was an interesting discussion as students pondered their decision making role in the creative process. 

4th grade Mandala Prints

Buddhist Tibetan monks have a tradition of creating beautiful sand mandalas.  The monks create the designs in silence and while meditating.  When they are finished, the mandala is swept up and sent down a river of water to honor the value of impermanence.  I love discussing this art form with my students.  It's difficult to imagine destroying something so beautiful, but we talk about how the important factor is the process, not the product!

4th graders created radial symmetrical, geometric mandala designs on styrofoam and printed them with gradient colors. 

5th grade Still Lifes

With a little inspiration from Wayne Thiebaud and a fellow art teacher, my 5th graders practiced using value to create form and painted candy still lifes.  Students used painting and drawing techniques to fill the space of their composition, show a 3 dimensional form on a 2d surface, and watercolor value. 

1st grade Color Trees

This was a popular idea in the art teacher internet world this year.  I think it was a great way to get 1st graders thinking about color and what it can do.

Students practiced mixing secondary colors as well as light tints.  Students discussed the artwork of abstract artist, Kandinsky, as well as Klimt.  Both of these artists are known for their use of color and artwork involving trees.  Students compared the artwork of these artists and created their own colorful tree. 

Sometimes it's easy to get stuck in the perspective that students need to memorize information and then be able to repeat the rhetoric.  Learning certain vocabulary words is very necessary, but I tried a different approach to color theory this year. 

My first graders understand that color mixing creates new colors.  They understand that there are different degrees of color and that combining them in different ways creates a different effect.  My students might not always remember exactly which 2 colors create purple or which 2 colors create orange, but I guarantee that they can figure it out by looking at a color wheel.

Sometimes knowledge is figuring out how to find the answer rather than actually knowing the answer.

3rd grade Abstract Art

3rd graders discussed Abstract Art and its history in culture.  Does art have to have a subject?  What is the meaning of abstract art?  Does art have to look like something in real life?  Students painted papers with the intermediate colors (yellow-green, red-purple, etc).  By cutting geometric shapes and arranging them in a repetitive and balanced way, students created abstract art!

 

 

I think this project encouraged students to think outside the box.  Students were able to use their creativity to create simple and repetitve geometric designs.  Students were encouraged to cut their shapes in new and creative ways.  They were encouraged to be unique.