Category:

Digital Printmaking, Like Andy (kind of)

3/17/2015

Students wrapped up our printmaking unit by creating work on Photoshop inspired by the Pop Art Icon, Andy Warhol. Although he is most known for his screen prints, he was a pioneer in the form of Digital Art as you can see above.

Below are images created by 7th grade students. You can see the full gallery on our Artsonia page.

Nick

Ethan

Brynn

More digital works have been recently discovered by the artist and you can learn more by watching the video below. If you skip to the 12 minute mark you will get to the part where they find his files on the old floppy disk.

Abstract Faces

3/10/2015

I have more 7th grade classes than 8th grade classes this term, which means that I am employing more traditional teaching methods than I did first semester. I am new to these students and learning where they are at both in skills and concepts.

Because I am still getting to know them and their abilities, it is always fun to throw a few collaborative drawing exercises that prove both anyone can draw and it is fun trying!

First, we had a portrait party where students created continuous blind contour line drawings. From there, students selected the one they liked most and then modified it on another sheet of paper, with oil pastels. Here are some results:

After experimenting with abstraction using oil pastels and drawing methods, students then applied those concepts to collaborative drawings on Photoshop where they combined several faces to create a new one, like these examples:

It is always fun to work on skills and concepts without the worry of it having to look "real." Abstraction is a fun way to experiment with line and color and we had a lot of laughs working on these portraits.

Like a Blur

2/27/2015

So many things have happened this week, it is kind of like the semester is just blurring right past me! First, I am excited to say that Empty Bowls is only three weeks away. We finished the big bowl to be auctioned off at the event to the highest bidder this week with signatures from the BCWMS team.

Students are also finally glazing their bowls, which will be given away at the event as a reminder of those we are helping.

Students also finished their videos and animations this week, in preparation for the Meijer Great Choices Film Festival and Digital ID PSA competitions. This project was funded as a result of a MACUL grant. Here are some of the student pieces:

7th grade students also worked on the computer this week, learning more about how to use Photoshop as they shared their interests and likes in their profile collages (see a full gallery of images here):

Nick: I used more than one brush tool with different colors because I thought that by doing that, I would make it unique. I tried to make my background different from anybody else's. I also used the stroke tool so I could make the outline of my face more prominent and so you could make it out better. I choose the things I did because they represent things that I like. I put some teams that I like, some foods that I like, and some things that I like to do. For example, I put a MSU logo because that's my favorite college and I put Kentucky because I know a kid on their boy's basketball team.

Nichole: I used a couple tools while working on this project. One of those tools is the quick select tool. You use this tool to select the background of an object. After you have selected want you need you can either change the background or delete the background. Another tool I used was the fill bucket tool. You use this tool to fill large empty spaces with a color of some sort in stead of taking a long time to use the paint brush tool to color it in. Ok so I put a lot of things in well "myself". First I put a picture of Nik Stauskas because he is my idol. I put a cross in me because I love going to church and learning about god. Then of corse I put a maroon 5 thing because they are my favorite band. Then my last one I put the quote "Teamwork makes the dream work" because this quote always keeps me going and It is so true too.

8th grade students started planning out their first major project on Identity this week by learning about artists who employ this theme, seeing past student work, and sketching out their own ideas. We also worked on some drawing methods that they could use, too.

Happy Holidays!

12/25/2014

by Colton K.

I hope everyone is enjoying their time with family this Holiday season. Even though there is not a spec of snow on the ground in my neck of the woods, I challenged students to create some snow inspired Photoshop works before we left for break. Here is a video highlighting their efforts.

You can see the full gallery of work on our Artsonia gallery.

by Leah F.

Printmaking 2 ways

12/7/2014

7th grade students studied Greek and Pop Art this week with a look at how contemporary Artists are inspired by the past. First, we looked at work in the following Prezi that showed some contemporary connections to Ancient Greek and Roman Art:

Students then worked on prints based of off activities they like and included at least 3 designs around the figure.

Corey B.

Lukas I.

Nathan R.

Jake D.

After working with printmaking on paper with ink, students moved to a digital work in the style of Andy Warhol. It was fun to see students take the concept and apply it in a new way.

Cari S.

Zach F.

7th grade happenings

11/29/2014

Since I am mostly teaching 8th graders this semester, I have not spent much time blogging about what 7th grade students have been creating during our one class together (next semester will be the opposite of this semester). So, as to not forget about the great work these guys are doing, here is an overview of the ways in which we explored perspective for the last project.

I have been teaching perspective for a while now. It can be a tough concept to teach at times because it is very rule-based and I always tell my students that in order to be successful at it, you kind of have to turn your brain off and accept that you are limited to the rules of drawing either vertical, horizontal, or orthogonal lines. I also try and reinforce those concepts using more than one kind of method. So, here are some of the works we did while playing around with the concept of perspective, but you can always view the full gallery here.

Hallway Drawings

When we do this drawing exercise, I have students go into the hall to pick their point of view. Beforehand we go through various ways to use perspective by creating a generic hallway. Here are the results of putting that practice to work:

Colton B - area by Mrs. Gustafson's room

Caiden B. - area by the gym and cafeteria

Jordyn M. - area by Mrs. Stevenson's room

Name Drawings

Students were also asked to use perspective to draw their name. Here are some of the results.

Photoshop Hallways

The last way students were asked to explore perspective is through digital means. They used images I had taken of the various hallways and using the pen and brush tools in Photoshop, they outlined the vertical, horizontal, and orthogonal lines. They then used various fill tools to complete the pieces.

Joey S.

Eli G.

Phat P.

Where's Mrs. C? And Other Interesting Stuff

10/21/2014

Thursday and Friday and Monday was spent away from my students. When this happens, I feel bad, but I was hard at work each day working on educational issues important to my field.

Thursday and Friday was spent in Lansing. For the past two years, I have been working with a team of Visual Arts Educators in the State of Michigan on the Michigan Arts Education Instruction and Assessment Project. This project is offered to Arts teachers as a solution for implementing and developing high quality programs and assessing those programs and students within. I am very proud of the work I have been able to do, although it does require some time away from my students to work in Lansing with the other teachers and project management involved.

MAEIA Visual Arts Promotion from Jason ODonnell on Vimeo.

On Monday, I had the honor to present to Student Teachers at the Fire Up! conference at Aquinas College. It was really fun to share the amazing things my students do with the power of technology and how we integrate our learning in many ways and break down classroom walls to engage globally. Here is a picture of one of the groups I had the pleasure to present to on Monday (and as you can see, they were a fun bunch):

Even though I was away, students have been hard at work making loads of art. My 7th graders have finished two major projects in the past few days and my 8th graders are starting to wrap up their Environment/Space/Place projects. Here are some pictures of what has been accomplished since last time:

7th grade Space Projects

Ian Sands (a High School teacher in NC) posted this tutorial a while back and it has been an amazing resource for my students and I in learning new ways to use basic Photoshop tools. Thanks again, Ian - I owe you another scone at NAEA in March. You can see a full gallery of results on Artsonia, but here are few:

Nate's image works with overlapping planets to show deep space.

Arminda's image works with different gradients in the planets to show light and shadow.

7th grade Knots

Students have been working on these colorful knots for the past week or so. they have learned about line, symmetry, color, and various application techniques of colored pencil, watercolor, and Sharpie. It was fun to see the results as students made choices about how to construct their design, color it, and add finishing details.

Jordyn M.

Cari S.

8th grade process pictures

Each of the following students is working with similar subject matter (home, interior/exterior space), but attacking the visual representation in very diverse ways. It has been fun to see how students interpret this assignment and the plans they have made in their sketchbooks be realized in their work.

Blake is constructing a wire sculpture of his home as seen from Google Streetview. he is constructing it out of wire and including details like windows and doors.

Kollan is creating an interior room of a house with leather hard slabs of clay. This has been a more challenging project, but I am excited to see it complete with items populating the space.

Anna was inspired by a work at ArtPrize called "Michigan in Motion" for this work. She is going to create an illusion through the application of perspective to make this object that sticks out, look like it is going back into space - MAGIC!

Nolan is using a more traditional drawing method to recreate his front door using one-point perspective. He is applying value with different graphite pencils to help give depth to the shadows and make it more believable.

I am getting really excited and a little nervous as we finish up this theme; nervous because I am worried about time and some students waiting until the last minute to get their work in and excited to see if this all turns out as amazing as I know it can be! I will post some finished examples tomorrow and as they start to roll in from students.

Knots of Fun

10/11/2014

7th grade students worked on knots this week in many ways. We will be finishing up this work next week with paint and some reading as we look to the Celts and their use of line and shape in their work.

First we made knots and loops with string and drew from observation.

Then we created symmetrical knots by using overlapping lines and mirroring them across horizontal and vertical lines of symmetry.

We used the power of the sun to transfer our designs onto nicer drawing paper.

And applied various color pencil techniques to fill in the space. Next week will be spent adding watercolor and other designs.

Students finished out the week with a quick digital project to help reinforce concepts being covered this week and compare processes between methods.

Patterns and Prints

5/12/2014

One of my favorite parts of my job is trying out old ideas in a new way with my students. 7th grade students created images based on 1960s posters. We changed up the project a bit from last semester and I am still not exactly sure how it is going to turn out in the end. Today, the goal was to complete adding the Sharpie designs on watercolor paper and tomorrow we will have the option of adding color to the pieces through marker, watercolor, or other materials students would like to use.

Some students decided to use a strong contrast between black and white in their images.

Emma decided to include colored Sharpies in hers.

This is my example. I enjoyed filling the space with images and designs. It will be fun to experiment with watercolor tomorrow.

8th grade students finished up their printmaking activities today. In addition to creating their two-color reduction print, they were asked to create a series of digital prints and also had the option of mono printing with Gelli plates.

Lauren's prints show a clear mood and use of the rule of thirds.

Chase made sure to use a repeating directional pattern to draw the attention to the center of his image.

Hallie was one of the first students to turn in her Photoshoped multiples inspired by Andy Warhol.

This was an example of using Gelli mono prints with a block print over top. Part of making art is seeing what happens when you try putting different processes together.

Positive and Negative

5/7/2014

The concept of positive and negative, additive and subtractive processes were being explored in the classroom today as students worked. 7th grade students finished their paper Notans and started on digital ones. 8th grade students worked on printmaking as they finished carving their first layer in their two-color reductions prints.

Paper Notan by Harrison K.

Digital Notan by Mason J.

Students working on prints after examining the work of Caledonia Curry, Kathe Kollwitz, Andy Warhol, and Banksy.