From endangered animals to bullying, students selected a wide variety of topics for this quick project in which they were to use 2D media to complete their works.
Below are some highlights from the assignment:
BCWMS VISUAL ART & DESIGN |
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Students finished project this week that centered around an issue of their choosing. They could look to current events and were encouraged to use content they were studying in other classes to help inform their selections. In addition to using prior knowledge, students did research using PBS LearningMedia's resources to help further their understanding and inspire the images they created. From endangered animals to bullying, students selected a wide variety of topics for this quick project in which they were to use 2D media to complete their works. Below are some highlights from the assignment: Nikki O.: My problem is that our elephants are endangered of going extinct from this world. What would our be with no elephants? To me our world would be boring. I love elephants and everything about them, they are such a wonderful animal taken for granite. My art piece reflects on this issue because I drew an elephant on top of the white paint, also the cardboard and the collage looks unfinished. This is trying to say that the world would be unfinished with out the elephants here with us. This project relates to science, because it would affect the worlds food chain. We talked about the food chain this year, and if one thing is off balance the whole food chain is affected. Help save the elephants! We need these creatures in the beautiful world with us! Ella P.: Every year in school we have health class and they talk about drugs and alcohol. But smoking is one of the things that always catches my eye, People should know that it doesn’t keep u alive it just makes you one day closer to die and makes your lungs slowly turn black and unhealthy. We have the right to stop it if we want to but some people can’t stop what they started. The word BREATHING RIGHTS is meaning, you have the right to breath with clean lungs and not become a unhealthy person. Because once you start its hard to stop. Sarah W.: My artwork is about World Peace. It connects to history because we were just learning about World War 2 which was anything but peaceful. My work reflects the issue because World Peace is a choice just like an update on a computer. I chose this issue because it is important to me. My issue is very important to me because there are days when I see things on the news that worry me and for sure worry other people. Nobody should have to live their life scared or nervous about what is going on around them. Abby B.: In my artwork, "Once Upon A Dream", I used the issue of environmental problems to create my piece. To create this piece, I used all colored pencils, and I made sure that I added lots of value to give it more of a realistic look. I choose this issue, because in my science class, we had talked about things like pollution, chemical runoff, smog, which are all environmental problems. That discussion had inspired me to create a piece that will help people understand what problems we currently face and problems that we will face in the future, caused by environmental problems. In my piece, their is a snow globe sort of thing, with a clean world inside of it. Inscribed on the bottom, it says, "Once Upon A Dream". Outside of the window, you can see a city, covered in smoke and pollution, with dead grass and trees, and multiple cars. To explain this, I have the snow globe say "Once Upon A Dream", because it was so far from happening, it was like a dream. I also included the city outside, to show how far away it was from happening. To finish it off, this was a fun but important project, and I am excited to do one like that again. William B.: This project is to me a really deep theme "Bullying" this person is made of a paragraph about bulling and how it hurts people in a lot of ways this is what i did because many people dont really care about bullying and dont think its a big deal but when people get bullied they they sometimes hurt them self and even kill their self. When either your the bully or the victim it is never fun because often times the bully is probably going through tough times or is getting bullied, too.
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Students are focused on issues this week. We started out by brainstorming events (both from history and today) that are concerning. Students then narrowed down their ideas, used PBS LearningMedia to find research to inform their issue, and started sketching out possible ways to address their topic through visuals.
We then looked at artists like Caledonia Curry and Barbara Kruger and how they address a variety of topics in their work before students finalized plans and started on final works. From highlighting endangered species to calls for equal rights and bullying, students are selecting a variety of topics to explore in their art. They were limited to using 2D media and a much shorter time frame, so I am excited to see these works completed by early next week! Last week, students spent their time working with objects. They used the theme "Objects, Artifacts, and Things You Leave Behind" to explore media and ways to use symbols to represent a whole host of ideas. It was fun to see students go outside of their comfort zone and try new ways of working (one of the criteria was that they were not allowed to use a material previously used). The results were both exciting and insightful. You can view some of the highlights below. My T.: For my art work I used water color with salt, regular paint, and made origami swans/birds. Some techniques i used was when I painted water color on my paper was that I put salt on it to add more detail to make it look more in the daylight time. Art can show the concept of the theme because the artist Mitchell Feinberg uses objects and and things you leave behind in the theme. This artist uses this because in one of their artwork they had cigarettes in it and that is an object you leave behind because once you are done with it you throw it away and don't use it again. In another artwork of theirs they had pills in it and that is an object you use that is also part of the theme. Samantha K.: For this art piece I used the option of creating your own scratch paper. I drew the actual picture on the original paper with oil pastels and once I was done with that I added paint to the surface of my oil pastel picture. Then I used different designs like circles, crosshatching, and just different lines to make patterns as I scratched of the paint. This picture follows the theme because the two clocks are the times of birth that my brother and I were born at, the water running down off the clocks resemble the tears that were shed during that moment of birth for me and my brother. I was inspired by Mitchell Feinberg because my brothers name is mitchell and I was also inspired by the clocks that he used in two of his pictures. That is my artwork and how I made it. Matt M.: For this project I chose to use paper golden venture origami to create this American flag. I chose to use this material because I thought it was a really cool thing to make stuff with and we also were not able to use materials that we used in prior projects which left me with little options. I chose to make an American flag out of this because our baseball chose to honor fallen soldiers\police officers so our country has a totally new meaning to me and means a lot. This artwork can show the artists that we studied as well because all the artists used simple objects to make their art and made things with meaning to them or to other people as well. This can show the artist Jim Dine because Jim also chose to use very simple objects to make his unique pieces of artwork like I did in my project. Sydney C.: The Bubble Gum Movement piece that I have made really fits the project theme, Objects, Artifacts, and Things You Leave Behind because of the materials I have used. Using gum wrappers symbolizes how many just throw away gum wrappers and leave them behind when I decided to change that and make it into a really awesome piece. Then I realized that I had to use a different material and decided that print making was the way to go. Print making is a still life that I can create into my own using a block print. First I took a side shot of my face and then I put into photoshop and traced it on a piece of paper. Then, I rubbed the trace onto the block and then carved it out using the carving tools. I then got inspiration from Andy Warhol to use pop art colors and add the word pop onto the block print. I wanted this piece to be still life and not 3 dimensional. This piece was inspired by Andy Warhol and the idea of leaving bubble gum wrappers behind. Ella P.: My donut hat that I made for this project show how you can take anting you want and make it into something extraordinary. What I did was take socks and turned them into a donut. I used felt and beads to create frosting and springs to decorate the donuts. Hopefully my artwork and inspire other people to make ordinary object into something cool. One of the best things to have happened as a result of opening up my classroom through the pursuit of exploring themes, is how many times I say, "Why not." Want to try printmaking with a tire? Why not. Want to make a plaster hand pedestal? Why not. Want to make a hat of cloth donuts? Why not. Want to have an impromptu photoshoot with a tiny turtle? Why not. My hope is that in embracing the "why not" aspect of my classroom, students will start to break down the barriers that prevent them from creating innovative pieces and just making "good" art. I want my classroom to act as a space to try new things, explore ideas, and learn from both success and failure.
I also want it to be a place that allows work to be shared with a wider audience. Thanks again to all who voted for Jewel as artist of the week on Artsonia! We are excited to celebrate the recognition and also use the Blick gift cards for new art supplies! Students are well on their way to finished works as they select materials and enact plans charted at the end of last week. Because we are focusing on objects, artifacts, and things left behind, solutions for this challenge are more divergent than in past projects. It could also be due to the fact that one of the constraints of the assignment is using a material that they had not yet used.
It has been a lot of fun seeing the progress being made and I am excited to see what becomes of these works as they finish up next week. This week marks the first week of the last marking period of the year. We just got back after a lovely Spring Break, and are jumping on our next theme: Objects, Artifacts, and Things you leave behind.
To get those groggy minds turning again, students are asked to work individually or in pairs on a note-taking activity. This is something used in our ELA classes to make connections among and between literature and students' lives, so repurposing it saves time and confusion. In ELA, they use the chart "Text to Self, Text to Text, and Text to World" for students to connect content in a variety of ways. In my class, we are switching the word "Text" to "Art." Students then look at work by artists Wayne Thiebaud, Audrey Flack, Jim Dine, Janet Fish, and Mitchell Feinberg as they complete the chart. Afterwards, students start brainstorming ideas for their own work by creating at least five thumbnails for planning. It is a nice activity that takes most of the class period for students to do and eases them back into thinking critically about Art. This theme has yielded the most awards for my students over the years and I am pretty sure this activity has something to do with it. All of the above images are from the same student artist. Before I say too much about that, I want to do a small recap of why I was out of my classroom the end of last week. I had the honor of attending and presenting at the National Art Education Convention in Chicago! It was great fun to share, learn, and create with 5,500 of my closest friends... ComiCon was also at the conference center, which made for even more fun! Here are some images of my time in Chicago, learning and sharing: It is always tough to be away from the classroom. Figuring out meaningful plans for a non-art person (or anyone who isn't me) is a challenge. Luckily, I didn't need to clone myself because I had some sure-fired Photoshop Challenges ready for the kids to tackle. Some created Graffiti names and placed them on buildings: Some students redrew the hall, using perspective and the pen tool: Others decided to create some out of this world environments: And some made their own landscapes using different brushes: And then there is Matthew. Matthew decided to really dig into Photoshop and take his skills to the next level by searching out tutorials and experimenting with a variety of tools to create the above three images and the following three:
Students are working on their Environment, Space, and Place projects this week. This theme is always an interesting one to see unfold because some students stick to more standard definitions of the theme, where as others go way out there in exploring ideas around how we interact in environments and how places impact our lives.
Here are some images from the week of students working on their art: For the past few weeks, students have been stretching their creative legs on this first project theme dealing with Identity. It is always interesting to see the results of the first project simply because it is often one that is the most timid. I think students are still getting used to the responsibility of selecting and enacting their materials for their plans, which can be overwhelming. This seems to have some students stumped and they settle on solutions they feel more comfortable with instead of taking big risks. The good news, though, is they they learn a ton from this experience and use that to help shape projects going forward. Even so, I am still pretty satisfied with the results of their efforts and look forward to what choices are made for the next works. Here are some highlights from finished works with this theme: Sydney: To create my art work that shows Identity I used many different techniques to complete my piece. First I had decided to cut out eyes of all different sizes and color. Then I had collaged them all over the poster board in a way to bring out each eye. Later on once all was glued on I had done a wash of paint over the eyes and the board. To make it more personal I had taken come up with a quote and written on notebook paper to make it more original yet special and then I had added extra eyes that I had and glued them on to pop more color. These techniques had help me create an identity peace that meant a lot to me. I had taken the signature of Julian Opie who always had two beady eyes in his art work which had given me the idea to center around eyes. The identity piece that I had created is personal to my identity because I get complemented on my eyes and I have seen things that no one else have seen and have gone through things that no child could imagine. Eyes and the secrets they hold and the stories they tell mean a lot to me because I seem to see the stories of someone through their eyes. Eli: For my identity project, I used printmaking and ink to make the red objects. I used a tool with ink which is normally for texture in clay, but I thought the design would look cool as the background. I used complementary colors, red and green to really show the two parts of the image, and to express both as a whole piece. I used Identity by making and carving things I like into the print (red) I put glasses, a pillow, glass cleaner, and I filled the absence with designs. There are many ways you can make your Identity in art, but I thought the coolest way was to make a print with stuff I like in it. I wanted this to show the things I like and also try to use the rule of thirds. Samantha: n my work I wanted to tell a story about identity. I used Frida Kahlo as inspiration because she always tells a story with her art, just how I wanted too. My story shows a black and white portrait, and then puzzles pieces covering some of the face of this person. This represents that even though you may think you know your identity you will really never fully know what it is just like how it takes forever to finish a long puzzle. I had the puzzle pieces covering some of the face because maybe she knew that part of her identity but didn’t know the rest of it, which is the black and white portrait. While creating this piece I used a collage technique over the puzzle pieces to create images that might have made up someone’s identity. I also used a drawing technique where I shaded the hair outline and strands of hair them I got a paper towel and blended them together to get a shaded hair look. I think that the techniques I used helped the picture stand out to the eye and made them wonder. Abigail: In my drawing, "It's The Inside That Counts", I use drawing pencils to both shade, and get the color of the skin, hair color, and ect. I use also use pan paint for the background, and use the sponge technique to get the unique texture. One reason I used the pencils is because all my life, sketching with pencils has been my big connection to art, and so I thought, what better way to show identity than by using the tools I've worked with for so many years. The reason that I used the sponge technique is because I thought the texture would compliment my drawing quite well. This art overall shows the concept of identity, by showing how I use my artwork to explain things. For example, inner beauty is a big thing that I like to promote, and I also love to draw portraits (that's my strong suit), so I thought this project would be a great way to show both of the things that make up myself, make up my identity. When it comes to artist's, I believe my art relates to Frida Kahlo's the most. We both use personal connections in our art, her with her Mexican heritage, me with my portraits. In the end, I am happy with my project of identity, and can't wait to do a project like that again. When I made the leap to have all of my students direct their way through themes, I was very nervous. I had always been the one making decisions about materials we were going to use and the way they were going to be used. In doing so, I was really the only expert in the room and it stayed that way with students getting superficial exposure to a wide variety of methods and tools, but none of them really sticking long term or being appropriately applied when I gave them more freedom.
This past week has been a complete validation of why that all needed to change. I saw students step up as leaders, helping each other out, discovering new methods for making, and personalizing their learning in meaningful and (I hope) lasting ways. I have mostly 7th graders this semester, so I was a bit worried how they would catch on to the way we conduct business in this class. I has been a little more slow going because 8th graders had me last year and already had an idea of how I operate, but it has been a pretty good start on this first theme of Identity. Below you can see the process in which students have been working this week as we finish up this first theme on Monday: |
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Janine CampbellTeaching Visual Arts since 2004 and making images since picking up a crayon. Categories
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