Photoshop Challenge 1
It is amazing to me that in three weeks of seeing this new group of students, they already have three works of art published on Artsonia. For their third work published, students created either a beginner, intermediate, or advanced level work based on a series of choices in Schoology. These series of challenges are designed to help students get a better feel for materials and create works that build skills and understanding in hopes they will be able to select those concepts for their personal works for major thematic units.
It was fun to see students make choices this week as they finished up these works and hear time and again that they enjoyed learning more about how to use Photoshop. Here are some examples of the types of works students created from beginner to more advanced skill-building challenges.
It was fun to see students make choices this week as they finished up these works and hear time and again that they enjoyed learning more about how to use Photoshop. Here are some examples of the types of works students created from beginner to more advanced skill-building challenges.
Gibson
Lucas
Zoe
Evan
Artist of Interest
Since moving to a thematically driven curriculum, it has been increasingly important to me for students to have as much exposure to a variety of artists using a variety of methods to create their art. I know I cannot possibly cover them all, or even come close, so one of the activities I engage students in is called "Artist of Interest."
In this activity, students are asked to use our digital subscription to Scholastic Art Magazine to access past issues and select an artist they think is interesting and that may inspire their work. Students are asked to describe the work using an element of art and principle of design, give their opinion of the work, as well as what meaning can be found in it as they write their response.
I do this as a discussion board in Schoology so that students can view each others responses and get exposure to dozens of artists that they might not otherwise see in our projects or challenges. This is also a great way to get students to read non-fiction texts, summarize and interpret what they are reading, and use examples and details to help support their ideas.
Here are two great responses from this activity this week:
In this activity, students are asked to use our digital subscription to Scholastic Art Magazine to access past issues and select an artist they think is interesting and that may inspire their work. Students are asked to describe the work using an element of art and principle of design, give their opinion of the work, as well as what meaning can be found in it as they write their response.
I do this as a discussion board in Schoology so that students can view each others responses and get exposure to dozens of artists that they might not otherwise see in our projects or challenges. This is also a great way to get students to read non-fiction texts, summarize and interpret what they are reading, and use examples and details to help support their ideas.
Here are two great responses from this activity this week:
Tantamounter and 100 objects
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This week in my 3D class, students were challenged to create another collaborative. In this team-building activity, students were told they were going to be copy machines and started by shopping the classroom for what they would like to see recreated. After about five minutes of "shopping," students had to exchange their object with another group and then they had about 25 minutes to make a copy using whatever they could find in the classroom.
Many classrooms have done a similar exercise with great success. It was great to see how students worked together to recreate these objects and how close they were able to come to the original using completely different materials. My favorite of the group is probably the spider below. The group's copy was created by a damaged styrofoam head for the body, a Pringles can and pompoms for the head and eyes, metal tubing for the legs, and felt for the striping details. I am still amazed that the groups did what they did in such a short period of time.
Many classrooms have done a similar exercise with great success. It was great to see how students worked together to recreate these objects and how close they were able to come to the original using completely different materials. My favorite of the group is probably the spider below. The group's copy was created by a damaged styrofoam head for the body, a Pringles can and pompoms for the head and eyes, metal tubing for the legs, and felt for the striping details. I am still amazed that the groups did what they did in such a short period of time.
3D students also started their 100 object sculptures this week. This is a project that asks students to rethink non-art materials in new and creative ways. After sketching out ideas, students came prepared with a variety of things (Qtips, rocks, toothpicks, colored pencils, and more) to turn into sculptures.
I am excited to see how these come into form over the next week.
I am excited to see how these come into form over the next week.
Looking Ahead
Because of the nature of the class, some students are actually thinking about their final projects and experimenting with options for it as they are also working on their 100 objects project. For their finals, students are asked to create a project of their choice. I am very excited to see how and what they decide. One student started experimenting with some ideas this week, using the 3Doodler pen that was recently funded through a DonorsChoose.org project. I think it will be really exciting to see how this turns out or changes along the way.
MAEA Region 9 Show
Thursday was the opening reception of the Michigan Art Education Association Region 9 Show at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. It was really fun to see students see their work on display at the museum. It was also great to see the Warhol show.
With 23 works from our k-12 Visual Arts Program on display, it was great to see our Bryon Center Artists celebrated in this way. The works will now move on to the State competition and we will find out the results from that part of the competition in March.
With 23 works from our k-12 Visual Arts Program on display, it was great to see our Bryon Center Artists celebrated in this way. The works will now move on to the State competition and we will find out the results from that part of the competition in March.
Digital Storytelling Match on DonorsChoose.org
We have had such an awesome amount of success this year getting special resources funded through DonorsChoose.org. I am so thankful to parents, friends, and interested donors for giving to our projects to ensure my students have access to equipment and materials that will push them as creatives in the classroom.
Our newest project is being matched by AT&T because it involves digital storytelling (you can click on this to find out more). We are hoping to get an animation and green screen app as well as stylus's to help students create a variety of digital stories using iPads. We have less than $200 to go thanks to the match.
It is going to be awesome to see how students use these tools to share stories with others and make a variety of animations and film. Maybe we will even be able to enter some into competition soon.
Our newest project is being matched by AT&T because it involves digital storytelling (you can click on this to find out more). We are hoping to get an animation and green screen app as well as stylus's to help students create a variety of digital stories using iPads. We have less than $200 to go thanks to the match.
It is going to be awesome to see how students use these tools to share stories with others and make a variety of animations and film. Maybe we will even be able to enter some into competition soon.
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