Expressive Clay Faces and Much More!

Transdisciplinary  Theme: How We Express Ourselves

Central Idea: Art Is A Way of Exploring The Self

This year we've been working on various lessons that have engaged us in reflective and challenging ways.  We started off by analyzing self-portraits throughout time, trying to understand the message of the lines,colors and shapes.   To go deeper into the process we analyzed abstract sculpture and talked about ways in which a connection can be made between an attitude and a sculpture.  I wanted them to start thinking about how they could create an abstract collage that was a reflection of the self.  The discoveries and reflections were many.   For the next component, I wanted them to work with a completely different medium, clay. They were challenged to shape the clay into an expression of their choice.  After the clay was bisque fired it was now white.  How could color help pull out the expression even further?  They chose a warm or cool color palette for this.  Right now, we are in the process of bringing this now character to life by writing a summary describing the personality.  From there, they will create a mixed media narrative painting.  For this component, we analyzed  Homage To Mary Lou by Romare Bearden. 

Images Discussed

Monotypes

 

2nd grade monotypes

We had a great experience making monotypes this week.  We actually painted the plate on our tables and
used a q-tip for drawing the image.  We then placed a piece of paper on top, burnished with our palm and pulled the print... voila!
The bottom image shows the process.

Kindergarten Monotypes

Transforming Ink Blots

Predetermined outcome is a closed door. 

Mitzi Scott



 

Artwork by 3rd and 6th grade students

Second and 3rd grade artwork.

The students loved this project.  I got the inspiration from the Field Elementary Art Blog. They added color which really added a wonderful element.  I've seen these before but it was more or less used for a Halloween lesson on spooky trees.  If you go to Teacher Tube, and search dailymonster.com, you will find videos of Stefan Bucher, the man behind dailymonster.com.  The kids loved watching his time lapse videos of his ink blot drawings.  We did this first and then went to the tables to create our own.  I put ink in a spray bottle and sprayed just a tiny bit on each paper.  The kids used straws to blow a couple of times and then pen or marker to continue the image. Super fun!

Incised Pop-Ups

Pop -ups have such an enduring fascination.  The techniques we used here are not complex, but the transformation from two dimensions to three almost seems magical.

We used index cards and regular scissors.  First, everyone made all 7 of the pop-ups shown below (just to get the hang of it).  The ones you see above were new designs created by the students.

Fold index card in half vertically or horizontally.  Cut where you see a dash line and crease where you see a solid line.  It's important  to crease in both directions to really "set" the crease. We used the handle of the scissors to smooth the crease.   Open the card and just play with it a bit to get the pop-up.