Visual Journal Friday #1

Today was our first chance as a class to experiment with visual journals. We created a page based on universal shapes. The students really seemed to like trying out the watercolor pencils. Here are a couple pictures of students working on their pages. Students have a week to work on adding images and writing to their page. Their finished page is due next Friday, Feb. 5th.

2nd period Art I students are adding images and writing to their pages.

Blair and Chelsea add extra personal details to their pages.

Miranda and Sami are focused as they work on the writing aspect of their visual journal page.

Line Drawings

2nd Period Art I students, Dylan and Meredith working on drawing Mr. Stravinsky.

Mason working on his first contour line drawing.

Mr. Stravinsky

Today we drew Mr. Stravinsky. Who is Mr. Stravinsky you are asking yourself? Well, he is one of Picasso's most famous line drawings. He was actually a composer that collaborated with Picasso, and while they were working together Picasso took the time to create a line drawing Mr. Igor Stravinsky. Since that time, Mr. Stravinsky has plagued beginning art students around the world. Year after year without fail, they are forced to try to recreate Picasso's famous portrait. In my class, I project the image of Mr. S onto the screen revealing only small rectangular sections at a time. The photo above shows some of my second period Art I students working on their drawings of Mr. Stravinsky. Yesterday we revealed the outside rectangles which can be drawn with relative ease, but today we are revealing the complicated areas of the face and hands. There is a collective groan that reverbirates throughout the class when those difficult areas are uncovered. They students are often too harsh on themselves when they see the finished project. They forget that Picasso was an art master, and they are only in their 4th day of Art I. But the project is great a teaching the students to slow down and focus on what they see. A large part of Art I is teaching student to look carefully at what is being drawn and to only draw what they see. We are making good progress.

Line Drawing 101

So today was all about line drawings. We warmed up our artistic sides by beginning class creating line drawings of keys. Once we had created our own original line drawings, we felt brave enough to tackle creating a reproduction of one of the art world's most famous artists- Pablo Picasso. It is not easy to make a copy of this master's artwork, but each of my students was willing to give it a try. We have not finished the activity yet because I am only revealing a part of the drawing to them at a time. This technique forces students to only look at the lines inside of the space revealed, and therefore, forces the students to really look carefully at what they are drawing.

I have such great art classes this semester. I have really been impressed not only with their projects but also their behavior in general. We are in a small classroom that has just in the past several days been converted into an art classroom, but all the students have been very coorperative during this transition time. Thanks guys!

Well, that's all for today because bus duty calls, but check back in tomorrow and I will try to have some examples of Mr. Stravinsky posted. He is quite the looker!

Pictures of Student Work

Student examples of our first design project.

1st Period--Chelsea

3rd Period--Ryan

2nd Period--Hanna

Day 2

The first days of school are aways busy. Students being added or removed from the class list and today was a typical second day of school. We were busy checking signed letters (National Board Release form and the January Newsletter) and collecting supply and materials fee. We also turned in our first project. It was last nights homework- create a work of art using only 3 sheets of colored paper, a glue stick, and a pair of scissors. I was quite impressed by the work that students turned in. It is amazing the many different designs that emerged. Each students' work was completely unique. That activity allowed me to assess my students' design skills, and today I needed to assess their drawing skills. We spent 25 minutes working on a graphite drawing of a hand holding any one object that they could find in their bookbag. After a couple pages of notes on the basic element of art- the line, we spent the last few minutes of class creating lines using India Ink. For many students, this was the first time that they have used this media. I can't wait to see what days 3 through 90 have to offer.

p.s. Photos of the students' first projects soon to follow.

Welcome to Art I

Monday, Jan. 25

This blog is going to be our little class experiment. It has been created so that daily (hopefully!) I, or a student, can post what we have been working on in class that day. I hope it will be a way that you as parents can stay constantly informed about the daily learning of your child.

For example, today we spent the first few minutes of class introducing ourselves to each other. Next, I let the students know my classroom rules, procedures, and expectations. Then, I gave them their first monthly newsletter. You should see one of these Art I Newletters coming home each month. The newsletter will give you some information about the famous artist we have been studying that month as well as a brief discription and examples of some of the projects we have been working on both in and out of class. Please sign the newletter and send it back to class with your son/daughter, so that he/she can recieve her free homework pass. I am sure the students will find these homework passes will come in handy at some point in the semester. Finally, toward the end of class, I gave the students their first art project- to make a work of art out of three sheets of paper using only a glue stick and scissors. I can't wait to see what interesting designs the students will come up with. This project is due when they walk in the door to my class on Tuesday.

Become a follower of this blog by clicking on the link on the left. If you are a parent of one of my students, your son/daughter will get extra credit when you sign-up as a follower!