Today we watched our first art history video. This video highlighted the art of ancient civilizations: Egyptian, Greek and Europe in the Middle Ages. After the video we drew a line drawing as a class. This exercise forced our hand, our brain and our eyes to begin to work together. Students were reminded to get their art supplies by Friday. They were also reminded to get their January Art Newsletter signed. Finally students we given their first weekly sketchbook assignment. This week students need to create a drawing of a tiger. This drawing should take a minimum of 15 minutes. The homework will be checked at the beginning of class on Friday.

Design Project

Well it is day 2 of the new semester. Eveyone is slowly getting to know each other, so things are pretty quiet as we are all working today. First thing we did was take notes on the most basic element of art- the line. After notes we spent the last 45 minutes of class working on creating a design project using only 3 sheets of paper, a pair of scissors and glue. This project allows me to evaluate the students' creativity level and their design skills.

Pod #6 working on their design projects.Morgan planning her design.

Day 1

Today we drew our first drawing. We drew our hand holding an object. We will do this same activity on the last day of class. Then we will compare the 2 drawings to see how we have improved.

Next we discussed classroom rules and expectations.

Finally we reviewed the January newsletter. Please have your parents sign and return the newsletter tomorrow for a free HW pass.

I think this semester is off to a great start.

Exam Retake Days

On Tuesday and Wednesday, my art classes painted the backdrops that student council needed for the Winter Semi-formal. They look great!

Exams

Today is the first day of exams. Remember students, you can use your sketchbook on the multiple choice section of the exam. Also remember to bring a no. 2 pencil and your set of graphite pencils. You will need the no. 2 pencil for the multiple choice section of the exam, and you will need your set of graphite pencils for the drawing section of the exam. See you on your exam day!

Finally Back!

Wow! Last week was a crazy week, so we have a lot of work to do to get back on track. Today we began class by reviewing material that will be on the exam- shading a sphere and 1 & 2-point perspective. Next, we watched our last art history video- modernism. After the video, we took notes on proportion. Finally, we drew the human body in proportion using geometric shapes.

Finally Friday! We continued reviewing for our exam during the first part of class. We are reviewing a little each day to refresh our memory about things we covered earlier in the semester. It is hard to believe that exams start on Wednesday. Then we check our last homework grade. And we finished up our color wheel project. Have a great weekend!

Example of finished color wheel project

Example of finished color wheel in colored pencils.
Detail of warm colors in the color wheel
Detail of cool colors in the color wheel

Jennifer coloring in her green section of the color wheel.
A close up of Jennifer's color wheel.

Adriana working on her color wheel.A close up if Adriana's color wheel.

Student Examples of our Mosaic Project

Take 30 minutes to finish step one of the project- cut out and glue down images of objects out of the magazines. Move on to step 2- draw a line drawing of the images glued down on the circle.By the end of the class, finish step 3- divide the circle into 6 pie pieces.

Tomorrow we will begin working on step 4- painting our color wheel.

Homework:
1. Bring in magazines for extra credit.
2. Weekly sketchbook activity due Friday- draw your dream house
3. Mosaic projects are due Wednesday.

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great break. I know I sure did. But now it is time to get back to work. We spent the first part of class today the way we have spent most Mondays- watching a short art history video. This video was about modernism in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. Next we started our final major project. This project helps us review some importance elements of art we have learned this semester: line and color. It also helps us review some skills we have learned this semester: line drawing, mixing paint, and painting.