Studio Art: Coil Pots

This coil pot project was the last project in my Studio Art ceramics unit.  These have finally all been finished up and glazed fired.  For this project, students were required to make a simple vessel.  It did not have to hold liquid.  What they did have to show was movement through the vessel through the use of their coils.  Some did a really awesome job showing movement, while others didn't seem to understand.  Next year, if I repeat this project, I feel I will have to do a better job explaining movement.

Students used plain coils, spiraled coils, braids, and many other coil techniques to create these.

Love this one!  One of the best ones1

The one on the left has an awesome variety of coils!  No so much movement, but definitely creativity in the types of coils that were used.

The brown glaze with the blue specks is amazing on this piece!  I only wish this person would have coordinated the rest of their glaze choices to match that glaze a little better...

After I sit back and review these pieces, I see a need for me to better teach color choice.  As far as I can tell, these students haven't really had much training on color theory.  My current elementary curriculum teaches basic color theory in kindergarten (primary and secondary colors), reviews it in places as they move up, and touches very heavily on it in 5th grade, so hopefully my current students will have a better ability to choose colors as they move up.  As I look forward into next year, I think that I will incorporate a color theory unit early on in the school year, perhaps during my first unit of "What is Art?".

Art 7: Sculpture Unit: Wire Gesture Sculptures

My next unit for my Art 7 classes is a sculpture unit.  In trying to keep the whining at bay, I tried to come up with simple projects that anyone could excel at or go above and beyond if they chose to do so.  I have two projects up my sleeve and one group research project planned for this unit.

The first portion of this unit was to create gesture sculptures out of wire.  After taking notes about the different sculpting techniques (carving, assembling, modeling, and casting), I had students practice gesture drawings using my art mannequins.  I had students work in groups of 3 with one mannequin, positioning it into a posture with movement.  Students then had to do one final drawing in their sketchbook of a figure doing something that shows movement.  Students were then told to bring in a base for homework to put their sculpture on.

The sculpture part itself took two days.  I gave each student a long piece of aluminum wire, probably about 10 feet of wire, and told them they had to create a figure with that piece without cutting it.  A few really struggled in the beginning, but I felt this was simple enough that they should be able to problem-solve how to do this.  In the end, even one student who fought me about wanting to cut the wire managed to complete his sculpture and was extremely proud of himself. 

After the students created their sculpture, they had to attach it to their base.  Many painted their base to go along with their sculptures, which earned them more points on the creativity aspect of the rubric.

This one is one of my favorites!  I think the pose and lean in the figure really makes it feel like its running!

Another one of my favorites...this person was probably the most creative with their base!

This one is supposed to be a diver...just wish the person would have painted the base to look like a pool!

Love the headphones and arm bands on this runner!

This sculpture was the most creative in pose and in what it was doing...love it!

Again, another one of my favorites!  Very creative with the pose!

These two are serving a volleyball...

Absolutely love the hair on this one!

This one doesn't show very much movement...but I had to include it because it was very well built.  This was the student who wanted to cut the wire apart to build it.  We had a rough day the first day and he was asked to leave the classroom because he refused to work, but he came back strong on the second day and created this awesome sculpture!

2nd Grade Printmaking Unit: Introduction to Printmaking

My second graders have just finished up their printmaking unit and I've finally gotten around to photographing, grading and uploading all of their artwork to Artsonia!

To kick off the unit, we did a one day project that involved stamping with Legos (I've seen multiple variations of this on Pinterest...).  I took this opportunity to talk to the students about the Principles of Art.  We've talked about them here and there, one at a time, but I felt like this quick project was a great way to get students to think about the principles all together.  We talked about patterns, having balance (symmetrical and asymmetrical), movement, unity, contrast, rhythm, and emphasis.  Now, a lot of these are a little over some of the 2nd graders heads, but none the less, I think some of them really thought more about their composition.

I showed students these simple visual rubrics I made for the project and we talked about each one.  "Is it interesting to look at?  Why or why not?"

This one would be worth 3 points...

This one would be worth 2 points...

This one would be worth 1 point...

 I posted these on the bulletin board int he front of the classroom and gave the students their instructions.  Keeping in mind the principles of art, they had to create an interesting design using different sized and shaped Legos.  They would only get one color, so that had to use placement of their stamps to create an interesting factor to look at.  I gave each table a small plate of finger paint and a small variety of Legos and let them go to town!

Now, even though we spent about 15 minutes going over what makes a good composition, it seemed as if the combination of using Legos and finger paint made all the other points mute.  The outcome of this project was NOT what I had expected!  I had some students smearing their designs together after they finished with their fingers, some only used one Lego for the entire print, and many tried to make actual, representational pictures instead of non-representational like I asked for.  Next time I think I may have to tweak my instructions a bit!