Sculpture Elective: Stop-Animation / Claymation

My sculpture class has been up to some extremely in-depth projects lately.  We recently completed some stop-animation projects that took FOREVER to complete...but they were totally worth it! Students designed their productions from start to finish, planning the characters, backdrop, props, camera angles, and story-line.  They worked in groups as small as 2 and as large as 5, with one person acting as the "director".

The students sculpted their figures using aluminum wire as a skeleton.  They wrapped tin foil around the skeletons to create more bulk on the body, and then used Crayola modeling clay to cover the body.  Modeling clay doesn't dry out, so it's perfect for this project!

Next, they had to design their backdrop and props.  I allowed the students to use anything from the classroom, including cardboard, foam, modeling clay, glitter, paint, oil pastels, tissue paper, etc.  I had an iPad, Kindle Fire HDX, and my Canon Rebel camera on hand for students to take photographs with.  We uploaded them into Windows Movie Maker, added an appropriate title page and credits page, and then shortened all of the photos to be approximately .3 seconds in length.

I love how these students incorporated the words with their project.  

These students made two different sets for their project...outside of the cave, and then inside the cave!

  

Studio Art: White Charcoal Sketch

On the bulletin board in front of my computer, I have some art works hanging that I did when I was in high school.  I've been noticing that my supply of mat board scraps has been on the rise since we've been mating more artwork this year, and I hate to waste them. They're usually too small to use to frame an artwork but I hate throwing them out.  So, I decided to give students a bit of a challenging assignment for a sketchbook assignment...reverse value drawings, or highlight drawings, as some call them!  

I have two drawings on display that I did in high school and the students have always complimented them, so I decided to give them the assignment for homework.  I gave each student a piece of scrap black mat board and a charcoal pencil.  I told them that they could use a black and white photograph to help them do the drawing, but the photo could not be a logo.  Since this concept is sometimes hard for people to grasp, I eased up on my normal "no copying" rule.

These two students created these images without copying!  I was so excited to get these two!  The first one that says "Camden", was done all on her own, and the second artist drew his own guitar.  Such a great perception of depth with his!

This student didn't exactly follow the "no logo" rule...but she did have amazing gradation.

I'm actually thinking that next year, I may incorporate this project as one of the drawing unit projects instead of a sketchbook assignment.  Most of the students really enjoyed the challenge of having to think backwards!

Studio Art: Cubist Superheroes

Well, I can officially say that this 5-year teacher has made a rookie mistake...she has spread herself too thin this year.  Between the business of being a K-12 teacher in one building, being on a scheduling committee, the negotiations team for our new contract, being on a report card committee to revamp report card comments, working the extended day program after school, AND starting a new business venture this year, I have reached a point where I have taken on too much.  Unfortunately, my blog has suffered because of it. :(

These are some of the cubist superheroes that my Studio Art classes completed this year.  We finished these in the middle of February, and since done a printmaking project, soon to come.  You can check out the objectives of this project, which are the same as last year, on this previous post.  Again, we used the coarse pumice and modeling mediums to create actual texture on our canvas. 

Similar to last year, the students that were extremely successful at this project were the students who had a hard time with the realist projects, and the students who favor the realism projects, struggled with this project.  Next year, I'm going to change up the subject matter for this project...I just haven't figured out what it will be yet.