Art 7: Elements of Art Project

After finishing up our graffiti unit, the next unit of focus in my Art 7 classes was the elements of art.  I created a note packet with snipets of worksheets and information that I "borrowed" from Pinterest.  Each page in the note packet concentrated on a single element and had some sort of drawing exercise, as well as vocabulary and definitions.

These pages took us about two class periods to complete.  Then, we were on to the first project.  The requirements were that students had to write the word(s) Elements (of Art) in the middle of their page using an interesting lettering style (pulling in from the graffiti unit).  Next, they had to split the page into seven sections, drawing lines through their letters.  This was tough for some students!  Lastly, they had to illustrate each section to represent one of the elements.  They were not allowed to write which element they illustrated...if I couldn't tell by looking at their drawing, then they had to go back and review that element.

In general, I thought this project turned out OK.  This group of 7th graders is struggling across the board in all area of academics, and it's starting to show in their art as well.  They were not very creative when it came to their designs.  Almost everyone did a brick wall for texture...not very thought out!  There was a lot of copying going on, and very few followed the directions or paid attention to the rubric very well.  In some cases, I asked for 5+ examples of an element in their picture, and they only gave 1 or 2.  I actually think that I might replace the infographic project for my Studio Art students next year with this project.

The final project in the elements of art unit is a hard-edge tempera painting.  Students are in the process of finishing these up after our winter break (and delays for -degree temperatures!).

Art Elective: Completed Zentangle Alphabets

For the most part (I'd say 6 out of the 7), the students are happy with this project, and so am I!  Their zentangled letters turned out awesome!  We are going to be doing one more zentangle project...next class they need to bring in 2-3 possible items to zentangle...I am going to bring in some bowling pins!  I heard a few mention a lamp shade and shoes (I would LOVE to own a pair of zentangled shoes...too bad I'm not willing to give up any of my shoes!), which would be pretty cool.  I can't wait to see what they have for ideas!  (On a side note, I think it'd be pretty cool to do a lampshade on a bowling pin...one of the shop teachers down the hall and I had a conversation a few days ago about how he once drilled holes down the center of a bowling pin to make a lamp out of it...I think I know what I'm making for this project!!!)

You can check out the rubric for this project on my previous zentangle post here.

Art Elective: Zentangle Unit

So I decided to start out my first unit with my art elective as Zentangles.  Originally I had planned to incorporate the zentangles with the graffiti unit for 7th graders, but as I dove into planning that unit, I realized I already had a lot of content to cover with the graffiti techniques and styles.  I gave the art elective students (10th and 11th graders) a survey to fill out on the first day, and unfortunately the students really did not give me much to go off of.  I received a lot of requests for photography (which is not my strong suit, especially film photography), so I'm going to stay away from that request just a little bit until I get my three computers in my classroom to do digital photography.

I think the zentangles are a great way to start out because (1) it's nearly impossible to mess them up and they can be confidence boosters and (2) it's a good way for me to assess what these students already know about the elements and principles.  At first, they seemed a little hesitant and not enthused by the idea of zentangles...but after their sketchbook assignment over the weekend, I think the ladies in the class really got into them!  Right now we are three days into the zentangle unit and here is what we have done so far.

The first thing I did was make a packet with some vocabulary and all of the information students would need about zentangles.  Unfortunately, I did not write down my sources (eek, bad teacher!) but if you're interested in seeing the packet, feel free to let me know and I can send it to you and the original documents I saved (some of the documents have links to websites and such).  I picked and pulled my packet pieces from three different sources.  (Vocabulary included the elements and principles, shading vocabulary and the zentangle vocab, including the four steps to zentangle: (1) Draw a border, (2) Draw the string, (3) Fill with patterns, (4) Add value).

For the first "mini project", we created a zentangle tile.

The first one here is mine, and the group picture are the tiles made by the seven students in the class.

Following the zentangle tiles, I assigned the students the following sketchbook assignment last Friday:  Draw a contour drawing of an unusual object and fill it with zentangles.  This one is mine (it's my goal to always try and do any sketch assignment I assign any class...it's been so long since I've done drawing just for myself, I figure this is a good way to get back into it!):

And even though I only asked them to do one drawing, a few of the girls got into and did multiple drawings.  This student didn't quite understand the contour part of the assignment, but she experimented a lot with color.

The top two are done by two different students...I love the lamp one!  I'd say she was one of the more creative ones when it came to picking an unusual object to draw.  The bottom two were done by the same student.

These four were done by the same student.  She REALLY got into the zentangles...and did a really nice job!  Everyone thought her apple was the best one during critique.

So, our first zentangle project is to design an alphabet.   This is the handout students received for the project.  They must choose 9 consecutive alphabet letters.  Some decided to free-hand their letters and other printed off their favorite font to use.  I allowed them to use the light box to trace the letters onto the heavy vellum paper we are using.

These are my starting letters...(Ravie is my favorite font!)

And to my surprise, one of the students took her letters home and FINISHED them all!!!  Love it!

 We are going to mat these professional.  Since one student was finished, I was going to help her mat them, but when I pulled out the mat cutter that was in the high school room, I discovered it was horribly sliced up and beat up!  Luckily for me, I bought a brand new mat board cutter last year for the elementary room using the extended day grant money, so I sent to girls down to the other room and the finished student helped me put it together.  Next class I anticipate that we will be ready to mat a bunch of these...the ladies seemed eager to get them done at home!

For the final project in the zentangle unit, I want students to bring in a random object.  We'll prime it with gesso and zentangle it.  Well, I was thinking of having them bring in an object or I might bring in bowling pins for each one to zentangle, as I have 10 boxes of 10 pins in my garage at home!  Having them bring in an object would be pretty cool to do...but I think the bowling pins would look awesome zentangled too!

What's your thoughts?

You know the school year is growing close when...

...you have dreams about lesson planning!  Yup, that's right.  I had a dream about my graffiti unit that I want to do with my 7th graders and it was virtually planned in my sleep!  Anyone else have weird dreams like that about school?

Well, that dream kicked my butt into gear for planning and I decided to browse the books on Blick and use my winnings from The SmARTteacher July challenge to purchase some informational books on graffiti.  I did a post previously about my plans, or lack there of, for this graffiti unit. (Thanks to Shaun for responding to that post...I'll definitely be using that YouTube video!)  I purchased these two Griff graffiti books...one of which has some history and techniques in it, and the other is a workbook.  My 7th graders specifically asked to do graffiti projects so I'm thinking the workbook will be a good source for some homework assignments and bell ringers/warm-up exercises.

I also purchased this zentangle book.  I plan to incorporate the zentangles into this unit by talking about expression in fonts, to hopefully draw the female population in a little more to the idea of graffiti.  Again, it appears that the set-up of this book may lead to some good homework assignments and bell ringers/warm-ups to use in class during the unit and throughout the year.  These books should also, hopefully, be able to give me some reading material to photo copy off to incorporate those Common Core standards as well.

I'm still in my early brainstorming stages of this, but I think this will be basic set-up of the graffiti unit:

1. History of Graffiti

2. Discussion of fonts

3. Bubble letters

4.  3-D letters

5. Zentangled letters

6. Unit project: Design a graffiti inspired cover for your sketchbook.