These are turning out FANTASTIC! Sixth grade social studies curriculum focuses on ancient Egypt, we couldn't resist collaborating in art class! Students began this project by studying hyroglyphics and creating their own cartouche, or name plate. They were taught how to transfer and carve the image onto a stryrofoam plate, so that it could be printed. After learning the basic technique of printing and having a day of practice, they were onto two-color prints. Their cartouche was printed multiple times, to serve as the background for their self portrait as an Eyptian. Students then began to focus on drawing themselves wearing ancient Egyptian crowns and collars. They were given numerous resources from which to make sketches. We used photographs of the students to create accurate tracings of their profiles. Using this method allowed students to be less self conscious about drawing themselves correctly, and allowed them to focus on drawing the Egyptian costumes. Once pencil drawings were complete, they were outlined with Sharpie and painted with tempra cakes. Students cut out the final portraits and layered them onto their printed cartouche background. Stunning! Eighth grade has been working on creating backdrops for an interactive photo project. Groups came up with a concept for a scene in which a member of the group would appear to interact with a drawn background. The drawing and interaction was documented photographically. Working off the theme of Early America explored in 7th grade social studies, students studied portrait miniatures. Small painted portraits of loved ones to hold close, back before photography came along. They looked at several examples of miniatures from the time period, finding inspiration to draw miniatures of people they hold dear. Students brought in photographs of family members or inspirational figures. After a brief reminder of how to draw facial features and proportion, they got to work. Most students decided to turn their drawings into Shirnky Dinks that they will kept with them in the form of a necklace or keychain. Take a look at the steps of their work below. Middle school students had fun experimenting with paper by making pop-up cards. They were taught the basic pop-up making technique and shown how to use a variety of paper cutting tools, then set loose! They came up with some really cool cards, take a look below. Middle school has recently focused on value through a series of painting and shading exercises. They are putting their new skills to work by creating space scenes that show value and form. Using the sun as their light source, they are using oil pastels to create planets that give the illusion of having the three dimensional form of a sphere. This also gives the illusion of the daylight and nighttime sides of the planet. The background was created with a splatter paint technique using toothbrushes! Students were able to splatter to create the effect of far off galaxies and meteors. The final step is cutting out the planets and sun and arranging them on the background. They had to remember to position the shaded planets according to the light source, the sun. Middle school students were taught how to make delicate snow flakes of cut paper. Folding the paper correctly was the most challenging part of the project for many students, so we used paper that was photocopied to include folding guides. Much easier! We concentrated on trying to create intricate patterns that had balanced positive and negative space. The positive space is the white paper, the negative space is the holes created by cutting the paper. Students came up with some amazing designs and discovered that snowflakes with more negative space were the most impressive. After ironing the snowflakes flat, they glued their snowflakes to background paper that really made their designs pop! Students in all grades are revisiting color mixing. They are reviewing the color wheel and the three main color groups: primary, secondary, and intermediate colors. After mastering the color wheel, we will focus on value by mixing hues with black and white to create tints and shades. Eighth grade students were challenged to draw as many logos as possible from memory. We then discussed what made some logos more memorable than others. Students concluded that designs made of simple shapes and minimal colors were overall the most effective. And seeing logos repeatedly sure helps us remember then also! This drawing exercise and discussion laid the foundation for students' personal logo design project. |
Middle School Art Blog!The place to see what Hayt Middle School students are making in art! Archives
May 2015
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