We're Going on a Hidden Safari!

What animals come to your mind when you think of a safari?  Maybe a lion? A zebra? A monkey? A tiger? A giraffe?  What variety of animals we would see if we were to go on an African safari!  Well, we did go on a safari in art class, come along with me as I share what we discovered on our hidden safari adventure! :)  In this lesson project we learned about warm and cool colors that make up our color wheel.  Warm colors would include: reds, oranges, and yellows; we associate warm colors to something warm like a fire.  Cool colors would include: greens, blues, and purples; we associate something cool like water.  So to begin our work with warm and cool colors in our safari project, we first needed to make our "special glasses" to view our hidden animals!  To do this, we made a cut-out of a pair of glasses made out of construction paper.  To make them "special" we attached red cellophane (notice, it is red!..a warm color!) to act as our colored lenses.  The next part of the project was to choose an animal to draw on an 8 1/2 x 11 white piece of paper.  I chose a giraffe, because it is one of my favorite animals! :)  To make it a more interesting time of drawing and a great time to work our brains and concentration, we drew our animal using the upside down contour drawing technique. It made us look at the details in the animal as we drew it, and was a drawing concept that was not common to us, but one that you just do the best you can in! :)  Another aspect we included was that we drew our animal lightly with a sky blue colored pencil (notice, it is blue!..a cool color!) Once I drew my giraffe and a tall tree next to him to balance the drawing, I turned it right side up and my drawing was on it's way to being complete!  To incorporate the "hidden" aspect of the project, I then covered my giraffe with different patterns and designs using warm colored pencils: red, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, pink, and red-violet.  I made sure that the warm colors covered up my cool colored giraffe so it was hard to see it when looking at it.  Something is going to happen that has to do with these specific colors I used that is really neat once I'm all done with this safari animal!  To complete it, I framed it, and posted three clues/facts about giraffes on an index card for viewers to guess my hidden safari animal!  Now, for the exciting part...using the "special glasses!"  Once you put on the red glasses, the red acts as a filter to the warm colors of the designs and patterns on the paper, and brings out the cool color...my blue giraffe!  How cool is that?! :)  (I posted a zoomed-in picture for you to see how the drawing looks viewed through the red special glasses!)

For an extension activity, I would have the students get in groups, and we will pretend we are going on a safari in Africa as a class!  I will have each group use a piece of poster board to show with words or pictures the aspects of our field trip safari.  I will have them discuss as a group what animals we would come about during the journey, what safety precautions we would need to keep in mind, food we would bring, how we would travel, and other ideas they may want to share.  Once each group is finished brainstorming and have created their poster, I will have them share it with the class.  I think this would be a fun way for the students to use their bright minds and prior knowledge to come up with some great ideas to think about and discuss, what a class adventure in an African safari would be like! :)

Do you see the giraffe's head through the special red safari glasses?! :)

Eric Karle Inspired Collage

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?...

The above title just makes me smile as I reminisce reading it to my little brother when he was little, and before I knew it, he was reading that great book back to me!  Eric Karle is the excellent author of this book, as well as another one of my favorites, The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  His artistic talent shines through his illustrations of his books, as the color wheel is arranged on the pages that are eye-catching and exciting!  This project we were able to experience Eric Karle’s style of painting to create our own story page.  First, we drew a rough sketch of what we had in mind for what our storyline was going to be for our story page.  We painted different colors of paper, in which the art room was all around spreading colors of the rainbow!  Different techniques were used to distribute the paint on the paper, as well as using different tools to show texture (a comb, the end of the handle of a paintbrush, or texture stencils).  We set the 12X18 sheets of paper we painted on the drying racks to dry.  Once the drying was complete, the next step was to start cutting out the objects, animals, or anything else that may be in your scene.  Sharing was huge and key for this project!  As a class we were able to show kindness and teamwork as we shared our different colored painted pieces with one another.  If one needed some green in their project, someone else that painted a green paper was more than welcome to share it!  We then had the opportunity once our pieces were cut out, to organize them on a piece of 12X18 construction paper that was used as the background.  Gluing was the next step!  I also added details with my permanent marker and crayons for the turtle’s shell and  eyes. 

When I was completed with securing everything down, I was able to make my story page come alive by adding the dialogue between the turtle and ladybug!  My storyline is about friendship, and the importance of encouraging one another in the good times and the bad times.  The patient Turtle comes alongside different animals in my imagination of a story, and shares encouraging words, and shows what a true friend is.  So for this page that I made, the patient Turtle is giving encouragement to the kind Ladybug with the following dialogue…

“That’s what friends are for,” shared the patient Turtle.

“You’re absolutely right,” the kind Ladybug replied.

“Being with true friends not only puts a smile on my face, but on my heart as well,” the patient Turtle declared.    

Completing this Eric Karle project made me realize how truly fun it is to use your imagination.  When Eric Karle goes about creating his storylines, he thinks about creativity, and enjoys doing what he does in the process!   This project is one I am definitely going to consider doing with my own class someday! J

As an extension activity for this project, we could make our story collages into one “outrageous book!”  We would put every student’s story page they made into a book, which would definitely make it outrageous, because of the variety and creativity that went into each of them.  After the book is made, the class could act out the stories to incorporate collaboration and fun to see what each of their classroom’s peers made for their story!

Van Gogh's Style Continued

Van Gogh's Style in an Inspired Tissue Paper CollageThis project also incorporated Van Gogh's style of movement by using a tissue paper design.  To start the project, I cut out different colors of curved lines and spirals to create movement for the artwork.  I arranged the cut-out pieces on my black construction paper to show a flow that Van Gogh had in his paintings.  I chose many colors from the color wheel, because I love incorporating lots of colors to bring out the mood in an artwork.  The more colors, the more excitement I believe the piece shows to the one viewing it!  The large yellow shapes and lines in the top right corner displays the Sun rising that day in the scene.  The white tissue paper pieces I chose to use gave me my clouds in my picture.  Once I had all my pieces arranged accordingly, I used an acrylic paste, which is like modge-podge, to stick them to the paper.  This gives the artwork a shiny look to it.  While the paste was drying, I cut-out a skyline of buildings to be added to the collage.  I had a few buildings that were homes, a few businesses, and a church.  The skyline cut-out was glued to the tissue paper arrangement, and showed movement as the buildings were different heights.  Colored oil pastels and a silver Sharpie were used to add lines to emphasize more movement in this piece.  Wrapping it up, this scene shows a new day beginning as the Sun is rising and the sky is painted with colors.  The skyline of buildings tie the whole morning city scene together using the great technique...movement!

The extension activity for this project in the classroom, would be for the students to create a Van Gogh tissue paper collage of their vision of what they prefer city or country life.  They would make a tissue paper design like we did, and have their creativity come into action.  They can make a city or country scene when it comes to adding the layered building/landscape to the paper.  Have the students think about where they would prefer to live, would it be in the city or country?  They would write a paragraph to share why they prefer one or the other.  We would share these by hanging them on the classroom walls after the students share about them!  This is a great opportunity to see the students' different preferences, and let them show the city/country scene using tissue paper for a medium to display movement!

"A Beautiful Start to a Brand New Day"

Van Gogh's Style

Van Gogh's Style in Fingerpainting These two projects were based on a particular artist's way of life and style, this artist was a man by the name of Vincent Van Gogh.  We learned that he was the oldest son of a Protestant Minister, he didn't start painting until the age of 28 in which he taught himself, and he sold just one painting during his lifetime!  As we became familiar with Van Gogh's background, we got to see his style of art.  He used a lot of movement in his paintings, which is why we emphasized movement in our Van Gogh projects.

The first project was the fingerpainting project.  We were to use our fingers to imitate movement within a landscape design like Van Gogh did.  It was neat to be able to be creative with my fingers to create a landscape of my own.  This fingerpainting we did brought back great childhood memories of painting with my hands! :)  Using the paint strokes from my fingers, I made a sunset scene for my background, because of my great interest in watching sunrises and sunsets!  I started with making the yellow sun, and moved outward on my paper.  I used various shades and tints of red to make the evening sky.  I used curvy movements and lines to show movement like Van Gogh did.  For my middle ground I included a little town with homes, a church, and a few shops which are introduced by a black road running across the scene.  For my foreground, I have a grassy hill and tree which is overlooking the town and the beautiful sunset wrapping up the day.  This painting gave me insight of what type of style Van Gogh had when he made his masterpieces that we are able to enjoy today!

For an extension activity in the classroom, it would be neat to have the students paint three landscape designs using their own creativity.  It would be of the morning, during the day, and at night, and incorporate Van Gogh's style of curves and movement in them.  I think it is great to see how each student views the different times of our day, and the type of landscape that is perceived using their creative minds.  Then we would have a showcase, where we would have the students display their three fingerpainted artworks showing Van Gogh's painting style in our classroom.  This project gives the children an opportunity to be creative and work freely with their hands using paint to create their Van Gogh outdoor scenes!

"See the Beauty in Each Day"

Elements and Principles of Art Scavenger Hunt

I love going on scavenger hunts!  The second project I just completed incorporated a scavenger hunt to find examples of elements and principles of art around us using a digital camera.  In class, we learned the concepts of elements and principles, and this project gave us the opportunity to apply them.  I went out and about looking for objects at home, in my room, and outdoors that displayed an element and principle of art.  Then I composed a Powerpoint presentation creating a slide for each of the elements and principles of art and the digital photos that went with each concept.  The Powerpoint was a great way to show each element or principle of art on a slide, including the definition and the picture(s) I took relating to that certain concept.

To use an extension activity in the classroom with this project, would be to gather each student's assortment of digital photos of elements and principles, and make a big poster for each concept to hang up on the walls in the room.  For example, every students's picture of "line" would be on one poster and displayed, and the rest would be done the same.  This way, the students have a visual reminder of what the elements and principles of art are, and they are able to make a real and special connection to the actual photos used, because after all, they were the ones who were the photographers! :)

Here are 5 photos I took that I would like to share!

Element of Art- Shapes, plastic cube I organize my books in

   Principle of Art- Rhythm/Movement, my brother Blake (#10) in action!

Element of Art- Color, sunset I took

Principle of Art- Unity/Variety, my ponytail holders and headbands

Principle of Art- Balance, bushes near McWelsh Hall and Gerber Building in the distance

The Footprint of Me

My Footprint :)...this is the first project we did, and I really enjoyed creating this to share about what is important in my life, my interests, and my hobbies.  What we did was trace our own foot on construction paper, and pasted different mediums or materials (for example: popsicle sticks, stickers, photos, ribbon, etc.) on it, that describes ourselves. 
I would love to share what each symbol or object is on my footprint, and why I chose to include it through the following description.
I will start from my heel to my toes (going left to right)...
Picture of my family- this photo that I included was taken at my brother's wedding this past Fall.  My family includes, my Dad, Mom, my younger brother Blake, my older brother Jesse, my sister-in-law Lisa, and me.  I love my family so dearly, and am blessed beyond words how much they mean to me!
Minnesota Twins- I put the Minnesota Twins emblem on it, because they are my favorite MLB sports team, in which my family and I enjoy watching and cheering on!
Cross- The cross shows that I know and believe with all my heart that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and my relationship with Him is #1 in my life and everything to me!
Sunset- One of my favorite things to do is to enjoy watching sunrises and sunsets, as well as taking pictures of them.  The sunset I included is actually one I captured one evening last Fall.
Children- I have a passion for working with children, which is why I included the stickers of the children on my footprint.  They put a smile on my face and heart, which is why I have the desire to be a teacher!
Fishing Pole- One of my favorite pastimes ever since I was young, is going fishing, which is why I have a fishing pole and a lure included on it.  Whether it is summer or winter, I enjoy reeling those fish in!
Music Notes- I love listening and singing to music, whether it is in church, while doing homework, or driving in my car, I love to do it!  I don't think there is a day that goes by when I'm not listening to music!
Ballet Slippers- Ballet has always been a big part of my life, ever since the age of 5.  I danced through Johnny Cavelle Dance Studio for 11 years, and have such wonderful and special memories of it!
That is me...all wrapped  up on my footprint! :)

An extension activity that could great with this one, would be incorporated when we're just getting to know one another in the classroom.  I think it would be excellent for the students to do this footprint project to introduce themselves at the beginning of the school year.  One idea I thought of while doing this, is we could use our handprints to describe ourselves displaying our personalities using each of our fingers.  Each finger would describe a personality using adjectives, such as athletic, and then the child would find something (a picture or other type of medium/material) that makes them think of the word athletic and include it on that finger to go with that word.  I think this project would be good to use it when we do "student of the week" or "star of the week," where each student has their own special week where they get to share about themselves!  I believe that children should be proud of who they are and how unique they are, and being able to share their values, beliefs, talents, and hobbies through this particular footprint/handprint project is a great way to do so! :)

Welcome to my Art Gallery!

Hi!  It is another start to a new semester, Spring 2012, and I am so excited to share through this blog the great ideas and projects we learn and create in my K-8 Art Methods class. 
When I think of the word, "art," it puts a smile on my face. :)  I believe art is the expression of who you are in various ways!  Whether it would be through dance, music, drawing, photography, your dress, or whatever God-given talent you were given is a way of sharing art.  Art can be expressed through your beliefs and feelings.  Art displays individuality and creativity.  One may be given a project or task that is the same, but every person will put their own creative touch on it to make it unique!  It is my desire that in my own classroom someday, I give my students the great opportunity to share their ideas through art.  I think when a child is able to bring forth an idea using their creative minds and imagination, they are capable of producing amazing masterpieces of art.  I want to encourage, support, and guide them to appreciate the elements and principles of art!
Have a great day, and please enjoy this blog I share with you! :)
Sara