Gnome Sweet Gnome

In this project, fifth graders first thought about what materials a gnome might use to build his or her house in the woods- moss, sticks, acorns, mushrooms, leaves, bark, etc. After sketching out a design, students learned how to roll clay using a rolling pin and wooden slats to create a slab of consistent thickness. Most students then stood the slabs up to create cylinders that became the walls of their gnome house (a few other methods were used depending on the design). Additional slab roofs and other details were carefully added and beautifully glazed later. The results were whimsical and fun!

#Selfie

In this project, students used the "grid method" on a photograph in order to correctly draw their facial features and head/hair shapes. Then they erased the grid lines and shaded their drawings using a variety of drawing pencils. By employing a wide range of values, students were able to achieve the look of three dimensions on a 2D surface.

I have been teaching 7th graders how to create fully rendered self-portraits from a photograph for the past eight years (some examples include split portraits for which students drew half the face and the other half was a photo, these portraits with backgrounds inspired by Kehinde Wiley, and these "Shades of Summer" portraits which included a reflection in sunglasses). In the past, I have taken their pictures myself, but this year, I thought it would be fun to have the students take their own photos ("selfies") and I am so excited with the results! Equipped with an ipad, each student chose their pose, the crop of their photo and the amount of light/dark present on their face (there was a spotlight in the room where they took their photo). The completed portraits were mounted to an iPhone screen template, to make them appear even more like a real selfie!

Tree and Foliage Printmaking

In this printmaking project, fifth grade artists first learned to draw a realistic tree. These drawings were later re-imagined with a stylized aesthetic. The stylized design was transferred to a rubber-like material and students used special carving tools, called gouges, to carve away the negative spaces around their tree. When the carving was complete, students used various colored inks and papers to print their trees. In the final phase of the project, leaves were gathered from outside and students used markers to create colorful foliage prints on top of their relief-printed trunk and branches. I love the results- the delicate marker prints were transparent enough not to cover the trunk completely, which happened the other time I did this project and the students used carved leaves and printing ink...