8th Grade Art

The last nine weeks was my first time ever teaching 8th graders.  It was an extremely dynamic class with artists of all levels, a daily challenge to say the least.  Here are just a few of their project results.

Chuck Close Inspired Art

This assignment was a little more involved than what my students have been used to this year.  

For this one they drew a picture of something/someone with pencil and the shaded it to look realistic.  Then lightly colored each square with colored pencils to look like a Chuck Close artwork.  

 For this one pencils where not used for shading.  This student just colored the entire project with colored pencils.

Flexibility is a huge word in my classroom.  It started out to be a Chuck Close gridded project, but ended up to look like this.  This student drew a picture of her and her twin sister.  When she brought it back to school with wrinkles throughout the tagboard from rolling it up too tight.  We decided to make the wrinkles look like they were meant to be there.  So we burnt the edges of the paper, and a few spots in the middle.  Then she painted it with tea to make it look antiqued.  I was very happy with how it turned out!  

Ringgold Inspired Quilt Designs

I saw something on Pinterest that inspired this project.  We used tag board and made three inch squares across the paper.  Then with a compass we made different sized circles in each square.  They couldn't just color the entire thing with solid colors, they had to have at least one design in each square.  

I just LOVE how this one turned out.  A week before it was due he asked if he could make it fold out like a real quilt.  Of course was my response.  A couple of days went by and he asked if he could draw a hand like it was pulling the blanket back.  Again "Of course." was my response.  When he brought it back on Monday morning, this is what he turned in.  I love it when students take my project ideas to the next level!  Each little square he did has a theme or story, I was so proud of him for going above and beyond!  

More high school artwork

The last nine week just flew by, students worked on so many different projects.  Here are just a few below.  You can check out more on our Artsonia site: 

http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=27217

 Zentangle Animals

 Giant Japanese Drawing

Symmetrical Bugs

Dotted Flowers

My 3rd graders made these dotted flower paintings.  I told them if they did their best I'd frame them for the art show.  The room was so quiet as they focused on making their projects look amazing!  

Monet Waterlilies

We are super busy getting our "framed" art show projects ready.  The first grade made these Monet inspired paintings.  They look so professional when they are in a picture frame.  

Tree Themed Projects

 Fourth Grade Fauve Trees

 When March rolls around it feels like the long winter months are never going to end.  We worked on these tropical paintings while listening to ocean waves on my iTunes.  This helped set the mood to bring us to a "staycation" in our classroom.  

Owl Themed Projects

 Kindergarten Shape Owls

 Second Grade Van Gogh Inspired Owls

Eighth Grade Mexican Inspired Owls

Why did the chicken cross the road?

My fifth grade loved this project.  We read and discussed the book "Why did the chicken cross the road?" After this the kids were so excited to get started!  They had generated so many ideas, here's just a few.  Check out more on our Artsonia site: 

http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=624031

 Running away from Kentucky Fried Chicken.

 Going to opening day at Wrigley Field.

 Running away from it's shadow.

Ready for battle.

Winter Projects

 Second grade Oil Pastel Snowmen

 Third Grade Oil Pastel Snowmen

 Kindergarten Snow Friends

 Fifth Grade Glitter Snowflakes

 First Grade Picasso Inspired Snowmen

First Grade Polar Bears

 Fourth Grade Eating Snowflakes

 Kindergarten Snow Globes

First Grade Polar Bears

Oooohs and Aaaahs!

Here are photos of the mural finally going up on the elementary cafeteria wall.  I never did pre-measure, I just eye balled it and thought it would fit.  Thankfully it was within about seven inches from the ceiling and fit perfectly with the width of the windows!

This is the view when you walk into the cafeteria.  When the students saw it for the first time you could hear the "Oooohs and Aaaahs" from down the hall.  They were very proud of their hard work!