Pedro's Adventures: A Stop Motion Video

This is the last post until we come back to school in August!  Have a great summer! 

Street Art Stencils

Woohoo, this is the last week of school!  My partner in crime took one of her classes outside to have a little fun making these awesome little pieces.  They used large pieces of paper to make the stencils and a little flour so it won't stick around forever. 

 

 

Stop Motion in Advanced Photo

As the term and the school year wind down, I like to pull out some really engaging projects to keep every going, including myself.  Right now, the Photo 2 students are working on Stop Motion projects in teams.  They were given the option of choosing teams up to four people.  We spent one class watching all kinds of stop motion videos.  I wanted the students to choose from a range of materials to complete the project---and they did.  We've got teams using foil, construction paper, a couple teams are using Legos, modeling clay, and one team is even doing a mix between using the human body and construction paper.  I am excited to see the results! The inspiration for this project came from seeing the Tiny Circus in action at the Iowa Art Educators Fall Art Conference this past year.  If you have never seen their work, you have got to check it out!

Photo 2: Diptychs

Here are some Diptychs from the Photo 2 class to take us into Spring Break.  

Emily B.

Sade B.

Maria C.

Morgan F.

Collaborative Monster Project: Packaging

Packaging by Dominque W. 

Digital Drawing

 

Packaging by Kellie W.

Digital Drawing

 

Photo 1: One Object|30 Images

One Object|30 Images by Anthony V.

Photo 1

More Collaboration Examples

Drawing by Maura W.    

  

Animation by Keenan C.

                                                                         

 

 

Drawing by Hannah Z.

 

Animation by Hannah Z.

   

Ceramic Sculpture by Stephanie

 

Drawing by Caden G.

 

Animation by Jamie P.

 

Ceramic Sculpture by James C.

 

Drawing by Hannah Z.

Animation by Zak H.

Ceramic Sculpture by Fabrice

 

 

 

 

 



Collaborative Art Project

Over the last few weeks, four (really five if you count sections) of the Art Department classes have been working on a collaborative project.  The participants are students from Drawing 1, Ceramics 2, Design in Art and Digital Drawing (Graphic Design).  The Drawing 1 students used Photoshop and Wacom Drawing tablets with MacBook Airs to create the original monster.  The drawings were then sent off to Ceramics 2 for construction.  While the Ceramics students were creating a 3D version of the monster, the Design in Art class was using Photoshop and Wacom Drawing tablets to animate the little creatures.  After production, the Digital Drawing (Graphic Design) class developed packaging to house the creatures as if they were going to be sold in stores.  Below are some of the outstanding results!

Drawing by Jhulendra A.

 

Ceramic sculpture by Lila O.

 

 

Animation by Alexandria L.

 

Drawing by Lacretia P.  

 

Ceramic sculpture by Lauren

 

Animation by Sienna D. 

 

I will keep posting more as they are finished! 

 



Friday Afternoon Fun

This is what I did during my Friday afternoon!  Just a little water-filled balloon-popping for some high speed photography.  Hope your afternoon was just as exciting!

New Equipment and Some Pop Art

January has made for a crazy weather month and lots of delays and cancellations.  When I walked in my classroom the first day back from the holiday break, a kind man was dropping off the new laptops for our art classes.  I was thinking it would still be a couple of weeks before the computers were here, so this was an awesome way to return to work from a long break.  I got busy that day setting up the computers and had them in the hands of students the following week.  The students have loved the new equipment, especially the Wacom drawing tablets.  It really is the perfect set-up for all of the digital classes.  Our students are so lucky to experience equipment and software that professional artists use daily.  The students in Design in Art have been learning about the Principles and Elements of Art.  They are currently working on applying the principles to a Pop Art influenced project.  Students have been working hard for a few weeks now and I couldn't be happier with the outcomes.  The drawing tablets are allowing the students to approach the artwork in a whole new manner.  It is easy to see the individual drawing characteristics of every student.  Additionally, the students are so engaged in this project...it's so quiet in here! 

Painted Graham Crackers

The week before any break is usually a little chaotic, this week was no different.  AP Art History finished lecture a little earlier than planned and instead of moving on to a new unit before a week and a half off, I decided the students deserved a little change in pace.  So, as a treat and something fun for the last two days before break, I brought in graham crackers and frosting.  The students chose a famous painting and recreated it on the cracker.  As you can see the 'paintings' turned out pretty good!  I was happy that we got this in before the ice day on Friday.  Happy Holidays to all!

Washington's Newest Club: Photo Club

Photo club started last Tuesday with a short initial meeting and a photo scavenger hunt around the halls of Wash.  Each week members will be given a theme to photograph.  Photos will be shared via Instagram and members are encouraged to comment on the photos.  We will also be viewing the photos during the meetings on Tuesday's. 

Everyone is welcome to join and post images to Instagram using #crwashphotoclub.  I will post the theme for the week here and on the whiteboard in my classroom (room 241).

This week's theme: Black and White.  Now, go take some pictures!

2nd Annual NewBo High School Art Show

Today is the day! We are fortunate this year to be holding the show in first floor of the Cherry building.  All four of the CRCSD high schools are participating.  The space is wonderful and filled with lots of people enjoying all the student artwork.  All of the artist studios are also open for Christmas gift purchases!  There are a lot of activities happening today in the NewBo district for all ages.  

Text as an Element

Students in Design in Art were asked to manipulate text to create a unique design in which the original letters become unrecognizable.  They used Illustrator and expanded the text objects in order to manipulate the text.  I think the results speak for themselves! 

Drawing with Charcoal

Today, I introduced the Drawing 1 students to the messy, but forgiving, medium of charcoal.  I have this gigantic, white ball (on the right side of the image) that we use for shading.  This is the third time the students have had to draw this ball.  They first drew it when we started shading in graphite and then again when they learned about shading with ink.  They love the ball.  Kidding.  Mostly I get 'the ball...again?'.  Yep.  Again.  I started the way I always start.  Students get their own tin (once upon a time in Photography, I use to get 100ft rolls of film and roll film for students...it was awful, but the tins are great for drawing material storage), I hand out vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, a pink eraser, a kneaded eraser, a blending stump, and tissue for blending.  We discuss the materials and how they are used.  I start by showing them how to tone the paper, sketch with the vine charcoal, and then eventually use the compressed charcoal to add value.  I did something a little different today.  When the students thought they were finished, I had them hang their drawings on the wall and step back.  By stepping back, students are able to easily see areas that need more attention.  I talked with each student individually about what they still need to work on.  Students even gave each other feedback about areas to work on.  Most students knew exactly what they needed to work on as soon as they saw the drawing hanging on the wall.  Students then took the drawings and continued to work on them a little more, trying to perfect the drawing as much as they could.  It was a little chaotic, but it was awesome formative assessment.  This is a one day project and tomorrow students will start a white object still life in charcoal. 



Drawing 2: The Comic Project Continues

Students are hard at work perfecting their drawings.  They use Photoshop to edit the hand-drawn comics.  Students can add color, create text, outline the panels, and clean-up all the extra marks.  The University of Iowa has a great collection of Graphic Novels and comics.  I came up with the idea for this project after attending a summer workshop at the university with Rachel Williams.  She is incredibly knowledgable and teaches various workshops and classes on the subject.  If you are in the area, I would strongly suggest taking a workshop with her!  The university also does K-12 classroom visits and one of the topics they present on is Graphic Novel and Comic Art.  It makes a great starting point for a lesson on comics.  

Announcing: The Collaborative Design Studio

This morning, when I opened my email, I was greeted with some amazing news!  The Collaborative Design Studio is being funded and headed to Room 241 at Washington High School.  My classroom is going to be equipped with a classroom set of Mac Book Airs and Wacom drawing tablets.  This means even in my most traditional courses, like Drawing, students will be able to experience the technology that is used by professionals.  A collaborative element will be added to all of my courses to encourage creative teamwork.  The end goal is to increase student learning and program numbers by engaging students through the use of these technologies. I can't tell you how excited I am about the future of our art program! 

The Dr. Seuss Drawings are Done!

Here are a few examples from the Fall 2013 Drawing 1 class:

Top Left: Catherine B. Top Right: Melinda K.

Bottom Left: Monica J.  Bottom Right: Alexis C.

Dr. Seuss Drawings

This project is always a student favorite.  At this point in Drawing 1, students have been introduced to shading with graphite.  Yesterday, we moved onto ink and did some general practice shading with markers using hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling techniques.  In this project we focus on using hatching to make shapes appear three-dimensional.  Students start by drawing the tubes and then some guidelines that will help them stay on track as they add ink.

 

In the top right image, you can see the guidelines I have students add before they start adding any hatching with ink.

Drawing Sculpted Words

At some point in my countless hours of web surfing, I came across this great project idea over at A Faithful Attempt for my Drawing 1 class.  Previously, when I started teaching students about shading in graphite or charcoal I would have them take a strip of paper, twist it, and tape it down to a square base.  Usually, students are able to easily see the variety of shadows that exist on the object.  Then they are required to include the various values on the mini sculpture in a drawing.  I have had the students complete this introductory project in charcoal, graphite, and ink.  But, really, an introductory exercise is all it is.  This time around, I thought I would try the ribbon word idea and it seems the students were more involved in the drawing.  I allowed them to choose the word and the size.  In the end, this little adjustment put a little of the student's personality into a basic exercise.  The only thing I would do different next time is require a minimum width, at least an inch, for the strips of paper.  For some reason, my students right now want to work super small and I found that the thicker the paper, the easier it was to make it look realistic.  Here are some of the finished works:

 

Left: Haven B.  Top Right: Miranda H.

Bottom Image, Left Side: Tian Yin J. Bottom Image, Right Side: Melinda K.