Clay Flower Bowls

We created a clay flower bowl inspired by either Georgia O'Keeffe or Vincent Van Gogh's paintings of flowers.  First we had to wedge the clay, then we had to roll it on to a slab.  Then we laid the bowl on top of the clay and cut a circle out of it.  Next we put the clay in a bowl to help get the shape that we were looking for.  To make the flower shape you could either carve it out before putting it into the bowl or you could mold the clay while it was already in the bowl.  Then you had to include an additive and subtractive feature to the bowl.  An optional part of the project was to paint the bowl.

Extension Activities:
1. Have students make a clay sculpture of a president and have a presentation that goes along with it.
2. Have students make a clay bowl that represents different cultures or different countries.  

Crafts

We created different crafts all centered around a Spring theme.
The first craft was a Ziploc bag filled with tissue paper and then tied with a paper cleaner which created a butterfly.  The second craft was a spring time scene made by finger painting flowers and adding grass and other things to the picture.

Extension Activity:
Students could create a different Spring time themed picture and then write a poem that went with the picture.

Masks

Create a 3D Mask that incorporated different paper folding techniques.

Extension Activity:
Explore the Native American culture and create to totem poles that have three different animals on them and tell a story around them.

Notan Collage

Notan is a Japanese activity that uses both light and dark colors as a contrast for the minds eye.  First you have to fold at least once or twice one of the pieces of paper and then you cut out different shapes to create an image that will be the positive space of your picture.  Then you place the pieces that you just cut out in the negative space to create balance.

Extension Activity:
Create a Notan Collage as part of a Math Lesson on reflection and show how things will reflect over the line when flipped.

Sandpaper Art

First you use a crayon to color a pattern or image on a piece of sandpaper.  One of the things you have to make sure to do is to press hard as you layer the crayons on to the sandpaper.  This will help the image transfer easily.  Once you have completed your image you have to lay the sandpaper down with a piece of white paper over it and then press a iron over the top of both of the pages.  The image from the sandpaper will then be transferred to the white paper.  Once you have done one print you can do another print by recoloring over the image.

Extension Activity:
Create an image just using shapes and then have the children explain which shapes they used.  This will help the children remember the names of the different shapes.

Illustrating Gestures

We used transparency sheets and white board markers to draw a partners face on the sheet.  One of the main things that we were looking at as we were drawing were their different expressions that they were making on their face.  Then we used the window or a light surface to transfer the images to a piece of paper. Then we had to 
write a narrative that went along 
with the different emotions.  

Extension Activity:
Students could do the same activity and then for their narratives they could write a longer story going in detail about the different emotions that the person was feeling or portraying.  

Silhouette Art

For this project we had to create a picture using different watercolor techniques for the background and then add silhouettes to the foreground.  

Extension Activities: 

• For the different techniques you could talk about how the salt interacts with the paint to make a different effect and that could lead in to how salt and other factors affect the world.  
• Have students paint different backgrounds in watercolor and then add different silhouettes of people that would live in that area or region.  

Hidden Safari

This activity uses warm and cool colors to create a hidden picture. First you need to drew a jungle animal upside down in a cool colo. Drawing illustrations upside down allows the mind to not concentrate on the big picture and focus in on the smaller details. Then we created a pattern over the top with warm colors. Finally, we used a pair of red cellophane glasses that we created to find the hidden animals on each others pictures.  we also wrote three clues to help people determine what our animals were.  

Extension Activity 
*Math 

Class Display 

-Students would create a word problem and then hide the answer in their picture.  Students can then try each others word problems and use the glasses to check the answers.  

Eric Carle Inspired Art

The famous children's book artist Eric Carle uses his own methods to create art.  He paints on tissue paper to create unique textures and patterns.  Then he sketches on a piece of paper to create the actual size that the picture will be. After placing the sketch onto a dry piece of tissue paper, he uses a knife to cut each piece of the art.  He then glues each piece in place after he has everything set in the right spot.  

Extension Activities:
1. Create a story based off of the picture.
2. Create an art piece based of a science concept.

Vincent Van Gogh Inspired

Tissue Paper:

Procedure 

1. Choose one colored piece of construction paper to be your background.
2. Cut or rip different colors of tissue paper that will represent your sky.  
3. Use a paint brush to paint decoupage glue over the tissue paper to secure it to the construction paper.
4. Choose another colored piece of construction paper to be your foreground
5. Cut an image - examples are trees, underwater, and city out of the construction paper  
6. Glue the foreground to the top of your main construction piece
7. Use oil pastels and sharpies and various other things to add line and movement to the piece

Extension Activities:
1. Use music to create a visual movement of how the song feels to them
2. Explore different patterns and colors 


Finger Painting: 

Procedure 

1. Tape finger painting paper to the table
2. Create a piece of art work that has a foreground, background, and middle ground
3. Finger or tempera paint will be your only medium
4. Try to use Van Gogh's art techniques while pianting
5. Allow art piece to dry
6. Peel off tape
7. Cut out a frame for your art work out of construction paper
8. Glue frame down on top of art work

Extension Activities:
1. Recreate other famous artists art work 
2. Recreate famous event in history 

Elements and Principles of Art

The Principle is Balance and the subject is of an owl figurine with a candle inside it.

The Principle is Contrast and the subject is of Dexter sitting on the couch in my living room.

The Element is Color and the subject is Rease and Shea at the Boys and Girls Club.

The Element is Line and the subject is of paper cranes that hang  from the curtains in my living room.

The Principle is Unity and the subject is of Shea, Rease, & Kya at the Boys and Girls Club.

The Element is Texture and the subject is of a pillow on the couch in my living room. 

Dot Day Project

In art this week we focused on "Dot Day." We read a story about a little girl who didn't believe she was an artist and couldn't create anything. Then she turned into an artist after she discovered that even her simple little dot was art.  We spent one whole class period experimenting with different art supplies to create our own dots. I really enjoyed creating different dots with paint.  

I also really liked doing bubble dots, bubble dots were easy, but messy.  All you have to do is mix a little bit of food coloring with bubbles and then just blow bubbles on to the paper.  The messy part comes in to play when the bubble would pop either before or as it hit the paper.  So as the bubble popped it would usually pop in your face.  

Below are some examples of my artwork from "Dot Day" 

Dot Collection Presentation 

Dot Collection Presentation 

Clay Dot

Bubble Dots

Watercolor paint- liquid starch

Crayon Resist 

                                               

                              











Extension Activities: 

1. For a math activity I would have students draw a dot and then find the radius and circumference of there dots. 
2. For Language Arts I would have kids look at pictures of different dots and then write a short story of what the dots are saying to them.  

Footprint Project

Project Explanation: 
Footprint Project is a project that could be used at the beginning of the school year to help a teacher get to know their students.  The footprint should include items that describe the person that the foot belongs to.  This way the teacher can see the students art abilities as well as learn about their background in a creative way.

Project Steps:

1. Plan out what you want to put on your foot/feet on a piece of notebook paper
2. Trace your foot/feet on a piece of construction paper the way you want them to look
3. Cut out your foot/feet
4. Place various mediums on your foot/feet to design it.
Medium Examples:

• Paint
• Markers
• Crayons
• Colored Pencils
• Stickers
• Construction Paper
• Glitter
• Beads
• Any other items that could be used to design it

*** You will want to place your items that you are gluing on your foot/feet before you glue them down so you will know if you have enough room.  

*** You will also want to use a hot glue gun or a piece of cardboard for the heavier items that you add to your foot/feet

5. Make sure all items are securely glued down

My Foot:

I chose to do both of my feet and then shape them into a heart.  I choose to do this because I feel like I have a big heart and am always trying to help people.  There is an owl and sunflowers on my feet because I love both of those things.  I love to read and have an enormous sweet tooth, so I put a book and an ice cream cone on my feet.  I teach ballet to kids ages 3 to 10 for JFK so I put stickers of ballerinas on my feet.  I also put stickers of birds and owls on there because I like to be outdoors.  I also did my feet in the color yellow because I love the color as well as the sun and its warmth.  

Extension Activities:

1. An idea for another activity would be to have the students introduce each other by drawing items that describe them. 

2. You could have students trace there hands and  make a butterfly out of it when they learn the life cycle of a butterfly.

3. When the students learn about the presidents they could trace there foot to describe that president and what he was like as a leader and a person.

*** You can use this project in many different ways, the endless possibilities are up to you!