Photo changes

I have been wanting to teach my students about photography for several years.  I started this year by teaching them the basics of a DSLR camera, and I have given them some assignments.  However, they have not been very good about getting those images in on time, so I had to make changes and up the challenge for them.

This semester I am requiring them to take a picture a week.  I would love to make it one a day, and that might still happen as we get closer to the end of the year, but for right now we are trying this.  Last semester I would give them an assignment that had anywhere from 2-6 pictures required and that seemed like a lot to ask every 3 weeks.  So this time I am giving them a photography assignment on monday and I am requiring that it is taken and uploaded to their blog by the following monday.

I had the first one due this monday and I got a better response than I did last semester, but we will see how that energy stays over the next couple of months.\

The first photo was "Winter".

Danica H.

Karly N.

Maggie H.

Talia P.

These were taken awhile ago, but I forgot to show them.  This was where they had to take pictures of food.

KaSandra K.

Maggie H.

Marcelle W.

Ryan S.

Sydney Hau.

Talia P.

Woven together

My Art 3 class was given the task of taking animals and turning them into woven strips.  I have done this lesson a few times and I am not sure where I first saw it, but it is one I like because it makes them stop and think about the contour of every line on an animal.

Chad V.

Kamber L.

Mariah B.

Sammy K.

Sparking Art History

In South Dakota all of our classes are required to do some sort of speech or presentation.  In the past i have always had my Art 1 students give a presentation about an artist from these three chapters in our books.  I used to have all of the questions I wanted them to answer and they just had to fill those in and then also give us a short bio on the artist.  They then put that info into powerpoint or prezi and stood in front of us and gave us the bio (which you hope was short and not copied from wikipedia) and the answers to the questions that I had asked.

 Sounds fun and full of higher level thinking right?  Wrong, it was sooooo boring and I just knew I couldn't handle it another year.  Also I had to ask what were they learning.  I pretty much had given them everything they needed.

 So this year I decided to wipe the slate clean, literally.  I took the artists that I wanted them to present about and put them into an empty googledoc.  I gave them the artist, title of the work that I wanted them to look up, and the year of that work and the picture of the work.  That was it.  I had them draw for an artist and they had to then come up with 10 questions about the artist or the work of art that I presented or some sort of combination between the two.  I then told them that they could present their info to us in any way that they wanted.  Some have created games, some are just going to do a standard powerpoint, some are creating a quick draw and some are making a multiple choice guessing game.  I told them to teach us the way they wish I would teach them.  Basically I asked them to help me find interesting ways of teaching Art History.

We start presenting tomorrow so I will let you know then how things go.  I am excited to see how this works.

Illuminated views

Art 1 was studying renaissance and how books were made at this time with a scribe and an illuminater who adds decoration.  Well usually i just have them make an illuminated letter on paper with colored pencils, but this year I wanted to do something different.

I have been following Art of the Apex and I was very intrigued by their project based lessons.  I figured if I was ever going to try a lesson where they could do what they wanted, this was the lesson.  So we took the first day to look at illuminated letters and various designs that could be made in and on them.  In table groups I had them list mediums for both 2D and 3D illuminated letters.  After they had made lists,  I then told them that they could do their letter anyway they wanted using any medium that I had or that they could bring.

I was very impressed by how fast they started throwing out ideas.  I did make them stop and I showed how to paper mache and build a cardboard base.  Otherwise they were given access to any supplies I had.

I am very impressed with what they created.  I know I should edit and not show all of these, but I am proud of them.

Austin F. - String art

Aleah B. - Tile and paint

Bree H. - Yarn

Emily H. - pop cans

Levi B. - Clay

Jack G. - pencil and marker

Adan M. - paper mache and paint

Paige Q. - Mixed Media

Mikayla R. - paper mache

Mycah W. - Tile and paint

Regan A. - paper mache

Eli H. - paper mache and crayons

Bella J. - paper mache and fabric

Hawa M. - paint and cardboard (inside)

Hawa - outside

Jacob H. - Metal work

Malary M. - yarn, glitter and paper

Yeva S. - paper mache, mixed media

Carter H. - bedazzled

Nitanga S. - paper mache and paint

Bridget B. - paper mache

Sam S. - paper mache

Alex W. - metallic colored pencil

Morgan H. - tile and paint

A different type of face

Since Art 1 was on a portrait kick I decided to keep with that theme and introduce them to Guiseppe Arcimboldo.  He was an artist that painted portraits using fruits, vegetables and other natural items.  I decided that I didn't want to have them draw another picture so instead we used magazines and they had to use a theme to create their faces.

I am not sure if i am in love with this project.  Even the ones that were done really nice look like they were done by elementary students.  If anyone has any suggestions to make this project better I would love to hear the ideas.

Tis the season

The latest challenge for my advanced classes was by student request...Christmas.  I didn't just want a bunch of simple christmas trees or houses with lights and snowmen, like they did when they were 5.  So I put some criteria on the challenge.
1. They had to draw for their inspiration.  I had about 30 christmas ideas in a coffee can.
2. It had to be 12 x 12, NO exceptions.
3. It had to be made out of paper products.  So paper, tissue paper, cardboard and I did give them aluminum foil and ribbon and glitter for details and small touches.
4. It had to be a low relief sculpture.
5. It had to be 90% one color.  This one was not their favorite.

Once they heard the last rule, most of them figured out that they were going to have to zoom in on the object to keep it 90% one color.  Overall I was really happy with how they came out.

Brooke O. - Ribbons and bows

Danica H. - Poinsettia 

Sydney Hag. - Snowman

Jozlynn P. - Santa

Kamber L. - Berries and Ivy

Kelsey C. -Star

Kiana K. - Toys

Sabrina L. - Candy Canes

Sammy K. - Angel

Sarah C. - Cookies

Mariah B. - Candle