Making Foam board 3D

My Art 2 class was given the challenge of making one piece of foamboard into a 3D sculpture.  That was at least part of their criteria for this project.  They also had to make the sculpture stand up, be at least 12 inches tall and it had to have a theme.  I said the theme could be as broad as under the sea or as specific as elephant act at the circus.  They also had to paint it and find a way to add color.

 Some of them struggled with making it 3D and interesting on all sides, but after a few reminders they made it work.

Demi H. "Blue Whale"

Sydney Hag.  "Under the Sea"

KaSandra K.  "Lost in Space"

Kelsey C.  "Beach Party"

Maggie H. 

Meghan H.

Sydney Hau.

Contour drawings

Last week my art 1 classes drew two drawings.  On thursday I set up a still life display that had books, a chair and a guitar.  Then on Friday I brought in my son's bike that he won at the circus for the students to draw.  My son was very concerned as to what they were going to draw "on" it.  It is hard to explain to a 5year old that they are going to draw it, not on it.  Anyways, after both drawings they then got to choose which one was for a grade and which one was for points.  Overall they picked their better projects to grade.  I only disagreed with one girl, who in my opinion picked the wrong one.

Anyways, here are the pictures.  The biggest problem with these pics is that it is too hard to tell who made which one.  Also a new camera made them dark.  I need to figure out that problem too.

Lesson gone wrong

Okay so maybe that title isn't completely right, the lesson hasn't gone wrong, but they have somehow managed to finish both today and most of tomorrow's lesson in one class period.  So that kind of leaves me wondering if I will need to find something else to do tomorrow.

This week we are looking at shading and for the most part my Art 1 class is pretty gifted at drawing and shading.  In fact it was hard to hold a couple of them back last week when we were drawing in just contour line.  They wanted to add shading to that project.  I did manage to slow some of them down on this challenge by making them draw in pen and try not to pick up that pen if they could help it.

But this week with shading they are racing through all of my lessons with ease.  I guess I will have to try to find something to stump them.  Maybe tomorrow's fabric shading lesson will slow them down.  I guess we will see.

Stencils and crayons

My Art 3 class has been working on stencils this week and then melting crayons to put behind them.  They have learned lots of ways to control the crayon and what colors NOT to put together.  Here are some of the samples.

Chad V.

Jena F.

Jon C.

Kamber L.

Brooke O.

Speed can be fun

Well speed can be fun when you are trying to capture it through a camera lens.  That was today's assignment with my advanced art students.  We were working with shutter speed and how to get the best action shots.  I am kind of glad that the following kids didn't listen to my lame action ideas and they did their own thing.

Adrian L.

Alli H.

Kyle M.

Maggie H.

Olivia M.

Demi H.

To a New Year

Welcome back to Tri-Valley High School art.  I am not only welcoming back my followers, but also myself.  I always enjoy the beginning of my year, even if it is my busiest.

I have new Art 1 students that need to be taught some of the basics of line and shading before we can get into some serious projects.  I have new advanced students that are eager to jump into the "fun" projects that they saw being created last year, but they even have to have some training before that can happen.

Anyways, this year I am going to be trying some new things.  Thanks to Art in the Apex (a great HS blog) I am going to be trying a more hands on approach to note taking with my Art 1 class.  I am not sure how to do this yet, but I think we will learn it together.

I am also going to have all of my advanced students create a blog.  They will each need to post all of their assignments to that blog for grading.  If you want to check out any of their blogs their web addresses are on the right side of my blog.  Please feel free to check them out and leave comments about their work.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask me.

Otherwise I wish all of you a great year.

summer work

Most people think teachers work for only nine months out of a year, but those of us in education know that we are always working.  My summer days might be as little slower, but I am still following a ton of blogs and thinking ahead to what I will do for this next school year.  I want tho find a way to make my art history curriculum more interesting.  I of course think it is really fun, but I need to find a easy to make it teenage fun.  I don't want them just memorizing info and spitting it back to me.  If anyone has some great suggestions I ask all ears.

Also I am working on fundraisers for my art club trip that is next year.  If anyone has great fundraising ideas let me know.