To Close to call

This time of year is just a little bit crazy, but I am sure I am preaching to the choir.  I gave Art 1 a project a couple of weeks ago to draw a face in grid style and then fill it in Chuck Close style.  In my mind they had all sorts of time to get that done and then their final project.

But wouldn't you know, the class that has flown through every other project this year at lightening speed all of a sudden put the brakes on and slowed way down to do a great job on this project.   They didn't put this much time into their own faces back in November, but now they put tons of time into the drawing and then twice as much complaining into the fact that I wanted them to put designs into every square.

In the end I gave them some choices.  They could do this project on canvas or paper, with paint or sharpie or colored pencil.  I also tried to require them to put a design in every square, but as we ran out of time I kind of relaxed on that rule.

Mykah W. - Theo James in paint

Yeva S - in paint

Alasia J. - Audrey Hepburn in paint

Bella J. - Connor F in paint

Carter H. - Harry Potter in sharpie

Brooke K. - Miranda Lambert in sharpie

Preparing for Chaos

This is what my art room looks like the day before we set up for the art show.  Normally I am not this prepared, but this year we will have exactly 30 minutes with each advanced class to put up our work.  So I am ready to go at top speed this year.

Did I mention that these panels are 5 to 6 layers deep

And each panel has at least 6 to 10 works on it.

I figured I have at least 50 students and each student had to bring in 5 of their best works of art.  So that is about 250 works of art.
Now some will set on tables, but I think I have hung about 150 works of art.

Spoof the MasterK

I gave the assignment to my Art 2 class, to either recreate a masterpiece or to spoof it.  Most chose to spoof, but I had a few that tried to figure out new ways and new mediums to remake a classic.

Carolyn H.

Courney M.

Demi H.

Sydney Hau.

Karly N.

Kelsey C.

Kiana K.

Meghan H.

Realism

My Art 3 class was given the assignment of creating a realistic picture from any medium that they wanted.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Jon C. - Kennedy

Olivia M. - Parrot

Ryan S. - Drew

Sabrina L. - Jennifer

Sammy K. - Watercolor

Op the Cube

Well from Pop art of the 1950s you can only go one place, but Op art of the 1960s.  I have art one look at some really fun op art images from Bridget Riley and a few others like that.  We then talk about how to create them and to even try to create your own.  I tell them from the get go that I will give them more points for attempting one of their own then copying something they found off of the internet.

I was really impressed with what I got.  I have them put it into a cubed pattern with 6 different sides.  I usually ask them to try to make one pattern circular, one squarish, one with triangles/diamonds, and one with just lines.  That gives them two more to just play with.  I know that usually these overlap but it gives them a place to start.

Sorry, I don't remember who these belong to.

Three times the fun

Tritychs are becoming a very popular art form, especially for decorating homes, but I wanted my students to try it out and see how easy and fun they can be.

I let them do it anyway they wanted in any medium they wanted.  I was really happy that they all tried to do them different and didn't keep them all the same.

Carolyn H. - paint and splatter on canvas

Courtney M. - Pencil drawing

Danica H. - Colored pencil

Sydney Hag. - Chalk

Sydney Hau.  - Watercolor

Jozlynn P. - Pencil

Maggie H. - Clay with watercolor paint

"Mask" the junk

Do you have junk in your house? In your Art room?  Maybe you have an incredibly clean lifestyle, but I am an art teacher and we are known as hoarders.  I try not to be, but even I have a large amount of junk that I saved.

For instance, while cleaning my house last summer I picked up everything that was broken or lost and threw it into a garbage bag, but not for the garbage.  No, I brought that garbage bag of junk to my classroom to use as inspiration.

I inspired my Art 3 class to create a recycled mask.  I pretty much let them use anything they could find in my classroom, including my bag of garbage.

I was pretty impressed by what they came up with.

Brandon S.

Jon C.

Kamber L.

Ryan S.

Sabrina L.