Claes Olden"burgers"

I've always taken a liking to the artist Claes Oldenburg. What's not to like? He makes giant sculptures of everyday things like hamburgers, shuttlecocks, and cherries on a spoon. I appreciate that it's not overly-conceptual, just fun. And kids love it! I showed them a quick presentation about him, mainly with pictures of his art that is at the Nelson in Kansas City like "Soft Switch" and the shuttlecocks on the lawn. We talked a little bit about fast food in general and when it came about and how and why Claes incorporated it into his work. 

In response, we created these fun Olden"burger" collages. I loved how simple and doable the steps were for the kids and the fact that every kid was able to be successful if they just followed the directions. A lot of kids are held back by their fear of drawing, but this project was all cutting, folding, crumpling, fringing, etc. There wasn't a single burger that didn't look great. 

I loved the pickles in this one above. One of my girls asked me if she could use the markers and I shrugged and said "sure." I LOVED how these turned out. The next class all did theirs this way (I gave her the credit for the idea...) I think the onions made them look extra colorful and delicious. 

On the back of their projects I had them write out Claes Oldenburg and "Giant Hanburger" and told them to explain this to their parents when they take these home so their parents weren't confused why Mrs. Byrd made them make fast food. One girl made the disclaimed that hers was a veggie burger, so we added that detail to the back. So if you have any vegans, fear not. It is adaptable. 

This took them two class periods with very few minutes to spare. I'll definitely be doing this one again in years to come. 

Value studies

I promise fourth grade is not being neglected- they are just one of the few grades that actually had a unit of study going on for more than two or three weeks. I introduced them to the element of value over a month ago and drilled the concepts of tints and shades into their smart little brains over and over. I love doing these value scales below. I gave them some creative options, rather than just filling in the boxes. Instead, they used patterns such as bubbles that got smaller and smaller or diagonal lines that got closer closer and closer together. Colored pencils worked well for this because you can get them really sharp for intricate details. Lastly, they filled in the letters of "VALUE" with actual shading. 

The next class period, I went over how to draw three of the most basic forms in drawing- the cube/rectangular prism, the cone, and the sphere. (I'll be adding cylinders next year!!) They were required to draw four sets of these three forms, adding values/shading to each with a different kind of shading. If I remember correctly, we did hatching, cross-hatching, stippling, and blending. They did all of this with construction paper crayons on a neutral construction paper I did it again myself on a darker paper, and liked the results a lot more. The darker paper helps the crayons pop more. 

To wrap up or unit on value, they did a final piece that gave them practice with practical use of tints and shades. I talked them about how when you look at a landscape such as mountains, the colors get hazier the further away from you they are. So, we drew a few sets of mountains doing just that. We began with purple acrylic for the foreground. Next, we made our first tint by adding a little bit of white. Last, we used mostly white with a touch of purple for the background mountains.  

We let those dry overnight before going back over them with oil pastels. They blended oranges and yellows to create a beautiful sunset sky above the mountain ranges. 

To further emphasize the concept of foreground, we used black oil pastels to draw the silhouettes of different plant life. I emphasized filling them in dark and using different sizes to show their spatial relationships.  

I like the cacti because they were pretty easy for them to draw and stayed recognizable. For the trees, I reviewed "V" trees, but I almost think this one turned out too Halloweeny. Maybe its the bat flying around in the sky???

I loved how simple these were, yet they were packed full of teachable moments!

Candyland

We recently held our annual carnival at my school. The theme for this year was "Candyland." I'm questioning how much influence this theme actually has, because other than these projects, I really didn't see much of this theme anywhere. It just looked like any other carnival. Regardless, the classroom teachers were asked to decorate their bulletin boards outside of their classrooms with student work that reflected the theme.

I really feel for classroom teachers with the arrival of Common Core. They have absolutely zero free time for fun things like crafts anymore. So, I volunteered to accomplish this task during art class with the kids. It's really not as generous as it sounds. I have to be doing art with them anyway, and it's not hard to tie candy into things I would have already had them do anyway. For example, fifth grade was working on still life. Cupcakes are just as good of subjects as plastic fruit and turn out much cuter. 

                    

I omitted the work of kindergarten and first grade because it was unrecognizable... Kindergarten drew peppermints. About 2 or 3 of each class looked like peppermints. The rest were a mess, and I had to just be okay with that. First grade drew a Candyland landscape. I actually thought they were pretty cute, I just didn't catch them in time to photograph. The above picture is the second grade project. I was able to tie in the color wheel and they figured out patterns (each color has five spaces in between itself). 

                    

Third grade has been working with tints and shades, so I had them make these ice cream cones. The selected two colors of construction paper for each scoop. One a shade and one a tint. They struggled a lot. Not with the choosing of the tints and shades, but with the concept of layering them together with a perfect fit. Something strange happens with third graders. I think this must be the stage of development where kids become aware that they are not good at everything. My second graders have all the confidence in the world (though, some is misplaced), but third graders are very afraid of making mistakes. They constantly ask me if what they have done is good or acceptable. It starts to drive me crazy having to reassure them all of the time, but I'm trying to remember they just want to do it right. 

             

I loved the fourth grade project! I found a collage of candy boxes and wrappers that only showed a snippet of the label. The kids were asked to draw exactly what they SAW, not what they KNOW. I told them it was going to be tempting to write the whole "k-i-t k-a-t" but to hold back think about where it actually began and ended in terms of the square. This was very difficult for some of them, and I made them start over several times when they were being stubborn about going around the assignment. Some of them absolutely knocked it out of the park, though. That box of Dots above looked almost exactly like the one on the collage. I will definitely use this assignment again, regardless of whether or not it has to do with a carnival theme. I've thought about having the kids bring the product of their choice and try to copy the label exactly. I know copying isn't necessarily art, but it is a crucial drawing skill to see relationships in sizes and shapes and to be able to reproduce what you see. 

             

Lastly, fifth grade was studying still life. I order Scholastic Art magazines for my class. They are designed for 4th-8th graders. We had a great time looking through them and reading them out loud together. That month's issue focused on still life, so we talked about things like overlapping, geometric forms, foreground and background, etc. I scratched the pumpkin still life idea and just went ahead and did cupcakes. There are some great how-to videos on YouTube about cupcakes, and I copied a bunch of reference handouts I made for them, as well. The icing was the hardest part, but once they got it, they couldn't stop drawing them. The fifth grade teachers asked me why their kids were drawing cupcakes all over their math assignments and writer's notebooks. That makes me feel good to know that they are learning to draw things that they like and that they can keep in their "toolbox" of things they know how to draw. I was always a sucker for drawing my hands once I had a success with it in middle school. Hopefully they will have plenty of successes to come!

              

I Am Poems

 I really liked how this fourth grade project turned out. It didn't take a whole lot of explanation- the kids just dove right in and succeeded. We started by dividing our paper into six "curvy" sections. The first section was reserved for the "I AM." In the following four sections, I had them write adjectives to describe themselves. Speaking nicely of themselves was encouraged, although, pre-teens can't help but be fascinated by the words like awkward and weird. Especially awkward. They love it. They use it any chance they get, which is really ironic. And lastly, the last section had their name. I had them make sure to make the letters stretch from the top to the bottom of each section to make new shapes in between each letter.

                              

After laying out their poem in pencil, I had them use crayons to outline everything nice and thick. These thick crayon like would make nice barriers for the watercolor. In between each letter (new shapes) they used watercolors. I love how it ended up looking. It reminded me of the artist Paul Klee. And not to mention, they loved being able to relax and visit with their friends while they painted. And that's okay with me. I think they should associate art with having a good time. 

                         

Most of them were able to complete the project in two or three class periods. But, because it didn't require a lot of my help, it was a good one to start kind of in between projects. Thus far, I have tried really hard to keep everyone at the same pace and on the same page, but with the older kids, I'm slowly letting that go when possible. As long as they are progressing and willing to stop and have a whole-group discussion in the middle of things, I'm okay with neighbors working on different projects. Engagement and exploration is my main focus!

                         

Op Art Cubes

This one was quite the endeavor, but fourth grade was up for the challenge! I've been using the white board a lot lately so the kids can draw along with me, rather than demonstrating a couple steps at one table them releasing them. That's just way too much transitioning for me. We started this project by mapping out the six squares with a ruler. We made 3 inch boxes, so I had them start with the three cross-section squares. They lined their ruler up with the left edge of their paper and made marks at 1, 4, 7, and 10, then went built the cube from there. It was crucial to do a scan of the room after each step to make sure they were using their ruler, otherwise the cube doesn't fit together well at all. 

                            

Once we got the cube laid out, I walked through how to draw each optical illusion in pencil. I made photocopy handouts they could refer to while we were drawing, too. I reminded them that any with a "bullseye" center started with "an X and a T." Those steps took up the whole first class, so they didn't begin coloring until the following period. Although many of them could clearly see form the handout how to color the boxes to look like an illusion, I made them watch any way. The trick is that each illusion in a checkerboard, never solid stripes. A lot of them slopped through it pretty quickly, so I had them go back and outline each individual piece so there were no fuzzy lines, only sharp. 

                    

For the third and final class, they drew the tabs on their cube (the handout had the correct one, the one above had waaay too many, but too many can be fixed, unlike no enough). I showed them how to cut it out and fold on every edge, including the tabs. Gluing it together was really tough for a good majority of them, so I gave them the option of taping along the edges. Prior to gluing, though, they punched two hole in two corners adjacent to each other. Once the cube was constructed, they strung string through them and attached a name tag. 

                            

                           

I hung a class string from my coat hooks so I could gradually tie them all together in layers. Once i got the class strung together, I pinned them from the ceiling right outside of my door. A few kids were really bent out of shape about the collaboration thing, so they chose not to hang theirs with the class. That was a battle I just didn't have the energy to fight, especially on Grandparent's Day! 

                              

I kind of like that they were hung above eye level, because any flaws were not noticed when they were combined as a group. And, let's be honest! They look awesome together!

Zentangle Hands

I'm really on a zentangle/invented texture kick lately! I've always loved the power of well-designed line. And who doesn't love more doodling patterns to store in their book of tricks for when they are bored in other classes?! So I had 4th grade start out the year by tracing their hands. Challenging stuff... I know! They then divided their hand into sections with their pencil and found a way to place their name in the middle. I gave them handouts with dozens of samples of zentangles and designs they could practice. I asked them to fill each section of their hand with a different, intricate zentangle.

They had the option of leaving theirs black and white or colored, but my one rule was that ZERO pencil lines should be showing because they needed to look finished! Once their coloring was complete, they matted their hand on colored construction paper.


I was really impressed with some of these hands! The girls in particular took their time to really dive into really intricate designs. Other friends were less careful ended up with a sloppy mess. I think in the future, I would have students turn in swatches of at least four different designs they will use. That way, they are forced to practice the designs and use some variety. I think this project could be used at any grade, the expectations just have to go up with age.



I had one girl point out that these reminded her of the Hindu hand inkings. That could also be neat to use flesh colored paper and brown markers to look like henna ink. Just a thought!