Putting everything in PERSPECTIVE

Grades 3-5 have been trying different perspective techniques in their artwork to creat the illusion of space. These are lessons I return to again and again because they offer some personal choices and connections for the students while giving them technical experience.

Let's start with third grade - they researched and selected a bird whose habitat is here in our state of Georgia. We drew the birds in great detail because they were in the foreground of the picture, and then to create an atmospheric perspective we used watercolor and the wet on wet technique to create a blurry, out of focus background, much like a photographer might do.

Fourth grade made drawings called "shape explosions" which help them practice connecting shapes to a vanishing point using a straight edge.

Fifth grade went a step beyond and made drawings using two vanishing points on a horizon line, called two-point perspective.

4th grade: Food Trucks and Abstractions

This drawing lesson was an opportunity for 4th graders to draw from their imaginations while thinking about a design that would attract attention. We also chose a setting for our trucks, and lots of descriptive detail, as a writer might do.

After we finished our food truck designs, we jumped into an abstract creation based on the art of Ellsworth Kelly, whose art is currently featured on a postage stamp. We started with our names and then cut them into a grid and rearranged them. I think they have a great visual energy.

Magazine page sculptures, 4th grade

This is a fun way for kids to experiment with 3-D form without spending a lot of dough - use old magazines or newspaper! You will need a reasonable amount of tape, but that's it. Roll tubes from the pages and assemble! Start with a three or four sided base and go upward from there. Some classes raided the yarn scraps and paper strip scraps for additional details. Students could work in teams or independently.

Murals and shacks

Can you tell I'm trying to catch up on my sadly neglected blog? Doubling up on the content for each post :).

Fourth graders learned about community murals and their purposes - beautification, advertising, sharing a message. We drew plans on printed images and  used a planning sheet for working out/explaining what the intention of our mural was.

First graders looked at the art of Beverly Buchanan and created 3-D shacks from recycled materials we saved in the art room. Folk artists often use what they have or find rather than buying specific art materials.