Twin Symmetry

Second graders explored linear symmetry and symmetrical balance with these fun self-portraits. I didn't tell them about the twin part at first - I just had them fold their papers in half and guided them through a simple head and shoulders self-portrait in pencil and sharpie. Next, I surprised them by demonstrating a window tracing of the original drawing, revealing their twin! We talked about how their twin may be just like them and ways they may be different too - some even went for the alter ego approach like Bruce Wayne/Batman! Found this idea on Pinterest, posted from One Happy Art Teacher blog, http://onehappyartteacher.blogspot.com/2013/06/twins.html.

Evergreens in Winter

 

Two 45 minute sessions: one for intro, sketching, choosing colors and cutting; one for gluing, painting, glitter, art walk.

I have done this project with my third graders over the last few years as a collagraph printing lesson with great success. My timing was a little off this time around, so we did it as a collage and we will approach collagraph with a different subject when we return in January. 

Using Fadeless brand paper, we selected warm or cool colors for our trees, inspired by the tree lot scene from Charlie Brown. That's a perk of being artists - we can choose any colors we want for our ever"greens". I like the Designer pack of Fadeless paper because it includes metallics and a wide range of intermediates. We looked at photos of real evergreens like pines, spruce, and fir when drawing the tree shapes. Overlapping was emphasized in the placement stage, and a final spritz of white paint followed by a dusting of clear glitter tops it off. The doily at the top makes a great snow cloud.

 

 

5th grade Artist Statements

 My 5th graders spent their art time this week labeling, trimming and mounting our final prints, and some students traded their extras with their classmates. Because we are trying to focus more on using personal voice in our work and making connections with our art, I thought this lesson on Community Maps would be a great fit for writing an artist statement. You can see more about this printmaking lesson, which also involves a technology element, here in this previous post - http://dolvinartknight.blogspot.com/2013/12/community-maps-5th-grade-printmaking.html