6th Grade - Plaster Cast Masks

Some of this year's masks...

6th Grade - Clay "Word" Sculptures

This lesson combined all the clay building techniques the 6th graders had learned through throughout their elementary years. They could make a functional or decorative piece, use coils, pinch pots, slabs, etc... Their goal was to represent a particular word in their sculpture. I presented them with a list of adjectives, and drew their names randomly to choose their word. This way, each student in each class had a different one. They could represent their word any way they wanted in their sculpture; literally or figuratively. This is a very creative group, so I knew there would be some amazing results!!

"Dangerous"

"Wacky"

"Delicious"

"Funny"

"Dangerous"

"Dizzy"

"Powerful"

"Strange"

"Wacky"



6th Grade - Surreal Hands

This was a lesson I did with my last year's 6th graders.  I just came across the pictures and wanted to post them!  This was a somewhat challenging project, but well worth it in the end.  Students learned about surrealism and had to come up with a sketch of their hand as some kind of surreal scene.  Next, they turned their drawings into clay sculptures.  Each person's sculpture started with clay slab, where they traced and cut out their own hand.  Next, they added details to the hand, make it more realistic before bending it into the particular pose they needed.  They got more clay to add on their "surreal" parts to the hand.  The sculptures were then fired and painted.

6th Grade - Rainforest Drawings

6th grade students had a great time drawing colorful birds as part of a rainforest scene.  They looked at various pictures of rainforest birds and animals and focused on a balanced composition for their artwork.  The drawings were colored with oil pastel and backgrounds painted with a tempera wash.

Art Portfolios

I must say, it's great to be back at school!

I started all my classes out with a portfolio design lesson.  Each grade had a separate design, but all included their name or initials.  Here's an example from each grade:

1st Grade; Made a patterned "frame" around their painted first initial

2nd Grade; They first wrote their initials, then filled in the spaces the letters created with various patterns, using marker and/or colorsticks (and using only warm or cool colors).  When finished, they painted over their initials.

3rd Grade; Students started by writing their name in block or bubble letters.  They filled in each letter with a different pattern or design.  The backgrounds were colored with colorsticks.

4th Grade; Students learned about the "layering" style of Jasper Johns by looking at the painting "0 through 9."  They layered their initials, outlined in oil pastel, colored some of the spaces in with crayon and watercolor painted the rest. 

5th Grade; They created radial designs around their names using sharpie and watercolor painted it in.

 6th Grade; They had their first lesson in one point perspective drawing to write their names.  They used white colored pencils to outline and metallic crayons to color them in.

Kindergartners will be making their portfolios in the next couple weeks.  Stay tuned!  :)

Last Day of School

Another school year has passed; yesterday was the last day of school!

Here is a mural the 6th graders made for their end of the year party...

I intend on catching up with some more lesson blog posts throughout the summer!

6th Grade - Wire Action Figures

Some of the 6th grade students made wire action figures in their spare time.  This student made hers for her little sister.  Notice how she strung her name across the body.  How creative!

6th Grade - Plaster Relief Sculptures

My 6th graders really enjoy this lesson because it's something completely different than what they are used to.  We begin by looking at pictures of relief sculptures in Greek and Roman art/architecture.  I talk them through the brief version of the entire process so they can understand what they have ahead of them.  Next, I choose a theme, and this year it was animals, and they do a sketch of the animal, which will be the relief part of their sculpture.  The shape of their mold has to have some association with that animal (for example, a giraffe inside of a leaf shape, or a penguin inside of an iceberg shape).  Next, they begin building the mold out of plasticine clay (tip: we use a microwave to soften hard clay).  They start with forming the shape of their mold, and then carve out their animal.  Lastly, they form 2" tall walls around the bottom of their mold.

Working with the clay is definitely the hardest part.  After that, they love pouring the plaster into their molds.  We let those set until the next art class.

 

What's great about using plasticine clay for the entire mold, is that it peels off the plaster in one or two big pieces.  Then, they use a variety of carving tools to "clean-up" their sculpture.  They also can use sanding blocks to smooth their edges.

The whole process is a huge mess, but they love it.  I just make sure I give them extra time to clean their tables and sweep the floor!  The last step is optional, and that is to add color with watercolor paints.