Me, Myself, and My Initials

This was a project another classmate and I taught to the class. We had them bring pictures of themselves to the class for this project, but if they didn't have any pictures we had magazines for them to cut out pictures to us. We started out having the students draw out the design of their initials that would be cut out. Once they were drawn and cut out, the students were to put their design piece over another piece of paper of the same size and trace the design. Once they were done tracing, they were to then begin planning out their design of their pictures. They had to chance to design their pictures in any way, but were advised to cut their pictures in the same geometrical shape. I designed my piece by using magazine pictures and having the picture describe a part of my life. The pictures, from the bottom up, describe my likes as a child to now as a college student. The large picture in the middle of Tiger Woods is to describe my likeness for him as my favorite golfer, from when I was a child to now. An extension to this project would to have the students tell the class about their project and the pictures in the piece.

Scrapbooking

This lesson was on scrapbooking. We were to bring 2 pictures to class to class for the project, but if you did not have pictures, you could use magazine pictures like I did. We were to pick out our background design paper and be as creative as possible. My design was on some of my favorite foods, which are fish and potatoes. I thought this is a very age appropriate for children of all ages. An extension to this project would to have the children tell the class the meaning/story behind your scrapbook piece of art.

Perspective Drawing

In this project we learned about vanishing points and how to give a 3D effect to a drawing. We started by having a certain point on the paper to where the road leads to. All you needed for this project is a pencil, eraser, and a ruler. Once you have all your lines made out, you had to chance to edit everything in the piece to make it look like a downtown district. I thought this project was fun and very age appropriate. I would incorporate a math lesson as an extension. You can use geometry to help the students draw their lines and learn measurement.

Comic Strip Art

This project began with a breaf lesson on how comic strips were made, a lesson in shading, and also how to get a secondary color from two (2) primary colors. We were then to create a storyline from our imagination. I chose a storyline about the life of an ant. I thought this was a fun project, but I'm not the best drawer so my art work is a little off. But this is a very fun lesson for students to do. An extension project would be to incorporate an english lesson into this project. The writing and art work go hand in hand.

Native American Sand Art

This project was to give us input on Native American art and the number of different forms there are. The class started out as giving us a lecture of the different forms of Native American art and how they differ from one another. When we got the chance to work on our pieces, we made out our designs and color in our design with crayons. The key is to press hard with crayons otherwise the design will not transfer over to the paper. The tranferring process occured with putting the design under a piece of paper and ironing the design onto the paper. I enjoyed the project and didn't have many difficulities, other than the ironing process. My design did not transfer over very well. An extension activity would to have a social studies lesson incorporated into the lesson and give a breaf history of Native Americans.

Print Making

This project gave perspective on the history of printing and how it was originally used. We started by having a piece of styrofoam and drawing out our design we wanted for the holiday cards we made. My design was a snowman and said, "Happy Holidays." After we we done with our designed, we chose the color of print we wanted to be put on the color of paper we chose for the card. We used a wooden roller utensil to roll the color of print onto the paper to form the card. Even though I did not plan on the number twelve (12) being on the paper, I'm happy that it is because that was my high school basketball number. I liked this activity very much, but though it was difficult to roll the ink because sometimes the roller would get sticky. An extension to this would be to have the students personally write inside the cards and give them to someone for Christmas.

Pastels

Pastels were very fun to draw, but got a little messy. It was fun to experiment with shading and 3D effects. We were first to practice our shading by drawing same shade and add a 3D effect to it. I drew a circle and added shading effects to it, to make it look like a ball sitting on the floor. We were then to draw a picture we picked out and use pastels to draw the picture. An extension to this project would to have the students tell a story about the picture they have drawn and what they like most about the particular picture.

Stepping Stone

This is a first (1st) grade project that can be very funny and messy for the students. You had to option to bring a picture to put into the cement, but the only thing required to bring was an empty cool whip bowl for the cement to form in. The first step was the pick out your design, and then go poor the cement into the bowl. The design I chose, if you can see it, it the"GT" logo for my hometown Groton Tigers, and the also the number ten (10) above the "GT" logo which is my coaching number for baseball. I thought it was an interesting project especially for first graders. Personally I believe this is more of a fourth grade project. An extension project for this would be to incorporate this project with a math lesson. The students could learn shapes and designs and use that knowledge to design their stepping stone.

Four Seasons Window

The project here is designed to cut a piece of paper with a tree on it into four equal parts. Each part is to designate of particular season of the year. The bottom left portion is winter, the bottom right portion is fall, the upper left portion is spring, and the upper right portion is summer. The class was divided into two groups. One group worked on fall and summer, and the other group worked on winter and spring. After a short time, the two groups switched. This helped the teachers work with a smaller group of students and offer more one-on-one help. This project is designed for Kindergarden students and an extension project would be to have all the students say their favorite season and why.

Scratch Art Drawings

These scratch art drawings are of three (3) different things. The items drawn were a basketball, a biology book, and a church. None of these items are alike. The basketball was easy to draw, but because of scratch art, you can't really add shading. I tried to make the book and the church have a 3D appearence. Not the best drawing, I know, but I tried.

Sketchbook

The sketchbook I have created is green with curved red stripes with red glitter. I use this sketchbook to come up with different drawing from my imagination, surroundings, and also assignments. The book was not difficult to make and is something every art class, especially in elementary school, should look into making at the beginning of each year.

Clay Project

The clay piece that I have made is small candy dish for my roommates. I do know that you can't have unwrapped candy in the clay dish, so only candy with wrappers will sit in the dish. The letters "B,L,S" are for the first letter of their name: Brandon, Landon, and Spencer. The colors of black, green, and gold are for the colors of their favorite NFL football teams. Brandon is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose colors are black and gold, and Landon and Spencer are fans of the Green Bay Packers, whose colors are green and gold. I gave it to them as an early Christmas present and they enjoy. They enjoyed it so much, it has been used as an ash tray, ha.

Lexicon Collages

Each collage made is to represent the "mood" and definition of a certain word. The four words chosen were: sustain, descriptive, procedure, and snarl. The definition of sustain is to accept or take in an injury or natural cause. Descriptive is defined to be clear and descriptive about a particular subject. The definition of procedure is, process of steps leading toward accomplishing a task. And finally there is snarl. The definition of snarl is, to have a mean looking facial expression.

Museum Gallery Visit, Larry Chapman

I like Chapman's view on Katrina, Where is My God, Where is My Country. I think that it depicts the event very well and actually tells the story of how devastating the event actually was. You could use this in your classroom by having your students use emphasis on the mood of the painting by stressing different colors.
I lesson plan I would have for a class is to have a field trip to a local art exhibit, and have the students explore and have them makes notes of different pieces they found and give guidence to the different areas they can go to.

Journal Entry 2

Its important to teach the elements of design because children need to know the basics. The elements of design are line, shape, color, space, texture and pattern. When I was in elementary school, I worked with line, shape, and color the most. Space was stressed but not until late into my elementary life. In all honesty, I cannot remember any art projects that I did or worked with, other than making a giant super bowl ticket for art class the week of the super bowl. The idea of the project with the create something unique and also fill most of the space and give a lot of color.

Journal Entry 1

My definition of art is that art stimulates our minds and brings out all of our creativeness. Art can be demonstrated through painting, coloring, or even acting. Clements and Wachowiak's definition of art is "Art is more akin to poetry which distills the essence of an experience through expressive and discriminative choices."

My past experiences with art weren't the greatest. Growing up, art was not something stressed and it was only done once a week. I will admit, I am not a fan of doing art projects, but by no means am I shy to do them. Compared to the Qualitative Art program the authors suggest is very different from the art education I received in elementary school. They want children to do more to further their abilities in art. My teachers just tried to give us something to do.

Eric Carle Collage

In this collage, I created a catepillar from the book The Very Hungry Catepillar by Eric Carle. This is something great to do with children in grades K-2, because they love stories and enjoy creating their favorite characters. Plus children enjoy anything where they can get their hands messy.

Safari Art

For doing something like this with children, I would try to incorporate a lesson on safari animals with children in grades K-2. I think that the children would respond well with this, because children by this point in their life respond well with stories.

Starry Night

Starry Night is about the stars and the bright sky overseeing a field on a perfect night. There is one dark ugly tree that stands out, but a ugly tree cannot take away the beauty of a starry night. It is like God is overlooking everything there, and even though there may be one flaw, he doesn't let that ruin the beauty of a starry night over an open field.

Elements and Principles of Design Compositions

My piece was on balance and texture. I used each concept of the piece to bring out both warm and cool colors to make the piece stand out. I wanted to use a varitey of markers, crayons, and colored pencils to add a balance of light colors, and also more vibrant darker colors. I am always though my toughest critic and looking at my piece, I know I could've done way better. I thought I did a good job in balancing out each part of the piece, but I felt I could've done so much more to the piece.

My Footprint

My footprint descibes me in good detail. The golf ball on the heel of my foot lets you know that golf is a big part of my life. I've been playing this game competitively for about 10 years now, and have no desire to stop anytime soon. Next is the baseball. I have been involved with baseball since I was five. For last three summers, I've started coaching and love every second of it. I get a big thrill from coaching this great game. In the middle is a blue start. The star is the logo of my favorite professional football team, the Dallas Cowboys. I am one of the biggest fans you will ever meet. The green tree lets you know that I enjoy the outdoors. My past summer jobs have been working outdoors and I absolutely enjoy that. I don't think I would like working indoors all year long. Lastly on my foot is the logo of the University of South Dakota and Northern State University. As you can tell, I am a student at NSU, but what some don't know is that I'm a transfer from USD. I started my collegiate golf career at USD, and although it was just for one year, I loved that year very much and it was tough to leave.

Dog Lying in the Snow

Franz Marc
Describe the Facts: There is a dog with yellow fur in the center of the painting. Also there is a white/snowy ground. Green Trees and dark colored rocks surround the dog.

Analysis The Design: There is emphasis on the dog lying on the ground. The yellow coat on the dog makes it stand out more, while the other colors in the picture are quite dull. All of the objects in the painting circle around the dog.

Interpretation The Meaning: The artist may have been sad when he created this painting because I get the feeling he wants for us to have simpithy for the dog. It appears the dog is alone in a wooded area, and is bleeding.

Judgment: I like the painting because its simple and there is really no confusion. Nothing else in the painting draws your attention besides the dog.