This sort of painting is quite an easy straightforward task as it comes with a reference. It was a fun project and kids were deeply into it.
Sustainable transportation and Marina Strocchi
In the PYP Unit we touched the topic of sustainability. Our key figure was Marina Strocchi, an Australian painter who uses divisions and patters in her paintings talking about land, harvest, ethnography, the coulours of dry land, red land, of home. I love her works to bits!
So the plan was to get inspired by Marina Strocchi and try to use this in our project of sustainable transportation. The work was clearly lined up:
1. Draw the city transportation just anywhere (students can rotate their paper throughout their work to get the “every direction” effect. Think about how the transportation moves from A to B. Draw the inside, think about machinery.)
2. Draw the ground. Roads, water…
3. Think background. We are in the city. We will use city patterns the way Strocchi uses her land patterns. So trash cans, city lights, mail boxes, birds, dog poo.. anything city like goes.
4. Divide the white in between the road areas. Liminal spaces. Fill them in with your patterns.
5. Trace the pencil with a stick and a black ink and then colour using red, blue and yellow ink.
Monotipie is a wor(l)d!
Here we go again with beautiful printing. Again I love the printing plates more than the results. However this was fun as it always is.
We’ve made the printing plates out of various materials to leave various traces. We added all the colours at the same time. Because we don’t like to complicate.
Colour wheel in Grade 1
Connecting to our PYP Unit ‘Cycles in nature’ we took a pick into the life of colours on our beautiful classroom poster of a colour wheel designed by Johannes Itten. This was Grade 1 and children are small so to take off we simply did some skatches of winter and summer, connecting the colours to the seasons.
When the children understood which colours belongs to which group they were asked to cut 3 warm and 3 cool shapes out of scrap paper and glue them on a bigger white paper. Each table got a plate of gouache colours: red, blue, yellow and white for the light. By mixing them they painted some of their own shapes next to the glued ones. For finals they outlined them with black adding also some patterns here and there.
I found this lovely project at Small hands big art to whom I always turn to when stuck in uncertainty. A presto!
Clay animal mugs
We started with drawing of a head of a chosen animal. What are the characteristics, what shape and where should be the ears, what are the colours…
The starting point was a ball. To release all the air out of clay (very important!) one should have some throwing fun. Simply throw the clay few times into a wooden board on which you are working,
To form the faces children used various tools but often just simply the hands.
I would say in a big classroom of children it is always safer if they take away the clay instead of adding it because they might forget to glue the additions well which ends up with them drying faster than the rest of the sculpture which leads in them falling off.
Of course you can also insist on teaching them how to use the glue (clay mixed with water into a mud) and how to attach the additions well.
We hollowed our heads at the top because we were making mugs, otherwise one would usually hollow the insides starting at the bottom.
Colouring with engobes… e progetto terminato!
Sculpture and it’s pedestal
Through our PYP unit the Grade 2 students researched animals in their habitats. We added to our learning by discovering 3D art in connection to pedestal.
Clay is a complete winner with the kids. They feel very comfortable working with it. In my classes I never had a single child that would not like it. And they never ever fail to tell me this. They impatiently wait for next class when they know clay will be on the tables and they are always sad to leave.
Still life in Grade 4
Another aquarell project with a bit older children.
I do love still lifes. I also think I might like our still life projects the most. I love how you start with something and during weeks of painting we end up with completely something else on the tables. Coulour is different, shape has changed, texture had added to itself.
Well these plants did stay the same during our project and with the new school year I would like to try to personalize our still lifes. Let’s see where it takes us.
The picture of a shadow is a positive thing. Said someone.
We’ve made some meters long shadow impressions of the theater plays Rapunzel and Nutcracker kids saw that week.
Sure I want my hair like this!
Masks
Masks are always fun! Papier-mache too (only not how it’s spelled so I am giving myself freedom of not caring)!
For the shape we simply used ballons. Sure the shape isn’t good to wear the masks but we wanted them on the walls anyway.
Nice project it was.
Graffiti in the classroom
Children were very excited about this project, of course! They are Grade 4 and they feel close to and familiar with street art. Unfortunately the downside for them was there was no spraying (not for me though).
We did this project in our history unit. We spoke about Berlin wall and street art in general from times of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring on. We learned about the power of words, the strength of the letters and it’s colours. In the end it was fun even without spraying cans.
