Living Art Museum

For this Art Theory project, students were assigned to work in groups to accomplish the task of creating their own living museum.  Students were in groups of 3-5 members and each group was assigned an artist and a piece of artwork from that artist.  Students created life-size paintings of their chosen artist piece.  Each group member then had a role in the group.  One student acted as the artist themself, to talk about their life and their workings.  Another group member or two actually became part of the painting itself.  They were either camouflaged into the piece of art or they were the subject matter of the piece.  Their role was to discuss the artwork.  Lastly, one student was the docent who discussed in conclusion about the artist and the piece and how it was established.  Students then acted in a living museum day where all artwork was exhibited out in the hall.  The students in the school were then able to view it and interact with the artist, docent, and artwork itself.  This in return taught other students in the school about the art and artist that created it.  Here are some examples of what the 6th and 7th grader created for this project.

 

 



Winter Still Life

Students focused on value and composition for this still life of different winter time objects.  Students were required to draw at least five objects within the still life, and have at least two of those objects going off the page to create a more interesting composition.  Students were to have 5-7 value/tone changes using colored pencil.   This still life was to focus on their usage of colored pencil, and how to work with tints and shades when creating their piece. This is what 6th and 7th graders created.

 

 



Altered Books

8th grade students were given a conceptual challenge for the altered book design.  Students were to research and choose a concept that they would like to explore on a larger scale, and in return create a piece of art focusing on that concept.  Some of the concepts that were chosen by students included nature, identity, time, uncertainty, and relationships.  Students then each chose an old book that would relate well to their chosen concept.  Some students chose the books based upon their titles, others chose the books based upon of the look and shape of them.  Students then went to work producing thumbnail sketches of their ideas and how to incorporate their concept into their book sculpture.  Students wrote artistic statements to complete their piece and describe their thought processes behind their concept.  Below are some examples of what the 8th grade students created for this assignment.

 



Clay Storybook Goblets

During the Three-Dimensional Design unit of study, students in grades 6 and 7 were challenged to create a clay vessel that connected to some kind of storybook or fairytale.  Students studied the parts of a story and investigated different types of books that they could possibly use for their assignment.  After they had selected their story, students were asked to create a goblet that rendered information about that story in an interesting composition.  They were asked to use obvious facts of the story but to dig deep into the story's meaning and the way it was told.  Students learned about 3-D design as well as clay terminology and vocabulary to successfully speak and create artistic statements about their pieces.  Students first created drawings of their designs and then worked with clay to complete their piece.  After the clay was fired, students painted and added found objects to complete their design.  Here are some examples of what the students created.

"The Giving Tree"

 

 "Alice in Wonderland"

"Pinocchio"

"The Hungry Caterpillar"

"The Cat and the Hat"

"Treasure Island"

"Finding Nemo"

 



Summer Time Still Life

Students focused on value and composition for this still life of different summer time objects. Students were required to draw at least five objects within the still life, have 5-7 value changes, and have at least two objects going off the page. This is what 6th and 7th graders came up with.

Sandsculpting Competition 2014

Students in the Visual Arts Program participated in the annual Neptune Festival sandsculpting competition again this year.  The theme was Dr. Seuss, and students created a scultpure based on the theme.  Students created a book, with the cut down truffola trees on top and even one cut down on the side.  They placed rocks around the center tree to also symbolize happenings within the book as well. They then wrote part of the popular quote from "The Loraz," 'Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.' 

Our amazing students won first place again this year in the middle school divison!

 

Surrealist Handscapes

Students in this 2-D unit lesson focused on the anatomy of the human hands.  With discussion of Surrealism and surrealist artists, students created surrealist landscapes using their hands as the main focal point.  Students studying the anatomy of the hand included them in their surreal landscape making the hands the main subject of their piece.  This assignment helped students think outside the box and into a dream-like state.  Students very much loved learning about surrealism and the bizarre quality of work produced during that period of time.

With this assignment, the focus was on the anatomy of the hands, proportion, using surrealist qualities within their art, and using value or tonal shading.  Here are some of the landscapes that the 6th, 7th and 8th graders came up with.