6th Grade Project: Printmaking - First Edition

Students now begin the process of working with using their print blocks in creating a design.  These designs will not be limited to their own prints or to a single image, so practice begins on newspaper as students strive for 'clean' prints. 

The printing process is one which has many aspects.  The overall design will incorporate their own images, other students images, partial images, masking, and touching up a print.  This process is one that the students will approach one step at a time.   

As designs are made, the students continue with their work until their design is large enough to move to the full size sheet for their first edition final.

So once printed these first edition prints are then sketched out in the student's sketchbook to move into the next section of our printing unit.  Sketches are then colored using color pencils, this gives students an idea of what colors they will use in their hand painted print.

Next: The Second Edition.

Return to The Print Block.

5th Grade Project: Chinese Dragons

The 5th Grade have been working on their Chinese Dragons.  We started this project just after Chinese New Year ended.  Though once the project was announced the students really got excited.  5th Graders and Dragons are a good match I suppose.

We began work on our Dragons in our sketchbooks.  Students drew 4 Dragon heads, some of the students decided they needed 8 Dragon heads (remember they are excited).  Once the students settled on which head was to be their Dragon, we moved to our final project.

By transferring their images and outlining in black marker, students created a double-sided dragon.  Both sides are then painted with watercolor.

Once the head (page1), the body (page 2), and the tail (page 3) are completed, we then attach them.  First students must cut out and then join each segment of the dragon to the others.  Once it is all put together the dragon is 3 pages long and fully colored on both sides.

7th Grade Project: Depth Painting

The 7th Grade has begun their "Showing Depth" unit.  We spent the first month drawing four observation sketches that specifically showed a foreground, middle ground, and background.  

Once this was completed we moved to the next part of our unit, the Depth Painting.  This Depth Painting is taken from one of our sketches.  Once a sketch is chosen we enlarge the half-page sketch to a 15x11 page.

We then begin our watercolor work.  To use the watercolor effectively we begin lightly and then gradually work in our darker shades.

The students learn a lot about watercolor and how it is used in this project.  Some of the students worked too darkly too quick, though this was most likely an introduction to the medium for them.  As they continue in the depth unit we can focus on a more control of the watercolor. 

2nd Grade Project: Aztec Sun - Color Temperature

Warm and Cool Colors were the focus of our 2nd Graders study of the Aztec sun.  In this project we used the shape inspired by the Aztec sun to create pictures to be used in our color temperatures lesson.

Students began by drawing their own suns.  These suns needed to have a face, rays, and a background.

These three parts were divided down the center of the page by a curvy line.  On either side of this line students used different kinds of shapes to draw their sun: one side would be angular shapes while the other was rounded shapes.  After drawing and outlining were completed, students moved to coloring with pastels.

The students then colored with warm and cool colors on either side of our dividing line, alternating between warm and cool colors.

3rd Grade Project: Jasper Johns - Numbers

The 3rd Grade studied the works of Jasper Johns.  His artwork includes everyday items such as numbers or flags.  He famously drew his numbers over the top of each other to create new shape and unique divisions amongst his numbers.

Students drew their numbers, outlining them in crayon to resist the watercolors that we used later.

The results were wonderful.  The 3rd Grade really did a nice job with the concept of the overlapping numbers and the new shapes that were created.  

1st Grade Project: Paul Klee - Name Pages

The 1st Grade continued their study of Paul Klee.  In this project, students explored Klee's color techniques. We experimented with how colors looked beside each other.  The letters in our names became the canvas as we painted in the different sections of each letter.

This was a very fun project that yielded some extremely colorful results.  Students added symbols and also wrote things about themselves in their pieces.

Exodus 20:3-4 - The True God

There are many art projects that look back at historical pieces and take their inspiration from imagery that has meaning beyond just what is seen.  For example our 2nd graders have a project that uses the Aztec sun stone image.  This image is very popular, especially in younger art classrooms.  The purpose of this sun stone remains unclear though theories range from that it is a depiction of some deity to the stone itself was the surface used in gladiatorial sacrifices.

Exodus 20:3-4 reads:

3 Do not put any other gods in place of me.

4 Do not make statues of gods that look like anything in the sky or on the earth or in the waters.

When doing this project we look back at what the art was made for.  This is done so that we can look back at the origins of art and the truth of its meanings.  The sun is beautiful and it is easy to understand the majesty that inspired the Aztecs to look upon it with such reverence; but by no means do the 2nd graders now think that it is a god - nor should they.

To look at the sun, we can see God's creative hand.  We can also see this same creativity when we look at the moon, the stars, the ocean, the mountains, etc.  All of creation speaks to the works of His mighty hand.

There is one God, and he alone is worthy. 

2nd Grade Project: Piet Mondrian - Mondrian's Trees

In this project, we continued our exploration of the work of Piet Mondrian.  We focused on his beautiful trees.  We then took the lines of his trees and applied them to the strict color divisions of this Neoplasticism.
The results are these beautifully framed organic silhouettes pierced by color.

As you can see we began with a black tempera paint, this tempera paint as used to outline the trees we had drawn with our pencils.  The students were asked to take the limbs all the way to the edge of the paper to create walled off sections for each color.

The next step was to add the color.  Students chose the shapes of their trees and the colors that shone through the limbs.

5th Grade Project: Impressionism - Watercolor 2: Washes

As part of their work in watercolor the 5th grade tried different styles of washes.  They experienced wet paper and dry paper, as well as wet brush and dry brush.  These showed the students the very different results and how much water can effect the final product.

To help the students with their control of the media, they traced circles into each of the four sections of their paper.  They then applied their wash outside the circle first.  As they finished the area outside of the circles, they moved onto the next section to let the first dry.  This they repeated until the outside sections were all finished.  Once the outsides were all complete the students returned to the inner-circle sections of their chart.
They would then duplicate the wash inside the circle; paying particular attention to not letting their new paint mix with their older paint.

Exodus 25-31 & 35-39 - Diligence & Craftsmanship

In Exodus chapters 25-31, the Lord gives His instructions for the construction of the sanctuary and the priestly garments.  Then in chapters 35-39 Bezalel and Oholiab are tasked by Moses to complete these constructions.  

For five chapters God gave explicit instructions, here is a small excerpt:
Exodus 25:23-26
23 “You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits [y]long and one cubit [z]wide and one and a half cubits [aa]high. 24 You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a gold border around it. 25 You shall make for it a rim of a handbreadth around it; and you shall make a gold border for the rim around it. 26 You shall make four gold rings for it and put rings on the four corners which are on its four feet. 

Bezalel and Oholiab worked on this construction from Exodus 35 through Exodus 39.  Then at the end of chapter 39 in verse 43 we see the result:
43 And Moses [ak]examined all the work and behold, they had done it; just as the Lord had commanded, this they had done. So Moses blessed them.

Moses blessed them.  

What they had done pleased the Lord.  They had been given a task which they completed to the best of their abilities, abilities given to them by God.  We can all please the Lord in this way, we can work to the best of our abilities, this often takes effort and care, we can see this well in the example of Bezalel and Oholiab.