Instructional Posters!

First of all, let me just say, that I am NOT a photographer. I HATE trying to get my stupid pictures to crop right. I just CAN'T do it, and no matter how hard I try to do it, something ends up getting cut off. It's VERY annoying. Second of all, let me just say, that I hate when grocery stores run out of white posterboard. That's also VERY annoying. Third, let me just say that I tried for OVER an hour to get my Picasso poster to crop correctly. I don't want to deal with it anymore, and am very frustrated with cropping it. So...oh well. Overall, I loved this class, I just wish my stupid pictures would crop nicely!!

3 Gesture Drawings of Shoe

We finally got to use our black conte crayons this week to draw 3 different gesture drawings of our shoe. It was really fun to get to use this technique. I've never used charcoal before, and it was definitely a memorable experience.

Self Portraits

So we had to draw three different pictures of ourselves. 1- The way we think we look. 2- The way we look in a photo graph, and 3- Our grid pictures. This project was really challenging for me (not the first two ways, the grid pictures). At first, I thought it was really hard, but once I understood that the different lines were just shapes, it turned out really well, and was fun. :)

African Masks

This project was SOOO much fun! I seriously loved it! I decided to use the milk jug handle as a combination nose/mouth, but clipped it in the middle so you could distinguish between nose and mouth. This was a super fun project, and one that I thought turned out so good! :)I loved how we had to tape the front of it with masking tape, and loved the effect of the tape and the shoe polish. Really awesome project, and one that I am definitely putting in my art file! :)

Batik

The Batik was really challenging for me. I used the alum paste in a condiment bottle, but for some reason, it didn't turn out very well. I wanted to do thicker lines, and try and show some movement, but it was really challenging. I used lots of different colors, and I went into it with really high expectations, because of the images I had seen online. :( Mine is nowhere NEAR as cool as all of those ones. Oh well. I think it still looks pretty cool, but not how I wanted it.

Google SketchUp...not my fave!

Hmm...I really did NOT like this project! And it didn't turn out very good, either. Blah.

Art Practicum Reflection

I work in a school. I seriously love my job so much already, I knew that this assignment was going to be a breeze. I already know how to deal with kids and their behavior issues. I know how to run the teacher's smartboards...I enter scores for them in the computer, and I've taught dozens of little mini-lessons. So, going into this project, I had relatively high expectations, and I'm happy to report, for the most part, that the kids rose to my expectations. This was a good thing, because I did not want to have to lower my expectations. So, I did a Pablo Picasso head lesson plan, but I simplified it. First, I showed them a slideshow I had put together that showed Picasso's work, and gave some Art terms. We had a class discussion about Art, and if Picasso's work was Art. Next, I had them critique a few pictures, and tell me what they liked/disliked about the picture. After that, I handed each student 2 pieces of paper. On the first piece of paper, they were to draw a shape. It could be any shape: circle, square, triangle, or a made-up shape. They drew a line of symmetry down the middle of the shape. Next, they folded their second piece of paper in half hamburger-style. On the top half of the paper, I had them draw their face shapes- eyes, nose, mouth, etc. On the bottom half, I had them draw 3-4 patterns. Next, I explained the process of moving the patterns onto their face shape. I wish I had a better way to teach this, because we struggled with this part in all three classes... Anyway, next, I had them draw and color their patterns into their face shapes. Next, we cut out the face shapes. I then explained about dividing the face into sections. Each section had to be a different color. After they were done coloring, we glued the face shapes onto their head, and added hair. All-in-all, I think it went really well. Because I've had so much experience in the school system, this went fairly easy for me. :) There were a few kinks that had to be worked out, and I modified this lesson as we went along, but over all, a very good lesson, and a very positive experience.