Pop Art Hamburgers

Remember this jingle? Man, does it stick in your head!  My 3rd grade students are starting a collage project where they will be designing the most mouth watering hamburger that they can imagine. What better way to kick off the lesson that with this!

On day one, students made printed paper for them to later cut and use for the fixings.  It was so much fun brainstorming what they would like to put on their burger. . . From the ordinary, cheese, ketchup, and lettuce to the extremist, guacamole, siracha sauce and even anchovies!

 

While the printed papers were drying, students practiced their weaving by making a Milton inspired place mat (red and white - Go Wildcats!).  Once this was in place, the group was ready to collage!  Students were given the task to design a mouth watering burger making sure they overlapped each layer ensuring no gaps and deliciousness in every bite.

The final results are quite extraordinary!

Apple Advertisement

 

Fall is in the air and what better way to celebrate the change of season then by making some apple stampin' art.  Students observed some different colored apples, green, red, and yellow, and noticed how some apples had streaking of multiple colors.  We then cut some apples in half and began stamping away.  

While the paintings were drying, we began to talk about texture and  how we can notice texture both by touch and with sight.  I gave the class some cardboard and we made a textured background for our project by rubbing the cardboard behind the paper.  Next, we took the same cardboard and ripped the to layer of paper off to create a texture of a basket and glued it down to the project to make a still life.

The next week it was time to put all the pieces together.  The apples needed to be cut and then assembled into the basket.  The final touch was stamping the word APPLE on the top to resemble a fruit box advertisement.  Aren't these pictures delicious!

New England Landscapes

Having grown up in New England, nothing is as breathtaking as the leaves turning.  This year, the colors are particularly vibrant and make for such beautiful landscapes.  The Vermont artist, Sabra Fields, has captured this changing of the seasons in her works of art.

Light Suite by, Sabra Fields

Day one began with 5th grade students observing Field's art works.   We discussed her use of color, line and perspective.  We then began our landscapes by drawing four land forms and perspective embellishments.

Land form #1

Land for #2

Land form #3

Land form #4

Perspective details: Curved lines for the field, a road traveling off in the distance and some shrubs

On day two, we took out the paint!  Students began by painting in the sky followed by the clusters of green trees or shrubs.

From there, we had a conversation about fall colors and color mixing.  I gave students red, yellow, brown and green to use as they filled in their landscapes.  I asked that they keep each land form one color, but how they painted in their land forms, was their choice.  The results are spectacular!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

The kindergarten students in Mrs. Brandi's class made these awesome Chicka Chicka Boom Boom pictures.  After I read aloud the book by Bill MartinJr. and John Archambault, the class identified key elements to the illustrations: an orange background, a coconut tree and lots of letters.  From there, we got right to work and began color mixing.  We talked about primary colors and how mixing yellow with red will result in orange.  We put this to the test and used great BIG brush strokes to cover the background of their artwork.

On day two, we had a gluing lesson and began to stick down all the parts of our coconut tree.  We began with the bright purple boarder around the paper which really framed the composition.  Then we  practiced our cutting skills but cutting a brown rectangle into two equal parts to stretch the coconut tree up the paper.  Then we made zig-zag lines along green paper to make the design of the palm leaves.  We also added the coconuts and sun to the picture,  Last, we stamped our letters going up the coconut tree.  What fun!

Fall Birch Trees

This lesson incorporated abstract art and pointillism.  Students looked at images from artist, George Seurat, and discussed his technique of using tiny dots of color to create his paintings.  I asked the students to use a similar technique while making the foreground of their pictures with oil pastels.  After we laid down our masking tape trees, we pulled out fall colors from the boxes of oil pastels.  We used reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and greens, and began making tiny motions to full in the ground with dots as if all the leaves had fallen off the trees.  To get the "smudged" appearance, students used baby oil with q-tips to blend all the colors.

Step #1 - Laying down the tape trees

Step #2 - Adding a pointillism style foreground.
Half of the picture has been "smudged" with baby oil and the other half has not.
Can you tell the difference?

After completing the foreground, students then worked on the sky.  Dramatic skies were the focus, making sure to incorporate more than one color.  We looked at images of dramatic sun sets and stormy skies to help with their ideas.  We used watercolors to paint in the skies and I love how each have a different personality.

Apple Still Life

First grade students embarked on a still life project which began with tempera paint and color mixing.  Students shared how apples come in many different sizes and colors - red, yellow, green and often a combination of two or all three of these colors can appear on an apple.

Each student traced an apple template onto their paper to help make fill the paper.

Next, came the paint!  Students explored using two colors while painting and letting the brush blend the colors right on the paper instead of mixing paint at their tables first.

Day two was all about collage making!  Student set up the background of their artwork by gluing a large rectangle for a table, a piece of burlap for either a sac or basket, and then students were ready for their apples.  Each student then cut out their three apples and placed them on top of the burlap.  We then jazzed them up by adding leaves and stems.  The finished products are delicious!

Glue and Pastel Self-Portrait

Third grade students made these gorgeous self-portraits using pencil, glue, and pastels. Upon listening to the book Two Eyes, A Nose, and a Mouth by, Roberta Intrater, they made a list of key features to include in their portrait. They drew their faces with pencil and then outlined the drawing in glue. Once dried, the glue made a raised boarder to help make definition for the face. Students then colored in their pictures with pastels and dabbled with blending techniques.

Here's a peek at the pastel process.  Very stunning and realistic results from this crew :)

Come back soon to see the finished results!

Texture Apples

Kindergarten students are creating texture apples to decorate the art room.  As a class, we discussed the word texture and touched a variety of different materials to deepen our understanding of the word.  We gathered a sampling of different red papers, fabrics, and odd recycled goods to fill out collage apples with.

After our texture discussion, students went back to their groups and used an apple template to trace an apple shape on their paper.  Teamwork was emphasized so that one peer held the template down while the other student was tracing.  Once all students traced an apple on their paper, I demonstrated how to operate a glue stick.  Too much turning of the dial leads to a stick mess, fast.  We learned that you only need a small amount of glue and to only turn the dial when necessary.

Love these textures: rough, smooth, rubbery

Glue sticks in action!

Day two was all about embellishing these texture collage apples.  Students began by adding more texture to their apples and review gluing techniques.  Next, students used crayons to color in the empty white spaces inside their apples to add another layer of color to the stems and leaves.  Students used markers to trace and outline their apples using red for the fruit, brown for the stem, and green for the leaves.  The final step was practicing cutting skills by reviewing how to properly hold and operate scissors.  These kindergarten students did a WONDERFUL job!!!

Just look at how beautiful this texture tree came out!!