A Folk Art Fall

A Folk Art Fall

Reason for Lesson:  To show the students how common shapes can be used to create real life scenes.  Additionally, how using a variety of patterned paper in a collage technique can add texture to the piece.  This lesson introduces two of the Principles of Art:  Pattern and Texture.  Through the use of differing patterns we can create the “feel” of an object, whether smooth, rough, soft, etc.  This texture may be actual or implied.

Class Time:  1 and ½  hours

Materials:  8 ½ x 11 white construction paper, pencils, oil pastels, variety of patterned scrapbook paper and glue.

Prep Time:  15 minutes to gather supplies (kids can use on pencils and glue sticks from classroom)

Preparation prior to Lesson:  Familiarize yourself with Karla Gerard, a living artist with little biographical information online.  Photos of her work have been printed and are available in the Volunteer office.  Understand the principles of Pattern and texture as it relates to this artwork.  

Instructions to Lead Lesson:  Use living artist, Karla Gerard, as the inspiration.  We learn that Karla Gerard is a Folk Artist currently living in Maine.  She is a Folk artist who uses acrylics and oil pastels to create her pieces.  Warner Brothers Studios has purchased one of her paintings that will be hung in Superman's childhood home in the upcoming movie, Superman:  Man of Steel.  

Introduce the concept of using basic shapes to create real life subject matter; circles and ovals for trees, rectangles and squares for houses, etc. Use the pictures of Karla's artwork as your examples of these elements.  Introduce two of the Principles of Art: Pattern and Texture. Pattern is the repetition of design and Texture is defined as "the surface quality or "feel" of an object, its smoothness, roughness, softness etc. Textures may be actual or implied." The kids will be using different patterns (repetition of circles, triangles, lines, etc) to create the "feel" of an object, in this instance they will be using the patterned scrapbook paper to accomplish this. In this art lesson it is more of an implied texture of the trees, ground and sky.  

For time considerations have the kids choose a portion of one of the examples of artwork to recreate and maybe draw it on a larger scale. And by using the scrapbook paper, either torn or cut, to be applied as the houses, trees, bushes, etc.  They will begin by drawing with a pencil to create the background. Using common shapes to achieve their design and details. Once complete they can glue on their collage   pieces and use the oil pastels to add color to their artwork. 

Credit:  Karla Gerard

Spooky and Sparkly - Lines of Nan-ga Ink Painting seen in the works of Tanomura Chikuden

Spooky and Sparkly - Lines of Nan-ga Ink Painting seen in the works of Tanomura Chikuden

Tanomura Chikuden was a great Japanese painter of the Edo period. He is known for his depictions of nature.  

Early in life Tanomura planned to become a Confucian scholar, but he was also interested in painting, which he first studied under a local artist.  Later he went to Edo (now Tokyo), where he became a pupil of the bunjin-ga painter, Tani Buncho. The bunjin-ga (“literati painting”) style, also called Nan-ga, had originated in southern China and had a scholarly and literary base. He came to develop his own style, using gentle strokes and frequently achieving a somewhat melancholic effect. He painted mainly flowers, birds, and landscapes.  

Nanga "Southern painting", also known as Bunjinga literati painting", was a school of Japanese painting which flourished in the late Edo period among artists who considered themselves literati, or intellectuals.  While each of these artists was, almost by definition, unique and independent, they all shared an admiration  for traditional Chinese culture. Their paintings, usually in monochrome black ink, sometimes with light color, and nearly always depicting Chinese landscapes or similar subjects.

MEDIUM: White Paper and Black Ink

REASON FOR THE LESSON: The element of Art that is explored in this lesson is the different organic paths that lines can take.

PREP TIME: 30 MINUTES

MATERIALS:   white paper, black paper, black ink, straw, q-tips, salt, rhinestones, glue stick, and water.

INSTRUCTIONS TO LEAD LESSON:
1. Read the history of Tanomura Chikuden and the Nan-ga style of painting.

2. Show samples of his work and discuss the feelings that his paintings evoke, colors and objects in his artwork.

3. Each student receives the following supplies: -White paper, black paper Rhinestones, Q-Tips, and a Straw.

4. Ask the children to glue their larger white paper to the black paper

5. Art instructor then puts 3-5 drops of ink on the lower 1/3 center of the white paper
and instructs children to blow through the straw to create the branches for their
tree. Talk about how crooked the lines are.Instruct the children to blow the main branches first and then turn the paper to blow the smaller branches from different angles. 

6. Once they have completed their branches, and working quickly before the ink dries, have them dip a q-tip in water and begin pulling down the ink to create the trunk of the tree and then in the water again to make the hillside. 

TIP: Start working in short fluid strokes from the bulk of the ink to thicken the tree trunk. Once the trunk is complete, use more water on the q-tip to pull the ink to the outside to create the hillside.

7. Next, have the children glue on the rhinestones to the sky and title their artwork.

8. Lastly, have the students bring their art to the teacher and they will dust it with salt
which resembles snow. This should be done over a garbage can and then set aside to dry.

CREDIT:
This lesson and project was created by Tamra Brannon

FACES of the Winter Extravaganza!!!

Title of Lesson:  FACES of the Winter Extravaganza

Grades: 1^st - 6th

Teacher: ALL

Reason for Lesson:  This is an opportunity to teach each student 1^st - 6th grade how to draw facial features…eyes, nose, mouth.  These faces will hang in the gym during the Winter Extravaganza. 

Class Time: 1 – 1.25 hours

Materials:  8 ½ x 11 (paper provided by docents). Students use their own scissors, pencils, erasers, stick glue and coloring pencils.

Instructions to Lead Lesson: 

Explain to students that this lesson will take the place of the traditions squares that we’ve done for the last 5 years at PV.   Encourage the students to do their best work because their ‘art’ will hang in the gym (for all to see) during the Winter Extravaganza.

1^st – 6th: Provide each student with a pre-printed oval shape on 8 1/2 x 11 paper with small dots located as a ‘jump off’ point for the facial features.

Choice of Paper for the FACES (see below)

STEP 1: *IMPORTANT* Have each student write their NAME, GRADE and TEACHER NAME on the back of the face.

STEP 2: Using pencils, take the students step-by-step through drawing *soft eyes,

Pre-printed dots for the location of the eyes and start of the nose and mouth.

Using *soft pencil,  draw the pupils

Then the iris'

Locate four points that are on the same plane as each other.  These are the corner of the eyes.

Draw across the iris then erase the pencil marks that are outside the shape of the eye.  For the lower grades I'd recommend drawing the pupil first. Then make the four dots on the same plane and make the shape of the eye then add the iris.  Reversing these steps will minimize the amount of erasing that is necessary for the younger students.

Add eye lashes

ADD Eyebrows.  Here I showed the students different ways to create an eyebrow.  Theirs should match of course!

NOSE: Add *soft nose by making a U shape at the dot as shown here.

Add small upside down 'c's on each side of the 'U'

From there, finish the nose all the way to the bridge

MOUTH: Using the dot as the starting point make a large 'U' shape for a smile.

Close the top and bottom with a half circle on top and on the bottom.

If you want teeth to show,  draw another line just above the first 'U' shape.

Add the small 'U' shape of the upper lip, erasing any pencil marks.

Add teeth and erase any 'extra' unnecessary lines.

*soft is another way of saying ‘press lightly’ using pencil so that pencil marks can be erased later.

STEP 3: Have the students cut out faces.

Color all the features of the face.  Despite the fact that we give students the option of skin color from the card stock they still want to color the faces.  I would consider this an option but really not necessary.  Have the students focus on the features, adding freckles, glasses, etc.

STEP 4: Templates are provided for cutting out hair. 

Large sheets are provided for girls that would like long hair.  Explain that the templates are for tracing however if they would like to make hair shorter then they can ‘cut’ the paper shorter. It’s important to emphasis the CONSERVATION of paper.  Only use what they need, returning any extra paper to the pile to use again by other classes.

STEP 5: Have the students ‘glue’ their hair to their head then they’re done! Consider using Elmer's glue over a stick glue.  Depending on the glue stick, it may not allow for a strong adhesion. I found, although there is some warping with the Elmer's glue it does go away after it dries. 

STEP 6: If there is enough time then the students can ‘color’ their hair or add curls using a pencil to wrap ends.

Understanding the Colors of Paul Klee

MEDIUM:  Watercolor and Ink

REASON FOR THE LESSON: The element of Art that is explored in

this lesson is the use of color through blending and layering.

PREP TIME: 30 min

MATERIALS: Watercolor Paper, White Crayon, Watercolor Paint,

Black Ink Pens, Paint Brushes and Cotton Balls.

INSTRUCTIONS TO LEAD LESSON:

1. Read the history of Paul Klee and the summary of his career.

2. Show samples of his work and discuss the feelings that his

paintings evoke, colors and objects in his artwork.

3. Each student receives one piece of watercolor paper.

4. Instruct the students to draw a world they have never been

to before (as Klee often did) with the white crayon. The children

unable to really see what it is they are drawing pushing them

will be

to use their imagination and trust their instincts of what they see in

their mind. Reiterate that there is no wrong way to do this project!

5. Have the students then begin painting with watercolors over

the crayon drawings. Encourage the blending and smearing of colors

to make new colors as their “secret world” appears through the paint.

6. Then have the students sign their artwork in black ink.

CREDIT:  This lesson and project was created by Tamra Brannon

Op Art Blobs

Op Art Blobs

Reason for Lesson:  Teaching the Principles of Art, rhythm and movement and using the Elements of Art, lines and color to create Op Art.  The regular repetition (rhythm) of the lines produces the look and feel of movement.  Additionally, when shading is used (darker on the outside edges and light in the middle) we see the lines become 3 dimensional and appear to move across the paper.  

Class Time:  1  hour to 1 and ½ hour (by decreasing the size of the paper you can decrease the art time if necessary).

Materials:  White construction paper, pencils, and colored pencils.

Prep Time:  15 minutes

Prep Prior to Lesson:  Can use the power point from Mrs Brown Art - Op Art Shading Blobs.  Familiarize yourself with Op (Optical) Art.  Optical illusion- when something plays tricks on your eyes.  Op art is artwork that plays tricks on the viewer's eyes.  Get to know two well known artists:  M.C. Escher and Bridget Riley (prints have been made of some of their artwork for example).

Instructions to Lead Lesson:

Introduce “Op” Art and its ties to optical illusion.  Introduce the artists Escher and Riley, displaying and talking about the dynamics of their artwork.  

Start by drawing a curved line across the middle of the width of the paper.  Emphasizing the line as “a rolling hill and not a roller coaster” stretching from one side to the other.

Place eight dots randomly on the line, with the outside dots being near the edge of the paper.  (If you are using a smaller piece of paper you should use six dots instead of the eight).

Now it is time to connect the dots with bumps.  The dots close to the edge of the paper will go off the edge to an imaginary dot.  Continue connecting the dots using bumps until the paper is filled, eventually the lines will go off the top and bottom of the paper.

 Choose a group of colored pencils that you'd like to use.  Randomly color each section of your blob, pushing harder at the corners of each section and then lighter and lighter as you get to the middle.  This is the most time consuming part of the lesson.  It is possible to leave some of the sections white or even a whole column “undone” and still be able to see the effects of the lines and shading.  

Credit:  Mrs. Brown Art and The Virtual Instructor

Shaping Up Organically

Shaping Up Organically

Medium:  Water based markers

Reason for Lesson:  This lesson is to teach of geometric shapes in art 

Prep Time:  15mins

Class Time:  Day 1: (1-hour instruction/project time) The docent will discuss 4 theories of Shape Art, including: Minimalism, Cubism, Optical Art, and Supermatism (which is our art... gone organic :) .  Then discuss the assignment.  Students will trace shapes using pencil, then color with water based markers, then float small puddles of water around picture, let dry overnight.  

Day 2:  (20-30 minutes) will require either the docent to revisit the class or teacher involvement to finish.  Students will trace around watermarks on picture.

Materials:  Water based Markers, White Construction Paper, Pencil, Shape Stencils, Water, Ultra Fine Sharpie

Helpful Art Definitions:

Minimalism - A style of art that is super simple!

Cubism - A style that uses flat shapes to create a representation, often not concerned with making it look three dimensional. 

Optical Art- Sometimes called "Op art" and refers to artwork that tries to "trick" your eye, or create an optical illusion.

Supermatism- Art that uses super simple shapes. It was named "Supermatism" because the original artists using this technique thought it would Superior to all other art styles

Instructions to Lead Lesson:

DAY 1:

Step 1:  Review Shapes with Students.  There are many theories of Shape; we will discuss four:  Minimalism, Cubism, Optical Art, and Supermatism (which is our art... gone organic :)

Step 2: Before beginning project, have Students write their name on the back of paper.

Step 3: Place shapes randomly on paper.  Shapes should overlap to create interest.  Trace using pencil.

Step 4:  Fill in Shapes using water based markers.

Step 5:  Now for turning shapes into organic works of art!...Using a small amount of water, dribble small drops/puddles onto shapes and float water side to side on paper. 

Float water back and forth...

Side to Side...  Do NOT over saturate!!!  Just use small puddles.

 Allow to dry COMPLETELY...Overnight is recommended.

DAY 2:

Using Ultra Fine Sharpie Marker, trace watermarks and around shapes. 

Credit for this project goes to Art Projects for Kids