Dia De Los Muertos Scratch Art

Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a ritual that is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States, including Arizona!! It occurs around the same time as Halloween but is completely separate. During this Holiday, family and friends of the deceased celebrate their life. Instead of fearing death, they embrace it. Today, people decorate wooden skulls masks called Calacas and dance in honor of the deceased relatives. Sugar Skulls are also made and eaten by a relative or friend. The decorations from this ritual are bright and often glittery, so I encourage my students to do the same. The first step to this project is to draw a skull (BIG) on thick white paper with pencil. Remind students to draw big but bot too much detail, because it is hard to get in those little spaces with the oil pastels. Next, we use a black oil pastel to outline the image and features on the skull. Next, students are asked to color EVERYTHING, and to really press hard. They must color everything and press hard because afterwards, they will paint over it with black tempera paint and if there is paper showing or they did not press hard enough, the paint will stick to the paper and not scratch off. After they are finished coloring, they can paint over their picture with black tempera paint and when it is dry they can begin to scratch it off to leave a cool effect. they can choose to scratch off in a pattern or the whole thing!!!

Warm and Cool Instruments

This project is great to integrate the arts. Herrera is an art school, so many of the students who are in art are also in band or orchestra. I encourage student to draw thier own instruments that they actually play. We start by drawing the instrument in pencil first. They are asked to make the instrument BIG and asked to draw it off the page to create more interest. Next they outline it with black crayon. Next, students use a white crayon and draw lines and designs around paper. Next, they use sheet music and a glue stick to glue it to the artwork, making sure to glue all the edges well so it does not curl up when painted. The last step to this project is to paint the artwork using warm and cool colors. They can chose to paint thier instruments cool or warm but the background has to be opposite.

CityScape

Kinder's Night cityscape!!

I really enjoy doing this project with the kindergartners towards the beginning of the school year because it is a fun way to practice really simple cutting and pasting skills (and they turn out really cute!!!) I started with a black paper, paint brush and and silver paint and we painted stars and a moon in the sky. This could have also been done with a white crayon too! Next, students are given rectangles of different sizes and I ask them to OVERLAP them on the bottom of the paper and glue them on with a small amount of glue. next i give them strips of yellow paper and they are to cut them into squares and glue them onto the buildings. I have them only use one dot of glue on each square and have the repeat after me, "a dot is a lot!!!!!"

Perspecitve City

Junior High students learned about one point perspective in this lesson. First, they used pencils and rulers to create the vanishing point, horizon line, the basic outline of the street and the buildings. Next, they were asked to think creatively and add store names or designs to the city. Students were given the choice of using colored pencils or watercolor pencils for this project. The last step to this project, which was optional, was to use a thin black marker to outline and clean up some of the lines.

Spooky Landscape Silhouettes

This was a really fun project for the 3rd and 4th graders. We learned about landscapes and silhouettes!! they really had fun drawing the spooky houses and some of them really got creative about what to put in their landscapes!!! the first step was to draw a spooky landscape with a black crayon or oil pastel. Then, they colored everything in black, except for the sky and anything that may have a light (like the windows, candles, moon, and inside the faces of the pumpkin or tree). Next, they colored the lights with yellow. And lastly, they chose two colors for the sky from watercolor paints.

Also, I had one of those AWESOME teacher moments while I was doing cafeteria duty. I was walking around the cafeteria when i saw one of my 3rd grade students raising his hands wildly, so excited!!! He was so excited to show me what his mom had packed in his lunch that day. When he showed me the Cheeto's bag I was confused... and he said, "Look, it has a landscape silhouette, just like our art project!!!" He gave it to me, when he was finished of course, so that I could show it to my other classes!! (picture of the bag below)

Spider Web Resist

This project is great for the fall. Students started with a white oil pastel and drew the web (with instruction). Next, students used watercolor paints to paint behind the web. They can paint over the white web because the oil in the pastel creates a resist for the paint. Ans lastly the students are given 8 legs to accordion fold and one piece of paper to cut a circle. When they have finshed glueing them all together, they can draw on a face!!!

Halloween Handprints

Kinder students really enjoyed creating these cute black cats. Parents love them too!!!! I drew the face shape for them and they improved their cutting skills by cutting the head out. The students used a white colored pencil to draw the face on the cat.

Andy Warhol Soup Cans

3rd and 4th graders Studied the artist ANDY WARHOL!! We looked at many examples of his famous Campbell's Soup Cans. Next students studied shape vs. form and learned how to draw a cylinder. Next, each student received a piece of white paper and was asked to fold it in half. On one side they drew a their favorite real soup can. On the other side they drew a silly soup can. Some students labeled their soup gross things like " brain and cheese" or "booger and spinach," and some students just put silly flavors like "twizzlers and lime." After students were finished, I hung them up in the hall in rows just like Andy Warhol.