Lichtenstein portraits!

7th graders studied the artwork of Roy Lichtenstein! We learned about Ben day dots and why most comics used primary colors. Thier assignment was to crate a portrait (cartoon, self or friend) in the style of Lichtenstein! 

Van Gogh flowers

6th graders learned all about Van Gogh! We learned about how he shows visible brush strokes, which is very different from other artists that we've learned about in the past, like Leonardo da Vinci.  We used oil pastels and white tempera paint to recreate the look of van highs brush strokes. Students were asked to draw flowers of the seasons in the style of Vincent Van Gogh!! 

If Picasso drew...

7th graders learned about Picasso this quarter! We put a spin on our Picasso project by having the students recreate a character from a show/movie that they like, but instead of drawing it the same, we drew it as if Picasso drew it!!! I think they had fun recreating these familiar images!! We also worked on craftsmanship with colored pencil by coloring so you could not see the direction lines (using even pressure).

Give them a HAND!!!

6th graders studied Michelangelo. Most of the students had heard of Michelangelo, well... OK, I admit, they had heard of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.  Students were really excited to learn that all of the Ninja turtles were named after famous artists.  After discussing turtles, we were ready to talk about the artist.  Before we began this project we spent one class talking about the Sistine Chapel and how Michelangelo spent 4 years painting on the ceiling.  Students then taped paper under our tables and drew a fall picture.  The objective of this assignment is not the product, but the process.  Students can appreciate Michelangelo's artwork more because of this experience.

We continued our discussion of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the most famous part, the hands!!! We practiced drawing hands for two whole classes before we began our final project.  Students were asked to draw their hands in two different positions.  While drawing their hands, students were asked to hold a piece of string to wrap and hold which helps create real positions as well as keep the hand still.  They were allowed to chose one word that had meaning (except their name) to put in the middle.  Hands are one of the most difficult things to draw and these student rocked them!!! 

WHOA!! OP ART

 7th Graders learned about OP ART this past week and we studied the artwork of Vasarely, Bridget Riley and MC Escher.  We looked at art that made us say WHOA!!! Op art is based off of artwork that contains optical illusions. Op art creates movement through these optical illusions. Many times it contains artwork that is 2-D but made to look 3-D.  After watching our presentation ( http://prezi.com/fbunjtl9ans1/op-art/ ), we discussed different op art designs and students chose one that they wanted to create.  During this assignment, craftsmanship is very important because a wrong line, wrong color, or visible pencil lines can really disrupt the illusions. Great Job students!!

This is so SURREAL!!

Surrealism is an art movement that included paintings and movies from the 1920's. Surrealists wanted to step away from rational thought.  Many paintings look like dreams or nightmares.  They use recognizable objects in unnatural ways. The most famous surreal artist is Salvador Dali (melting clocks on the right). SMS seventh graders used magazines to collage recognizable objects into a landscape that is just a bit odd.  SO SURREAL!!