2013: Silhouettes in the Sky

6th grade students created a mixed media art project that focused on a famous landmark. Students learned about warm, cool, complementary, and monochromatic color schemes and chose one to be the background for their project. They used the bleeding tissue paper technique to paint the sky on 12x 18 in watercolor paper.

Next, students chose a famous landmark (I provided photos of 30 different landmarks) and they drew the contour edge of the landmark on white 12 x18 drawing paper. They divided the paper into thirds and learned how to create asymmetrical symmetry by using the Rule of Thirds. Their goal was to draw the silhouette of the landmark large and located where a set of grid lines crossed. This step was a rough draft and I encouraged students not to Erase lines if they made a mistake.

 

 

Next students used an exacto knife to cut out the silhouette. This became a stencil to trace on black construction paper.  Students then cut out the black construction paper with an exacto knife. (Students are required to take a safety quiz before they're allowed to use the exacto knives).

 



 

 

Finally, students used rubber cement to glue down the the black silhouette on their painted sky.

 



 

2012 Mixed Media Snowflakes

Part of our 6th Grade curriculum is that we teach a mixed media project. I had this group second quarter before Christmas break and wanted to focus on snowflakes. I found a great video clip of Wilson Bentley on youtube and introduced his photography to the class. I then compared  his original photographs to that of the scientist Kenneth Libbrecht and showed them a video clip on youtube about his high tech images of snowflakes. Students looked at printed images of both photographers and studied the structure of a snowflake. This was the foundation of our art project.

First students drew a symmetrical snowflake with 6 stems. I provided a hexagon for them to trace as the central point. They used rulers to draw the axis lines that went through the corners of the hexagon. The requirements were that they had to draw at least 6 different shapes along the stem of the snowflake. I then gave the students tracing paper and they traced the one stem and copied it onto the remaining 5 stems so that their snowflake was completely symmetrical.

After the students drew these snowflakes they were given 12x 18 watercolor paper and we used light tables to trace their snowflake drawing onto the watercolor paper. The kids then outlined their snowflake with sharpie. Next the students water colored their background around the sharpie snowflake. I taught the kids 8 different watercolor techniques and they were required to use cool colors so the projects looked more like winter. I had them outline their snowflakes with white crayon to resist the paint and they spent one class period watercoloring.

Next I taught the kids about the art of Kirigami and provided numerous kirigami snowflake patterns for them to draw from. The kids were required to make one kirigami snowflake from white paper and one from magazine. After these were cut out they used mod podge to glue their snowflakes on the watercolor paper. I had them paint a layer of mod podge over the entire project to give it a shiny surface. The kids really liked this project and the final results were wonderful. This is a great winter project!

2013 Group Mural: Walking the Line

I saw this idea on pinterest and had my 6th graders create a Walking Line Mural. We had a couple of days were class was 30 minutes due to state testing and that just isn't enough time to work on big projects. To organize the mural I had the students make a single file line with a pencil in their hand. I gave each student a piece a white watercolor paper. The first student was directed draw a squiggly line that went all the way across their paper. The second student had to connect their line to the end of the first one. The students were directed to write their name and their number on the back of their paper so I could display them in order. Each student connected their line to the previous line until every kid had drawn a portion of the mural.

The students were directed to paint their line with 3 different watercolors making it bright and bold. In the white space around the colored line they were instructed to use pencil and divide their space into 10 sections. Each section then had a unique line design drawn in so all 10 spaces looked different. Lastly the students outlined their pencil in sharpie.  This was a simple 2 day project and the kids were excited to see their mural on display and I liked that my white walls looked more creative.

Op Art Cube (2012)

My 6th Grade students learned about Op Art by studying the artwork of Bridget Riley. They had to design 6 different optical illusions to cover the sides of a paper cube. I was inspired by this pinterest idea here. I made a template for the students to trace on 12x18 in drawing paper. Each side of the cube was 4x4 in. Students drew 6 small rough drafts in their sketchbook, traced the template on big paper, and then drew their designs in each square. Projects were colored with markers and then folded and glued together. I used fishing line to hang the projects in our school stairwell.

**As with any art project I post please email me if you have questions about materials used, processes, or if you would like lesson plans. splattersandsmudges@gmail.com You can also ask questions in the comment section below each post.**