Day of the dead skulls - grade 6

This is a repeat of a project I posted about two years ago. It's one of my all time favorite projects, because it's so visually stimulating, and kids love it!

I use the same process every time I do this project - students are given a blank skull template (because drawing a skull isn't the objective here - it's actually to create a symmetrical piece of art based on a cultural celebration.) We talk about Dia de los Muertos, and look at images of skulls from various celebrations. Then, students draw designs in the skull using a pencil, paying attention to symmetry.

When they're happy with their designs, they trace their lines in Sharpie, and use watercolor paint to paint them in. Once they're done, they cut out their skull and glue it to a piece of scrapbooking paper. Lastly, they use jewels and sparkles to add finishing touches to their skulls.

Students learn a lot about balance in this project - there is really a perfect balance that needs to be achieved between black, white, and color, and its interesting to see how they pick up on this while they're working. The package of scrapbooking paper that I bought had some pieces that were grey on black instead of white on black, and you could see when students held their skull up to those sheets that it didn't give the same kind of "look" as when they used a busy, patterned, black and white paper.

Students also picked up on the need for balance in their skull - keeping a good mix of white with their painted parts (it can be tempting to paint the whole thing, but the white adds so much!)

Since holiday related projects aren't for everyone, I always have an alternative option for students - in this case, a vase, which still lends itself to the symmetry and design, without being holiday related. All students were allowed to pick if they wanted to work with a skull or a vase.

 Look at this amazing vase one of my students came up with - it's stunning!

It's so beautiful that I feel inspired to do a whole project based around it. I love when that happens!

Fall scarecrows - grades 2/3

It feels odd to be writing about a grade 2/3 project now that I'm at an intermediate school, but actually, this is a project a friend of mine did with a grade 2/3 class she supply taught for. I thought it was so great that I had to share!

Here's what she told me about the process:

"We used wax crayons with a watercolor wash on top for the sky. It was a grade 2/3 class, and the period was 80 minutes long. It could be a two day project as well. We did a group draw for the scarecrow. I didn't have enough permanent markers, otherwise I would have gotten them to outline their scarecrows before coloring with crayons. Instead, the black outline is crayon."

Aren't they absolutely adorable? Seeing this made me feel a little pang of sadness that I no longer teach elementary art. I really had fun with projects like this!

Thanks to Jules for sharing this!

Grade six unity/collaborative candy

 This is the third collaborative art project that I have done with a class. The first time, I did collaborative crayons with my grade 5/6class. Next, I tried collaborative snakes with grades 4/5. I was so excited to try another one with my grade 6 art class. This time, however, instead I decided that we would study...candy! I made templates for lollipops and candy corn (templates are ESSENTIAL for collaborative art – the drawings must be the same size to maintain the look of unity.)

We used the same process as in the projects before. It took my students roughly two 50 minute periods to finish these. They look incredible running down the hallway!

In case you were curious about the display board - for my first project of the year, my class did the optical illusion collages I posted a couple of weeks back. They were the perfect project to start the year!

Watercolor Marker/Chalk Pastel Scarecrows - grade 3/4

This must be an indication of how busy I was during the move - these projects are from early October! I just found these photos while clearing out my camera, and they were too cute not to share.We did a group draw to make the basic form of the scarecrow, then they were free to add details, change anything they wanted, etc. They drew first in pencil, then traced in Sharpie.

The next week, they began coloring in their scarecrows using the watercolor marker technique, which I explained in a bit more detail here. I'm such a fan of this technique! When they were finished coloring the scarecrows, they used chalk pastels to make swirly, sunset-y backgrounds for their pictures. LOVE these!!

Surprisingly, I have a few more projects I never posted -I'll get them up soon!!

While you're here, don't forget to please vote for me for Art Ed Blog of the Year, which you can do by clicking this link and voting for Artisan Des Arts! Thanks so much, guys!!

Fall Owls - grade 1/2

Aren't owls the cutest? I did these back in October/November with my first and second graders, but haven't had a chance to post them until now. I had wanted to do an owl project, so I did some googling and found this one, which I loved. I changed some elements of the project, including not making it about symmetry - I focused more on just working with the oil pastels, which some of the first graders had never used before. They drew using pencil, on black construction paper, then colored in their drawings with oil pastels. This project took them 2 periods of 40 minutes to complete. I really love that they had the persistence to finish coloring them in, including the backgrounds - that can be a daunting task when you're only 6 years old, so they did a fantastic job!

Love the nest on this last one - such great detail with the wispy pieces coming out!

Aren't oil pastels the greatest? Easy cleanup, work perfectly on construction paper, and they produce such great results. What are some of your favorite mediums to work with?