Self Portrait Drawings

Inspired by artists/famous works of art…

 

 

3-way Self Portrait by Autumn (Inspired by Norman Rockwell)

 

 

 

 

My Parkour Self by Sequoiah

 

 

 

 

 

Sideshow Self by Ashlee (inspired by Bob Burridge)

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking by Sarah (inspired by Auguste Rodin)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sideshow Self 2 in Paint by Ashlee

 

 

 

Self Portrait Collage by Elaina 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dancer by Brittany (Edgar Degas)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pianist by Alicia

 

 

 

 

Joyous Self Portrait by Catherine (Edgar Degas)

 

 

 

 

Rumors by Grace (Fleetwood Mac album cover)

 

 

 

 

 

Young Man with Pookie Bear by Cole (Pablo Picasso)

 

 

 

Prom Portrait by Ashley (Edgar Degas)

 

 

 

 

 

Piano Portrait by Linneth 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dessert in the Desert by Hunter (inspired by Norman Rockwell)

 

Pop Art Portraits inspired by Andy Warhol

Art 1 beginning art students created these portraits based on icons popular to their culture.  They were quite proud of themselves and most were invested in their projects because of the people they chose as their subject.  I received an email from a parent of one of my students, who wanted to tell me how impressed she was of the work done by her daughter and how much her art skills have improved.  This means a lot to me, especially during my first semester teaching art in this level and some of the confidence issues I’ve had as I learn how to best serve talented high school art students.  I also consider it advocacy for our art program, as students really need the arts throughout all their years of education, as it enhances life itself….not only as a support to educational goals and knowledge.

Students used PhotoShop to alter their images, then created a grid drawing to enlarge them with correct proportions.  We plan to display these in our school library, which the students seem excited about.  I wish our classes lasted for the year, as I would like to keep their momentum going in the visual arts and am confident they could accomplish more challenges successfully.  Hopefully many of these students will continue to Art 2, Art 3 Honors, Art 4 Honors and AP Art before they graduate!

   

Big Black from Ridiculousness, by Austin

 

Si Robertson by Whitney

 

    

Beyonce by Chelsea

 

     

Ladanian Tomlinson by Chase

 

 

Madonna by Emily

 

Blake Lively by Emma

 

Kyrie Irving by Forrest

 

Amanda Seyfried by Gabby

 

Tupac by Jerron

 

Bob Marley by Keilley

 

Talia by Lilly

 

Emma Watson by Mattie

 

             

Frazier by McKenzie

 

Dale Earnhart by Michael

 

Ariana Grande by Michelle

 

Larry the Cable Guy by Randy

 

Emma Watson by Reina

 

Jesse from Breaking Bad, Tori

 

Mr. Miaygi by Ridge

 

by Rose

 

by SarahM

 

Lil’ John by Selena

 

    

Mr. Floyd with a Beard by Shannon

 

Indiana Jones by Stephen

 

Benedict Cumberbatch

Color Wheel Mandalas – Art 1

I have to thank my colleague, Lori Hill for sharing this lesson with me as well as her protractors & compasses.  Also a belated thank you/shout out to Shelton Wilder & Susan Dunn, who along with Lori have helped me with lessons and advice through my first semester teaching high school.  I’m proud of students for mixing such a nice range of colors….many haven’t touched paint since they were in 5th grade and were proud of themselves too.

 

Op Art by Art 1 Students

Art 1 (beginning art) students created environments filled with high contrast optical illusions.  This project took about 1 week of class time and combined 1 point perspective drawings in interesting ways.  Most students were successful with their results, and all showed progress in their ability to draw the illusion of 3-dimensional space on 2-dimensional surfaces.

Woodblock Reduction Prints

High School – Art 3

Students worked hard to carve woodblocks inspired by some of the first Japanese prints that made their way into the hands of Claude Monet.   Aesthetic characteristics drawn from these prints were used by Monet in many of his Impressionist Paintings, including interesting angles, scenes from daily life, flat use of color, and compositions that lead off the page.

A great site to see Monet’s collection of prints (including Hokusai and Hiroshige:  http://www.intermonet.com/japan/

Japanese prints hanging in Monet’s fantastic dining room (scroll half-way down):   http://giverny.org/monet/home/

It’s challenging to carve wood, and this was their first time to carve wood.  Each created an edition of eight prints, and overall did a great job.  A few were very successful.  Some were disappointed in the limited amount of detail they were able to achieve, but liked the process and would go a different direction if they did the project again.  What I love about woodblock prints is the textural quality and layering that cannot be achieved with any other medium.  Also the way the materials guides you – and moves you in different and unexpected directions and results.  We’ll follow this lesson up by importing their prints into PhotoShop and students can edit them using even more layers.

 

 

Art 1 – Wall Breakthrough – 1 point perspective

For some students, this was the first attempt at perspective drawing, for some it was their first since 5th grade, and some have had experiences through middle school.  Overall, I’m proud of the effort that students put into these drawings and also reflect on my first 10 years of teaching some of them – particularly the limited time we spent on drawing skills.  My focus for K-8 has been to motivate them and introduce them to a wide variety of media, cultures and experiences.  However, this was at the expense of drilling into them knowledge and refined drawing skills.  This Art 1 lesson has potential to be much more rigorous, but seemed to fit with the range of skill levels demonstrated in my class.

student work

Art 1 – Aboriginal Dot Art Inspired Designs

Students were inspired by traditional aboriginal designs of Australia.  It’s important that they learn about art made all across the world and for varying purposes, meanings and functions, and they were motivated to learn. Through this project, students’ skills are becoming more evident and are improving.  Students that arrived with this as their first art class since the 5^th grade have shown higher levels of quality and care in their work and are finding they have better control of the media.  Students who have shown strong artistic skills from the beginning have been able to excel in this project (as well as any other creative challenge.)

Sometimes I feel like I provide the resources, backgrounds, then just try to encourage them and stay out of their way.  🙂   Students were encouraged to consider symmetry in their designs.  If we did this project again, I’d give that as part of their requirement.  We would also spend more time learning more details and appreciation for the rich cultural history of this form of art as well as compare/contrast to other cultural forms that have similarities/differences. Originality was also encouraged, and several students who finished early decided to collaborate to complete a design based on Van Gogh’s Starry Night.  Below are a few samples to help show the range of work from students, which is something I am impressed by, as no two have been anything alike.

Turtle by Gabby

Map of Australia by Forrest

 Organic Design by Ivy

Astronomic Symbol (Leo) by Rose

Fish by Whitney

Starry Night by Gabby, Reina and Emma

 

Art 3 – Impressionist Paintings

Students were inspired by the Impressionists, and we spent a bit of time discussing the origins, connection to the Japanese woodblock print, and other historic variables that influenced the movement.  What was striking to me is that several students seemed to struggle with loosening up in their painting technique.  It was challenging to get them to show their brush-strokes or to be confident and daring enough to trust uncontrolled marks they made.

Perhaps the biggest challenge was the collaborative painting we started.  I decided to go with the quintessential Impressionist piece – The Boating Party by Auguste Renoir.  After some hesitation, we went for it with the “courage of our convictions.”  The most positive aspect is that students had to work together to get a particular piece (small colored copy of the work cut into 24 pieces) work in alignment, color and proportion to the original and to their neighboring student’s painting.  This has been an excellent opportunity for problem solving.  We have moved onto our follow up project, woodblock reduction prints, but we will return to the collaborative piece soon after the students finish their prints.  Here are a few of their finished pieces.

Pre-project color/style/brush stroke study by Sequoiah  (He loosened up quite well!)

Parrot by Sequoiah

Parisian Street by Grace

Boot Study by Eleana

My Sister, by Autumn

Student Art: HARD-BACK SKETCHBOOK JOURNALS

Hardback books made with paste papers and Japanese stab binding made by Art 1 & Art 3 Honors students were quite lovely.  I’m proud of their results!  This was a very motivating project—for use as a sketchbook/journal and worth doing again.  Although it took almost a week to complete, I went with it as I noticed students from day one that students were excited, and when finished they were bragging about their work outside of class and taking/sharing photographs to share with friends & families.  Good stuff!  After searching for a long time online for an easy paste paper recipe, I discovered one from a generous teacher who was kind enough to post an easy, non-cooking, non-prep method of making paste papers.  The secret is liquid starch, which costs under $3 for about ½ gallon in at Wal-Mart (in the laundry-related aisle).  Just pour some into a cup, add acrylic paint and paint it onto sturdy paper.  Make designs to gently scrape away the paper to add design & texture (using combs, pencil erasers, forks, pieces of cardboard, etc.).  Then let it dry, and it makes GREAT covers that are smooth and sturdy.  I highly recommend them for all levels of high school art!  Here are several that photographed pretty well, although all of them were successful and beautiful.

 

 

Close-up of a sketchbook embellished with beads & embroidery floss.

 

This was our first big project in our art class, and I learned that it is valuable to offer high school students something different and a higher form of craft, even though I was not sure if it would be successful or would crash and burn.  Also important is learning to step out with the courage of my convictions as a teacher and try something different…putting me and my students out of our comfort zones.  While planning and over planning is important, it is also important to embrace challenges and know that critical learning takes place as we face and solve problems together, which is a crucial part of the artistic/creative process.  It also worked well both for students who have never made a book and those who have experience with book binding techniques. 

 

Here are links to some directions for liquid starch:

Easy & Fun Paste Paper:  http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/paste-papers/

Starch Recipe:  http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/bookarts/documents/cbac_pastepaper.pdf

Paper Mache:  http://www.ehow.com/how_12103933_make-paper-mache-paste-liquid-starch.html

Marbling:   http://crafts.creativebug.com/make-marble-paper-liquid-starch-1651.html

International Day of Peace

International Day of Peace (Saturday, September 21)

Art 1 and Art 3 students participated in our local International Day of Peace by creating original artwork inspired by doves and linear Henna designs.  Permanent marker was used for the line designs and watercolors were used for the background along with salt for interesting texture.  These are currently on display at our public library.  I received feedback from parents during open house and from a representative at the library, who stated they were “blown away” by the work of our students.  I was happy with their responses, mostly because they were able to use some original ideas, use a broader sense of the idea of peace outside of U.S./western traditions, and became engaged in the project with interest in the cause.  This also opened up some rich class discussion and presentation of their own philanthropic pursuits, including a student who has a petition to stop the use of Styrofoam trays in the cafeteria and another student who is involved with an international aids relief organization.  My students give me great hope for the future!

 

Art 3 Honors – Student Work

 

Art 1 Student Work

First Days: Teaching High School Art

A new school year involves anticipation, excitement and anxiety…in this case with new students, new grade levels, and new school.  It is an incredible opportunity for change, yet there’s always that thought “am I really the right fit for high school?” A 10 year career in K-8 art was familiar, fun and challenging. While change to high school was hoped for, it only was seen for some future time when I felt ready.  Instead, it took a leap of faith to teach high school when the opportunity presented itself.

Sometimes we don’t realize what we are ready for until we dive in.  Come to think of it, my first teaching job felt the same way, which happened two weeks after graduating college, which felt like “ready or not…here to we go!”  This experience is similar, and although there have been a few times where I’ve been missing younger students, high school is a place I love too.  High school students are fantastic!  In two Art 1 classes and one Art 3/Honors class, students generally want to take art, get excited, and will work hard to succeed.  This has been very impressive—quite a contrast for what tends to happen in middle school classes (where students can be hard to motivate).  One thing I learned from middle school students is to take nothing personally.  They are tricky years, and students need people in their lives to pull for them and believe in them.  It seems that something wonderful happens to them when they move from 8th grade to high school, where they realize their teachers are actually OK…maybe even (do I dare say) cool. Or at least they realize teachers are not public enemy number one.  Former students who have been….er…challenging have stopped by the art room to say hello, seeming genuinely happy to interact with their crazy art teacher who had the nerve to follow them to high school. 

Lots of valuable lessons have been learned these first days of high school. Over-prepare for lessons, but allow flexibility to steer off as guided by students’ interests.  So far students have been involved with a peace project for our county’s the International Day of Peace activities, which will be on display at the public library.  This project turned from a 1-day to a 3-day project as students got into producing some quality work.  Another lesson learned is that rules are good, and good for reassessing for the greater good of all in the classroom.  It’s also good to spend the first week or two getting to know students. Perhaps one of the biggest lessons to learn from this new situation is that high school students rock my world!  They are interesting, entertaining, lovable, creative, talented, lovable, fun, challenging, many very mature and incredibly rewarding to have the privilege to teach.   

It’s a relief to have a new schedule which allows enough class time for interaction with every single student during every single class. In addition, more planning time, work space, and putting all efforts into one school have resulted in one art teacher who feels like she’s finally stepped off the gerbil wheel for a moment and found a path with a manageable pace toward a hopeful future.  The result is a calm, motivated and inspired teacher who feels more like a professional. 

Thanks to anyone for reading!