Native American Storytelling

Today in class we learned about Native American writing symbols that were utilized to tell stories over generations. We listened to a reading of a book about a young Native American boy who was different from all of the other boys in his tribe; he wasn't a warrior, he was a painter instead. He went out into the wilderness to think about becoming a man and had a vision. He also took in the sunset. He wanted to replicate the sunset on hide, but he couldn't find the colors he wanted. Eventually he found a way to make the colors he wanted out of flowers that supposedly grew from paintbrushes. The teachers explained we would be painting our sunset with watercolors, then using Native American symbols on our "cowhide" to tell a story. We learned various watercolor techniques on a smaller piece of paper before getting to work on painting our sunset, which would frame our "cowhide". While we waited for our sunset to dry, we set to work on trying to tell our story through symbols we learned about from our translation sheets. My story tells about two people, myself and another person, setting up a blanket at night to watch the sky, stars, and moon. It also mentions how we build a campfire and talked during the night.

I think a good extension activity to do with this project would be to have students make a storybook of the cowhide pages, with the sunset as the outside cover. This way students could utilize a wider variety of symbols on each page, to practice telling a story chronologically rather than all at once. Students could present their storybook to the class upon its completion; students would have more of an opportunity to tell a detailed story, as well as really learn and explain what each symbol means on each page. 

Native American Totem Poles

In today's class, we looked at Native American totem poles. We learned about the history of totem poles, as well as the symbolism behind each animal shown in totem poles. We also discussed a current artist who makes totem poles; he said he uses his art to feel connected with his people, as well as to say that his people are still here. We then looked at our project. We would make our own version of an animal that is usually shown on a totem pole, but use bright colors and construction paper. We would work with other people at our table to decide on a background color, and the teachers would put together our animals into a group totem pole after we were done. Pictured below is the thunderbird I made. Thunderbirds in Native American totem poles represent thunder and lightning, as well as storms. I chose a blue/orange color scheme because it is complementary and I like those colors. 

I think a good extension project of this activity would be to incorporate more learning about symbolism. Perhaps it would be good to have a symbolism worksheet for students to fill out, depicting different totem poles. You could have students decipher what specifically each totem pole represents. You could also have students do this once their projects are connected into one big totem pole. For example, my table could have figured out what all of our animals mean, then put that as a description for our totem pole. It would be interesting also to have seven different people to a group, and have each student make their animal one different color of the rainbow. This way students could arrange their animals to follow the color wheel and learn about color.

3-D Design Display Bulletin Board

We completed our display for our class's assignment in 3-D Design. We decided to go with an orderly layout to help balance out the 3-D qualities of the projects. We lined up each project in rows, alternating in rows of 5 and rows of 4, to create this even look. We decorated the trim of the board, and chose decorative letters for our title, but ultimately wanted the focus to be on the projects ours students did. Next to our title we hung our lesson plan description. We were quite pleased with the results of this assignment. There were a great variety of different locations represented, as well as creative uses of medium.

Cobra Knot Keychains

In class today we learned about the history of knots, as well as the different types of knots that there are and their uses. We learned that in the 1800s someone wrote a book entailing all the different kinds of knots known to them at that time and detailed their strengths and weaknesses. This helped people determine whether a knot was suitable for tying boats, flags, etc. The teachers asked us what we know of now that utilizes knots. We listed tying our shoes, tying down tents, fishing lines, etc. The teachers then introduced to us the cobra knot, a knot we were going to use decoratively to make our own keychain. We learned how to make the knot with yarn, which was less difficult than using the craft lace right away. We then moved on to the craft lace, to create our own keychains. We tied our strings to our keychain and then began. We had to utilize our knowledge of color schemes to choose the colors for our keychains. Primary or secondary color schemes were what was assigned.

I think this was a good assignment. For an expansion activity, it would be possible for students to make their keychains more meaningful to them; utilize different colors or perhaps even beads to decorate their keychains to personalize them more. Students could then present their keychains to the class and talk about what the different things symbolize. For example, students could use a green color scheme with floral beads to symbolize their love for the outdoors. 

Pop-Up Books

In today's class, we were introduced to 3-d design. We learned about foreground, middle ground, and background, as well as space and depth. We talked about Owen Gatley, an illustrator who created an adventure/travel themed pop-up book featuring different landscapes and animals. We also discussed sculptors. We asked the class where their ideal vacation would be, brainstorming the different kinds of vacations one could take. We then did a class vacation sketch to Alaska. We then introduced the project. Students would take cardstock, fold it in half, and make their own mini pop-up scene featuring their ideal vacation, utilizing different 3-d forms and pop-up methods, as well as textures. My pop-up scene featured a sailboat in a river, as well as rolling hills, bushes, a palm tree, and a sunny clear sky. My theme was "Hawaii". Upon completion of this assignment, we had to write a short 4th grade level paragraph detailing where we went and what we did while we were there, as well as how we got there.

I think a good expansion activity for this project would be to allow students to pick a vacation or travel themed book to illustrate for this assignment. Students would read the book, and then create their pop-up scene with a specific scene from their book in mind. This would expand their language arts and reading skills, and working on a larger format would allow them to incorporate more information into their project.

Clay Leaf Bowls

For today's assignment, we made clay leaf bowls. We started off molding our clay, making sure all the air bubbles were out. We then rolled it out until it was about the width of our thumb. Placing the leaf cut out over our rolled out clay, we traced around it so that our leaf shape was in our clay. We then cut out our leaf shape. We fixed any jagged edges by using water to smooth everything. We had to continually make sure that our clay wasn't going to get stuck to the table. The teachers said we could put carved designs into our leaf bowl, so I drew leaf veins with my little stick to add my own touch. We then placed our leaves on a paper towel before putting them inside a plastic bowl, which over time as the clay dries will give our leaf a bowl shape. We painted our leaves colors that leaves are in real life. I chose orangeish red for my colors.

I think instead of using this project for 3rd grade, you could use it for older audiences, like 7th or 8th. It would go well with relating it to biology still, but using an older audience, you could go more into depth about why leaves change colors, relating it to what they're learning at that time about biology (plant vs animal cells). I think it would also be a good idea to really spread out this project; give students at least a few class periods to work on it, so they can really paint the entire thing and add what finishing touches they want.

Scratch Art

For today's lesson, we made scratch art. We started the lesson by coloring a piece of paper in either primary or secondary colors, making whatever patterns we wanted to as long as they covered our whole paper in color. We then painted over the paper in black, making sure no color peeked through. While we were waiting for the paint to dry, we viewed a powerpoint detailing a scratch artist's process and work. We saw how they used textures and patterns to make their work more detailed and realistic. Following this, we were given small strips of actual scratch paper to practice creating our own patterns on. Upon completion of that, we took a thin piece of paper the same size as a our painted piece of paper and drew a landscape on it, trying to use things that we could incorporate patterns into. We then covered the entire opposite side in pencil graphite, so that we could transfer our design to our painted paper. When our paint was dry, we traced our original design so that the graphite coating the other side of the paper pressed down onto the painted paper, transferring our design. All that was left to do was scratch off the black paint to trace over our now transferred design, then adding patterns. My landscape was a volcano island scene, complete with a beach, water, a palm tree, trees, and clouds. I thought using a variety of things would help give me more options when it came to filling in my patterns.

I think an interesting extension project for this project would be to incorporate the entire color wheel, rather than just primary or secondary colors. Students could color in a complete color wheel (or a square) on their paper, so that when they scratched off the black paint later on, all the colors of the rainbow shown through. This would be a good way to get younger students to fill their entire paper with design, as well.

Printmaking

In this lesson, we learned about printmaking. The 4 different types of printmaking were detailed for us in a powerpoint. The teachers gave examples of everyday printmaking, such as stamps and printing on t-shirts. The teachers then showed us the project we would be making. They took a piece of Styrofoam (like you'd find on a Styrofoam plate) and drew a design on it, with different symbols representing things from their lives. They then had us brainstorm ideas for symbols to put on our prints. After we had brainstormed for a bit, the teachers took their plate over to the painting stations and showed us how to use the rollers to apply paint to your plate, then to flatten your paint-covered plate on paper to make the print. We then went back to our desks to make our own plate. Once we created our plate, we had to make 2 prints with the same plate in different colors on a large piece of construction paper. Upon completion of our prints, we had to attach a notecard detailing our representations and what they meant.

I think a good extension activity for this project would be to have students make three or four separate plates that ran into each other (continuous). For example, for mine I would have made plates that continue the mountains and stream into the next plate, while the trees continue on the other side. This would give students more practice with carving into the plates, as well as let them practice filling up all of their space. You could even incorporate elements of the color wheel; have the first plate be blue, then have the students mix their own purple paint for the next plate, then use red for the next one, with orange following.

Mosaics

In this lesson, we learned about the difference between warm and cool colors, along with some things about shape. We examined the history of mosaics, watching a video detailing the history of mosaics and what they were used to decorate. We then did a mini activity, making our own mini mosaic out of square cut outs of construction paper to make out our first initial (S in my case) with a background in warm vs cool colors. Upon completion of the mini activity, we were sorted into groups of 3-4 and given little parts of a bigger cut out picture. We had to replicate the picture as a bigger mosaic within our groups. My group's mini picture was of a tree. We had to use 3 different warm colors and 3 different cool colors in this larger project. We used cool colors for our tree, warm colors for our sky, and orange for the ground. I had the left side of the tree.

A good extension project for this activity would be to make it an even bigger group project. You could outline the basic shapes for each student, then have every student in the class have a tiny piece of a bigger picture. The students could then hang all of them up together on a bulletin board, treating it like putting together a puzzle to figure out who has what piece. 

Monsters

In this lesson, we learned about the color wheel, and how you can mix different primary colors (blue, red, yellow) together to get secondary colors (purple, green, orange). The teachers showed examples of this with food coloring in water. We then got to mix shaving cream and two different colors of paint (two primaries to make a secondary) in a cookie tray, making a swirly marbling design. We laid out a big piece of paper into the colorful design, making sure the entire paper was firmly planted in the shaving cream mixture. Afterwards, we laid the paper flat on the table and scraped off the excess shaving cream/paint with a ruler, making it easier for our paper to dry. We could cut out a "monster" in whatever shape we wanted, then decorate it however we wanted. I decided to make an octopus-looking monster. We gave our monster a name and had to pick three adjectives to describe it.

A good extension activity for this project would be to have students create some sort of ocean animal out of their paper, instead of just a monster. The teacher could distribute the paint in the shaving cream in dots rather than lines; perhaps the marbling effect would look more similar to fish scales that way. The students could then write a short story about an adventure their ocean animal goes on, giving them a chance to show what they know about a marine animal or learn something knew about the animal they choose to create. This could be accompanied by reading the book "The Rainbow Fish".

Mandalas

In class we looked at a brief history of mandalas, as well as a video of how they are made and how they relate to Buddhist traditions. The mandala symbolizes the impermanence of life; nothing lasts forever. This is why the monks who create mandalas out of sand destroy their art afterwords, depositing the sand into a river as a blessing to the earth.
We talked about line, shape, and radial symmetry with this lesson. We did a few practice drawings, then began making our own mandala. We had to have at least three different forms of symbolism in our mandala. We folded a separate sheet of circle paper into four quarters, then drew solely on one quarter. We then drew over our pencil lines with sharpie. We took another sheet of circle paper and laid it over our first paper, allowing us to trace the corner of the mandala, which we turned four times to make our completed design. We ended the lesson with the freedom to color, followed by mounting our mandala on a piece of construction paper with a note stating our three forms of symbolism.

I think an alternative extension activity to go along with this project would be to have students assemble a bulletin board with their final mandalas, with construction paper cutouts of stems, leaves, and grasses to make the mandalas look like intricate flowers. Once this was fully assembled, each student could talk about their mandala to the rest of the class. This would give students the chance to work as a group, as well as give them a chance to practice speaking in front of others and expressing their ideas.

Hidden Safari

For this activity we looked at paintings by Henri Rousseau and were asked to try to find different animals hidden in the jungle background. After we had done this short activity, we watched the intro of the Lion King to see more examples of safari animals. We then got into the lesson itself. We cut out our glasses shape from construction paper, then glued our red transparent material over our glasses. Following this, we did a short practice session of drawing different parts of animals and the jungle upside down (copying from examples). This made us focus more on the line we're actually seeing, rather than what we thought it was supposed to look like. After this practice, we picked a safari animal for our bigger project. We drew the animal lightly in a cool color (light blue), then drew repeating patterns in warm colors (red, orange, yellow, and pink) over our animal, effectively "camouflaging" them like the animals in Henri Rousseau's painting. After our animal was covered so that we couldn't see it anymore, we put on our red glasses which brought out the blue animal underneath. Following completion of our actual project, we mounted the paper on a bigger piece of construction paper, along with a note card that gave three clues as to what our animal was.
I think this is a good lesson for students to help teach many different elements of design; how to use contour lines, warm vs. cool colors, and pattern were all addressed in this lesson. The lesson also is fun for students because of the "hidden" safari animal that can only be seen with the special glasses.

The animal "hiding" in my own project.

I think a good extension activity for this project would be to draw two different depictions of the same scene, almost like a time lapse, rather than the safari animal. For example, you could use the blue pencil to draw a blooming flower, then in warm colors draw a brighter, much more vibrant scene depicting a flower bud about to bloom. You could also relate this to a short lesson about the weather; have students draw a rainy scene in the blue pencil, then draw a sunny scene over the top to hide it until you put on the glasses. Having students tell you about how rainy days or sunny days happen in conjunction with presenting their projects could help them remember how the weather works.

Vincent Van Gogh Inspired Skylines

In class we looked at the art style of Vincent Van Gogh in conjunction with skylines that contrast with the bright sky. We glued tissue paper on dark construction paper to create swirl-like designs in homage to Van Gogh's art style. We followed this up by cutting out dark skylines to lay over our skies. I did buildings, but the skylines could be anything, such as trees or a farm. We then used pastels to color swirl designs throughout our sky, further emulating Van Gogh. We also could draw over the buildings to show lights, which I used for my windows. I think this project is a good way for kids to get familiar with different materials. Personally I never got to work with tissue paper much in my K-12 art classes, and I think it's a good medium to get kids to better understand colors. Overlaying different tissue papers can create different colors. 

An extension activity that could be used in conjunction with this project is to do a smaller version of the original project, then use the acquired skills to complete a much bigger group project. Students could work together to apply the different colored tissue papers, perhaps even using it as means to learn the color spectrum order. Students could apply the tissue paper in the Roy G Biv order across the sky, then each add their own cut out building. The project would be finished with the pastel swirls over the whole thing. Through this bigger project, students could work on working in a big group to solve the problem of fitting everyone's building in one space, as well as figuring out the order of the rainbow as a class.

Elements and Principles of Design for 2nd Grade

Element: Line
Line is a form that connects at least two different points in a picture. Lines have a direction and length.
This is a closeup of the laces on my boots, the crossing laces being the lines.

Element: Texture
Texture is how something feels when you touch it. It can be soft and smooth, hard and rough, or anywhere in between. In pictures, you can tell that something feels a certain way, even though you aren't actually touching it.
This is a closeup of bark on a tree, the rough surface creating a texture.

Element: Space
Space is the main object of a picture and its relation to its background. Space helps you determine if something is close up, or far away.
This is a picture of the NSU water tower, taken from below. The water tower appears to get smaller as your eyes move up the picture, because things look smaller when they're further away from you.

Element: Color
Color is how bright or dark a color is, as well as how one color looks compared to all the other colors in the picture. There are warm and cool colors.
This is a closeup of a door decoration our RA made. The bright colors are attention-grabbing and pop out at the viewer.

Principle: Movement
Movement can show that something in a picture is moving, even though it is only a picture.
This is a picture I took while riding in a car down 6th Avenue. The blurred street lights and car lights indicate movement. 

Project 1: Footprint Introduction

For our first project of the semester, we had to trace our foot/feet, cut it out from construction paper, and complete an art project that would be used to introduce ourselves to the class.

For my project, I decided to trace both my feet connected so I'd have more spaces to work with. I went with a space theme because I'm interested in space/astrology. To fulfill the different medium requirements, I utilized acrylic paint for the starry background, paint chips for the planets, calligraphy pen for the lettering of my name, and book pages for the rockets. The acrylic paint/paint chips are supposed to represent my love for painting as a medium. The paint chips are also yellow and violet, my favorite colors at the moment. I tried to write my name in a more decorative font because I'm really interested in typography and calligraphy. The rockets represent my love for reading. All in all, I wanted the whole thing to look unified, so I picked interests that could be used in conjunction with my theme.

An extension activity that could be used with this lesson could be to use the footprint as more of a storytelling method; have your students write/tell a short story when they present their project to make the footprint(s) follow a larger theme, rather than just being a random collection of interests. This way, it could be used to teach unity in principles of design; you can use anything in your project, but your project would look more like a collective piece. For example, following a space theme, I could change my project so that there was a person flying a rocket ship across the feet, passing by different planets on the way that represented my interests. Some could be made out of paint chips, book pages, etc. This could possibly encourage students to include more than a few things about their life, depending on what theme they choose to represent. This also works in conjunction with English, as it includes writing and storytelling in the project.