As a beginning of the year and get to know you activity, I asked my students to write their name and what they "love" about art, making art and experiencing art class. Each of their responses were collected and I knew that I needed to display them. Here is a photo of the display in the hallway outside the art room. We don't have a lot of bulletin boards in the classroom or hallway, so I often need to improvise. Here, a large piece of kraft paper is decorated with oil pastels and each post-it is attached with tape. The kids love walking by and reading their classmates and their own responses. Welcome back to the 2013-14 school year! I'm excited for all of the fun projects, trips and events going on this year in the intermediate art classes. Students entered the art room on the first day to find a few changes to the layout and decor. This year's art and design program will focus on the use of technology for lesson delivery, more hands on - collaborative activities and as always; exposure to as many types of media as possible to reach every learner! This week, grade 8 classes experienced the new "Five Alive Challenge". An anticipatory activity to get students in the creative mood. For this challenge they had 5 minutes to complete their task. The subject today: Draw a horse. A very difficult animal to draw, students were shown an image for only a few seconds and asked to draw for the fun of it....the results were great. When complete, the class did a "Gallery Walk" to view everyone's drawings. It was fun and they saw the value in this: to be open-minded, to not be so critical, to work under pressure and to laugh. Yes, drawings below are done by 8th graders...think they are funny? Try drawing a horse from memory! Click to set custom HTML The grade 8's have been working on products designed for kids. As a woodworking project they created working gumball machines featuring bright colours, characters and designs. They loved this project and learned some new skills using machines like the scroll saw, coping saw, drill press and lots of sanding. Some students even managed to create trays for the candy to fall into and some great changes to the standard box shape! They are finishing up in the next week and images will be posted to our artsonia gallery! As always, please leave comments on your favourites! These great pieces will also be on display at our annual art festival held May 30th from 2-4pm, looking forward to seeing/meeting parents there! Students in grade 8 are learning about an artist of their choice. Their findings will be presented using a great tool called Prezi. http://www.prezi.com
Students: Please submit your link in the comments below! Grade 8 students have been learning to use various tools in Adobe Illustrator including the pen tool, fill & stroke colour, gradients, layers and text. They chose a silhouette (preferably an animal) and traced the outside using the pen tool. Students broke the outline into sharp edged shapes and these were filled with colour. Students were asked to add a text component that could be a simple as their name, nickname or an invented company name. As always in design, the typeface chosen is incredibly important to the overall logo. The results were outstanding! The grade 8's have been learning about typography and fonts. This assignment was a great way to get them thinking about designing their own letter. I got the idea from blick art - they called them 3D Architectural Letters. We basically used old matboard pieces and small disposable cups in between two layers of the same shape. We tried two different processes - one where students used gummed tape, like in the photo to the left and others went straight to newsprint and art paste. I like how the tape dries really hard, but not how it warps and bubbles. Cool idea, not that easy to use. We will be applying a layer of white acrylic as a primer and students will make their own design to complete the look. Watch for the final product in a week or so..... |
about me
Ashley Auld is the grade 7&8 art + design teacher at Ridley College in St.Catharines, Ont. Before taking her position at Ridley she was the owner and lead artist of TCS art studio where she ran full year programs for preK to adult. Always looking to connect learning & technology this site is devoted to showcasing how fun art at Ridley can be! Archives
September 2013
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