For this project students were introduced to the Notan; a Japanese play of light versus dark. Students viewed and discussed various Notan designs that included organic and geometric shapes while pointing out positive versus negative space. Students then drew shapes that had to: go off the page, no floating shapes, no corner shapes, and cover all four sides of the square. The shapes created were then carefully cut out so students could "flip the image" to get the Notan effect. 

Students learned about Georgia O'Keeffe, one of my favorite American Painters whose work pulled inspiration from the natural world.
Vocabulary Learned: Cropping, Observation Drawing, Line Drawing, Large Scale, Space, Value, Contemporary Colors, Natural World, Solid Color.
Materials Used: Pencils, shells, sharpies, oil pastels. Students only used their contemporary color plus white to show value within their work. 

We're back in the art room but this year is a bit different since I have moved up to a school that holds grades 3-5. With these new grade levels comes different Principles and Elements of Design. However, first week back was for students to shake off the rust from summer and get back in the creative mindset. Each table had a different challenge/prompt to work from. The prompts included:
Invent a creature you'd like to see come from an egg.
Draw a Castle.
Invent your own Robot.
Draw "things" with wheels.
Each prompt was open to interpretation and creative choices, however, there were some objectives to follow such as: Fill the entire space/page, detail, must have a ground and background.