In this unit students learned about tessellations, pattern design, setting up and drawing a still life, complementary colors, directional lighting and the interesting shading technique stippling. Students used multiple materials for this project and had to follow several objectives online. 

For this unit students learned about the tradition of Mandalas and their origin. After watching a video of Tibetan monks create a colored sand Mandala students got to design one of their own keeping in mind symmetry, shapes, variation of line design and finally color. Students learned about the design principle Balance and the design element line. 

For this unit students learned about Pop Art along with two artists most commonly associated with the movement, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. Warhol stylized his work with vibrant colors and thick black outlines whereas Lichtenstein stylized his work more around comic book concepts. Students were instructed to draw a shoe of their own following objectives such as touching all four sides of the larger piece of paper with their shoe. When they cut their work in half with a ruler drawn line they got to work with both artist's styles of Pop Art. Can you guess which side belongs to which famous artist?

Students learned about one of the oldest traditions around the world of Henna. To this day Henna is still popular in our culture and many students had stories about siblings or parents who had gotten Henna before. Outlining their hand and fashioning a border students designed their own Henna tattoos using the Design Element Line. With mixed mediums students then colored in their design experimenting with various patterns. 

For this Optical Illusion students created a scene of a bird's eye view of a city. Students learned about a vanishing point, the 1960s art movement OP Art, optical Illusions, one point perspective, shading and dexterity with a ruler. 

Students learned patience while creating a maze with one continuous line. Students had to make sure to end their line where they began while filling the space of their paper. Then students chose one of the several analogous color groups to color in overlapped circles. 

It's that time of year again when kiddos get to dive into Japanese Notans, which are a great introduction to the Design Element Space. Students learned about positive and negative space along with symmetry and mirror images. Dexterity was practiced while using scissors and a glue bottle to get tiny pieces glued down to create their Notan.

During this trimester students received art newsletters where I gave them art that inspired me from around the world, indoor and outdoor activities, resource videos of innovative art and artists, and challenges that students were to try and send me images of. Below are examples of student's work from the past few months.
Challenge: Art Creatures, where students had to work with others in their household to create one body section each that were to be hidden from one another until the last piece finished and opened to see what was created. 

Challenge: Optical Illusion creations! Students received three videos of different optical illusions where they were to pick at least one to try.

Challenge: Sequential art! Or as you may know it as...comic strips. Students had to create their own comic strips with invented characters.

Challenge: Be aware of those shadows! Students were to keep an eye peeled for items that created interesting shadows where they saw something new take form.

Challenge: Kindness hearts. For this challenge I gave students several different ideas on how to create hearts for kindness week to put in their windows at home.

Challenge: Create outside of challenges. I gave several activity options that included both indoor and outdoor opportunities. Students really stepped up to creating wonderful artworks. 

For this unit students were inspired by the Assemblages of Joseph Cornell and Robert Rauschenberg. With a ruler students measured five sections on a piece of paper then in each section drew a different object making sure to crop on at least three sides. Students used pen to create cross hatching shading, afterwards they used watercolor to paint four values in the backgrounds. Students then used rulers to create armatures out of poster paper to assemble their work on an Abstract painted background at different heights. 
Vocabulary Learned: Assemblages, 2D vs 3D, observational drawing, hatching & cross hatching, shading technique, Value, cropping, armatures, levels & heights, Abstract art, line work, Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg. 
Materials Used: 8'x9' piece of paper, pencil, various objects, rulers, pen, watercolor, scissors, hot glue guns, black & white tempera paint, cardboard. 

For this unit students learned about Contour art, watercolor techniques and wire sculpture. Students had to manipulate new materials while improving hand-eye coordination. 
Vocabulary Learned: Contour art, watercolor techniques, silhouette, interior and exterior line, layering technique, wash, texture, wire sculpture, connection types- wrap & twist, hand-eye coordination. 
Materials Used: Watercolor paper, pencil, black colored pencil, watercolor paint, electrical color coated wire.