Here Come The Feathered Serpents
"Quetzalcoatl"
Dr. Seuss' Unorthodox Taxidermy
Fourth grade students have created 3D sculptures of their own Seuss inspired characters. Dr. Seuss is not know for being a working artists as much as he is known for being an author. Here, we took a look at some of his sculptures to invent our own characters. Students had to combine 2 real animals with Seuss' signature style. The students had to fill out a plan that helped them to think and invent whole stories for these awesome unorthodox characters. Students had to use a thesaurus when naming their characters.
Dr. Seuss' Unorthodox Taxidermy |
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Clyfford Still
I had only 1 fourth grade class
complete this lesson. They were finished with the Louise Nevelson
lesson so fast, that I decided to give them an extension on abstract
art. This is something I've wanted to do for a LONG time, but never
created the opportunity. I had recently watched a PBS documentary on
Clyfford Still and felt like it was time to make a lesson on him and his
work.
While this was a very abbreviated lesson, the students LOVED it. I will need to do this again with the whole grade level. We talked about Clyfford Still and about the art elements and principles. We talked about the importance of JAZZ, and listened to Miles Davis. We talked about how important it was to be "alone with your thoughts..." "listen to the music and let it lead the way. It was a very freeing experience for me and for them. I was really interested in using THICK paint, but didn't want to use oil based paint at the elementary level. I researched some techniques and actually used corn starch with regular tempera paint and it worked great. The students mixed their own custom color (recipe), added corn starch and then named them. Some paints were really thick which added to some awesome textures. They LOVED this. We talked about the application of paint as well. The students were allowed to use tongue depressors and/or paint brushes to add the paint. We also talked about adding extra corn starch to the paint and experimenting on that end. This lesson was easily one of my happiest moments in art this year! |
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Louise Nevelson - Abstract Collage
Fourth graders were introduced to Abstract artist, Louise Nevelson. The students were then able to create their own monochromatic abstract works of art. In addition to learning about abstract art, and value scale, they learned techniques for assembling the pieces for unity and balance.
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Book Monster Characters
Here are some updated Book Monsters on display! |
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For this 9 weeks in art, the fourth graders will be learning about the color wheel and giving a focus on "analogous" color scheme. The fourth graders will then complete a planning sheet so that they can invent a little monster for their project. We read the book, "The Krazees," by Sam Swope. The characters in this book were a perfect spring board for our own little inventions. Below you will see the planning sheet that we all completed and then some fabulous examples created during our practices.
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This is J.'s image. I feel in love with this character because he had created an entire backstory for this character. This character smashes toys if they are left out. I mentioned how every mom and dad would want to buy a little monster like this to make sure that their children were picking up their toys. After this J told me about the "web site" that he would create to sell them.... "deystroytoys.com." I just love the idea!
Keep checking back for more "in-progress" works. |
J
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