Tag Archives: Art Education
Agam-Inspired “Kinetic” Art
Middle school students were introduced to “Agamographs”; the work of artist Yaacov Agam, Focusing on artwork which moves or appears to move, students were challenged to develop their own piece of “visually kinetic” artwork. Many students found it helpful to … Continue reading
Paper Pulp Painting
Denise Fleming, a children’s book author and illustrator, creates many of her illustrations by “painting” with colorful paper pulp. Her work was the inspiration for students who were eager to apply skills they’d learned in a previous unit on basic … Continue reading
Paper Making, Casting & Embossing
Paper Making: While papermaking “recipes” vary, we used 1-1/2 to 2 sheets of shredded 8.5 x 11 paper (added gradually) to 3-4 cups of water in a blender to produce one sheet of handmade paper. The paper and water were … Continue reading
Draw What You Feel – Drawing Game
Materials: Objective: Students will produce contour drawings of hidden objects that they feel with their fingers, but do not look at. This exercise helps them become more aware of contour lines and the edges of shapes. Procedure: Have each student … Continue reading
Edible Color Wheel
Materials Before class, use red, yellow, and blue food coloring to tint three bowls of frosting. (Tints of each color work fine; it’s not necessary to mix a dark blue or dark red for this to work well!) Cover the … Continue reading
Monochromatic Paintings with a Technological Twist
For this project, students use the cutout filter (Filter > Artistic > Cutout) in Adobe Photoshop to alter and abstract a reference photograph. While the cutout levels do not accurately correspond to the actual number of values in the altered … Continue reading
Complex Color Wheels
As part of a unit on Color Theory, students were challenged to create a color wheel in which their design, color mixing ability and craftsmanship were all important aspects of the piece. They could use only the primary colors (red, … Continue reading
One-Point Linear Perspective
Students were introduced to one-point linear perspective and other techniques to create the illusion of depth. They also worked through an interactive “Drawing in One-Point Perspective” website created by artist and art teacher, Harold Olejarz. After reviewing the basic mathematical principles involved … Continue reading
Your Life as a Movie
The “Your Life as a Movie” (or “Video Game” or “Novel”) pre-instructional poster assignment was a project I used and adapted each year with new high school art students. It allowed me to quickly get them working on a project, … Continue reading