Positivity Prints

Positivity Prints

3rd Grade

Before beginning their investigation into printmaking, third graders spent some time manipulating the elements and principles of art.

 

Students worked with partners to arrange paper scraps into compositions demonstrating the elements and principles.  Some groups created narratives, while many organized their pieces into abstract compositions.

Next up, students experimented with using the elements and principles in monoprinting.  Mono printing is any printmaking in which the image can only be made one time.  We used plexiglass, paint, and found objects to create our monoprints.

We then switched gears to look at some public art.   We used CMA's ODIP (observe, describe, interpret, prove) to look closely at the image below.

Students came up with so many unique interpretations of this image!  Read some here:

Always have care in your heart.  Grow your heart bigger.  Filling up your heart just like filling up your bucket.  Growing love.   There is only one color part, so it looks like love or color was missing from the person's life and they are trying to grow love.  Starting the cycle of life.

Why put it on a wall?  For more people to see.  In a museum you have to pay, so maybe they wanted people to see it for free.

We then looked work by another artist, Dallas Clayton, who also creates a lot of public art and art that has a positive message.  

Students shared their favorites, and how they made them feel.  They then began creating their own positive artworks to display around the school!   

The collographs were created by glueing foam letters to cardboard.  Students were challenged to write their words and letters backwards so that they would be readable in the final print- very tricky!  But they persevered and created many uplifting artworks!

We hope our art has a positive effect on you!

This lesson was inspired by http://thomaselementaryart.blogspot.com/2015/07/3rd-grade-collagraph-quote-prints.html

Woven Mandalas

Woven Mandalas

2nd Grade

Wow!  A lot went into the creation of these works by second grade artworks including an investigation into mandalas, radial design and weaving.  We began by engaging in a close looking activity with the image below.

Students were shown this image, revealed to them one square at a time, as they noted observations and made guesses about what they were looking at.  Eventually, the photo in its entirety was revealed.  This process allows us to slow down, look for details, support our opinions and see how different our ideas can be when we only have some of the information.  Our thoughts of rugs, castles, and cakes changed as we were provided with more information.

We then discussed sand mandalas, thought about why people might make them, and viewed a time-lapse video of one being created.  It's really amazing to watch if you never have before!

Tibetan monks work together to make these beautifully intricate designs out of colored sand.  This process can be very meditative, providing a chance to slow the mind, and focus on the present.  Students were very surprised to learn that after a mandala is complete, it is swept away!

Mandalas thus can represent life, and the idea that nothing is permanent.  

Students then created their own temporary artworks, collaborating and using radial symmetry.  Each group used random objects to create their own unique creation.

Many artists from different cultures use radial design in their work.

During the next class, students compared and contrasted a traditional sand mandala with a contemporary artwork by Korean artist, Joong Keun Lee.

Some students liked how Joong Jeun Lee incorporated people into his design and also created an optical illusion.   Students then created and painted their own radial designs on cardboard circles. 

Finally, we turned our cardboard circles into looms and created radial weavings.  This process can be very challenging when first learning, but after students got it, many couldn't get enough!  I heard students comment on how relaxing weaving is, and also one exclamation that, "I could do this all day and never get bored."  Our process and art shows that art can make you think, can connect others, can relax you, can challenge you, and can provide accomplishment and beauty.