Mrs. Abbas’ Art Room
The blog of a teaching artist.
10/7/2019 0 Comments Color + ContrastOne thing that I am learning as a first year teacher is that time slips away so quickly! Needless to say, this post is long overdue, but better late than never. Here are some of the results of my Drawing & Painting classes' first project: Color + Contrast. In this project, students practice creating a range of values by using a variety of graphite pencils. Students also practiced adding emphasis and contrast by adding color to their work.
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8/31/2019 0 Comments August 31st, 2019As we started up the school year this week, I wanted my artists to gain confidence in their artistic abilities by creating a structured abstract art piece. In addition, I wanted to foster the classroom community by having students work together in groups to complete a collaborative artwork. In their groups, students had to agree on a four-color color scheme. Then, each student took a turn rolling a dice to determine what kind of mark they would make to create their composition. After the initial black marks were made, students continued taking turns to fill in each section with textures and patterns using the colors of their chosen color scheme. Once all of the collaborative abstract artworks were completed, they were hung on the wall to critique. Students discussed which artworks caught their eye, which artworks were successful, and which artworks could use improvement. Students were not allowed to offer vague critiques. Each student was challenged to offer kind, helpful, and specific feedback. I was very impressed with my art critics! Ask your students about Austin’s butterfly! 7/19/2019 0 Comments Artsonia
7/19/2019 0 Comments Classroom Rewards!I am very excited for the school year to begin! If you're purchasing school supplies from Staples, you can enter the receipt barcode number and purchase amount online and earn money for the art room! See flyer below. 11/11/2017 0 Comments The ShowFor the last workshop, students spent their time finishing up projects and preparing for a show. They created title cards, tags board easels, and artist statements. The students decided to arrange their art by artist, so each student had their own table space to curate. As we finished up our display, parents, grandparents, and siblings, walked about to view the artworks completed in workshops. 11/5/2017 0 Comments Giacometti & Maggio (part 2)This week in workshops, we taught the same lessons we started last week. Since we had our students divided into two groups, we flipped flopped them, so each student could see each lesson. I took on the teaching of the Alberto Giacometti inspired sculptures this time. This setup seemed to work well with our particular group of students. Some of our students feed off each other, especially two brothers. It is nice to be teaching in teams to allow this kind of flexibility. The students worked more productively in smaller groups. While teaching the Giacometti sculptures, I noticed that most of our students prefer to work on their own. They prefer to struggle through a process before asking for help. As I circled around, the students were eagerly responsive to instruction. However, we also have a few students who appear a little less motivated. They need the step-by-step hand-holding to complete a project. From my observations, I think these students, in particular, do not like being told what to do. Therefore, if a project doesn’t spark an interest they don’t care to do it. They are great kids but challenging to keep on task. As the students progressed through the lesson, I think they had the hardest time with the wire armature. They could come up a gesture to portray quickly, but executing it was a bit tougher. The wire that they used seemed to work well; it bent easily and held its structure well. Though, if I were to teach this again I would emphasize the importance of working with one piece of wire, because it was when the students tried to twist two pieces of wire together that they had difficulties. Though, some were able to work through this by reinforcing the joints with tape, which is a perfect solution because once the next step is to cover the wire armatures with tape. The students were able to tape up their wire structures with ease. As the students were taping, I introduced mass and showed them how to accomplish it with their sculptures. They could choose to add visual weight and create form to their work by adding newspaper. This was an easy concept to understand, but thinking it through was tough. This reminded me the value of 3D work. There are essential skills to be learned and practiced through projects that require dimensional thinking, and our workshops had lacked that up until this lesson. I enjoyed this lesson, and I could see myself teaching it again. The students were engaged, and each came up with original ideas. The students end up making a project that look visually similar to one another, but there are many other valuable lessons to be learned through 3D work that I don’t think that matters as much. Plus, there is enough flexibility in the lesson for students to plan and create a unique gesture for their sculpture. 10/28/2017 0 Comments October 28, 2017: Giacometti & MaggioWe decided to operate our workshop differently this week. Right away, one of our instructors introduced two projects back to back. The first project introduced pareidolia, and she began by displaying the word on the screen and asked the students to try to pronounce it. Their attempts were adorable. Then, pareidolia was defined and examples were shown. A photo of clouds was left on the screen for about 3-5 minutes, and we listened to all the things the students thought they saw in the clouds. After that, the work of Carolina Maggio was viewed and discussed. The project for this lesson was for the students to make work similar to Maggio’s. The students would used powdered tempera paint and splatter it onto paper with brushes, spoons, and straws. After it would dry, the students would use a sharpie marker to create images based on the way their paint landed on the paper. As the students came in this morning, they began working on previous workshop projects. Once everyone had arrived, I began to show work by Claude Monet and Andy Goldsworthy. As a class we compared the two artists. Students noticed that both artists focused on life outdoors, though Monet painted what he saw outside while Goldsworthy created art with found natural materials. I made the distinction between a landscape and a land art and discussed other vocabulary. After our discussion, we headed outside to make land art. 10/28/2017 0 Comments October 14, 2017: Only One YouThis week in workshops, I played the role of a classroom assistant while another teacher led the instruction. She began the class by reading Only One You by Linda Kranz, which is a story about a mother and father sharing wisdom they have acquired through the years with their songs guide him through his exploration of the world. After the book was read, a short talk was held about how each person is their own unique individual. Then the project was introduced, and the students began to brainstorm about how they would make their self-portrait. A quick “field trip” to another classroom took place to view elements and principles of art posters. The teacher led a discussion about how the elements and principles are used in art-making, and she encouraged the students to choose a couple to focus on in their self-portrait. |
AuthorI am a teaching artist learning as I go. I am passionate about art and people, and I am excited to be on this educational journey. The purpose of this blog is to share my struggles, successes, and everything in between as I learn to navigate writing curriculum, managing a classroom, and building relationships. Archives
October 2019
CategoriesAll Bosch Cavener Collage Display Exquisite Corpse Giacometti Goldsworthy Grab Land Art Landscape Lasansky Maggio Monet Painting Pareidolia Pattern Perception Portrait Printmaking Sculpture Self-Portrait Show Tempera |