SHMS Art Shows Fall 2014
The second show was up at the back of the gym during the Christmas concert. With the limited space, not every student could be in it...but a few things from every different project was represented.
SHMS Art Shows Fall 2014We had a couple art shows this semester for the middle school. The public library let us host a student showcase in their program room!! Every student had one piece of artwork in this show. The second show was up at the back of the gym during the Christmas concert. With the limited space, not every student could be in it...but a few things from every different project was represented. Art ClubAt the end of each school day I had a group of kids in my room for Art Club. They basically got to do any art project they wanted, as long as it was pre-approved by yours truly. 7th and 8th Grade Independent ProjectsThis was something new I tried this semester. The students were required to do a painting or drawing (subject of their choice) twice a semester. These projects had to be done whenever they finished a project early in class...or at home "Independently."
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Kids LOVE Clay!! 8th Grade: Tikis 8th Graders learned a little about Polynesian and Hawaiian culture, specifically why they make Tiki masks, and then made their own! I also showed the 8th Grade students how to use the potter's wheel and let any who wanted to give it a try have a go at it!! One boy in particular amazed me at how quickly he caught on, a natural! Future potter perhaps? ; ) 7th Grade Cake/Pie Boxes The 7th Grade students did a Pop Art Unit and learned about artist Wayne Thiebaud, known for his paintings of everyday object like cake and pie. Using a template the students rolled out slabs of clay and cut pieces to assemble for their cake or pie boxes. 6th Grade Double Pinch Pot Animals I let the 6th Grade basically make any animal they wanted, as long at the body was made of two pinch pots put together. They got so creative with this!! Many decided to make theirs into coin banks. 5th Grade Portrait Tiles Since I only see the 5th graders about once a week, we needed a quick clay project so the clay wouldn't dry out. So I introduced students to Pop Artist Andy Warhol, they took a picture of themselves on their laptops, rolled out a slab of clay and transferred the photo to the clay. After firing the clay, the students used bright colors like Warhol's paintings to color their face in. We had more issues with this project than I expected, so I don't know if I will do the project again. However, there were some really good finished products. (Here is the video that inspired this project): 8th Grade African Masks Students focused on art history and culture towards the end of the year. They learned about African culture and the function/purpose of masks. They needed to use xacto knives and the hot glue gun safely to put their cardboard masks together. Then they painted their masks with earth tones and could add embellishments like yarn, beads, shells, etc. 6th Grade Jungle CollagesThis seemed like a never ending project! We began by working together to paint textured blue-greens and yellow-greens to use later for the plants. Next, they learned about artist Henri Rousseau and created their own jungles with cut pieces of the painted paper. 7th Grade Pop Art Portraits Students learned about artist Roy Lichtenstein to inspire their comical portraits. They had to take a picture of themselves on their laptops and then transfer the image with graphite paper, making their lines thick and bold. Using markers or paint, students imitated Roy's ben-day dot style for a cartoon effect. 8th Grade Egyptian Metal Art First, students made their own hieroglyphics and learned about different characteristic of Ancient Egyptian art. They had to draw a face in profile view with a crown and pectoral decorations commonly worn by the ancient Pharaohs. Similar to ancient relief sculptures on stone, students had to use metal tooling techniques to make some parts of their design pop out. 7th Grade Bad Hair Day Portraits We began this drawing by learning about facial proportions in order to draw a portrait with correct measurements. It cracks me up how much it surprises students that the eyes are in the center of the head because they've always drawn them too high...or how if you get the "eye-width" right, you can line up the rest of the face. Then students filled in their hair with wacky zentangle lines and patterns. Some girls were reluctant to do this, but discovered that their portraits were much more fun and creative when they were done. :) 5th Grade Aboriginal Lizards With fields tips and snow days, one of the 5th grade sections ended up with 2 or 3 more days than the other section. So students learned a bit about the Australian Aboriginal people and their art. They drew lizards and then used earth tones to paint them. We even crumpled the paper so it would be like painting on bark. I wish we would have had at least one more day for this project, but we just ran out of time. 6th Grade Contour Line Portraits This was another quick end-of-the-year project. Students took pictures of themselves and had to trace the lines of the image onto plastic acetate with permanent marker (which is trickier than it sounds). For a background, the students made wet on wet watercolor paintings. 8th Grade Popsicle Stick Projects This was an ongoing project throughout the semester. If a student finished something early, they could keep building. There are some students that always finish super fast, while others take forever to finish a project. I have learned how important it is to have something for them to do during the in-between time. Most students just made a simple box, but there were some that worked in groups to create amazing sculptures! A group of boys that made boats and at the end of the year we filled the sink with water to see how long they would float, and determined a winner. Mandala Collaborative Project Because students at BCLUW don't have art class from August through January, the hallway displays are usually blank. So, I had each student make a small square mandala to put together for a collaborative hall display that will go up when school starts...to add some color to the halls. It looked like a quilt when finished! Over the last year, the students have given me many nicknames. I think it makes them feel like they have a closer relationship with me if they are allowed to call me something other than Ms. Holcomb. haha! I have heard kids call me Wendy, Gertrude, Yo Flame! and Miiisssss Honeycomb!! (all names with stories behind them) ....But this last week I earned my favorite one yet: "Mom." I have no children of my own...but I was surprised at the happiness when one of my rowdy 6th grade boys thought it would be okay to start calling me "Mom." I care about these kids and I think they know that! The other day I was in the middle of a demonstration for a new project when this boy interrupts me in a demanding voice: "Mom, are you going to be here next year!!??" I stopped and looked around. The rest of the class was dead silent and watching me expectantly for my answer. So I smiled. "I can officially say that....yes, I will be here next year." The class erupted in a cheer and it melted my heart. So moms out there, this is for you. You have some great kids and I am blessed to get to see them for a short time each day. I teach them to appreciate beauty and express themselves through art...but really, I think they teach me more than I teach them most days. Thanks for doing what YOU do! ~Miss WendyFlameGertrudeHoneycombMom Now...for an arts update!! 8th Grade Paper Sculptures: Students learned about artist Jean Dubuffet and fashioned paper sculptures similar to his work. This was their first 3-D project and it really challenged them to think about how to create connections to assemble their pieces. By the way...in case you didn't know...middle schoolers are fascinated by mustaches! I had a lot of these shapes come up while they were cutting out their "organic" shapes for the project. 5th Grade Texture Wall: I introduced the students to American artist Louise Nevelson, who puts together found objects and then paints her sculpture a solid color to create a wonderfully textured display with shadows. Students then used pieces of cut and folded white paper and glued them onto cardstock in a variety of ways. Individually, these were not that great...but once they were put together into a collaborative wall display...it looked awesome! Origami Cyclops Eye: This is called A "Ms. Holcomb needs a break because she didn't quite decide on our next project yet since we only have two full weeks of school left...so we're doing origami!!" Day. Lol...but the kiddos always enjoy origami and learned how to draw a detailed eye with the iris, pupil, and reflection. You can learn too by clicking here! Lately, when the 7th graders finish a project early I have them work on Group Paintings. They love this! I let them find a picture online and they use my projector to trace it onto big paper. I am already a week into 2nd semester and am now teaching at BCLUW. I'm loving this new challenge and getting to build relationships with new students, but I will admit that I miss the familiar faces of my South Hardin Tigers. :) I thought I'd post one last update of what we did to finish 1st semester. 6th Grade: Way back in October the students made some cool "Moon Silhouettes" using chalk and sponge painted the moon. Painting black branches and a critter seemed to be quite a challenge to them, but many turned out very neat! It was fun to see the students working on their projects while wearing their Halloween costumes one day. (This is an old project, but I realized I never posted it! Whoops!) Hatchet Comic Books: I did some collaboration with the 6th grade teachers and had the students make Comic Books based on the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, a book they were reading for class. We spent a good chunk of time working on this project as the students learned how to make a story into visual form (illustrations for a storyboard or comic strip), how to include words/captions, and design an eye-catching cover. They did a great job filling their comic books with "scenes" from different events in Hatchet. 7th Grade: Chuck Close Self-Portraits: As the final project of their portrait and proportions unit, the students first learned about artist Chuck Close. I showed this video and we discussed 1. The challenges Chuck faced as an artist and 2. Why he paints faces. These kind of discussions are great because students get a chance to dig deeper into why art matters. Chuck has face blindness, which means he cannot recognize faces, even his own reflection! So in a way, he is trying to help himself remember faces by painting them in such detail. Fascinating stuff! To start, students looked in mirrors and we worked step by step to draw the different parts of their face in proportion. Next the students created a grid system with organic shapes (inspired by Chuck Close's work) to color it in. I thought many of these looked great when finished! A bit abstract, but each was unique. Paper Snowflakes: The classroom looked quite festive and colorful at the end of the semester. For a quick easy project, all the classes made these folded snowflakes. Very industrial studio time! I strung some up and used it as garland for the holidays. REALLY brightened up the room! 8th Grade: Paper Quilling - Students learned how to roll paper and glue it down in designs. Some did a snowflake like the example here, but many went their own route and made different "quilled" images. I even cracked open the glitter! (Which is pretty special, considering how much I hate that messy never-comes-off stuff). But the finished designs needed some extra glitz. :) Architecture Silhouettes - As another quick and easy project towards the end, I had students collage small pieces of tissue paper to look sort of like stained glass background. Then they had to find a famous building or architecture and cut the silhouette out of black paper to glue on. Can you guess what these are?: Collaborative Rainbow Paintings!:
Lastly, as a fun project to end with and something that can be left up on display for 2nd semester...the students did a collaborative project. Each student picked their own subject for their painting (approved with me, of course) but were each assigned a different color. They had to use a monochromatic color scale with ONLY this color to paint their subject. The end result was great! I was a little worried that we wouldn't finish enough on time, but when I got all of them up in the order of their colors, I was very happy with the display. I hope the students will enjoy seeing their teamwork on the wall for the next few months. :) |