Van Gogh Gridded Oil Pastel Mural

Gridded, Oil Pastel Mural


Each student was given a section of a famous work of art. I used Van Gogh's "Cypress Trees" because we had just discussed brushstrokes, blending color, and movement.

The students' sections were 6cmx6cm. Using the grid method they transfered this image to a 48x48cm piece of paper. So when everyone was finished and we put the large pieces together we had a huge wall murral roughly 250cm x 250cm

Grade 7 gridded self-portrait

I photographed each student and then we discussed how to properly use a ruler to measure a grid.

A large grid, 2cm x 2cm, is measured onto a large sheet of paper, and a small grid, 1cm x 1 cm is measured onto a small sheet of tracing paper.

Next, students were given printouts of their faces and asked to tape the gridded tracing paper to the photocopy.

Then they were to trace the main shapes of the face onto the tracing paper and transfer, box by box, the lines that make up the basic shapes of the face onto the large gridded paper.

In this way, exact proportions are tediously, but easily rendered.

Finally, the value is carefully built up.

We had many small exercises and discussions about grid-drawing and creating a range of value with blending before beginning this project.

Tube Sculptures - Second Semester, 2007

Terms 3 and 4 meant a new group of 6th and 7th graders. I think the tube sculpture project was even more successful the second time around.






I allowed the students to be more representational with their sculptures. I learned that the abstract aspect of this project is better suited to older students. For these middle school kids, it's enough that they experiment with materials and discover which building methods are most successful.




Translating a 2-D drawing into a 3-D reality is quite enough of a challenge for a 6th and 7th grade student.

Who Do you Most Admire? Painting Assignment

The Assignment:
Students were asked to bring in a photo or have me photograph someone from our school community. I took these images, copied them onto transparencies, and projected them onto large sheets of paper (roughly 24 x 36 in.). The students were then asked to trace the projected image and then select a color scheme with which to complete the painting. The main objectives were to accurately trace a projected image, to learn about color relationships, and to experiment with the many ways of applying paint to paper.

Some students chose to paint a classmate.








But more often, students chose an adult as the person they most admired.






Perihan, a 7th grade student, made a portrait of our counselor, Ms. Zager







Maged selected the 6th grade Math teacher, Mr. Huss, as the person he most admired.











Many students, like 6th grader Mohamed, 7th grader Omar, 7th grader Nourhan, and 7th grader Salma chose their mother as the person they most admire.





























Nourhan, a 6th grade student, completed a very successful painting of her cousin.

Archived Student Artwork

Various student work from 2005 and earlier.












This example is from a Ceramics I, Introductory Project. The project was to build a clay box with handled lid. Students were encouraged to experiment with texture, glazes and building techniques.

























This was a long term ceramics project, lasting usually at least 6 weeks. The students were asked to plan out sketches for pieces that could be put together vertically. The goal was to create a personalized "totum pole" with a theme.

I asked the students to pay special attention to "finishing" the project with careful craftsmanship (hiding the stick that holds up the objects, disguising the can of concrete at the bottom, etc).





Some chosen themes were, "The Garden", "Delicate", Ocean Life", "Places I've Traveled" and "Who I Am."















During this sculpture project students were encouraged to use some form of paper to create a larger than life, Pop Art-Inspired object. This Pilsbury dough boy stood about 3.5 or 4 feet tall.













Working with clay again, students were to look at images of food, select one, sketch the image and then create it from clay.

They were encouraged to compare the contrasting relationship between things. For example, an inedible object that looks like something you can eat. Metallic glaze on something that is not made of metal (pancakes).

From Around the World - Poster Presentations

After seeing work displayed in the halls and talking with other middle school teachers, we agreed that students could use some lessons centered around improving their poster presentation skills. I became really excited with all the directions this could take, and decided to incorporate some art cultural information into this on-going assignment.

My main goal was that students develop skills that would help them create attractive, organized, creative visual presentations for any classroom assignment.

The project required that each student research an area of the world (using a fun game, the locations were randomly chosen from a map) and then as a class we would create posters, step-by-step.










Briefly, the steps were as follows (each step had it's own deadline and grade):
1. Determine a color scheme based on some aspect of your research.
2. Create a bold, cut-paper title for your poster, by tracing a provided font.
3. Print out examples of artwork from your area of the world and create a "frame" for each.
4. Sketch a rough layout that incorporates the images and the title (remember our discussions on balance, emphasis, scale, repetition, etc.)
5. Create a large "Symbol" that will be a main element of the poster.
6. Revise your sketch, updating images and title if necessary and including the symbol into your poster layout.
7. Layout all elements of the poster, revise the arrangement if necessary, and begin the final step of gluing (using the discussed gluing methods).
8. Present your poster to the class (peer and self-evaluation).

Being that this was the first time I had attempted this lesson, there were glaring bumps along the way (mainly having to do with initial research, logistics of computer lab use, not enough time for certain steps of the project) but overall the project was extremely successful!

I was flattered to hear that a high school TOK class used our poster display to discuss "what is art" and why certain art might come from a specific area.

About a week after the project was due, I had an 8th grader approach me in the hall with a big grin, "Ms. Maxwell, I used some of our poster ideas for my Science project..." Music to my ears! Mission accomplished!

7th graders creating sculptures Nov 2006

6th graders creating their sculptures Nov 2006