Art Class Lessons
I am sharing a small sampling of lessons that were developed and carried out this year with an example for the primary and secondary grades. I have chosen these lessons to highlight the variety of media we use in art class as well as the progession of skills between ages. I have provided some images of student work as well as some teaching tools I used to cover the topics.
Students learned about caricature art, connecting to our ongoing effort to learn about careers for artists. We studied the work and life of Tom Richmond, current caricature artist, and developed an undertsanding about the art form.
Students began practicing creating caricatures in their sketchbooks from images of celebrities. We then moved into sketches from our own photographs before moving onto the final draft using pencil, pen, and oil pastels.
Although daunting for the students at first, learning a completely new form of art making was an exciting challenge that was met with positive outcomes. Students learned about how weaving is created in different cultures from around the world and developed a connection to the process through relations to their own heritage and interest in this novel form of art making.
Students learned new vocabulary words such as loom, warp, and weft, and used them frequently when working on their weavings. The students were so engaged in the project that the ending of art class was marked with audible groans and requests for extra time and the use of materials during recess.
Students created clay monsters inspired by the artist Trenton Doyle Hancock and his imaginative creatures known as "mounds". Students reviewed the pinch pot method, learned in kindergarten, and added the techniques of slip and score to their knowledge base.
In a previous lesson, students created landscapes of imaginary worlds to serve as habitats for their clay creatures.