Elements of Art & Radio Plays

 Happy Friday! It's the last day of school before spring break and I wanted to share some news here. I have made it my "spring break project" to finally put together the current Virtual Art Show - I've been slacking in this department (since my computer has trouble saving artwork when I'm not at school, but I'll be patient and get the job done). Students this semester have seriously inspired me with their creativity and I cannot wait to share everything. I think I'll also include doodle calendars on the Virtual Art Show this year, something I've never done in the past, because students are truly exceeding my expectations with these. Some are drawing on paper, some are drawing on Kami, and some students are even drawing digitally using apps of their choice. 

Classes have officially finished up with the Elements of Art Composition. More students than in the past, I think, decided to create original compositions. By this, I mean more students are incorporating the 7 Elements within their own scene instead of just drawing individual examples. I allow students to make the choice of how they want to present their understanding of this concept, but I'm just impressed by the originality of these students! I posted a few in my last blogpost, but I love sharing art, so here are a few more!

Now that these projects are finished, students are moving on to the Spooky Radio Drama. This was a fan favorite from the previous semester, and I really enjoy it, too. So far today I've had one class start writing their scripts and they're coming up with some pretty creative tales. This one you'll have to wait until the unit is over to hear plays, but I will surely have the Virtual Art Show up and running by then.

Enjoy the sunshine over spring break everyone! 

March Update

 Hello! Every semester I post that I want to update my blog biweekly and every semester I post this same message saying that I keep forgetting to make posts! I'm changing things up and I'm writing this post on a Tuesday so that I don't forget to add one on Friday.

We have been BUSY in creative arts and I&I this semester! Hybrid is in full-swing and students are doing an outstanding job navigating the virtual and in-person classroom. Due to some snow days at the beginning of the term, Red & Blue classes are a week behind Orange & Purple classes, but it hasn't stopped us from making some awesome art! I'll post some examples below, but I'm also working on putting together the start to our spring Virtual Art Show. 

So far this term, students have shared a bit about themselves by creating Personality Maps. 

 Then we discussed "culture" and how a culture is established when a group of people share common interests/beliefs. Each creative arts class has their very own culture, so after a great discussion of what students value most, classes created and voted on a class flag. Here are the winning flags:

In a mini-project, students were introduced to one of my favorite artists, Kehinde Wiley, and practiced portrait drawing with decorative backgrounds, like his artwork. This assignment introduced many students to digital art, and I am beyond impressed with these drawings! 

Most recently, students have been learning about the Elements of Art. Students completed a PlayPosit to learn the definitions, a scavenger hunt to find examples, and finally created an artwork that demonstrated their understanding of all 7 elements. I love this project because it is completely open-ended and students are able to draw whatever they are interested in. Two classes have finished this project entirely, and two others are finishing it up this week.

To start off each class, students work on Doodle Calendars. Some days we don't have any drawing on our agenda, so I want to be able to offer this creative outlet as the start to every class. So far the prompts have been fun holidays in February and March, and the doodles students have been coming up with are extremely creative! Many students are working digitally on Kami (or their own digital program), while others are drawing their doodle calendars on paper.

I hope to start regularly updating my blog, but for more frequent updates, follow me on Twitter and Instagram! Since March is Youth Art Month, I've been posting artwork from both first semester and current students on Twitter to celebrate all my talented students. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend perusing the galleries on the Delaplaine website - the Youth Art Month exhibitions are top notch!