Djembe Drums Are Complete!

 Students finalized their papier-mache Djembe drums by adding a balloon as a drumhead. In class yesterday, students followed along to a few drumming tutorials in order to practice playing their drums.

 I have updated the virtual art show to showcase all 30 groups! Here are a few sneak peeks: 

Next up, students are working on creating a collaborative portrait. Before Thanksgiving, students followed along to a shading technique tutorial to learn different ways to shade artwork.

 

Today and tomorrow, students are practicing another important skill: grid drawing! Next week, students will combine both of these techniques in order to draw their portion(s) of a face. Once all the pieces have been completed, I'll assemble the faces and the models will be revealed! Stay tuned for more progress on this project.

Djembe Drums

Students have been BUSY in the art room recently, creating their very own Papier-mâché Djembe drums, a miniature version of a traditional African instrument. Students began with an armature created by two cups taped together, and added layers of Papier-mâché with newspaper and art paste. 

Students did a great job building strong structures, finalized with a layer of paper towels to create a blank canvas to paint on.

 Today students are working on designing the painting for the drums, planning for a cohesive design to show that they are a part of a team. 

This week students will be using acrylic paint to add their designs. Stay tuned for pictures of completed Djembe drums!

Previously, students created Scratch Art Calaveras in honor of Día de los Muertos. First students created their own scratch art paper by filling it with crayon designs and covering it with black tempera paint. Once the paint was dried, students used a wooden skewer to etch their design, creating a patterned sugar skull. Here is a selection that is featured in my classroom, but check out the Virtual Art Show for close-ups of more drawings!

Djembe Drums!

It has been a busy few weeks in the art room! Students are halfway through creating their own Djembe drums. I am so proud of the way students have been handling using art paste in my classroom; minimal spills on the carpet and students have been responsibly cleaning up after themselves and neighbors. I changed up the papier-mȃché process a tiny bit this year due to a brilliant idea from Mrs. Wetzel, the 8th grade art teacher. The final layer of papier-mȃché was made with paper towel instead of newspaper in order to create a solid canvas to paint on. Last year I had students paint a layer of gesso (canvas primer) as their base, which used less layers of papier-mȃché. With the final layer of paper towel, these drums are much sturdier than the ones my students made last year.

Today students began painting. A few weeks ago groups drew rough drafts of what they wanted painted on their drums, making their artwork cohesive in a way. First students drew their design on their drum, then they began to paint. Painting should last maybe one or two more days and then we will begin our dance and drum portions of this unit. I can't wait to see the performances come together!

Djembe Drums

Last week students were introduced to Design an Ad, a contest through The Frederick News Post. The great thing about this contest is that each class is competing with only themselves, so someone from every group wins! The winning advertisements will be printed in a special publication in the FNP on May 8th. Students worked on their artwork during the latter half of the week and will continue their artwork throughout the month of March in between activities. On Monday, students were introduced to their next unit, the African Musical Performance. This is a fun one for the students because they are combining visual arts, dance, and music into one! Yesterday, the students created armatures for their miniature Djembe drums and today began to add papier-mâché. I was so pleased with how smoothly clean-up ran today because one of my two sinks were out of commission! Most students completed one layer of papier-mâché today, so we are on track to start painting mid-week next week.