Winding Down - Art of Latin America and Art of Africa

 I seriously cannot believe the first semester is almost over! Students have been working diligently on their two most recent projects. Art of Latin America projects were turned in right before winter break and Art of Africa projects are due this weekend. I updated the virtual art show with some of the Latin America projects (I'm waiting on a few more students to approve their videos to be added), so check them out on the virtual art show tab! 

Students blew me away with their Latin America projects! Most students selected the visual art pathway, but no two artworks were the same. Frida Kahlo and Jose Guadalupe Posada were the most common artists chosen for this project, as their style of art was so iconic and easy to incorporate into artworks (I did this project along with my students, and also chose Kahlo because I liked the idea of creating a self portrait). The pandemic was a hot topic for artwork; many students incorporated masks or an illustration of the coronavirus.  Here are a few samplings from the submissions:

My favorite part of this project was that students were given choice as to which pathway they wanted to follow. Although many students selected visual art, a few students in each class selected one of the performing arts options, allowing their performance skills to shine! Check out the virtual art show to see some of the submissions from the performing categories. 

Students are working on another choice-based project, focusing on the art of Africa. This time, the project was divided into two weeks, where students had to choose one art form for each week, resulting in two mini-projects! Students who chose dance had to create a 30-second video of them performing a dance inspired by traditional African dance choreography. Students who chose music had to create a 30-second video of them performing a rhythm inspired by traditional African instruments. Although some students did have drums at home, many students used found objects, such as buckets, chairs, boxes, and pans, to create their music with. Students who chose theatre had to act out a 30-second (or more) scene from an African folktale. Some students decided to retell the story as a monologue, while others acting alongside family members to recreate the story. Lastly, students who chose visual art created a drawing or 3D mask inspired by traditional African masks. 

Since these projects are being turned in this weekend, I will hopefully have the Art of Africa projects added to the virtual art show by the end of next week. For the last few days of class coming up, I have some really neat activities planned, so stay tuned!

Fortune Teller Critique

Today 6th grade artists engaged in a Fortune Teller Critique, which is something that I came up with when I was student teaching. Students worked in groups of 3 or 4 and used a paper fortune teller to generate questions to discuss about one another's artwork. The critique is very helpful in providing feedback about one's own artwork to use when they fill out their Artist Statement next class. Some of the questions included:

• What  makes this artwork successful? How does it meet the objectives for the assignment?
• Discuss one Principle of Design used within the artwork?
• What does the artwork make you think about? Or what do you think the artist wanted you to think about?

Overall, I think the critique was a success! It allowed students to talk about topic other than Elements and Principles, and it will certainly help make the Artist Statement run smoother since they already have a lot of feedback!

Mask painting

6th grade students were just as happy as I was to have Art yesterday! Artists are working on painting their masks, using neutral colors first, and then adding emphasis to one area by adding a tertiary color. A lot of progress was made in class yesterday!

Papier-mâché Mask Update

6th grade artists are finishing up with the Papier-mâché portion of the African mask project this week. The masks look fantastic! We started 
Papier-mâché by using a mixture of watered down Elmer's glue, but switched over to a product called 
Art Paste, which is specifically used for Papier-mâché. Below are some in-progress images of the
masks. Enjoy!

6th Grade African Masks

6th grade artists have been working on creating African-inspired masks. This multi-step project is going to be a lot of fun. First, students drew a rough draft in their sketchbooks of what they wanted their final mask to look like. Most students chose an African animal as inspiration for their design, but they could also create a human-like figure. Next, students had to use mathematics to measure the distance of their facial features, including the length of their forehead, the width of their eyes, and the distance of their eyes apart from one another. These measurements are very important to ensure that they will be able to see out of their masks.

The next step was for students to build an armature out of cardboard and newspaper. An armature is the framework in which a sculpture is built on top of; it is what students are using to transform their masks from flat drawings into three-dimensional forms. Below are a few pictures of armatures in the works:

We had a few students begin adding papier-mâché to their armatures. For our papier-mâché, we are dipping strips of newspaper into a mixture of water and glue and laying it over top of the armature in a few layers. Once the mixture dries, it will become hard and creates the form of the mask. 

This project is about to get very messy with all the glue, but papier-mâché is always a fan favorite!