Djembe Drum

Students are about halfway through creating their miniature Djembe drums! I'm excited to test them out tomorrow and get students started on learning drumming rhythms. I'll walk you through the process:

First students had to construct their armature by cutting out the bottom of two cups and taping it together. The armature is the base for their papier-mâché.

Then, students started the papier-mâché process by using strips of newspaper dipped in art paste. The goal was to apply several layers of the newspaper to the armature to create a hard cast.

In between two of the layers, students worked together with their groups to devise a plan for their drum decoration. I provided them with several ideas, including symbols, colors, and animals, and students collaborated on how to create a set of cohesive drums.

Once the drum was dried and sturdy (with about three days worth of papier-mâché), students are applying gesso to the drum. Gesso is a primer that covers the newspaper and provides a surface for painting their designs. 

In the upcoming classes, students will be painting their designs, with the exception of one class who are using colored pencils or markers to decorate a skirt that will be glued to their drums. I'm really liking the artwork these students are drawing; they are able to show more details with the dry materials than they would have with paint.

As tomorrow is Picture Day, students will not be painting because I do not want to risk anyone dirtying up their nice clothes before their pictures. Instead, students will be learning drum rhythms and then start creating the rhythm they plan to use for their performance. 

Happy Friday!

Today is midterm! It is hard to believe that we are already one eighth of the way through the school year and one quarter of the way through Creative Arts! I have so many more exciting projects planned, and students are doing a fantastic job powering through them.

At the beginning of this week, I introduced our unit on Africa. Students will be working in groups to create a musical performance, including both Djembe drumming techniques and African dance. Before starting this group project, students have been working on a mini visual art project. Students selected an African animal, drew the outline and filled the inside with zentangles, a relaxing, repetitive doodle. Most students are currently working on painting the backgrounds, showing their ability to create a value scale. I am impressed, yet again, with the creativity that all the students are bringing to this project!

I was finally able to hang the kaleidoscope artwork this week, so here are some images from the displays!

Triptych Update

Students have been working hard on their paintings. As of today, every student has completed their value scales and are about to or have already started painting their portraits. I like that I chose such a small scale for this project because artists have been able to work through this quickly. Maybe we'll even have time for another mini-project before the school year ends!

Pop Art Triptych

After completing their Cubist Still Life collages (pictures are now updated on the Virtual Art Show), 8th grade artists began creating their Pop Art Triptych. I am really excited about this project because it is one that I have been dreaming of teaching my students since I was student teaching at TJ Middle (2/5 internships). I started by showing the students this slideshow with two amazing Pop Art/Andy Warhol videos. Together we brainstormed a list of the important characteristics of both the Pop Art movement and the artists Andy Warhol. I had students make a list of three celebrities or famous figures that they would want to use for their artwork, and then I went on to find the images and posterize (transforming the color photo into very few tones) them. *If students had access to their own technology in the art room, I would have had them search for their own reference photo so that they found the perfect one that suited them. I would have shown them how to posterize so that they could complete that step themselves and use that tool in the future if they ever needed to again. Another idea for this project would be for students to find a selfie on their phones (because we know all eighth graders have them) and use that for their project. Allowing students the use of their own technology would have provided more options for the students.* 

Once students received their famous photos, they transferred the image three times using carbon paper. I love carbon paper for many reasons: 1) It allows many students to trace at multiple times since I only have one window and no light tables. 2) Students do not need to stress about making all three drawings identical because they are tracing and can follow the same guidelines. 3) Tracing the photographs make for less erasing, creating a smooth coloring-page-like outline for students to paint. 4) Students can make their outlines as detailed or as simplified as they would like, based on their evaluation of their own ability. Most students made it through all three drawings without any hiccups. It is so easy to move the paper around accidentally, so I made sure students had tape to tape their photo to the carbon paper and their carbon paper to their artwork to make sure that the faces were being drawn in the correct places. Once the paper moves, it is difficult to line up the the photo to the artwork to continue, but I was impressed to see that many students were able to fix the mistake.

Now that most students have completed the outline, they are working on painting value scales in order to find which colors they would like to paint their artwork. Students will choose three different colors and have to choose either a tint or shade of that color to paint within the same face. They will get to choose whether they want the original hue as the positive or negative space, placing the tint/shade in the opposite space. Ultimately, their artwork will look like this, but with three (triptych) faces instead of four:

I will be posting many pictures on Instagram and Twitter as students start painting their faces, so keep an eye out!