All Ages: Favorite Memory Prints

I began the lesson by having students think of their favorite memory at George School Day camp, for some this could be their first year, for many they start at 6 years old and stay until they are 14 years old. These kids grow through this camp as children and many become camp counselors once they are 15 years old.

Once students had their favorite memory in mind, they were to share with the class if they like. There are many fun activities and events that happen at George School Day Camp, which provides a variety of different favorite memories to see!

I showed a blue print that I created of what the final outcome would be; with all of the prints displayed together; and why we are only printing in the colors: Orange, Blue, and Red. GSDC stands for George School Day Camp.

I explained the process of printmaking to the older campers, while most of them have experience with it in art at school. It was a new technique for the younger children so I explained that we were making our very own "stamp".

I cut 3x3 inch squares from the tops and bottoms of togo boxes. When you draw into one of these porous squares, it pushes down from the pressure and creates a low relief stamp. Once students were happy with their stamp, they were sent over to an inking station where they would use ink rollers on their stamp and make 2 prints. One print was donated to make up the collaborative print, the second they could keep. Some students made many prints, and even additional stamps!

All Ages: Monochromatic Self Portrait Rainbow!

On 6x6 sheets of paper, I had the kids draw themselves the way they would like. I talked about what makes up a self portrait, and what monochromatic means. Monochromatic was a new word to all of the children. "How can you draw a picture of yourself with only using greens?" They were about to find out.

I gave each child a mirror that they could use to help draw their self portraits, I assigned 6 colors to groups of kids in each class. In 6 different bins, there were different shades of one color, the mediums consisted of crayons, thin markers, thick markers, and colored pencils. There was a large variety of colors for the children to use.

Once the portraits were completed, I hung them up for display for all the camp to see. The amount of positive feedback was rewarding. A long time employee even took a video of the Self Portraits at the end of the camp (some of the images started to curl from the heat, but it still looked wonderful!)

Click to watch video of the Monochromatic Self Portraits!

The older boys group working on their self portraits.

The final outcome hanging in the school gym. Wow! 

6 Years: Door Hangers!

This is a project I did with my youngest group of children at George School's Summer day camp! 6 year olds wrote out their name on construction paper, and applied yarn to outline it with elmer's glue! I wanted them to explore a new medium, and using yarn to write out their name was a fun way to do it!  They decorated it with more texture, fabric, yarn and markers for a door hanger that represents them. We punched holes at the top and applied a stick and yarn so they could hang it to their door (or wear it around campus all day! )

3-D Decorated Letters!

Here is a project that I asked any of my art club members to volunteer to do. The idea was to create a three dimensional "sign" to represent their school. Students could construct letters, paint them, or do both. I left it up to them. I did want each letter to take on a personality or something to make it come alive!  This was used for the School Title for my exhibition space at the "Art of Student Teaching Show"at Temple University. It is now permanently mounted in the school office, where it will get the most exposure to the community! 

Ceramic letters drying to be fired! 

Student painting the letter!

The mounting process! Used epoxy to adhere the ceramic letters to the painted wood, let dry overnight.

The title mounted above my exhibition space for the Show! 

8th Grade: Jackson Pollack Meets Op Art Hands!

After learning about the paint splatter techniques of Jackson Pollack, and the optical illusions of Bridget Reilly, I decided to combine the two! Students worked collaboratively to splatter paint onto their choice of colored paper to serve as the background for their "Op Art" focal points. They then drew their hands, some where not touching, and others showed engagement in one another. 

8th Grade: Surrealistic Animals

Inspired by surrealist artists Marc Chagall and Salvador Dali, students created a sculpture of an animal that they fear or are found of. Students added a humanistic quality or trait to their animal that would make it more surreal. One the animals were sculpted and kiln fired, they painted the creatures using tempera paint.

8th Grade: Abstraction of Memories on a Bottle

I started the lesson by asking students to close their eyes and think about their favorite memory. I had them think about the smells, people, what they saw, and the environment. I asked them to draw the memory on paper any way they like. I had them share if they liked, one student shared her experience in Africa. Wow!

We've learned about abstract artists such as Picasso and Kandinsky and identified ways to abstract a work of art. I then had the students draw their artwork a second time and abstract it they way they liked, some students flattened shapes, exaggerated figures, and used unnatural color.

I showed a short power point on the history of mosaics, and how artists use mosaics in modern day. I showed images of Magic Garden on South Street in philadelphia PA, a location very assessable to the students. (clip below)

Love the use of mixed media! 

After I felt the students understood mosaics, their favorite memory, and how to execute it in a abstract way. I had the students select their color palette using paint chips that I've provides in a variety of colors ( Free at Home Depot! ). They cut them up into different shapes, and used Elmer's glue to apply them to a bottle that they've chosen. I collect a variety of bottles, and had over 130. I wanted to incorporate what we learned about the Magic Garden's in Philly, and use glass as the surface, especial because it isn't flat!

The outcome was AMAZING!!!

7th Grade: Five Dollar Repousse Coins

I had the students imagine that they have been commissioned by the United States Mint to Create a five dollar coin. They learned about the history of the Statue of Liberty, paying close attention to her copper sheeted skin that was beaten to shape using repousse. After designing the face of their coin on paper, students transferred their drawing to aluminum using repousse and chasing techniques.

7th Grade: Reverse Self Portraits

My first lesson with my 7th graders during student teaching at Holland Middles School. They were introduced to the Renaissance Period and discussed Michelangelo's ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. I had students recreate their own scaled self portrait through the use of the grid, much like Michelangelo used. Using white pastel on black paper, students then used chiaroscuro to create lights and darks for a 3 dimensional drawing!

This lesson was challenging, yet rewarding for the students, they made a value scale before adding value to their own portraits, to learn how to control the pressure while using the pastel.