Christmas Collages

Advent Collage

Teaching at a Catholic school allows for me to integrate faith into art lessons.  While this post is LONG overdue, this is a lesson is great for Catholic school teachers during Advent.  

We start off by talking about Christmas and I ask the students to tell me what they think of when they think of "Christmas."   I let them list off their various thoughts and associations and then I ask them, what is the real meaning of Christmas?  Sometimes in my first round of 'thoughts' they mention their Catholic associations and other times it revolves around Santa and presents, so this follow up question steers them in the direction of the project a little more.  We discuss Christmas and Advent and then I talk to them about how we are going to make artwork about the real meaning of Christmas from something that often clouds our focus.  We are making collages portraying Christmas scenes using Black Friday advertisements.

I let the students pair themselves up into groups.  I allow them to choose how many people are in their group, but ask that it is between 2-5 people (but I recommend 3-4 for the ease of a convenient workload for all).  Each group finds an image that they want to work from online.  I let them use iPads to google search images and I suggest they add the words "coloring page" or "outline" or "clip art" so that a simplified image comes up.  We use Reflector (a program that connects the iPad to my computer/projector) to enlarge the image and I allow them to trace the image onto a sheet of posterboard.  Since this project is more about the meaning and materials, I don't make them free draw the image.  However, at one point our Reflector program wasn't working, so I did have the kids free draw their outlines based on the images they found online.  So really, it's your call how you want to teach this...you could even have them invent an image on their own!  I can usually get 2-3 of the groups images up on the Reflector at the same time, so it doesn't usually leave many people with down time.  And if there is a lot of down time I have the kids start collecting colors.

Anyone that is not tracing their image or once they are finished tracing their image, is collecting colors.  I tell the kids to decide what colors they will need and to start tearing up parts of the Black Friday ads and separating them by color.  I really emphasize that I shouldn't be seeing whole images, it is about the color, not the objects in the ads.  I also emphasize that they should avoid faces, as a face within a collage can be VERY distracting.  Which is why I tell them that any people in their finished collage, should not have an actual human face, glued where the collage face should be.  I give the groups envelopes to collect their colors in and to keep them separated.  Once they have collected "more than enough" of each color, I have them start gluing down the colors to fill in their poster.  In the end, we get amazing collages with a good, Christmas spirit!

This is one of the commonly used images that my kids have traced.  You can see the various examples in the photos of how it became a collage (the last two finished collages both worked from this image)

Surrealism Collage

Something So Surreal...

This lesson is still one of my favorites.  The kids love it and it's a great way to reintroduce them to Surrealism.  My full lesson description can be found in an older post here if you want more details on what we do and how.  But for now, enjoy these few photos of a couple of collages my 5th graders made this year! I also have to apologize for the glare on all of the photos, my classroom's lighting isn't ideal for photographing shinier images and I didn't take the time to adjust my angle

Surrealism Collage

My Surrealism Collage Example

I love collages!  And most of all, I love hilarious collages!  So when I saw a post by one of the bloggers (Artolazzi) that I follow here about surrealism and collage, I was smitten.  What a fun lesson!  I pretty much followed the same lesson as Jenny Bartolazzi but in my own words and with examples of various artists.  The kids LOVED it!

After we discussed Surrealism and looked at some artwork, I showed them how the process would work.  I had previously cut out the pieces I planned on working with and it made the demonstration go smoothly and quickly.  I started with my chosen background (they could choose from 12 options, all cut from expired calenders--my mother in law donated a bunch of calenders from the bank she works for--thanks, Sue!).  I explained how I started just looking through magazines until I found something that gave me an idea or I thought was funny and/or interesting.  The first thing I came along was the superhero, so I cut him out and trimmed away all of his extra background.  When I stumbled upon a boy on his bicycle, I thought that he had the perfect facial expression for someone who needed saving, so I cut him out too.  But when I found the word bubble with "Help!  It's got my Graham-ma!" I changed my plan (I wanted them to keep in mind that plans can change and evolve as they search the magazines).  And then I searched for my villain which was assembled by a man's face and torso mixed with a basketball player's legs and I tucked "grandma" under his arm.  Grandma was found in a sports magazine and is actually a man dressed up as an elderly woman while wearing a pig nose (not sure why there's a pig nose, but I liked it).  I encouraged them to make a surreal scene and to have fun with it and be open to changing ideas as they come upon various images.  While some of them struggled with unifying their images or creating an overall scene, others were able to dive right in with ease.  And regardless if they made a unified scene or not, they had a blast and that experience and excited attitude are enough for me to consider the lesson a huge success!  Now, FINALLY, I will share some of their work with you!

Warm/Cool Color Silhouettes

I introduced (more like revisited than introduced) warm and cool colors to my 4th graders.  We discussed what made a color warm or cool and listed things that we associated with the words "warm" and "cool" and how that helps shape these color schemes.  We also talked about what a silhouette is.  

I showed them a few examples of warm and cool colored backgrounds I had made and asked that they guess what I used and my technique for using it.  The kiddos were spot on!  They could tell that I had used oil pastels and layered the colors and also went over them with either my finger or a tissue to blend the colors.  

I also showed them a finished example with a silhouette on it.  I asked them to describe what my silhouette was and asked them how they could tell (it was an owl perched on a tree branch).  I wanted them to think about this because I wanted them to realize what details were needed in order to identify a silhouette and how our eyes can still use those clues to tell the difference between one subject (in my case the owl) and another (the tree branch) without relying on drawn lines or too much detail.  

Once they seemed to grasp the concept, I had them start their backgrounds.  I asked them to decide if they wanted a morning or night sky before they started, and this would determine if they worked with warm or cool colors.  They covered an entire sheet of construction paper with their chosen color scheme and blended the pastels (some better than others).

I gave them black construction paper and white colored pencils to draw out their silhouette.  I had to remind them that the pencil side would get glued down and that they didn't need to add any details like eyes, clothing, etc. They cut and glued their silhouette onto their background and we were finished within the hour! 

I love the variety of subject matter they came up with.  I go back and forth on requiring certain subject matter, in some lessons, I think it is important to narrow it down for the students.  But in this case, I think the freedom suited them well.  All of their work is pictured below with a few close ups for details.  Enjoy!

 

Pop Art Portraits

A lot of times, I find myself teaching and/or creating new lessons every year.  But I also have a few favorites that I can't stand skipping; this is one of those lessons.  Last year I posted about my lesson on Andy Warhol Pop Art , which is always one of my favorite lessons to teach...mainly because of all of the "ooh"s and "ahh"s I get from the students as they learn about how you can transfer a printed photograph onto a painting.  This year, I switched it up, just a bit.  I not only introduced my students to the work/stylings of Andy Warhol, but I also introduced them to Roy Lichtenstein.  We compared and contrasted their work which led us into our lesson.  I followed a similar procedure as I had in my lesson (step by step instructions here) from last year but I also gave them the option of adding some comic book flare with Ben-Day dots (we used printmaking with bubble wrap for ours) and/or text boxes/word bubbles.  It was fun to see the kids play around with their colors and layers while letting them choose their own style and inject their personalities into the paintings...and of course all of the "ooh"s and "ahh"s with photo transfer (this year I just used Modge Podge instead of heavy gel medium--it is MUCH cheaper and works just as well).  And I am just as impressed (if not more) with the results!  Enjoy!