Madalas

Radial Symmetry with Mandalas

 

I've recently introduced Mandalas to my 6th graders.  I started with a PowerPoint about their history and significance in various cultures as well as the art world (let me know if you'd like my PowerPoint for your own use).  After the PowerPoint we talked about the things we had learned and the characteristics of Mandalas.  We defined 'radial symmetry' and discussed lines, shapes and patterns before diving into our own creations.  I had them come up to the dry erase board and draw as many different types of lines and shapes that they could come up with to get some ideas flowing.

The students each start with a 12"x12" sheet of white drawing paper and fold it in half in all possible directions (that's four folds, kids!). I show them the example below but make sure that they know I only drew the lines so that they could see where I had folded my paper, they are not to draw the lines in their creases.

We then discuss our options for how to start our Mandalas.  I let them know that they will be creating one design inside of just one of these newly formed triangles.  However, we will repeat the design for our radial symmetry and it will look completely different (think kaleidoscopes) in the end. 

I suggest that they go with either a series of interesting lines and shapes to fill space (in just one triangle) or using their name or a word (sports teams are popular in my current class) in block/bubble letters that stretch to fill the entire triangle.  I emphasize that neither option has lines drawn inside of our fold creases, but both have lines that stretch from one edge of the triangle to another. I show them what these might look like at the end of this step.

 

 

The beauty of this lesson is that they all come out so completely differently!  It gives my students a chance to make their own artistic decisions while still demonstrating an understanding for the elements and principles of art and design! 

 

After they have drawn inside of one triangle I gather them around and show them how to simply fold their paper in half so that their drawing is on the inside.  We look closely and see how our lines show through to the back a little bit and trace over them so that the graphite transfers from one side of the paper to the next, giving us a faint mirror image which we can trace over to make it stand out more.

 

 

 

After darkening their lines so that they have two triangles filled in nicely, they will fold their paper in a new direction so that their designs are still on the inside.  They can now trace over the back of both of these triangles to transfer two sections at once. 

 



 

 

I continue the fold/transfer process so that I can trace over the same two sections (once I've traced them, those lines are easy to see and retrace) so that they fill the remaining spaces in radial symmetry

 

Fold diagonally and trace then repeat  to complete the Mandala

 The lines and shapes version will come out something along these lines
 

The names or words version will come out like this one

Students then get to choose their medium of choice.  These can be completed any way you would like, however, I have carpet in my room so I don't offer paint for this project.  I do offer colored pencils, crayons, markers, pastels and drawing/shading pencils.  I demonstrate how to use each medium and its effects and allow the students to make their own decisions. 

Below I've uploaded some finished examples I have currently but I will be sure to upload more students' work as soon as they are complete.  Please contact me know if you have any questions!

This student used colored pencils and some shading skills

 

This student used drawing pencils and  shading skills



Art Contests

Student Art Contests

Science.  Nature.  Art.   Did your mind just explode?  I think mine did with all of the excitement from those three topics in combination!  What more could you ask for, really?

As an art teacher, I get emails about art contests constantly; some for health awareness purposes, some for businesses, the list goes on and on.  I know a lot of art teachers that incorporate some of the contests into their lesson planning but I like to offer them as side projects.  If I see students with free time (a lot of students finish their homework during class work time so they wind up with idle hands in study hall) or if I know someone with a general interest in art making would like something to work on at home, I suggest that students submit some artwork for one of the contests going on. 

Lately I had a lot of interest in one contest being put on by the Space Foundation and Artsonia.com, where I upload my 6th graders' artwork. The kids (and myself included) are drawn to this one mainly because, as one of my students put it, "Space is awesome." And I'm sure my friend, Emilee who works at the Des Moines Science Center would agree whole heartedly. The contest is drawing to a close and I've had a lot of students submit artwork for it so I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight what they have been doing in their free time and how great of a job they can do one their own! To find out more about this contest go to www.artsonia.com/space/express and as an added bonus to this contest, you get to submit the students' work electronically!

 

 



Another contest I had been promoting to my students is the Take It Outside Art Contest. It is put on by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. And if there is one thing I am passionate about besides teaching and art, it's being outside! And since I gave my friend Emilee a shout out, this is my chance to brag about my friend, Molly the Naturalist! Now back to the topic at hand...this contest asks the kids to show themselves doing something they love outdoors (I'm a little jealous that I can't participate in this one!). It is a great opportunity for the kids to show off their interests while promoting being active and spending time outside. I even got to learn about their interests and was surprised by how many hikers and fishers I had in class!

 

 

 





P.B.I.S.

P.R.I.D.E.

Prepared. Respect. Ingegrity. Determined. Engaged

A lot of schools have enlisted the PBIS (positive behavioral intervention and supports) to focus on the good things that students are doing.  We have currently enlisted these strategies with our middle school students and so far it is off to a great start.

As a school, we have been preparing to introduce PBIS to our students for quite awhile.  A committee was formed to focus on the introduction and implimentation of the program.  The committee worked really hard on deciding how to best bring PBIS to our school and I feel fortunate that they asked me to help along the way. We wanted it to seem as appealing to the students as possible while maintaining simplicity and realistic goals for teachers.  We started by showing a video compiled of various photos of students modeling and instroducing their peers to the new acronym P.R.I.D.E. adopted by our school.  (This is when I got to help) As an art and photography teacher I helped organize the photos and got the students involved in that process.  Since the majority of the photos have the students' faces in them, I have opted out of posting them here but their cropped versions can be seen below. We went over the basics expectations and what it means to have P.R.I.D.E. in our school.  The students seemed very receptive and especially enjoyed our assembly at the end where they got to test their knowledge (and their teachers' knowledge) of P.R.I.D.E.

It's really refreshing to see the positive being acknowledged in our students and I hope that the strategies pan out!

Prepared. Students painted/created this puzzle and others pieced it together. 

 

 Lincoln Logs at their best...a house made with Respect!

 

 "Integrity" was written on a magnetic drawing board

 

 When flipped, the other sides of these papers formed a "D"

 

 

Our "E" was made of lunch trays

 

 Photographed as she manuevered the magnetic poetry around, a student defined each letter/word in our acronym

 

 

Finished version of the magnetic poetry

A Moose on the Loose

Classroom Addition

My latest classroom addition is courtesy of my cousin Bryan who gave me an inflatable moose head for Christmas.  My students have really been ooh-ing and ahh-ing over this one!  And there has been much debate whether it is in fact a moose head or a deer (personally, I defer to the packaging)

Toy Story in Windows Movie Maker

Toy Story with Windows Movie Maker

Students Use Writing and Photography to Create an Original Movie

Inspired by Disney's movie A Toy Story, I have created a digital photography lesson plan in which students must create their own toy tale/adventure and turn it into a short video.  After spending some time writing our stories (contact me if you'd like the full lesson plan) we plan our photographs.  Each page of text (written like a children's story so one page is only a few sentences long) needs to have one photograph to go along with it.  The students have a box of random objects and toys I provide or they can supply their own toys.  They take the images they need and edit them to fit their story.  Some students superimpose multiple images together, and other students make due with what they have at hand. 

We type up our story and import all of our text and images into Windows Movie Maker.  The students really enjoy this program and it's exciting for them to see how they can transform still images into a video.  I teach the students how to time each slide, how to add various effects and transitions as well as how to incorporate music using clipping and fading.  I never get tired of watching their finished movies!  They are so unique and strange in the best kind of way! 

Finished examples:

These are the guidelines I give my students:

A Toy Story

Telling a Story Through Photographs

You are going to write a 12-15 page story about a toy that has come to life and had its own adventure/day out.  For each page that you write you will also have to stage a scene and photograph it to go along with the text (If you wrote 12 pages, you will take 12 photographs.  If you wrote 15 pages, you will take 15 photographs).  The “pages” are not full page word documents.  It can simply be one or two sentences that describe what is going on.  This is similar to a children’s picture book, there is not a lot of text, but it gives us just enough information to understand what is happening.  However, you will be using the parts of a story to demonstrate understanding through the use of a beginning, middle and an end.

First, you will write your short story (have fun with it and make it interesting).  You will then be given a toy (you are responsible for these toys and must return them in their original condition) or you can use/provide your own toys to be used in this project.  You can use class time to take photographs or do them on your own.  You may use any editing tools to enhance your images, including altering them as we did with our Surrealism assignment.  Your job is to create a series of scenes in which the toys have become a part of everyday life.  If you have seen the movie Toy Story, then it’s just as though the toys have come alive and are roaming around amongst us.  You will stage them in an interesting manner and take a series of digital photographs to document their adventure.  You may edit your image(s) with www.Pixlr.com/editor if you would like.  Be sure to pay close attention to your angles with this kind of photography.  Have fun!  Be Creative!

We will turn your images and text into a PowerPoint Presentation which we will then convert into a movie using Windows Movie Maker.  These steps will described and taught to you as you continue the assignment.

Writing Practice for Toy Story in Windows Movie Maker

Writing Practice

Creative Writing and Photography to Tell a Story in Windows Movie Maker

Art classes truly are cross curricular in every sense, whether the students realize it or not.  In all of my classes I like to incorporate some sort of writing; often times it is a critique, an artist statement or a short story to go along with a piece of artwork.  In my digital photography course, I teach the 8th graders how to transform a creative writing piece into their very own movie.

We begin by discussing plot, something they have already learned in their English class.  We focus on the need for a beginning, rising action, a climax, falling action and a resolution.  I explain the remaining criteria for their story and how it will be made (setting up and photographing toys in real life settings or superimposing a series of images together-as long as they photograph at least part of the image used for each scene). 

For practice, I show them a series of photographs taken by various photographers (websites provided for each photographer linked under each image) and ask that, as a class, they come up with sentences that would go with the image and where it would take place in the story (either beginning, middle or end).  Below are some of their examples, they are so creative!

 Image ‘Sasquatch Attack’ by Brian McCarty

Middle: Sasquatch Joe sought revenge on Susie for dressing him like a girl all of those years.
 

Image by Brian McCarty

Middle: Trina unleashed her road rage on the innocent bystanders.
 

Image ‘Cammy and Guile’ by Zelevol

Beginning: G.I. Joe and G.I. Jane arrive at the airport; ready to take their honeymoon trip to Hawaii, Canada.

Middle: They just got back from their honeymoon and were mugged.  They walked home sadly.

End: Feeling victorious, they walked home with pride in their hearts after defeating the evil Pigbutt.

Alternative Ending: Barry and Luanne lived happily ever after.
 

Image ‘Oh Noes’ by Chris McVeigh
 

Middle: The chipmunk ate Steve’s friend, Gerald! Steve declared war on all chipmunks and poisoned their almonds!

 

Image ‘GTA III’ by Brian McCarty

 

Middle: Jake was called in for reinforcements to help his friends involved in a catfight.

Image ‘Cheez-It’ by Brian McCarty
 

Middle: Toby got in trouble with Mr. Squeakers for eating his CHEEZ-ITs.

End: Billy Bob Joe finally made his way through the epic maze with Mr. Squeakers and claimed their prize!  YUM!

Andy Warhol Inspired Portraits

Pop Art Portraits

Andy Warhol Inspired Photo Transfers

My Finished Portrait

My students took a look at Pop Art and focused on Andy Warhol recently.  I'm using this as an opportunity to introduce them to new techniques other than just drawing, painting, clay and the mixed media sculpture that they are used to.  I am teaching them a photography transfer process.  This project is also great for students who need a confidence boost because it is based on and incorporates a photograph so they aren't as hard on themselves about the finished result. 

We started by looking at a PowerPoint I've created about Pop Art and Andy Warhol.  We discussed the characteristics of his artwork (focusing on portraits).  Since we just finished paint mixing, after awhile I began to focus the discussion on colors he liked to work with and pair together and was able to have a good conversation with the students about contrast and types of colors (tints, shades, primary, secondary, intermediate, etc).  Then the fun began!

We started by taking photos.  I had each student stand infront of my white projector screen one at a time and pose however they wished.  Some students smiled, some made faces and others prefered their very own mug shot!  In my spare time, I posterized their photos using www.pixlr.com/editor and printed them as 8x10 images (on plain printer paper).  Below is the example of me and the first 3 steps:

The students each got an 8x10 sheet of fabric and painted it a color of their choice.  This would be their background.  While the paint dried, they took their 8x10 photo of themselves and a sheet of tracing paper to trace the basic shapes of their face and/or clothing. I urged them to press hard with their pencil and only trace major shapes that they would like to paint a second color.  I also encouraged them to trace shapes that they would want to match the same color as their background.  Every now and again a few students find this step confusing, I reassure them that there is not a right nor wrong way to do it and in the end, they all do a great job!

When the paintings were dry, we layed the tracing paper face down (pencil side down) onto the fabric and re-traced their tracing, but from the back side of the paper.  The students were amazed to find that this pressed their pencil from one side of the tracing paper onto their fabric.  I reassured them that their portrait should look "backwards."  We took our pencils directly onto the fabric to make the outlines stand out more.

The students used their new outlines to paint their second color.  I requested that they use a color that would be considered fairly high contrast to their first color.  As the paintings dried, we trimmed away the extra paper on our photographs. 

When they were dry, we covered our fabric with gloss gel medium.  To spare my brushes I had the students spread the gel over their entire sheet of fabric using their finger.  For the squeamish, I offered disposable gloves.  We then pressed our photo directly (and firmly) into the gel and allowed them to dry.

We used sponges and water to go directly over our paper so that it would begin to peel away.  After removing all of the remaining pulp, we had our image transfer and pop portraits!