Category: Art

2/8/2015 0 Comments

Japanese Gyotaku Prints

Fourth graders continued their study of cultures from around the world with this unit on Japanese art. Students watched an animated video introduction to the history of gyotaku prints. We practiced painting the rubber fish molds with tempera paint and printing on narrow sheets of newsprint paper. Students worked together to share paint, brushes and various fish molds.

On the next day of class, each student printed two to three fish in the color scheme of their choice, warm or cool. To create a lifelike representation, students added white paint to tint the fish's belly. Once each student had printed their fish, the paper was hung up to dry and students helped one another with printing and clean-up.

After students had printed their fish, they were encouraged to complete their composition by creating an underwater environment. Each class used chalk pastels and green tissue paper to depict water and seaweed. We talked about the use of space and balance, and how to create depth and overlap using the tissue paper.

When the compositions were complete, students finished the assignment by adding a red chop print with the Japanese character of their choice. Students carved the character in reverse into a small sheet of Styrofoam, and printed with red ink.

Below are examples of the finished artwork.

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1/14/2015 1 Comment

Fifth Grade Colorscapes

Fifth grade students recently completed a series of four landscapes using different color schemes. Each student was instructed to draw a landscape of their choice. The only requirement was to create a landscape using foreground, middleground and background. Students looked at landscape paintings by André Derain and Rufino Tamayo to inspire use of abstract colors.

André Derain - The Charing Cross Bridge (1906)

Para hoy una obra de Rufino Tamayo (1978)

After students first drew their landscapes, I made three photocopies of each drawing. Students painted their original drawing using tempera paint and oil pastel details. The remaining copies were colored using crayons, markers or a combination of both.

After learning about value from our self-portrait unit, students applied their knowledge to create a monochromatic painting with five distinct values. Each student chose their own color, and mixed paint colors using white and black to create shades and tints.

Students chose to color their remaining three copies with either a cool, warm, primary or secondary color scheme. Once completed, each student taped their artworks together to create a large rectangle of the four colorful landscapes.

I am very proud of the work students put in to this project. The best part was overhearing students help one another on use of color schemes and art vocabulary. The students' artwork is displayed in the Etnyre Wing of our school to create a mural of wonderful colorscapes!