High School Art 1 Group Drawing Project

Over the last month the High School Art 1 classes have been working diligently on our Group Drawing Projects. Each class was divided into groups of 3 or 4 per group. Then each group got to choose a black and white photo to reproduce only the reproduction was in a much larger scale. They began by dividing their photos into equally sized squares. Each student chose 3 squares to work on but they had to work together as a group to match up edges and lines on their 12 inch square project paper. 

At first the project seemed pretty daunting but when they began to finish their squares and put them on the wall they got excited to see their full picture pull back together. The finished projects were about 3 feet x 3 feet to give you an idea of their sizes. Many of the students said that this was their favorite project so far! They worked so hard on this and I think they also enjoyed getting to know other students that they might not usually hang out with. Aren't they grand? (Click on each photo to see closer.)

(Some of the original pictures and individual squares)

High School Art 2 & 3 Cubism Still Life

For the month of November students in High School Art 2 and 3 learned about Pablo Picasso, our featured artist for that month. Picasso was an interesting artist who could paint in different styles but eventually focused primarily on Cubism, a style that inspired the beginnings of modern art. For our project, the students drew their own still life in the Cubism style which was a bit tricky as it is done in a disjointed manner, much like looking through a broken glass window. Click on each picture to see their masterpieces more closely. :-)

Middle School Matryoshka Doll Drawings

This project took the Middle School Art Classes to the country of Russia where we learned about Matryoshka Dolls, also known as Nesting Dolls. The students were amazed when they saw an actual set that contained 10 total wooden dolls each one nestled inside the next biggest one. They couldn't believe it when the last and very smallest doll finally emerged. Seeing the amazing set of wooden dolls inspired them to draw pictures of their own sets. How clever they all are!

(Click on each photo to see closer.)

Middle School Watercolor and Ink Aurora Landscapes

The Middle School Art Classes recently "took a trip" to the North and South Pole and learned about one of God's masterpieces, the Auroras. Each student created their own Aurora Night Sky with Watercolors and then after that dried, drew a landscape silhouette with black Micron or Sharpie. They all turned out so beautiful. It makes me want to see them in person!

(Click on each photo to see closer)

High School Art 1 Face Vase

This past week in Art 1 classes we talked about negative and positive space. A fun drawing exercise to illustrate this is what we called a Face Vase. Students had to draw two facial profiles as if they were "looking at each other" and then shade them in leaving the negative space between them white. The result is a kind of optical illusion. Your eye may switch back and forth seeing the faces or seeing the "vase" in between. Some students got really creative with interesting profiles!

(Click on each photo to see closer.)

Middle School Mosaics

Our next art stop in the Middle School Art classes took us to Rome where we learned about mosaics. Each little tile is called a tesserae (sounds like "tess-er-ay"). Most mosaics are made with tile, glass, pottery, stone, and even shells pressed into mortar and then grouted. However, we made ours with paper and glue. :-)  Aren't they wonderful?! 

(Click on each photo to see closer.)

High School Art 1 Drawings

High School Art 1 students have begun their drawing unit. We began by learning some basic theory on drawing from the book The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Learning to draw well is not so much a matter of drawing ability but rather a matter of learning to train our eyes and brain to look at things a certain way when we draw. Our first project was to draw six different views of one object. Second we did a contour (outline) study of a classroom chair. Students sat around the same chair which was set on a table and drew the chair from their perspective. They were supposed to draw the chair without shading. Coming soon... positive/negative face vase and a fun group drawing project. (Be sure and click on each photo to see closer.)