The students got behind the scenes tours of shows as they were being curated. They got to talk to facilities crews and members of the education department.
At the end of the week all the students art works were hung in a small gallery space and parents and families were invited to come see. We created a scavenger hunt for children to complete with their families. They were to find images pictured within the artworks.
Projects included the Peanut Butter Car challenge. Student were simply asked to draw a car that runs on peanut butter. Follow up questions were: Think about the challenges a car like this would have? What effect would it have on local wildlife? Where would the car be filled? What if the car leaks?
We talked a lot about framing and why certain frames are chosen for certain art works. We discussed frames being a work of art and how they need to draw the eye into the art work.
We created frames with tongue depressors and texture paint. We used palette knifes, toothpicks and butter knifes to create textures on the frames.
Students assembled frames first then created small op art inspired pieces to put inside them. We created multiple works then choose our favorite to put inside the frame. Then we added the colored paint that would best work with our artwork and added a repeating pattern to the work.
We created Mona Lisa drawings and looked at several examples of how artists have altered the work and created their own pieces with it. I have done this lesson before with elementary, 5th grade and 7th grade junior high students and I have always enjoyed what students come up with. I also bring in a giant fleece panel of the Mona Lisa and kids attach felt shapes to it.
Alexa's "Many Mona's" drawing
The next assignment was to create a drawing of two different animals combined.
Optional extra assignments were two pencil drawing. Which uses two pencils held together to draw with.
