6th- Giuseppe Archimboldo "Creating Portraits from Objects"

During the Renaissance one artist was centuries beyond his time--Giuseppe Arcimboldo. While the Great Masters such as Michelangelo and Raphael focused on rendering human figures realistically, Giuseppe Arcimboldo created surreal portraits of his subjects made of vegetables, plants, fruits, sea creatures, tree roots, and books. In this class we will create our own paintings mimicking Arcimboldo’s unique style using fruits and vegetables.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (also spelled Arcimboldi; 1527 - July 11, 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books - that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognizable likeness of the portrait subject.

Arcimboldo was born in Milan in 1527, the son of Biagio, a painter who did work for the office of the Fabbrica in the Duomo. Arcimboldo was commissioned to do stained glass window designs beginning in 1549, including the Stories of St. Catherine of Alexandria vitrage at the Duomo. In 1556 he worked with Giuseppe Meda on frescoes for the Cathedral of Monza. In 1558, he drew the cartoon for a large tapestry of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, which still hangs in the Como Cathedral today.

CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW ARCIMBOLDO'S COMPLETE WORKS -> 

http://www.giuseppe-arcimboldo.org/

CLICK THIS LINK TO READ SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ARCIMBOLDO ->
http://mentalfloss.com/article/72126/15-strange-facts-about-giuseppe-arcimboldos-unusual-portraits

CLICK THIS LINK TO VIEW SOME NEAT SCULPTURES INSPIRED BY ARCIMBOLDO ->

http://www.papermag.com

UNITY - A principle of art, unity occurs when all of the elements of a piece combine to make a balanced, harmonious, complete whole. Unity is another of those hard-to-describe art terms but, when it's present, your eye and brain are pleased to see it.

VARIETY - A principle of art concerned with combining one or more elements of art in different ways to create interest.

How does Arcimboldo create unity in his artworks?

How does Arcimboldo create variety in his artworks?

How will your create texture on your items to make them look realistic?

YOUR PROJECT is to create a portrait of a person using vegetables, fruits, or other objects  to make the person's face. 

You may use any items you would like to make your person. Like Arcimboldo, your items should all relate to each other to create a theme for your portrait.

AR Standards: CR1.6.2 CR2.6.1 R7.6.1 R8.6.1 CN11.6.1

6th- Digital Mosaics in Google Drawings

 Our next project will take a look at the art of mosaics and stained glass. Mosaics have a long history, starting in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium BC. They were typically made from clay tiles, pebbles and sometimes glass. They often depicted religious subjects or were purely decorative. You will be able to choose any photo you would like to create for your mosaic and we will discuss how to use the Google Drawing tools in class. Take a look at the links below for inspiration and some of my examples in the photos.

https://www.artsyshark.com/2019/11/18/featured-artist-carol-davis/

https://www.mountainliving.com/hand-cut-stained-glass-mosaics/

https://jkmosaic.com/translucent-stained-glass-mosaic/

DIRECTIONS:

Find an image to recreate as a mosaic and save it.

Upload your photo into Google Drawings.

Using the tools we discuss in class, create your mosaic. 

5th- Robots and Doughnuts with Eric Joyner

Our next project takes a look at contemporary artist Eric Joyner and creating a metallic effect with colored pencils by blending them together. 

Contemporary art is the art of today, produced by artists who are living in the twenty-first century. Contemporary art provides an opportunity to reflect on contemporary society and the issues relevant to ourselves, and the world around us.

Take a look here for more examples of contemporary art:

http://arthistory.about.com/od/current_contemporary_art/f/what_is.htm

http://www.art21.org/teach/on-contemporary-art/contemporary-art-in-context

Pulled from Eric Joyner's website.

In 1999, I started to enter various juried shows at Artisans Gallery in Mill Valley, CA. and the work was well received. Shows in other galleries, (usually group shows) were positive as well. In 2000, after years of painting other people’s pictures, I made the decision to only paint things that I liked. Four series of paintings of different subjects were started; they were: San Francisco urbanscapes, paintings of old newspaper cartoons characters, Mexican masks, and last but not least, Japanese tin (toy) robots. Though all four series of these subjects were enjoyable to do, I chose to focus on the tin robots, as they were the most popular and seemed to have the most possibilities. So, armed with a small collection of tin robots and spaceships I began painting them in earnest. In attempt to bring them to life without losing their charm, I showed them where they belonged: outer space. By 2002 the paintings were looking good, but they still needed something to play off of… perhaps a nemesis. After a month or so of searching for a ‘nemesis’ I had an epiphany while watching the movie ‘Pleasantville.’ In one of the scenes, Jeff Daniels paints a still life of…donuts. With thoughts of Wayne Thiebaud’s pastries always close at hand, it wasn’t difficult to see the battle scene of robots retreating from 300-foot tall donuts when I went to bed that night. The rest, as they say, is history.

This video is a tutorial showing some different colors you can blend together to create some metallic textures. 

Directions:

Create a robot artwork inspired by Eric Joyner.

Add donuts (or another type of sweet treat) to your robot drawings like Eric Joyner. 

Create a metallic texture on your robot using the blending techniques we worked on in class. 

There are many robot part examples below here for inspiration. 

AR Standards: CR1.5.2 P6.5.2 R7.5.1 

7th- Creating a Coat-of-Arms

Coat-of-Arms (Heraldry)

We will be creating a coat-of-arms that is specific to you and your interests in life for this project. 

In medieval times, every noble family wanted everyone to know how important they were. They also wanted to brag about their history. Since most people could not read, heraldry was invented. This was a way to brag about who you were without using words.

Heraldry was a design and short saying. Noble families designed a coat of arms that incorporated their heraldry (their design and short saying).

They put their coat of arms, showing their heraldry, on banners, shields, tapestries and anything else they could think of. Each part of the coat of arms has a specific meaning. Animals or objects were used to describe character traits - brave as a lion, for example. The colors were used as symbols of character.

Each heraldry was unique. There are many books describing what each of the symbols mean. You usually can find such a book at your local library. You can look up your name and see if your family has a coat of arms! Then you'll need to look what each symbol means. Once you have that information, you will know your family's heraldry.

Museum of Fine Arts Boston
100 Raphael Paintings

In 1749, fourteen-year-old Brook Watson, a young English cabin boy, was attacked by a shark while swimming in the harbor at Havana, Cuba. Nine sailors rushed to help the boy and saved him from almost certain death, though he lost his right leg to the knee.

Watson grew up to be an important merchant and, briefly, Lord Mayor of London. He did not want his story of danger, courage, and survival to be forgotten. He asked John Singleton Copley, an American artist working in London, to paint this picture as a record of the events. Copley, America’s most important colonial painter, had traveled to Europe in 1774 to study art in Rome and other cities. To escape the hostilities of the American Revolution and for artistic reasons, he and his family settled permanently in England. During his stay in London, he received many painting commissions, including this one from Brook Watson.

Watson and the Shark created a sensation when it was exhibited, in part because the subject was so grisly. To lend believability to the scene Copley, who had never visited the Caribbean, consulted maps and prints of Cuba. It’s unlikely that he painted the shark from life or from prints because he erroneously painted an ear on the beast. On the frame of the painting an inscription relates the story and states Watson’s wish that this painting “might serve a most useful lesson to youth” about the risks of foolish behavior.

The rescuers' anxious expressions and actions reveal both concern for their thrashing companion and a growing awareness of their own peril. Time stands still as the viewer is forced to ponder Watson's fate. Miraculously, he was saved from almost certain death and went on to become a successful British merchant and politician.

Although Copley underscored the scene's tension and immediacy, the seemingly spontaneous poses actually were based on art historical precedents. The harpooner's pose, for example, recalls Raphael's altarpiece of the Archangel Michael using a spear to drive Satan out of heaven. The oil painting's enormous acclaim ensured Copley's appointment to the prestigious Royal Academy, and he earned a fortune selling engravings of its design.

Throughout his life, Watson enjoyed telling stories of his horrible encounter with the shark. When he became a baronet in 1803, he even requested that his coat of arms include literal references to the ordeal. The Latin motto Scuto Divino means "under God's protection." Neptune, god of the sea, is shown at the top, holding a trident to repel the attacking shark, and in the upper left corner of the shield is Watson's missing foot.

Here are a few sites with info on Coat of Arms Symbols and Meanings. Take a look at these to add some deeper meaning to your artwork.

www.genesreunited.co

http://www.fleurdelis.com

https://www.heraldryandcrests.com

http://www.warrenmuseum.com

Directions for Coat-of Arms project:

1.  Complete the worksheet. Taking cues from Watson’s crest, students will write/sketch a list of symbols that represent their lives: hobbies, personality traits, pets, life events, or perhaps they too have overcome an obstacle like Watson.

2. With your writing and sketching as your guide, students will create a coat of arms incorporating these personal symbols.

Using the template, students can choose to have four symbols separated into quadrants or combine them into a cohesive design. Lastly, you should enter a personal motto in the banner at the bottom, use google to translate your motto into Latin.

AR Standards: CR1.7.1 CR3.7.1 R7.7.1 CN10.7.1

5th- Collaborative Sci-fi Cityscape

Welcome young architects and city planners! Today, we'll embark on an exciting creative journey where you'll work together to design and draw a futuristic cityscape. Your task is to draw two innovative skyscrapers that could exist in the future, incorporating unique features like sky gardens, solar panels, or even landing pads for flying cars. Once everyone has completed their buildings, we'll combine all the drawings to create one massive, collaborative city of the future on a large display board. Remember, in the future, buildings might look very different from what we see today, so let your imagination soar while keeping your designs realistic enough to stand tall!

HERE IS SOME MORE INSPIRATION!!

Sci-fi Cityscapes

Sci-fi Artists

SPARTH

Greatest Sci-fi Artists of All Time

1. Create at least 2 sci-fi/futuristic skyscrapers.

2.Fill the building with color.

3. You may cut the rectangle shape to change it slightly. Remember you are making skyscrapers. Keep your paper vertical.

4.Make your windows small and make a lot of them!

AR Standards: CR1.5.2 CR2.5.2 P5.5.1 R7.5.1

6th Grade- Henna Hand Zentangles

Our first project will take us halfway around the world to an ancient tradition practiced for over 5000 years. You will create a henna design on a hand using the zentangle method and then color your design using crayons or colored pencils. Zentangles and henna designs will create awesome patterns and textures in your artwork.

Check out this link about henna --> http://www.art-is-fun.com/henna-hand-designs
Here are two links on zentangles --> https://www.zentangle.com/   http://tanglepatterns.com/

Origin of Henna

The art of henna (called mehndi in Hindi & Urdu) has been practiced for over  5000 years in Pakistan, India, Africa and the Middle East. There is some documentation that it is over 9000 years old.  Because henna has natural cooling properties, people of the desert, for centuries, have been using henna to cool down their bodies.  They make a paste of henna and soak their palms and soles of the feet in it to get an air conditioning affect.  They feel its cooling sensation throughout the body for as long as the henna stain remains on their skin.  Initially, as the stain faded away, it left patterns on the skin surface which led to ideas to make designs for decorative purposes.  In the ancient Egyptian times mummies wore henna designs and it is documented that Cleopatra herself used henna for decorative purposes.

Henna was not only a popular adornment for the rich but the poor, who could not afford jewelry, used it to decorate their bodies as well.

Henna in the West

Today people all over the world have adopted the ancient traditions of adorning their bodies with the beautiful natural artwork created from the henna plant.  It became a very popular form of temporary body decoration  in the 90's in the US and has become a growing trend ever since.  Celebrities like Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Yasmine Bleeth, Liv Tyler, Xena, and many others proudly adorn their bodies with henna and show them off in public, movies, videos, etc. People throughout the west have adopted the eastern tradition in their lives by having their hands and feet painted for weddings, bellies painted while in pregnancy, heads adorned with henna while going through chemotherapy, scars camouflaged to make them unnoticeable, etc.

DIRECTIONS:

STEP 1: TRACE YOUR HAND, PUT YOUR HAND TOWARDS THE TOP OF THE PAGE SO YOU CAN HAVE SOME OF YOUR WRIST TO DRAW ON.

STEP 2: CHOOSE A TRADITIONAL OR ZENTANGLE STYLE HENNA HAND DESIGN.

STEP 3: CREATE YOUR DESIGN IN YOUR HAND. USE THE WEBSITES PROVIDED ABOVE TO HELP WITH YOUR DESIGNS.

ZENTANGLE HAND

TRADITIONAL HAND

AR Standards: CR2.6.1 R8.6.1 R9.6.1 CN10.6.1 

8th Grade- Creative Color Wheel

Color Theory (Use this link to answer your Worksheet)

IMPORTANT PROJECT INFO

This is a color theory project so you must include some color theory in your piece. 

Your work will need to incorporate 4 specific items in your piece:  

1. Color Wheel

2. Value Scale (Created by adding tints or shades to a hue)

3. Primary or Secondary Triad

4. One set of complementary colors

You may choose how to incorporate these 4 items in any way you like.

DAY 1/2- Worksheet/Brainstorm

Today, you will complete a worksheet on color theory, using the link above, and to work on design ideas for your piece. You should have an idea ready by the beginning of class tomorrow showing how your are going to incorporate the 4 items required.

HERE is a link to a blog containing a bunch of examples for you to look at and HERE is a link to a google search on creative color wheels. Use these links to help you gain inspiration for your piece.

DAY 3-6 Complete Project

After completing your sketch on day 1, begin working on your final piece. Your final must be done on a piece of 12"x18" drawing paper that I will give you.