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 

8th Grade- Magazine Sculptures

For our next project you will be using magazines and colored paper to create a sculpture of your choice. Your sculpture can be a relief sculpture, for hanging on a wall, or a sculpture in the round that stands on its own.

Check out the artwork from artist Yun-Woo Choi here: https://mymodernmet.com/yun-woo-choi-magazine-sculptures/

The pictures below are all examples of different magazine sculptures. They all look different but are all basically made the same way. Roll the magazine strips into tubes and glue them into an interesting pattern. Notice how the texture of the paper rolls create a nice pattern and rhythm in your work.

7th- Keith Larsen- The Faces in Places- Google Drawings

This project will be a digital assignment using Google Drawings. You will need to look at the slideshow for all instructions for this project. 

Your first task will be creating an original emoji. This project will help you learn how to use the tools. The next part of the project will be to create an image in the style of Keith Larsen's Faces within Places drawings.

Your second task will be to find an item in the real world that looks like a face and take a photo of it. Then you will use what you learned creating your emoji smiley to create a unique character from your item.  

Take a look at the video for some examples of this. This is a phenomenon called pareidolia and everyone experiences it. 

NOW take a look at the slideshow and begin your project!

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- Embellished Portraits with Victoria Villasana

For this project we will take a look at artist Victoria Villasana. She uses yarn and fabrics to embellish portraits of vintage photographs. "Embellish" means to make something more attractive by adding decorative details or features. We will use Google Drawings to create an embellished portrait in her style. Click on the link to take a look at some of her art examples, then take a look at my example of Adam Sandler. We will discuss how to use the Google drawing tools in class. 

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/10/embroidered-vintage-photos-victoria-villasana/

https://victoriavillasana.com/

DIRECTIONS:

Find and image of a celebrity of your choice.

Upload it into Google Drawings.

Turn it black and white.

Embellish your portrait with colorful lines to create shapes and patterns. 

5th- Keith Haring!

 For our next lesson, we will look at the art of Keith Haring and the figures that he created. 

First, you will practice creating Keith Haring figures by drawing from the Roll-a-Haring worksheet. Then, you will create a collage using construction paper and markers for your figures.

Haring's figures had particular meanings, kind of like hieroglyphics do. Check out this link to lake a look at some of their meanings. 

Keith Haring Figure Meanings

Project 1- Roll-a-Haring

Use the link below to use a virtual die.

Roll the die and draw the corresponding number. 

Create three Haring figures in the three boxes on the worksheet. 

Virtual 6 sided Die

Project 2- Collage

DIRECTIONS:

1. Create 3 Keith Haring figures. You may use the same color or different colors. You figures will all have the same pose. 

2. Glue your figures onto a white piece of paper. Look at the example images. Try to glue your figures in a repetitive pattern. 

3. Add action lines, and patterns all around your figures, using all different colors. 

 

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