Friday, February 8, 2013

Cardinal Collages Inspired by Charlie Harper

My students recently learned about the art of Charley Harper, his love of animals and nature, and the use of symmetry in his work. After looking at his artwork, and some photographs of cardinals in the wild, we set out to create our winter scenes. We cut and pasted colored construction paper, then used markers, crayons, white tempera paint, and glitter to complete our collages. We talked a lot about symmetry, as the shapes of our cardinals, bird baths, and leaves were created. The bright colors and winter theme were a big hit! The children had lots of choices throughout the lesson. They had a variety of background colors to select, and the choice to create a male or female cardinal. They could use a selection of templates for the cardinal and/or bird bath shapes, or they could fold and cut their own symmetrical designs.









Inspiration for this lesson came from Shine Bright Zamorano, one of my favorite Art Ed blogs! 

2 comments:

Snippety Gibbet said...

I was so excited to see an illustration by Charlie Harper on the bag of seed we bought the other day. Gorgeous. I love these pieces by your students.

dmasse said...

they all look fantastic! each student had their own take on the scene:)

also, now might be the time to head back to school and get your teaching certification. there should be larger numbers of art educators retiring in the next few years and if you'll be prepared to slide into a position. I know it's tough as a young art teacher. i get layoff notices every year. i'm always keeping an eye out for openings in other districts out here in socal. when i went back to school i did it part time so that i could still put together a living adjuncting and as an artist in res. good luck!