Marc Chagall Self Portraits

I've been thinking more and more about choice in the art room. I definitely try to strike a balance in my teaching philosophy and practice. After all elementary students need structure. They are still learning to use materials properly, the rules and procedures in the art room, and I have curriculum standards to fulfill.

And yet, student choice in the art room reveals a path to a wonderful variety of expression, lends itself to differentiation and increased student engagement. I am finding that when we talk about art, and artistic choices of famous artists, that students are inspired to make their own decisions in how and what they are making. This simple project turned into something magical for me and my 3rd graders as we learned about the art of Marc Chagall.

Our first look at some of Chagall's paintings observations like:
Some people are green, upside down, different sizes.
Some things are floating, or upside down.
Sometimes people or animals are shown as just a face, or their whole body.

We talk about how Chagall made choices as an artist to create his paintings in this way, and students were asked to think about the following: What can we do in our artwork to demonstrate that it is inspired by the work of Marc Chagall?
Show us three things that tell us about you
Create a self or family portrait or memory
Include people, buildings and nature (plants/animals)
Have images vary in size
Use non-realistic and bright colors
Add an unexpected image
Change the direction of objects
Floating or flying people/objects
Create a feeling of happiness
Include a favorite animal or pet

The three things that that tell me something about my students is required, and all of the other criteria work more like prompts. I don't expect every item to be addressed. Those three things are a great opportunity for me to learn a little more about each as we work and discuss our projects. The one thing I do dissuade my students from doing is writing words on their project. Some students are inclined to label things, or just write words instead of draw, so we talk about that as well.

We sketch ideas on a 4x6 piece of paper before moving on to 12x18. And then the process is pencil drawing, tracing lines carefully in sharpie, smaller areas in oil pastels, and painting larger areas in watercolor or pan tempera.

In having choices throughout this project, students care about what they creating. And when everyone's artwork is different, no one's choices are wrong. Here are some of my favorites!

Stained Glass Inspired Self Portraits

I have a student and friend who is nearing her college years, and intends to study art. We have been working together and with my family to create some new pieces of artwork that may be added to her portfolio. Here is our first endeavor.

We took inspiration from stained glass panels to create these self portraits in ink and concentrated watercolor. We first sketched our self portraits in pencil, trying to fill the page with as much face and as little background as possible. Then with bold strokes and waterproof ink, we painted the initial outlines of our pieces. Watercolor was then used to fill areas, and non-realistic colors where encouraged. A second round of ink and watercolor wash were added, as well as waterproof markers to add details and render color areas further. As you can see the stained glass reference was loosely observed, but I think helped give us the opportunity to think in a more graphic style. Did I mention how much I love making art with others? Great job everyone!

Great Art Sites for Kids—Reasonably Clever

Reasonably Clever is a site for the Lego designer in all of us! Users are guided through the steps to create their own Lego character complete with accessories and background! If you are looking for a quick and fun visual adventure for kids, this may be the place to visit. Here are a couple of versions of me. The first is done in Mini-Mizer 3.0, the second is done with the classic, kid safe version. I enjoyed both and would say they are both appropriate for children. Check the Mini-Mizer tab for the different versions. Enjoy!

http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mini-mizers/mini-mizer-2-0/

Great Art Sites for Kids— Build Your Wild Self

Build Your Wild Self is a site sponsored by the New York Zoological Society, which allows children to create a self portrait Using attributes from a variety of wild animals.

First you create an avatar based on your human self, a fun exercise self portraiture. The you choose features from different animals to create your "wild self." As you work, you hear the sounds each animal makes and your final result lets you read about the attributes you've chosen.

This would be a great exercise to combine with a "Where the Wild Things Are" art lesson. It could also be a cross-curricular themed project with wildlife sciences. Here is the wild self I created:

Inspired by The Scream

I have seen lots of lessons for Edvard Munch's The Scream, but my favorite was done at Art Projects for Kids. I loved the idea the student actually being the subject of their scream image. I had each child pose for me and I took their 'screamiest' scream picture. I then changed the images to black and white and elongated them slightly for a more expressive look. They had the choice of colored pencil or oil pastel to render the background image for their artwork. I then let them them color their figures and cut them out. We attached them to the background with foam dots to have them pop off of the page slightly.