Introduction
Many children, by the time they are of “regular” school age, are already quite comfortable using art materials such as pencils, paper, chalk, crayons, paint, and markers. You have the wonderful opportunity to introduce them to artwork done by people throughout the world, created in other times and cultures. Through online resources, such as the collections in museums throughout the world, and Pinterest online, you can access reproductions to introduce famous artists’ masterpieces and new concepts. These may remain in their minds to inspire them when they are working on their own ideas. At a Missouri Art Education Association Conference, art teacher Mick Luehrman stated that he believes in using lots of images, even in primary grades. He says students will borrow bits of an image that is still in their heads.
Teach them the use of materials and work on their skills such as cutting, pasting, working together in a group, and taking responsibility. They will learn how to follow directions, use safe practices with equipment, and develop their own ideas for artwork. They will become confident that they are in charge of their artwork.
Students can be taught to draw . Remind them that, just as musicians or sports figures practice to be the best they are able to be, so artists can improve their skills with practice. Many students decide early on that they are “no good in art” because they may not draw as well as some classmates. Teachers of art know that drawing is the foundation of art, but it is important for art teachers to help students understand that there are many kinds of drawing and many kinds of drawing instruments. Some students, for example, “draw” better with scissors or a stick than they do with a pencil, crayon, or marker. Students become aware at a very young age that their work does not look like what they think they are drawing. Some simply quit trying, because true representation is important to them.
Use your mistakes . Try to teach in a manner that will avoid a predictable outcome. If you know in advance what the end result will be, then every individual's work will be too similar, and you haven't given students the chance to consider possibilities and come up with personal solutions. Perseverance is a word that usually doesn't occur when we think of art, but encouraging students to persevere, to do the hard thing, and not to keep starting over again is good for the student. Many teachers limit students to one sheet of paper and discourage the use of erasers. If something is truly “ruined,” then the student can turn the paper over and work on the back of it (another good reason for printing the name small in one corner). Many teachers have students do a preliminary pencil drawing on copy paper (if they are going to next use a larger sheet of “good” paper). Or they can draw with a finger or chalk directly on larger paper prior to painting with tempera, acrylic, or adding color with marker.
Show students drawings by such artists as Leonardo da Vinci and Amedeo Modigliani in which they can see lines actually left on the page as these famous artists have tried for the “right” line. Let them get used to hearing you say “Use your mistakes,” or make a large poster using these words.
PROJECT 4.1Personal Nature Journal
Grades –K–8
Curriculum connections –language arts, science
Time needed –ongoing
Elements and principles of art –space, variety, pattern
Vocabulary –hot-dog fold, hamburger fold, detail
Materials –spiral-bound, unlined notebook or copy paper folded in half, 10” × 12” drawing “boards” (Masonite or heavy chipboard tablet backings work), black ballpoint pens or Sharpie markers, watercolors or colored pencils, glue sticks
Background Information
Writing can take any format. It could be words written vertically down the side of a page, brief notes about where something was found, a poem, observations about changes, measurements, or personal reflections on how one was feeling that day. These are personal journals! There is no right or wrong way to draw, and a rough sketch can be refined when the students are back indoors. These journals might be small spiral-bound sketch pads, which are easy to open flat, but they could also be nothing more than two sheets of copy paper held together with a clip. Writing can be in any format, but suggest students even keep their copy paper drawings. Encouraging students to sketch and write about what is observed in their immediate surroundings can be the start of a truly eye-opening lifelong adventure. Teach students to make regular entries into their ongoing nature journals: drawing and identifying differences in clouds; the shapes and colors of leaves; or the colors seen in trees, birds, insects, and flowers.
Figure 4.1a Sunflowers, 2020, A. Brian Zampier. Quick sketches reveal that the artist was examining each leaf and petal, seeing that each had an individual shape. The ink outlines were later loosely painted with watercolors.
Preparation
Quick nature sketches made outdoors could be finished later with watercolor or colored pencil. Small items such as an acorn, twig, or shell could be brought indoors or from home to sketch. Suggest that students fill the pages of their nature journals with detail. Keep the drawings and writing small enough to leave room for everything they want to put in. Journal pages are an appropriate place for students to paste written essays or drawings on other pieces of paper that they would like to keep.
For thousands of years, artists have been drawing and writing about “nature.” Changes in seasons and even the weather have inspired writers and painters. In this project, students will be both drawing and writing about what they see.
Luckily for them, nature is where they are right now. If they look up at the sky, they see differences in clouds to draw. They should notice that the moon changes shape each night. They can begin to notice differences in the sounds of birds—their shapes as they fly, their bills, and their colors.
Process
Become a Naturalist
On every day that the students have a chance to draw, have them write the date in a corner of the page. If they know the temperature, they should write that also. If it is a cloudy day, write that, then draw something seen at the ground level.
Suggest to students that they make small shapes under the date, showing what the clouds are like that day. Have them research what clouds like that are called and write out the name of the clouds under them.
Have students select an area of ground that is approximately 12” × 12” in size. Have them sit down and make small drawings on one page of different things they see there (seeds, grass, weeds, twigs, bugs).
If they are looking at and drawing a bug, the artist should write about it also to help them remember how many feet it had, its size, eyes, and antennas.
If they have a pet, ask them to draw the pet sleeping, moving around, eating, or playing. They should write its name, and about the funny habits that it has. They might even write a poem about it.
Students can draw trees that they see at different times of the year. The shape when a tree is filled with leaves helps to identify it. When there are no leaves, they should draw its shape anyway. If they live in a warm place where the seasons make little difference in the trees, then ask them to draw the trees they see. In different seasons, a tree may have seeds or berries.
Have students devote one page to draw observations of the moon on different nights, with a date after each one. Then ask them to check a calendar, daily paper, or the Internet to get monthly moon phases.
On a single page, students can record the stages of a plant growing. Have them fold the paper in fourths, horizontally. They can: (1) draw the seed on the roughened ground, before covering it with dirt; (2) write the date when they first see it sprout; (3) draw it again every few days; and (4) when it blossoms, use a ruler to measure it each time, writing the size next to the date. Sunflower seeds can be planted in the spring, and will flower in the fall, so all four stages could be part of this ongoing drawing.
If they are drawing a flower, suggest they draw it from several different angles, and include a bud.
Adaptation for Primary Students
Copy Paper Journal
This four-page booklet might later be “bound” together with other small booklets or at least kept together inside a folded piece of construction paper. Try making a copy paper journal yourself first before trying to teach it.
Fold and crease a sheet of copy paper in a “hamburger bun fold” (horizontally). At the fold, beginning 1” in from the edge, poke a hole with the end of the scissors, then cut along the fold to within 1” of the other edge.
Fold sheet #2 the same way and make a 1” cut on each side from the outside edge at the fold.
Open sheet # 2 and make a “hot dog bun” (lengthways) soft roll. Insert it in the slit opening of sheet #1. Open it up so the slots you have made fit each other.
Figure 4.1b
PROJECT 4.2The Art Sketchbook or Journal
Grade levels –K–8
Curriculum connection —language arts
Time needed –ongoing
Materials –black ink marker, colored pencil, or watercolor
Elements and principles of art –emphasis, repetition, line, color
Vocabulary –image, embellishment, folio
Materials –firm support for drawing (clipboard or heavy pieces of cardboard), Sharpie marker, watercolor or watercolor markers, brushes, copy paper or sketchbook, masking tape
Background Information
Artist/art teacher Marianist Brother A. Brian Zampier began making art journals 30 years ago and has created more than a hundred. He has developed the habit of keeping an art sketchbook or journal in which he writes and draws daily. The sizes of his journals range from small, spiral-bound notebooks to books large enough to be posters. Brian Zampier draws or writes in his sketchbook or journal every day. Sometimes
Figure 4.2 Baseball Games , 2017, A. Brian Zampier. Many of these quick sketches of baseball players started with a simple line at the waist that shows how the player is leaning. They are “Impressions” of what he saw at several ball games. The marker color is added later. Notice that there is no particular “team” color, and the bats, legs, heads are all very unfinished, yet one can feel the energy!
The habit of drawing and writing a little something on one page each day, then going on with the normal routine, is a form of discipline many students might enjoy. Perhaps older students could start with small, inexpensive (preferably unlined) spiral-bound notebooks. Or students can make their own notebooks with copy paper (see directions in the previous project). Each time they start a new drawing, they may make a new “folio” to add to the first “booklet.” Although some artists prefer to work on sketchbooks in pencil, working in ink or ballpoint pen prevents repeated attempts for perfection (you cannot erase). It simply helps the artist to accept, as Brother Brian says, “there it is—whether I like it or not, let's see what I can make of it.”
Preparation
A discussion about what a big event it is to start a fresh art sketchbook might ignite a lifelong love for drawing in some students, or help others realize that sketches are often part of the route to making works of art in some other medium such as sculpture. An art sketchbook is meant to be kept—every page of it! This means that, if they make a mistake, they just have to live with it and make it interesting or change it into something else. The first mark might be a date in a corner, so that if they want to come back and work on that page a year from now, they'll be able to find it easily.
Process
First thing to have students do is to write their full name on the first page. Remind students that it is best to draw on only one side of a fresh sheet of paper, because sometimes the ink or paint “bleeds through” to the other side.
Tell students that they may begin the sketchbook either by writing OR drawing something. The thing about an art sketchbook or journal is that even the writing in ink or marker looks like art when it is combined with drawings. It is always a good idea to put a date somewhere on the page each time a drawing is changed either by drawing more or adding color.
Suggest they try looking at the blank page and simply make a mark on it in ballpoint pen, marker, or ink. If they are trying to draw a person, they can make a mark just to give them an idea of the position of a person who is standing. A sketchbook is just that—it need not be a complete work of art, but artists sometimes expect they will come back to their sketchbooks to give them more ideas for a finished artwork later.
PROJECT 4.3The Bestiary: Animal Drawings
Grades –3–8
Curriculum connections –language arts, science
Time needed –3–4 class periods
Elements and principles of art –value, balance
Vocabulary –render, species, mythical, bestiary, environment, habitat, overlap
Materials –newsprint, 9” × 12” drawing paper, latex house paint (any light color), utility brushes, colored pencils, hand-held pencil sharpeners
Background Information
Some of the earliest evidence we have of humanity is through the drawings of animals on cave walls. Creatures that share the Earth with us have always been fascinating to artists, and many famous paintings include animals.
Bestiary (pronounced “bes-chē-ˌer-ē ) is a Medieval term that describes the appearance and habits of real or imaginary animals. This bestiary will be based on related animals grouped and overlapped on a single sheet of paper. Artists whose animal artwork would be of interest to students include John James Audubon, Edward Hicks, Frederick Remington, Martin Johnson Heade, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt Peale, and many contemporary artists such as George Rodrigue (The Blue Dog ) and Susan Rothenberg (whose specialty was horses).
Preparation
This project is for students to draw more than one species of animal within an environment. Students should find reference material to differentiate among animal groups. This could ideally be a library assignment in which each student does library research or finds animal resources on the Internet. If you do not have time for students to do such research, make photocopies from National Geographic magazine, encyclopedias, and science books.
Send a note to parents and other teachers asking for leftover light-colored latex paint (or use gesso—the texture is important, not the color). Have students prepare more than one piece of paper for later use. Because this project will be done in pencil or colored pencil, it can be ongoing. (If you use colored pencils, have students use handheld sharpeners on them, or the pencils will quickly be ground down. This is a good time for you (the teacher) to prepare several pieces of regular paper to cut up and make 4½” × 6” pieces of textured paper for younger students.
Unlike most animals seen in a zoo, animals in the wild are not separated by species. In Africa, one sees deer, lions, zebras, giraffes, hyenas, and ostriches, all on the same plain. The meat-eaters prey on some of the others, but many are grazers, eating grasses.
THE BESTIARY
Figure 4.3a
Process
Demonstrate applying the latex paint undercoat onto the drawing paper (the paint may be white, or any light color), applying it first in one direction, and (after it has dried slightly) then applying a coat in the other direction. The rough textures created with the thick undercoat will make the drawings more interesting.
Have students research a species of insect, mammal, or reptile. They should use at least three different species to make a composition. Have them draw the creatures on a piece of newsprint. They can transfer the drawing by scribbling over the back of the drawing with pencil, then placing it where they would want it on the latex-coated drawing paper and redrawing it to transfer. Encourage varying sizes and overlapping.
When they have transferred several outline drawings to the paper, suggest they use colored pencil to draw the animals realistically. Spaces between them may be left uncolored, or they can appear related to one another by letting one color blend into another. Contrasting colors in plants or water may be added behind the animals.
Show students how to stand a distance from their artwork and look at it critically. The colors should be bright enough and the animals large enough such that each animal is distinctly recognizable.
Adaptations for Younger Students
Have them use colored pencil for smaller pieces of paper. The underlying texture of the latex paint will show on the surface.
Alternative Project
Mythical creatures . Students may make one imaginary creature drawing by combining parts from many different animals and attributing special personality quirks to their own animal. Historical antecedents for these would be the sphinx (head of a pharaoh, body of a lion); the chimera (lion's head, goat's body, serpent's tail); the unicorn (in heraldry, it has the body and head of a horse with a single twisted horn, hind legs of a stag, and tail of a lion); the dragon (in Chinese tradition, it has the head of a camel, horns of a deer, eyes of a demon, ears of a cow, neck of a snake, belly of a frog, scales of a carp, claws of an eagle, and paws of a tiger); and the griffin (head and wings of an eagle and the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion).
Curriculum Connections
Language Arts
Animal journal . Students write an ongoing journal about their animals, listing characteristics of the animal and its environment.
Animal personality story . Students write a fictional story about one animal of its species. They will certainly be familiar with such stories as Bambi, One Hundred and One Dalmatians , Clifford , and Curious George . Older students might relate to Call of the Wild .
Science
Animal behavior . Students can investigate poisonous species and coloration, migration, amphibians, reproductive systems, endangered species, evolution of species, habitat, eating habits, metamorphosis, hibernation, regeneration, grouping behavior, and specific groups. The animals depicted in the handout titled “Animals” are simply a sample listing of species.
Figure 4.3b African animal paintings , acrylic on Masonite. Only a few major characteristics of an animal let you know if it is an elephant or a zebra, private collection.
PROJECT 4.4Legs, Wings, Claws, and Antennas
Grades –K-5
Curriculum connection –language arts, science
Time needed –1–2 class periods
Elements and principles of art –color, line, shape
Vocabulary –habitat, ecology, antennae
Materials –drawing paper, tempera paint, copy paper, brushes
Background Information
This project is appropriate for primary grades, although older children also enjoy seeing what they can create from an accidental beginning. It is good to have magazine photos or photocopies of various flying or crawling creatures posted around the room
Preparation
Try this first yourself, so you will be able to advise students about the proper amount and placement of the tempera paint.
Process
Students will be using their imagination to discover creatures that suddenly appear when they use their fingers to push paint around on the paper. Students may find antennae eyes in strange places, and interesting blends of color.
Demonstrate how to fold the paper in half horizontally. Put drops of several colors on one side of the paper near the crease. Do not put one color on top of another, but at intervals that will allow colors to blend when the paper is folded. Show how to use fingers to move paint around before it is opened.
Show students what happens when the paper is opened. Ask them if they see insect butterflies, bugs, or other animals on your paper. Show them how to add a little more paint if needed for a creature to emerge.
Tell them to allow the paint to dry slightly, then they can outline their creature in black or bright colors, adding eyes, antennae, wings, and/or legs.
Curriculum Connections
Language Arts
Short Story About “My Creature” : When students have "discovered" what their creature is, they must give it a name and a personality, and write a short story about where
Science
Flying and Crawling Creatures : This project could be made more specific with a study of flying insects, butterflies, spiders, or crawling insects. Habitat such as a spider web, grasses, flowers, or tree branches could be added to the background.
Figure 4.4 The Earth and Animated Nature , Oliver Goldsmith (working dates from 1755–1808) from the collection of Carl and Helen Christoferse.
DRAW WHAT YOU SEE RATHER THAN WHAT YOU KNOW.
Betty Edwards
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
SIGNING ALPHABET HANDOUT
PROJECT 4.5Drawing the Hand: Signing Alphabet
Grades –3–8
Curriculum connection –language arts
Time needed –1–2 class periods
Elements and principles of art –emphasis, line
Vocabulary –blind contour drawing, contour drawing, complementary colors
Materials –9” × 12” drawing paper, 9” × 9” poster board, tracing paper, masking tape, pencil, scissors, colored pencils, glue
Background Information
Making a portion of a signing alphabet serves two purposes. It helps students learn to draw from life, and it makes them aware of the usefulness of this form of speaking to someone who cannot hear. If a class works together to make an entire alphabet, this can be shared with others in the form of a class poster, a booklet, or posted on a school computer.
This could be an interesting project for starting the year, as students will first make a drawing of their hand in any position (except tracing around the hand). Have them put their names and the date on the drawings for you to keep. At the end of the year, have them again draw a hand. Return their fall drawings for them to see the progress they have made in a year.
Show them examples of a hand making one letter of the “signing” alphabet. It is exciting for you, the teacher, to realize that you have helped students make the breakthrough of drawing what they see.
Preparation
Demonstrate blind contour drawing on the board or large paper by looking at your own hand as you draw without peeking (talking about what you are looking at as you draw). Students will enjoy seeing how terrible your drawing is, but then are willing to try it themselves. After they have done blind and modified contour drawings, they may be willing to draw their hand showing one letter of the signing alphabet.
Make many enlarged photocopies of the signing alphabet handout. Cut groups of four from the photocopies and distribute them. Have students make drawings of their non-drawing hand showing four different alphabet letters from their paper reproduction. Their drawings can be cut out later and assembled on one sheet of paper. Each student's best drawing of a “signing” letter can be transferred to a poster board for redrawing with a marker.
Process
Preliminary Drawing
Have students tape a piece of copy paper to the table for this “drawing from observation.” They should experiment with different ways of arranging their non-drawing hand before beginning to draw. Have them put their name and the date on the paper.
Blind Contour Drawing
By definition, blind contour drawing means that they may not look at the paper as they look only at the hand while drawing it, and they may not lift the pencil from the paper. This time they will turn their back to the paper, not looking at the taped-down paper at all while trying to draw exactly what they see . Tell them to work slowly , putting the pencil to the paper as if it were touching the outside of their hand. Now, without naming parts of the hand, have them move the pencil along the paper as if it were touching the skin. When they get to wrinkles or fingernails, they should allow the pencil to go inward and back out without lifting it.
Modified Contour Drawing
Direct them to tape the paper to the table. This will be a modified contour drawing, which will allow the artist to look at the hand while drawing it. When they practice doing this, they will see continued improvement.
Ask students to make four drawings, on this single sheet of paper, of a hand that is “signing” a letter—see the handout “Signing Alphabet.” They should be at least as large as their own hands, between 4” and 8” approximately.
Ask them to work slowly and carefully, remembering to draw what they see, not what they know . When the four drawings in pencil are complete, they should go over the pencil with a Sharpie marker. Ask students to select their best drawing and use tracing paper to make a copy. Show them how to scribble over the back of the tracing paper with pencil, then transfer this drawing to heavy paper. They will finish by using colored pencil to carefully color the drawing of the hand and the letter it represents.
Introduction to Pastels
OIL PASTELS
Pastels, crayons, and chalk come in a variety of sizes and shapes. They are made of ground pigment held together with a binder and pressed into stick shape. Oil pastels are slightly different from regular pastels, as the binder is oil. Oil pastels are similar to crayon but are softer and cover the surface more easily than crayon, almost resembling oil paint. Max, a 9-year-old, recently shared a secret by telling me that paper towels really work well to blend oil pastels. Pablo Picasso dabbled in professional-grade oil pastel and is credited with helping to pioneer its use.
TRADITIONAL PASTELS
Traditional pastels are usually applied using the darkest colors first, then putting the lighter values on top. They are often applied with most of the strokes going one direction. To get shading, complementary colors are built one on top of another. Pastels smear easily, so they are often later sprayed with a fixative to preserve them. This darkens the color somewhat, so is reserved until the last step. Caution: if you use any fixative that does not bear a CP or AP nontoxic certificate from the Creative Materials Institute, you, personally, should spray artwork outside or after class. If framing pastels, tape spacers (small pieces of mat board) to the mat between the image and glass in the frame. It should have room to breathe. Artists whose pastels are especially admired include Edgar Degas and Mary Cassatt.
Figure 4.5 Ballet Dancers in the Wings , c. 1900, Edgar Degas, 1834–1917, French, pastel on paper, 28” × 26”, St. Louis Art Museum, Museum Purchase.
PROJECT 4.6Making the Small Monumental
Grades –4–8
Curriculum connection –social studies
Time needed –2–3 class periods
Elements and principles of art –emphasis, balance
Vocabulary –center of interest, scale, foreground, background, monumental, rule of thirds
Materials –12” × 18” drawing paper, pastels, chalk, oil pastels or crayons, small objects (shells, flowers, bones, model cars)
Background Information
Artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe understood how to make a small object dominate a landscape and appear larger than life. She placed natural articles such as shells, flowers, or an animal skull in the foreground (near to the bottom of the page) and made them dominate the composition (monumental/ huge).
Figure 4.6 Red Hill and White Shell , 1938, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1887–1986, oil on canvas, 76.2” × 92.7”. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.
Preparation
First discuss the concept of monumental. Then have students list things that are smaller than a hand. Write these on the board as they are named; examples are shells, a mouse, a model car, a ladybug, a penny, flower, baseball, Legos®, Cheerios®, a shoelace, a wishbone, keys, and so on. Also talk about what might be found in an imaginary landscape. It could include hills, trees, mountains, and rivers, just as in
Oil pastels are somewhat messy, so have the students push their sleeves above their elbows. They could use a “cover sheet” (piece of 8½” × 11” paper) on which to rest the hand while coloring to prevent smearing a completed area while they work on another part.
Process
Have students think about the one subject they will emphasize. This will be the largest object in the foreground of an imaginary landscape. This is a good opportunity to teach them the “rule of thirds” (a compositional device often used by experienced artists). Show them how to use a finger to trace a tic-tac-toe grid on the entire paper. Show them how artists sometimes place their “center-of-interest” not in the center of the page , but rather on one of the intersections on a tic-tac-toe grid.
Demonstrate using a pencil and ruler to lightly draw a 1” border all the way around the paper to keep from smearing pastels on their desks. Let them decide what their largest object will be and draw it on an “intersection.” The object should appear at least as large as their open hand.
Decide what would really be a strange location for the object to be in. Suggest they think of an “environment” that is not normal for the subject. Have they ever heard the expression “a fish out of water”?
After completing the pencil drawing, have them use pastels to color the whole page. Oil pastels are most beautiful when they are colored firmly. They can add one color on top of another, and even scratch designs through the top layer to show colors underneath.
Remind them that, except for the one real object, this is an imaginary drawing. Suggest they use unrealistic colors. Trees don't always have to have brown trunks and green leaves, and skies don't always have to be blue. They might even choose to use a color scheme based on analogous or complementary colors.
When they are finished, place the drawing inside a mat.
Alternative Projects
The Whole Room and Your Hand
Instead of using an object, students could use drawings of their own hands as the center of interest in the drawing (remembering that centers-of-interest are not always in the center). They could then draw the portion of the room that they see behind their hands. The background could be selected by simply moving the hand around until satisfied with the view behind it. The size of the background can then be much smaller than the hand.
Social Studies Preservation Conversation
In these days of social consciousness and environmental awareness, this is a wonderful opportunity to raise thought-provoking questions that even the youngest students might consider. A few questions: Should old buildings or parts of a town be destroyed to make way for the new? When a building costs more to restore than to build a new one, why would you try to save the old one? What can they do in the future to preserve an important structure? Are there any old buildings nearby that could be used for another purpose?
PROJECT 4.7Mandala Drawings
Grades –4–8
Curriculum connections : social studies, math, language arts
Time needed –4–5 class periods
Elements and principles of art –texture, line, color, shape, pattern, balance, variety, contrast
Vocabulary –mandala, radial balance, concentric, arc, henna
Materials –tissue paper assorted colors; white 9” × 12” 80 lb. paper; thin and extra-thin black Sharpie markers; plastic “Safe T Compass”; small geometric shape stencils are optional, but helpful (pattern block size); #2 pencils and erasers, watercolor brushes, and cups of water (to wet tissue).
Background Information
Various cultures do traditional art that has radial balance, such as Gothic rose windows, Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs, radial sun rays on clay Mexican suns, and East Indian Henna designs. They all have the same type of radial balance in common. Cathy Harland from McKelvey Elementary shows examples of Henna in which half a Mandala-style radial design was done and explained. The students would also be doing half of a design bursting from the side of the paper.
Figure 4.7a Mandala , 2019, Gabi Atkins, Grade 5, McKelvey Elementary School mixed media, Parkway School District, St. Louis, Missouri. Art Teacher Cathy Harland.
Preparation
Create a PowerPoint or digital presentation to show mandala art as well as traditional art from various cultures with radial balance. The presentation can also review the other two types of balance (symmetrical and asymmetrical). Include an example of henna in which half a mandala-style radial design is done.
Figure 4.7b Mandala , 2019, Pranvi Agrawal, Grade 5, McKelvey Elementary School mixed media, Parkway School District, St. Louis, Missouri. Art Teacher Cathy Harland.
Process
Explain to the class that they will be doing half of a Mandala design bursting from a corner or side of the paper.
Have students cover the white paper with small pieces of tissue, one piece at a time. They should wet all pieces, spreading water over them with a watercolor brush. The tissue paper must be thoroughly wet. As students work, if they notice sections drying quickly and popping up, they should reapply water. Students should not touch the paper once it is wet, or it will stain their fingers.
Once the papers are covered in tissue pieces (that overlap slightly), let them dry overnight. Tissue will dry and fall off. Dump tissue in trash the next day.
Weight the papers down for a day to flatten them before students draw on them. One way to achieve this is to fill used water bottles and put them in a tub. This tub can be set on piles of paper to flatten them.
In the second class, demonstrate the use of a compass to make concentric circles. Students pick a corner or side of paper to have the design burst from. The compass is used to create arcs that form concentric curves at different distances from the center. They should mark the point that will be the center if doing from a side. Students should draw about seven concentric arcs.
Have students draw lines and shapes in pencil to create a pattern between each arc, perhaps by drawing a symbol or using a color to represent something or someone important in their lives, such as a friend, a family member, a musical instrument, a favorite sport, or a hobby. Discuss the principles of pattern and movement. Students can be invited to draw creative details—for example, representational
After all details are drawn in pencil, students should go over all lines with a black, fine-tip/standard Sharpie (not extra-fine). This process can take two classes.
The final step is to add different patterns within the shapes. These can be simple such as scallop lines outlining shapes, making vertical, diagonal and horizontal lines, dots, circles, petals, and spirals. Most of this can be done directly with a Sharpie and/or extra-fine Sharpie. Representational images are welcome as long as they are done to create radial balance. Encourage students to vary the value of their spaces by filling in some spaces solid and varying how close together the marks are. This adds contrast and helps the details stand out next to each other.
PROJECT 4.8In Your Own Little Corner in Your Own Little Room
Grades —4–8
Curriculum connection —math
Time needed —3–4 class periods
Elements and principles of art —color, texture, line
Vocabulary —interior design, color coordination, theme, vertical lines, horizontal lines, one-point perspective, vanishing point, perspective, rendering, parallel, accessories
Materials —paper, pencil, crayon, marker or watercolor, ruler
Background Information
Although some students get involved in the decoration of their rooms, others are totally oblivious of their surroundings. Students may never have thought of their own rooms as being “architecture,” or that the colors, decorations, and objects in it might be called “interior design.” Some interior designers create watercolor renderings of rooms for their clients. Many artists, including Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Henri Matisse, Pierre Bonnard, and Edouard Vuillard, often chose room interiors as their subject.
Preparation
Ask students to draw their own rooms in total detail, perhaps including an open closet door. A drawing could be just of one corner of the room. Students could make a floor plan before doing a drawing of one corner or wall. Talk with them about what is in their bedrooms—what colors the walls are, and what they have on their walls.
Introduce one-point perspective by demonstrating, on the board or a piece of paper, how to make and use a vanishing point in a simple drawing of a room. Particularly,
Process
Have students put a dot in the center of the paper. This is the vanishing point. Holding a ruler, lightly draw lines from the corners to the vanishing point. These lines represent the walls, floor, and ceiling.
Show them how to draw a rectangle to represent the far wall of the room from the diagonal lines, making sure the straight lines are exactly parallel to the top, bottom, and sides of the paper.
They now can draw the bed, dresser, mirrors, windows, bookcases, doors, and rug—by drawing more diagonal lines, and then drawing vertical or horizontal lines where needed.
When they have lightly drawn details, have them erase unnecessary lines and use crayon or watercolor to add color and pattern.
They can now accessorize the room, adding pictures or pennants on the walls, stuffed animals on the bed, and items on the dresser.
Adaptation for Younger Students
Draw your surroundings . Although younger students are not yet ready for perspective drawing, they are certainly ready to draw their surroundings. Let them draw themselves doing something in their rooms (reading, sleeping, dressing, drawing). This can be done with a pencil, crayon, or marker.
Alternative Projects
Interior Design
Three-dimensional paper model of your own room. Ask students to fold a 12” × 12” or 18” × 18” square of drawing paper or tagboard in fourths, then cut a fold line on one segment to the center. The two bottom “flaps” will be overlapped and the upper portion folded to give a cut-away “corner” of a room. The overlapped flaps will be the floor, and the sides will be two walls. When the drawing is all finished, have students glue the bottom. They can draw their own rooms, including details such as windows, doors, shelves, and pictures. Paper boxes can be made and decorated for dressers, bookshelves, and a bed, and then glued into place.
Stage Set
Have students make a stage model of a room by cutting away one side of a cardboard box and slanting two sides from the lower corner in the front toward the top back. Show an example and suggest how they can use construction paper, cardboard, cloth, and other found materials to construct an open-sided “living room” model that could be used by actors.
Clean Your Closet
Have students make a list of all the things that are kept in their bedroom closet. Ask them if their own closets are in order. How could they change the closet so that they would have a “place for everything and everything in its place”? Have them do a drawing of the closet, considering how it could be improved. Sometimes the closet can be kept in better order by adding another pole, shelves, labeled boxes, or cubbyholes. They can do before-and-after drawings of the closet, as it really is now, and as it could be with a little organization.
Curriculum Connection
Math
Cityscape with one-point perspective . Have students place a dot (vanishing point) in the center of the paper. They will lightly draw lines from the corners of the paper to the dot (the lines in the center will be erased). The vertical sides of the buildings, windows, and doors will parallel the sides of the paper. Windows, sidewalks, cars, doors, and people can be drawn in perspective by keeping one end of the ruler on the dot and making lines from the edges of the paper. To make the picture more interesting, students can vary the building heights, window styles, and signs. Suggest that they add details such as light posts, people, cars, and street markings.
Computer Graphics Interior
The use of one-point perspective works well in computer graphics, and some students will enjoy the challenge of designing a room, and transforming boxes into beds, dressers, pictures, sofas, chairs, doors, and windows. In place of perspective, a floor plan of a room or the entire house could be done by connecting geometric shapes.
Figure 4.8 The Bedroom , 1889, Vincent Van Gogh, 1863–1890, Dutch, Oil on Canvas, 29” × 36 5/8”, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, Chicago Art Institute.
