Keith Haring Inspired Art - Lines, Movement, and Variety

I like to start off the school year discussing line.. always a good basic start to most drawings. My fifth graders are line experts so a quick review was all we needed.  I first introduced Keith Haring through a book called I Wish I Didn't Have to Sleep. Has some excellent illustrations of his work and pointers about his style. We also did a little critiquing of the work we saw.

From there, students created simplified body forms of 3 'break dancers'. We attempted to show movement with chosens positions of arms and legs. We drew with pencil and colored in with markers.  Our second day we discussed variety. Students then began drawing a variety of lines around each dancer. This actually took 2 days total on 9 x 12" paper. Students had to be very patient, but the finished products were definitely worth it!

Materials for this project: pencils and erasers, 9x12" paper, and crayola markers in a variety of colors

This project took 3 forty minute classes to complete.

I love these!

Line and Pattern Kente Cloth

If you are looking for a good cultural reference to introduce lines and patterns to elementary age children, then Kente Cloth may be a great option for you! I did this lesson with 1st and 2nd graders, but the second graders definitely had the best results. They just have a little more line drawing experience.

We started off reading an excellent book The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth by Margaret Musgrove. This book is not easy to find however if you are a teacher you can purchase it through Scholastic.com. Perfect story for little ones and lovely illustrations.

We reflected on Kente cloth visuals and all the different lines we saw. Most importantly we noted that Kente cloth is not the same all over. Some parts have different patterns.

Students first folded a piece of 9 x 12" white paper in half (hamburger style), then in half again (hot dog style). We opened our paper back up and we just created three folded lines... hence we divided our paper into four sections. Students traced the folds with a dark color crayon, then we added stitches! These were lines that ran perpendicular to the first lines we drew.

Students then drew patterns (with crayon) using only lines in each section. Each section needed to be different than the others. Lastly, students painted each section with a tempera cake wash. This could also be done with watercolor.
The students loved the story and their kente cloth. We also learned some new vocabulary like "calabash". Next year I may try this again and let them have a little more variety in their approach to painting.

   

This project was completed in 3 forty-minute class periods.  

 

Also, I encouraged students to create patterns using 3 different kinds of lines initially. Eventually towards the end of their cloth some students starting using 2 lines.

***PS: I received my books from Amazon and Scholastic. The book Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman is just too wonderful. The illustrations are my absolute favorite and right now its only $10 on Amazon. The book is worth far more than what I paid for it. So thrilled!

Getting Psyched for New Books

This week I have all my classes up and running on their first projects. 5th graders have been introduced to Keith Haring, 4th graders are reviewed on warm and cool colors for seascapes, and my little ones have a variety of their own little projects so life is busy busy again.

However, we have a three day weekend! Yay! I would think I could take a break to rest up and fight these allergies that have been ailing me for the past two weeks, but I just can't seem to stop researching ideas....

This morning I've found inspiration in children's story books. I cannot wait for them to arrive so I can share them with my students. (Also I'm a sucker for the scent of a 'fresh' book -- the newly printed ink and texture of smooth pages is almost as good as a new box of crayons)
I'm ordering from Scholastic and Amazon (depending on the best price) the following:

Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman

(The cover is my absolute favorite. Can hardly wait to get my hands on this one!)

Hundertwasser for Kids by Barbara Stieff

(Architecture and landscape inspiration)

Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton

(Great inspiration for a K-2 winter project)

Beetle Bop by Denise Fleming

(Designs and patterns for insect drawings)

If You Were a Penguin by Florence Minor

(Another winter project idea!)

White Rabbit's Color Book by Alan Baker

(An alternative for Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh)

Most of these books I plan to read to K - 2nds. However, the Hundertwasser is probably a better fit for 4th or 5th graders.

Another book that I recently came upon is Not A Box by Antoinette Portis. This is a book I would just recommend for PreK or K students. There aren't many words to this book, but the illustrations are what make it a delight to me personally.

An Ode to Tempera Cake Paints

Oh tempera cakes, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.. 1. You are easy to use, 2. You are easy to clean up, and 3. You look brilliant on white paper.

I love when new tempera cakes arrive. Their round little disc shapes fit perfectly into all sorts of fun containers. I prefer a chip dip tray that can be found at dollar stores. I know of others who use small metal containers like tuna fish cans.

This week I'm reviewing lines with my kindergarteners. We discussed and drew all sorts of lines last week, but that bored them to tears. To keep things exciting, three weeks into school I went out on a limb and did something rather scary. We painted!!
I decided to use lines, specifically curved lines, for our rainbow paintings.

First, we drew with crayon the curved lines for our rainbow so that we would have the right guide. We used Red, Yellow, Blue, Green, and Purple crayons in any order I felt like. Everything is up for interpretation! 

Then we painted over each line one at a time with the corresponding color paint. We start with yellow and progressively go through darker and darker colors. (This keeps my paints clean)

I think these turned out lovely. Not too shabby for three weeks in and our first time painting.

Disclaimer: I prefer the Richeson brand of tempera cake. I've used others that do not have as beautiful results. Beware cakes that are soft... they get gooey when a wet brush touches them and that's a whole other mess to deal with.
One problem have with tempera cakes are that they can be brittle. Beware the children that like to hammer their paint brushes into the cakes.

Discards = Free Crayon Mosiac Art!

At the end of the school year I will collect all sorts of odds and ends that other teachers normally throw out. Short nubby little crayons have become a large collection in my room filling two copy boxes. I've heard of people melting them in various manners to create batiks, or even new crayons, but melting isn't something I'm comfortable with. I wanted to do something safe with my 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders with minimal chance of bleeding and blistering.

This idea originated at a conference years ago where an expert art teacher told me how she would use marker tops to create small scale murals. I didn't have a lot of marker tops at the time, but I did have tons of nubby crayons. Hence, I would give it a try!

I assigned this project to a small group of fourth grade girls, however I think with proper guidance much younger ages could also accomplish this. We used the following materials: one side of a cardboard box, crayons, and glue-all.  I would not recommend school glue because it doesn't have the permanent quality needed.

We drew out a pencil sketch of Van Gogh's Starry Night on the cardboard, then we poured glue in lines across one section at a time, placed the corresponding color crayons on the glue, then continue forth across the entire image. I think the results are rather impressive considering all the materials used to create this work were discards.

Our interpretation of Van Gogh's Starry Night

A couple of pointers about making something like this: I recommend shaving one side of the crayon to create a flat edge that will rest parallel to the cardboard base. I've found that many will pop off easily if they remain cylindrical. This project takes a while and a lot of crayons. If you are working small then I would expect you could finish quicker, but this particular piece is over a foot and a half wide. Lastly, use a lot of glue. Pour it on seams, fill in little gaps.

So far I have a crayon mosiac started at my primary school (K - 2) of our mascot, a giraffe. I would also like to create one at my intermediate school although I'm not quite sure what we should create yet. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to share them!

Neighborhood Landscapes

The beginning of the school year can be a bit boring for me because I spend the first week explaining the rules and procedures (27 times) then my 4th and 5th graders spend two weeks taking drawing assessment tests. Thankfully this upcoming week my third graders are ready and raring to go. A fun project I like to start the year off with is Neighborhood Landscapes. This project is great to review 'line' and a nice simplified way to introduce space and perspective. This can take between 2 or 3 forty minute classes for us to complete.

We begin by discussing different kinds of lines, then how lines like 'horizon lines' can show distance in space... foreground, middle-ground, and backgrounds.  (I slip in a bit of reading in our textbooks, identifying parts of landscapes in various visuals, and discuss proportion in space)

Then we get to the fun stuff...what kinds of things we can find in our neighborhoods: houses, apartments, street lights, mailboxes, sidewalks, streets, cars, etc. I like for the students to call out all their ideas and I write this list on the board so they can look back to it later.

Then we begin using horizon lines. We don't want flat landscapes here in Alabama, so we draw 3 wavy hill side lines. 1 in the lower half of the paper for the foreground, 1 in the center for the middle ground, and 1 near the top for the background. (I sometimes have a wavy cardboard template for my students with special needs) Students then draw all their neighborhood objects. ** I remind them that the objects at the top will be smaller and the objects at the bottom will be larger to create that perspective.

When their neighborhoods look full and active, students then trace with a permanent black marker. We don't want our lines to get washed away later.  Students then use crayon to color all object except for the sky and grass (Press down hard with crayon!). Lastly, students can paint their sky and grass using liquid watercolors. In person, the resist is lovely.

I love these works because each one will be different and my students will come up with some incredibly fun ideas that I could never have thought of on my own. Here are some from the 2010 - 2011 school year.

Love the dog walker and Walmart truck.

Great perspective and love the lost balloon

There is a horseback rider in this one.

So many different kinds of  interesting houses

Materials used for this project: Pencils, Erasers, Fine pt sharpies, Crayons, liquid watercolor in blue and green (also tempera cakes work great for this resist), 12 x 18" white paper

Plans to Update

I haven't blogged since May because we school teachers have the blessed opportunity to take the summer to recover. I am going to try to pick up the blogging again and post ideas/art projects that have worked out well. A few people from Pinterest have commented about the marker watercolor paint and I so very much appreciate your input! (Thanks TexasDaisey and Deborah from TeachPreschool)
Give me a little time to get settled in and I'll get back to it.