IMPRESSIONISM

As we discussed in class, impressionism was an art movement about 200 years ago that took place mostly in Europe.

Printmaking

Printmaking is an age-old fine art technique like painting or sculpture. There are various types of printmaking, but we will focus on one of the most popular: block printmaking. We will make a "stamp" by carving into rubber blocks to reveal an image, and then we will apply a sticky ink to our block, and finally we will press our block on a piece of paper to create a finished work of art: a print. This project will be a multistep process that will require research and planning, sketching and drawing, CARVING, color mixing, and perfecting a technique.

Each student will plan, sketch, and carve his or her own nature-inspired printing block.

But the cool thing about block printing is that the "stamp" each student will create can be used over and over again! When you make a painting, you end up with just one painting. But with printmaking, you can make many many finished prints.

There are several hospitals (like Childrens Hospital of Atlanta - CHOA) and nursing homes and assisted living facilities that would LOVE some original artwork, and our students are capable of creating and sharing some beautiful work! Students will create multiple prints using his or her carved printing block, and then students will give HALF of his or her finished prints to the community around Saint Francis.

Welcome back!

Every school year we will begin our art classes with a few days of collage to get our creative juices flowing. The great thing about collage is that the images are right there in front of you (the magazines), all you have to do is find them the right ones, cut them out, and arrange them in an interesting way on a piece of paper to create a cohesive composition.

Unlike collages you may have made in elementary school where you simply cut out some random images and pasted them all over a piece paper with little relation to each other, the collages you will make this year should be more sophisticated as you will consider how each item you find in the magazine can be arranged on paper in a way to create the most interesting art composition.

You don't need to worry about being the best at drawing in the class because everyone can make a collage that looks great!

One thing I do want you to consider is the idea of Surrealism...

Surrealism

Perhaps some of you remember the word "Surrealism" from the "-isms" papers you wrote for Language Arts based on Impressionism, Post Impressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, or Expressionism.

Surrealism was an art movement in the 20th century and the work literally means "not real" (sur - real).

The artists in this movement wanted to create artworks based on their subconscious and unconscious mind, so they tried to depict images from their memories and their dreams, without concern of reality.

For your collages, I want you to find images, textures, and colors from the magazine, cut them out, and arrange them in a surreal way to make irrational BUT INTERESTING collages.

Your collage MAY BE funny, serious, beautiful, or scary, but your collage MUST BE thoughtful and pleasing to look at.

Please see the examples from last year's class below...

PHOTOGRAPHY: SHOOT A THEME!

Professional photographers frequently take photos in a "series" inspired by a certain theme, or subject matter.

For your project today, you will take photos with a particular "theme" of your choice in mind (yes, you may change your theme, as long as you commit to one theme before the end of class to complete the project).

As you walk around campus today, you should take multiple photos in your particular "theme".

You must submit AT LEAST FOUR GOOD PHOTOS that relate to your theme.

This theme could be very simple, yet still be successful!

You could take photos of the cracks in the sidewalk, but as long as those photos are GOOD PHOTOS of cracks in the sidewalk (abstract photos? Texture?), you could put together a great "theme" of photos.

You may take as many photos as you like, but collect your four best photos IN A PARTICULAR THEME and upload them to your Google Drive Photography folder for Mrs. DiCarlo to review BEFORE Wednesday's class.

This theme could be conceptual, as in, a "concept" that inspires you.

Examples:

• four photos of different, yet related, flowers/leaves/plants/trees/nature?
• four photos of saddle shoes?
• four photos of interesting shadows (of people? of plants?)
• four photos that depict Saint Francis and school life?
• four photos of things that are red (or yellow, or green, or metallic, or reflective, etc.)?
• four abstract photos (the photo is composed of patterns, colors, shapes, but not obviously a photo of a specific "thing")?

Or your theme may be "technical," as in, a way of using your camera.

Examples:

• four extreme closeups?
• four photos pointed directly into the sun?
• four photos in black & white?
• four photos of the same thing, using four different editing techniques?
• four photos using forced perspective (scroll down for a reminder about forced perspective)?
• four panoramic photos?

YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO COME UP WITH YOUR OWN THEME!

Either way, please submit FOUR PHOTOS IN A THEME to your Google Drive folder (that you shared with Mrs. DiCarlo).

REMINDER:

Please put your phones on "airplane mode."

Walking around campus taking photos is a privilege and you should enjoy it and appreciate it.

Happy movie day, y'all!

I'm sorry I can't be with you today, but I'm excited to show you a movie to expand your ideas of art.

In case you didn't know, I'm a graphic designer and I make logos, websites, posters, t-shirts, and more. One thing that has always fascinated me is clothing design and shoe design and the concept of wearable art.

Today, I want y'all to watch a documentary about an incredibly famous Nike shoe designer: Tinker Hatfield.

Your supply teacher will present this movie on the big Mac computer.

ADVANCED ART PHOTOGRAPHY RESEARCH:

1. Create a Google Document or a Folder in your “Specials” folder and title it “Photography.”
2. Share your Google Document or Folder with me.
3. Research online (Google, Pinterest, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) to find photography examples of the following techniques and paste them into your Photography Google Doc or Folder:

Be sure that you are searching for photography (or photos, photographs, etc.), not graphics or logos.

1. Try to find photographs that inspire you.
2. Label your photos with the technique they exemplify.
3. You may use the same image to represent more than one technique. For example, your landscape photo may also be black and white or demonstrate reflection.
4. After break, you may bring a camera to class, or you may bring your smartphone to use as a camera in airplane mode.
5. Mrs. Hasling has kindly agreed to let you use smartphones for this project, but you will lose the privilege immediately if you are not in airplane mode. No texting, Snapchatting, etc. Seriously. No second chances.

Please visit this website and look through the awesome examples of creative photography:

https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/creative-photography-ideas

DIRECTIONS:

1. Get your sketchbooks out. (if you can't "find" yours, borrow a piece of paper from someone in class).

2. Grab a magazine from the boxes of magazines in the back of the classroom near the whiteboard. There is a box on the black cart, a box under the chair, and a large box near the window in front of the art supplies. YOU MUST PUT THE MAGAZINES AWAY NEATLY, so don't make a huge mess when you're getting them out.

3. Grab some scissors and a glue stick.

PROJECT:

• Create an INTERESTING (please don't be silly) collage that focusses on one or more EYES that you find in the magazines.
• Look at the examples below for inspiration.
• You may incorporate pencil or sharpie, but please do so with a good design in mind.
• You may also use some of the brightly colored paper on the wooden drying rack (that is next to the metal drying rack), but please put it away neatly.

Everyone who takes this seriously and turns in a CREATIVE AND NEATLY CONSTRUCTED collage will be rewarded next week, and the TOP THREE collages will get an extra surprise.

Work quietly an have fun!

PROJECT: LINE ART + ZEN TANGLES

To further study the elements of art, we are going to focus on the element of line.

In your sketchbook, you will create 10 separate line patterns (one per page) using pencils and fine point Sharpie markers.

Step 1: Get your sketchbook and open to a fresh page.

Step 2: Get a ruler and a pencil from the supply bins.

Step 3: Create a 4 inch by 4 inch box in the center of your page.

Step 4: Create a line pattern in the box using your pencil LIGHTLY (so that you can erase it later). You may invent your own line pattern, or you can try to copy one of the patterns from the videos below, or you can search up a different pattern from books in class or on the Internet.

Step 5: Once you feel confident with your design, you may go over it in Sharpie. You may draw freehand, or use a ruler.

Step 6: Repeat this until you have 10 pages with a different line pattern on each page.

PROJECT: ART ELEMENTS & PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN COLLAGES

To begin the year, we will make magazine collages in our sketchbooks that exemplify some of the elements art & principles of design. You must make a collage for each element and principle, but any one collages might represent more than one element or principle of art. In other words, you could make 14 collages (one for each element & principle), or you may only need to make 7 collages IF you are able to identify that one collage represents more than one element or principle.

In addition to focusing on the elements & principles, we will also focus on the overall COMPOSITION of our collages, so we must make a plain white piece of paper look interesting simply by arranging pieces of magazines.

While flipping through magazines, please remember to look for colors and textures, not specific "things" (like cars or baseball bats). For example: if you cut up a magazine photo of an ocean, you can have a beautiful texture of blues and greens.

Be creative and challenge yourself.

DO NOT glue your pieces until you have spent some quality effort arranging the pieces for the most successful composition.

We will discuss each element & principle in depth in class, but please refer to the images below to guide you.

ASSIGNMENT: BLOCK PRINTMAKING OF LEAVES

Printmaking is an age-old fine art technique like painting or sculpture. There are various types of printmaking, but we will focus on one of the most popular: block printmaking. We will make a "stamp" by carving into rubber blocks to reveal an image, and then we will apply a sticky ink to our block, and finally we will press our block on a piece of paper to create a finished work of art: a print. This project will be a multistep process that will require research and planning, sketching and drawing, CARVING, color mixing, and perfecting a technique.

Each student will plan, sketch, and carve his or her own leaf-inspired printing block.

But the cool thing about block printing is that the "stamp" each student will create can be used over and over again!

Because of this, students can share his or her leaf designs and make group prints by combining the carved blocks onto one piece of paper. Like all of our projects, I'm excited to see how creative all our seventh graders can be!

ASSIGNMENT: COLOR WHEEL COLLAGES

Make FOUR collages by choosing four of the color combinations listed below...

1. COLOR WHEEL - in the correct order.
2. WARM COLORS - reds, oranges, yellows.
3. COOL COLORS - greens, blues, purples.
4. PRIMARY COLORS - reds, yellows, blues.
5. SECONDARY COLORS - oranges, greens, purples.
6. COMPLEMENTARY COLORS - 2 colors that are directly across from each other on the color wheel, like red + green; see the chart below for more options.
7. SPLIT-COMPLEMENTARY COLORS - 3 colors, see the chart below.
8. ANALOGOUS COLORS - 2 to 4 colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, see the chart below.

First, a brief history of drawing:

"When we speak of drawing as an art form, we are referring mainly to an artist's use of line to make a picture. However, the definition of drawing can be expanded to include the use of color, shading, and other elements in addition to line.

Drawings can be made as finished works of art. But they are also made for other reasons. One of the first main functions of drawing has been as a first step in the preparation of a work of art in another medium. These mediums include painting, sculpture, or architecture. The study of drawing has also served as the basic form of training for work in all of the arts.

The history of drawing is as old as the history of humankind. People drew pictures even before they learned how to write. Like other art forms, drawing has changed and developed through history. Each new style grew out of the style that came before it. This evolution of drawing styles closely parallels the development of painting. As drawing styles changed, so did drawing materials.

The earliest known drawings date from 30,000 to 10,000 B.C.. They were found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. Other examples of early drawing are designs that were scratched, carved, or painted on the surfaces of primitive tools.

Ancient Egyptians (beginning about 3000 B.C.) decorated the walls of their temples and tombs with scenes of daily life. These drawings had a flat, linear style. Texts written on papyrus (an early form of paper) were illustrated with similar designs in pen and ink.

Modern drawing in Europe began in the 1400's in Italy, during the period known as the Renaissance. A special love of drawing was born at this time. The production of drawings also increased steadily. This was because paper had become easier to obtain and because of the new importance attached to drawing.

The precision and control of Renaissance drawings were replaced in the Baroque period by livelier forms and by bolder use of materials. Chalk and pen lines became freer and more flowing. Washes of ink and watercolor were also used.

Since the beginning of the 1900's, art has been liberated from past traditions. This means that the definition of drawing has also been expanded. It can be almost anything an artist wishes it to be."

Helen B. Mules

Associate Curator of Drawings

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

EXPERIMENTAL DRAWING TOOLS

We will be creating drawing tools from unexpected objects in the classroom to create unique marks and drawings on paper. Use your imagination and come up with a plan to make creative marks on paper. Here are some suggestions:

• hot glue a bunch of skinny or fat Sharpies to a box, then take the caps off and draw by holding the box and pressing the Sharpies on your paper
• hot glue several paintbrushes of various sizes to a roll of tape, then dunk them in water and watercolor paints and make a drawing using all the brushes at once
• tape colored pencils to all five of your fingers and make a drawing
• use colored paper (or grey or black) and tape white gel or paint pens to something and use to draw (or use white acrylic paint and paintbrushes?)

ASSIGNMENT: MAGAZINE PORTRAIT PHOTOS

Each student will use my camera to take a portrait of a classmate who has a magazine cutout taped to his or her face. We will be learning to position our models (and ourselves with the camera) so that we can achieve a blurred background in the photograph. In addition, we will crop the image at the time the photograph is taken to achieve more dynamic and intimate compositions (no cropping will take place after the photo has been taken).

Printmaking has a long tradition as one of the most fundamental methods of making great art, just like drawing, painting, and making sculpture. The beauty in printmaking is being able to reproduce your art multiple times, however each reproduction is slightly unique. For our printmaking project in this class, we will carve rubber blocks to make a sort of stamp that we can apply ink to and then press against pieces of paper to make an image. The carving tools are challenging to use, but they create wonderful marks and textures that will help us make interesting printed images. Here are some examples of fish and bird block prints:

To begin OUR project, follow these steps...

STEP 1: On your laptops, do a Google image search for "fish (or bird) block print." Scroll through the images and pay attention to the shapes and mark-making that you see.

Step 2: Do a Google search for a fish or bird and sketch that image onto a new page of your sketchbook. Be creative! If you want to change the shape or your example animal, do it! Think about T E X T U R E and P A T T E R N . Think about which areas will be black (like the ink) and white (like the paper).

Step 3: Once I have approved your sketch, you will trace it with charcoal pencil and I will help you transfer the tracing to your printing block.

Step 4: Go over your tracing with Sharpie marker (so that it doesn't get erased or smudged too badly).

Step 5: Time for a C A R V I N G L E S S O N ! I will go over the fundamentals of carving your blocks, but here's a quick reference guide:

• Always use a table mount when you are carving and make sure it is securely placed against the table.
• Always keep an edge of your printing block pressed against the table mount.
• Carve towards the wooden lip of the table mount, never toward your body.
• NEVER PLACE YOUR OFF HAND IN THE PATH OF THE CARVING BLADE (if you are right-handed, your off hand is your left hand).
• Take your time and carve slowly and intentionally.
• Experiment with different tools. Some carve thicker lines, some carve thinner yet deeper lines. Make sure you carve deep enough so that the ink will not get into the cuts (so that they can stay white like the paper).

Step 6: Carve you printing blocks on your own, and I will walk around the room and help you with technique, SAFETY, and inspiration.

Step 7: We will get ink out and use rollers to apply the ink to our printing blocks, cleaning off any excess ink.

Step 8: We will press the inked printing blocks onto paper (like a rubber stamp) to create our finished images. As a class, we will all press our blocks onto one giant piece of paper (birds on the top, fish on the bottom), and then we will also apply more ink and press our blocks on individual pieces of paper.

COMPLETED BLOCK PRINT PROJECT:

6th GRADE ART | 7th GRADE ART | 8th GRADE ART | ADVANCED ART