Doodle 4 You-dle

Students in Art 2 started the year drawing all about themselves inspired by the Doodle 4 Google competition.  Students were challenged to transform the letters of their name using objects that describe them and their interests and ideas.  Students were open to using a variety of materials of their choice and explained their artwork in an artist statement. 

After warming up our drawing skills, students began our portrait unit in which they learn how analyze an artwork and make meaningful interpretations as well as draw a realistic pencil portrait. During our analysis introduction, students look at several famous portraits and make observations about what they see and then use that visual evidence to make meaningful interpretations not only about what the image conveys, but also the artist's message to the audience.

Next, students dive into learning how to draw a portrait.  We start with basic pencil shading scales and practice drawing the features of the face in our sketchbooks.  Students choose a person to draw and use their knowledge of value, shading, and observation skills to draw the missing half of their portriat.

Students used a variety of ceramics techniques to build a tower representing a theme.  We started by gathering reference images and creating a sketch.  Then, students learned about slab construction by creating a slab cylinder or prism using the score and slip technique to attach pieces together.  Most of our time was spent then adding and carving away pieces to really create enough detail to represent a theme.  

After construction, the clay pieces were left to dry for at least a week and then fired in the kiln.  Students then added watercolor to the bisque clay and sealed it with varnish.