Project Description
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AL Stanback 6th Grade Cultural Visual Arts
2023-24
To create these oil pastel compositions, 6th grade art students looked at the art and life of American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe. They were then taught material usage and maintenance before they were guided through the creation of this specific piece of art.
This project is a conglomeration of previous lessons about the ELements of Art and studies on facial proportion and self-portraiture. They were asked to use watercolors to show the mixing of the colors and to contrast the stark lines of the self portrait.
After a discussion about the different types of self-portraits different artists can create, the 6th grade art students were asked to study and practice facial proportion. This was evidenced by the 12in by 18 in art worksheets they created. They were asked to not just draw a face in proportion but to also make it a self-portrait using a photo of themselves as a reference.
After their studies of the Elements of Art, the 6th grade students were asked to explore color, it's schemes and application through use of water colors.
The 6th graders studied symbolism, the art and life of Odilon Redon and the different applications of space as an Element of Art. They were instructed to represent themselves as two separate symbols combined as one to show multiple facets of their personality simultaneously.
After the 6th grade art students studied Mayan art and culture, they were challenged to imagine them selves as the Aztec artifact known as the "Mask of Life and Rebirth". They were taught basic image editing techniques and given specific instruction to aid in the creation of these prints.
After the classes created their prints they were then taught how to use the same image editing software they used to create their prints to separate the different layers of the image and use these layers to create a sculpture of the themselves as the mask of Death and Rebirth.
Sixth grade studied the life, philosophy and art of Jean-Michel Folon. After this they had a class discussion about the symbols he used and how they could assign specific symbols to themselves. After that, they were instructed on how to paint a Jean-Michel Folon composition but using their own specific personal symbols.
These compositions are a product of the sixth grade art class learning about and creating Zentangles. They were asked to learn about different techniques and important artists involved in the style. This lesson was used to help them create a Zentangle portrait.
6th grade studied Op-Art, Op-Art artists and the history behind the movement. They then received instruction on creating facial proportion and how to create Zentangles. Lastly they were shown how to homogenize these separate lessons and skills into one composition.
AL Stanback 6th Grade Cultural Visual Arts
2022-23
After studying the Elements of Art and Pop Art in the 1980's the art students were instructed to create a set of optical illusion stairs. After they completed the stairs using specific color schemes, they were then asked to make characters inspired by both Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and then to collage the figures to either side of the stairs. Once they were done with this we then practiced facial proportion and self portraiture. After they had drawn their self portrait they displayed them next to their previous project.
The sixth graders were asked to explore the Elements of Art and study art produced in India. They learned about the Jaipur Elephant Festival, Holi and the cultural/artistic details of each. After their studies the students were instructed to draw and decorate elephants with traditional Indian motifs and create a value transition using specific color schemes.
We studied the history and application of origami and used the knowledge previously learned about Indian cultural art to create these amazing origami elephants.
The 6th Grade artists were asked to learn about thumbnail sketching as well as a basic understanding of digital art. These panel were created through the use of a text to image A.I. art generator. They were asked to create, with the A.I. software, two sets of thumbnail design which they then used in the next project. After they had the A.I. create the images they used photo editing software to arrange and frame them.
The sixth grade art students practiced using what they learned about the Elements of Art in a practical way. They were asked to apply selected Elements to a small composition we called the hairy cube. They had to use line and shape to create a form and color, texture and value to finish the composition.
The 6th grade art students studied Cherokee history, art and story telling and created the illustrated stories based on those studies.
The 6th grade art students studied Cherokee history, art and story telling then focused on one traditional story discussing its symbolism and context to culture. They then created these negative space scratch compositions based on the studies of the story.
The 6th grade artists had just studied the Elements of Art and as a way to practice the concepts that were taught, they incorporated studies of the Mayan culture and created worry dolls. We talked about how the worry dolls don't take away your worries but instead give you the ability to deal with them with intelligence, compassion and bravery. The students made both 2D and 3D versions of the project.
After studying and practicing drawing using facial proportion, the 6th graders studied the history and culture of Dia De Los Muertos then created these sculptural drawings.
Fall 2019
6th Grade Tessellation practice based on the study of M.C. Escher, math based art and the Elements of Art. A tessellation is the tiling of a plane using one or more geometric shapes, with no overlaps and no gaps and which can be extended to infinity.
6th Grade self-portrait tessellation project. This project proceeded a study of facial proportion where the students were asked to draw each other while sitting in pairs. They were asked to choose specific complementary and neutral colors to use within their project and to create a value transition that spanned the composition.
The students were taught how to draw using facial proportion and then asked to create a portrait of a buddy.
After a lesson was taught on Fractal geometry and application, the students were asked to make digital fractals using photographs of themselves.
2020
Watercolor Technique Practice
The 6th grade art students were introduced to 9 different watercolor techniques through different avenues of instruction. Material maintenance and safety were also taught along with technique. The goal of this project is to help the students more proficiently use the materials in forthcoming projects.
Elements of Art Accordion Fold Sculptures
The 6th grade art students were asked to explore, define, apply and critique the Elements of Art, through classroom learning and this project creation. Each student was asked to use the same symbol throughout and to make their creation reflect their personality and opinion.
Distance Learning
Facial Proportion Portfolio
For the first distance learning project, the 6th grade art students were asked to study facial proportion and create three different portraits, one they invented, one of themselves and one of someone else. For each portrait they were asked to use their knowledge of and examples of facial proportion. They were asked to submit this as a portfolio.
Digital Art Project - Original Emoji
The students were asked to create original emojis using photo editing software. They were introduced to the basic functions of the software and instructed on how to use them for this project. They were directed to create their emoji from various other emojis they found on the internet. They were also asked to represent an aspect of their personality or a statement that was meaningful to them.
6th grade Cultural\Visual Arts students embarked on a review of the Elements of Art. To help learn the application of this essential vocabulary the students were asked to create Keith Haring inspired art pieces representing each of the Elements and showing an understanding of the design behind the artist they had studied.
