7th grade

Museum Exhibition Drawings: 1-Point Perspective

7th graders started off with museum exhibition drawings using the 1-point perspective technique. Students were asked to brainstorm differnt things they'd like to have in their own museum, and use perspective to draw the space and items correctly. My co-operating teacher led this lesson and I did not start teaching this grade until the next project, which can be found below this! 

7th grade artwork from students at Edison Middle School displayed at the Central High School K-12 Art Show this past April! 

Contour Line Watercolor Self Portrait Paintings

7th graders, along with the 6th grade classes, started this project after the museum exhibition drawings. This lesson plan is my own creation. Both classes practiced for quite a few days using the different contour line techniques before actually drawing themselves using the techniques.

Students were prompted to draw from my example image first, fruit. After, they continued to practice drawing using different images they found, or using objects from life, or partnering up and drawing each other! Students were also introduced to zines! They made their own as a mini sketchbook for more practice with drawing facial features. Students found different faces/people in a variety of magazines, cut them out, and drew over them, applying the contour line techniques. For the last set of practice before finalizing their drawn layer for painting, students used mirrors and were instructed to look into them carefully holding still, and drawing over their faces/features using one or more of the contour line techniques we've practiced. 

For the painting and final layer, students were asked to use at least 3/8 of the different watercolor techniques we practiced on their portraits! The 7th graders were challenged to do two final paintings, each with a different technique, and pick their favorite as their final submission. 

Koselig- Cozy and Safe Spaces

After the 7th grade students finished up their paintings, we started our new project. They were first introduced to the concept of Koselig, which is a Norweigan term that means "cozy". Our artist inspiration for this project was Dr. Blair Ebony Smith, sound artist and art educator, and assistant professor in Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Blair dedicates their life to sound, beats, space making for black girls and black joy, acts of remembering, and so much more. Her DJ name is lovenloops. Blair is also apart of a collective called Saving Our Lives, Hear Our Truths, which is a "space where Black  girls [can] express, create  and  make  space  to be  free" (solhot.com). 

Students were asked to either brainstorm memories/moments/places/people where they felt this feeling of koselig, or to picture and reimagine a space where this experience of koselig is achieved. Students were asked to explain waht about these things brought them this cozy, safe feeling, and then started to sketch what their ultimate koselig space would look like. 

After sketching, students were given glue guns and cardboard to start assembling the bases of their koselig space sculptures, as well as construction paper and textile samples used for flooring! 

Students also learned a little about sustainability and what it means to be sustainable in art-making. The cardboard and textile samples were donated by the previous art teacher at the middle school, and my co-operating teacher kept it! 

We used tiny miscellaneous found objects to decorate and build things out of. Students were given boxes filled with objects like board game pieces, buttons, bottle caps, beads, dice, keyboard keys, slide films, and so much more. All of these items were bought in bulk at the IDEA store, a local shop in Urbana that believes in creativity, education, environmental thinking, and community through reuse. This is one of my favorite store's for teacher supplies, or anything in general for art-making. Everyday theres something new at incredibly low costs!

The 7th graders blew me away with their amount of detail and creative brains when it came to building specific items for their Koselig space!

After sculptures were built and completed, students were asked to participate in a gallery walk. Students wrote about their decision making throughout the process of their project on the back of their brainstorming worksheet, and then were given three slips of paper. These were "two stars and one wish." These were used for an informal critique, where students set their Koselig spaces on the table and took a few laps around the room, picking three different sculptures to make comments about. "Two stars, one wish" was explained to students as two things the artist did really well, and one thing you would like to see happen/suggestion.