Ceramic Houses with Attitude

The ceramic classes are pooling all they have learned on working with slabs into making houses with attitude. They created templates or patterns for their houses, putting these paper houses together before creating their final piece. Some of their houses slant, some have curved windows and doors, some are shaped as fish or train cars. But all of them have a non-traditional way of looking at living spaces. Each house is decorated with incised designs and painted with underglazes for a detailed watercolor look, or traditional glazes for a bold glassy finish.

Colors and photo mosaics

This site is great. It grabs images from their data base that matches the colors you pick. So you end up with an assortment of phots and illustrations that all match one color. Lots of fun. You've got to try this.
labs.ideeinc.com/multicolour

Art is more than just making Stuff.....

There is more to making Art than just making stuff.

Go to: http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/~TriciaFuglestad/VisualArt/page14/page15/page26/page26.html

to see how Tricia Fuglestand and her art classes talk about ARTICULATION!
The words to their song say it all:

"There's more to making art than just pleasing your eyes
here is the place whre we learn skills for our lives
stratagise, compromise, plan and visualize
integrate, concentrate, learn to relate
exposed to cultures and eras in history
we're trained to be thinkers with visual literacy
we fine tune our motor skills while growing in self-esteme
we follow directions and understand sequencing
in ART."

Composition

Composition is how you lay out the images you put on the paper. How do you design your art? Do you make your image big, or tiny? Do you put it in the middle of the page or going off the edge of the page? Do you make everything similar or emphasis one part or create variety throughout? Here are a few simple considerations when looking at composition.


Balance is the consideration of visual weight and importance. It is a way to compare the right and left side of a composition.

The brown butterfly above by itself is essentially symmetrical. Both sides are similar in visual weight and almost mirrored. Because symmetrical balance often looks more stiff and formal, sometimes it is called formal balance.

Asymmetrical balance is more interesting. The black butterfly above has sides that are similar in visual weight but not mirrored. It is more casual, dynamic, and relaxed feeling so it is often called informal balance.

Variety - You create variety when elements are changed. Repeating a similar shape but changing the size can give variety and unity at the same time. Keeping the same size, but changing the color can also give variety and unity at the same time. In visual composition, there are many ways you can change something while simultaneously keeping it the same.

Depth - Effects of depth and space projecting toward the viewer add interest. Linear perspective in the real world makes things look smaller in the distance. Some artists try to avoid depth by making large things duller and small things brighter, and so on, to make the objects contradict realism. Many artists don't believe in realism even though they could do it if they wanted to. It seems too boring to them. Realism wouldn't be art for some artists.

Repetition - Some ways to use Repetition of the Visual Elements are size variation, color saturation and overlapping.

6th Grade Art Studio: Day of the Dead

Students are working on creating tinfoil armatures with lightbulb heads. What better way to start their own skeleton sculptures. Day of the Dead is a Mexican celebration of family and ancestors. Families create shrines to those who have died and honor their memories with ceremonies and picnics on the last day of Oct. through Nov. 2nd. Throughout Mexico and the southwest America, we can find skeleton sculptures that celebrate this holiday. Skeletons range from brides and grooms to rock bands, farmers to investment bankers and dancers to drag racers. Whatever you could do in real life, these skeletons do in their own magical worlds. Students are creating poses and making gesture drawings of those action poses, then recreating those positions in sculpture form.

Values- 7th Grade Still Life Project

Value drawings show depth by showing light and shadows on an object. You can use many different marks to do this, but the three most popular ones are smudging or tonal values, crosshatching and linear values. No matter what style of art you prefer to draw in, all three use lights and darks to show that edges are round, sink in or push up and what is in front vrs. what is behind.

Using Line to Create Moods

Vertical images make us think of organized strength, like a soldier or an orderly bookshelf. Horizontal images make us feel peaceful and restful. Diagonal images create energy and action. How you choose to lay out your composition makes a difference in how others percieve it. It is important to think about what you want the viewer to come away with after experiencing your artwork.