Gyotaku Prints!

When I saw gyotaku on Dali's Moustache, I knew that it HAD to be done! I have been looking forward to trying this project for months!

I opted to do this with my third graders--a moronic brave choice, considering how wild some of my third grade classes can be. But the appeal of working with fake rubbery fish won out over poor choices, and this ended up being a very successful project!

Very little introduction needs to be done for the kids to get excited about this project. I show them the following video to get them hyped!

For your reference, the above artist, Naoki, has a website with a lot of his gyotaku prints featured:

http://www.gyotaku.com/ 

And the following video is pretty cool, too, and is set to some neat music!

After discussing the art of gyotaku, or "fish rubbing," I had the kids paint their background paper. I experimented with a few papers but ultimately prefer using watercolor paper, as it isn't terribly thick but still holds up to the weight of watercolors and tempera combined. Our paper was 8 x 18".

The kids were allowed to choose the palette they used for the watercolored background, as well as choose whether they wanted an abstract cloudy/blob look, or a more organized pattern.

This underpainting took a full 45-minute class, which was perfect to move us into the second day, the big printing extravaganza!

I fully took advantage of Ren's fantastic idea to have extra gyotaku assignments prepared for the kids who weren't printing (as we couldn't do all prints at once). Kiddos designed their own funky fish and personalized stamp design, as per the worksheet you can find on Dali's Moustache:

Some of my early finishers wrote a few facts about their fish. My favorites include:

"This is Elvis Fish. He wants me to say, 'thank you, thank you very much' for reading about him."

"My fish makes man prints. He won first place for his man printing."

The third graders were absolutely nuts for this project. And, as with their Trapeze Artists, all of the other grade levels were totally jealous! For just two 45-minute classes, I am thrilled with the work that the students produced! These precious smiles prove that I'm not the only happy one:

This is such a cool job.

Seascapes

Coming off of their autumn-y landscapes dotted with Aspen trees, fifth graders have moved on to seascapes. I've done seascapes for a few years but decided to mix things up this year, combining elements of projects I found here and here.

Like that second plan suggests, I use this project to show the kids the work of Winslow Homer. The more I study his realistic oil paintings, the more I appreciate both his talent and dedication to the subject of the sea.

This year, the kids looked at some of Homer's watercolors and oils before starting their own. Everyone chose a tempera paint color palette with which to cover a 12x18" sheet of white paper. They loved blending their colors and experimenting with brush techniques to achieve smooth waters or crashing seas. They added some sgraffito if desired. On this day, art class was sponsored by the letter M. For MESSY.

On day two, all students painted another 12x18" sheet--this time, watercolors on watercolor paper--for the sky. This day was sponsored by the color blue, a.k.a. an excuse to wear my new blue pants.

The 'ocean paper' was torn horizontally to create white waves and surf--so cool! These pieces were layered onto the watercolor paper to make sky and water meet.

Lastly, we went over a few origami boat folds. Kiddos had lots of paper and sizes from which to choose. I required them to use differing sizes to demonstrate perspective.

I pre-taught my Art Enrichment kids how to do the folds so they could teach the others.

Pile-up in the marina!

My fifth graders really enjoyed this mixed media approach--when I hear, "this is so cool!" and "woooow!" I want to do a happy little dance (and sometimes my blue pants and I indulge).

Some kiddos really went wild with this. I had a few kids 'sink' their ships by ripping them in half, and others made little "S.O.S." flags or named their boats. One of my outside-the-box thinkers asked to use a black Sharpie to draw on the sky; I asked if she'd prefer to paint on clouds but she said she'd like to use the black marker. I said yes and she ended up with this rockin' result, graphic and bold like the rest of the artworks I've seen from her:

Gosh I love these kids.

2nd grade fish

Years ago, I began doing a project with my second graders that involved drawing and painting fish. One year, we added seashells and pipe cleaner seaweed, and wiggle eyes for a 3D effect. This year, after seeing this project at There's a Dragon in my Art Room (can you tell that I love this blog?), I decided to have the kiddos cut out the fish and work with perspective a little bit.

We started with a drawing period. I wouldn't call it directed drawing, though I did suggest an egg or oval shape for the body, followed by a few key pieces: a mouth, a fin, gills, an eye or eyes (depending on the perspective, which we discussed).

Students added patterns--first with pencil, then with construction paper crayons.

After the fish were cut, out came the watercolors! My youngsters love watercolor resist.

To add some flair and to FINish (har har) the fish, tissue paper was added for fins and tails.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

They're colorful and playful and really brighten up the hallways. While they aren't seasonal or holiday themed, at this time of year, I'm all about bright projects for cold, dull, wintery halls... and quickie projects to keep the kids learnin'.

Also, I enjoy projects that give me an excuse to re-visit my childhood.,,

Cityscapes

Since I don't see kindergarteners, a lot of my first graders' art time is spent on the basics. Currently, we're working our way through types of art: portraits, landscapes, et cetera. This quickie cityscape project was a HUGE hit with the little stinkers. Thanks for the idea, Mr. E!

If I rushed the kids, I think I could fit the whole shebang into one 45-minute class. This time around, however, I did split the class into an intro/drawing/watercolor day, then a tempera day (with time leftover for something else).

To keep track of the different classes, I varied the paper sizes. My favorite was the long and low 6x12" size. The idea to make the paper this size and orientation totally came from one of the first graders--beaten at my own game, I am.

First, we looked at a few photos of cityscapes (thanks, Google), focusing on those with sunsets in the background and the city set in silhouette. Everyone drew their own interesting city line.

 Watercolors made the skies look lovely. Some sweeties did have some trouble with blending colors, so some of the skies resemble Fruit Stripe gum, but there's nothing wrong with a good food-related throwback.

On the second day, the kids watched in awe as I used a small flat brush to outline my city in black before filling in the white spaces. And I was pretty impressed with the way they maneuvered their own flat brushes!

 

 

My husband didn't believe me when I said that these were the work of first graders. I count that as a win!

Displaying Dubuffet sculptures

Just a little update on the Jean Dubuffet project that I first showed you here on Monday. When I had a chance to display these sculptures, my brain said, "oh, these are sculptures, so they should sit on a table or other such flat surface." So I thought about getting an extra table or two from the custodian. Then I came to my senses and thought, "silly brain! Sculptures don't have to sit on a table or a pedestal! You are a ridiculous little brain." And then I hung 'em on the wall!

I loooove the way the sculptures pop off of the wall, giving our hallways some oomph! I did hang them on the hallway closest to my room, so I can keep an eye on kiddos as they pass by them, as they are fairly delicate, being made of paper.

I don't know if anyone else at school or in blogworld cares for this project, but I do a happy little dance when I see these hanging on the wall. More importantly, the kids loved it and the kids learned, so I'm a happy woman.