Mrs.Williams Art Room

Here are a few examples of a middle school project using cubism. Students chose one favorite character and used the three characteristics of cubism learned in class ( rearranged, simplified shapes and different points of view) and made a cubist inspired work of art.

I love monkey's, and I thought, how cool would it be to do an art project using a monkey.   In fourth grade, we have been focusing on our elements of art specifically texture. I thought, why not use the fur on the monkey as a way to create texture in a drawing. Ta da! Monkey drawing! We started out with a painted bright colored background because we were only using black crayon to draw the monkey and fur. A dark background would have made it difficult to see the black crayon drawn monkey. The kids had a ball painting their background with sponges it also created some great texture. Lastly, I gave each student a few handouts that had pictures of different kinds of monkey's on it. The students chose their monkey and began drawing using the scribble technique to create their fur. I think they turned out great.

Third grade students just finished a lesson inspired by the book" The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush" by Tomie dePaola.  My students had to draw at least three Native American figures on their paper focusing on the back of the head, hair and body. We talked about patterns, repetition and warm colors. We used tempera paint to create the background focusing on patterns. Once completed and dried we mounted are paintings on construction paper and added some extra details like yarn. Below you will find a few examples.

I like to teach value to my middle school students and one of my favorite lessons is Value Portraits. We start with a simple portrait drawing including the head, neck and shoulders. Students use geometric shapes to break of the simple portrait. Lastly, students choose a color family like warm, cool, primary, secondary to color in each shape. Students must use value in each shape, this is a colored pencil project outlined with sharpie marker. I think that they turned out great.

I just love these clay owl pots that my middle school ceramics class created. We used a small balloon to keep our slabs nice and round. The fun part was as the clay hardened we were able to pop our balloon with a pin or toothpick. We used a low fire glaze after we bisque each piece. Below is one of our owl pots that was completed this week. I will post more pics as the kids compete them.